[ic] Shopping cart forgets selected options

[interchange-users@icdevgroup.org]

Hello all,

Although being an experienced programmer, I am a newbie to interchange (2
weeks of experience) with a problem.

We have a product list in interchange 4.8.2. running on a stronghold web
server, perl 5.6.0., Redhat 7.2.

We have a product list where each product has its own set of options. To
clarify the problem, this product list for example contains a pair of jeans
(SKU 0001). This pair of jeans comes in models 'slim fit' and 'comfort fit',
and in sizes 30, 32, 34, 36 and 38.

When ordering a pair of jeans with 'Buy now', the user is presented with a
shopping basket including a drop down list of all available options
combinations (slim fit 30, slim fit 32, .. up to comfort fit 38). An option
combination can be selected, e.g. comfort 38. After clicking 'recalculate'
however, the shopping basket always shows the first option combination
(being slim fit 30). When doing a checkout, the product options are not
passed to the order form at all; only the SKU of the product is listed on
the order form.

I have read the "Please help! Attributes cleared" thread, this has however
not lead to a solution; it turns out the basket contents are properly posted
back to the form. Inserting the [dump] tag in the shopping cart component
showed this, however it also showed an error 'Not a valid option
combination'. I made sure the inventory contained products of the given
combination of options (it didn't, so I added items) but the error kept
occurring. Searching the mailing list archives for this error gave no clues;
I've searched the source code of interchange to find out *why* the option
combination is not valid, and appearently it is because it does not exist in
the product list (it uses product_code_exists_tag in Data.pm to check for
this). Shouldn't interchange search in the product options list as well?

I'm obviously overcomplicating things; it should be possible to get things
working without needing to hack the source code of Interchange. I have been
consulting the manuals bigtime but so far without result... I really could
use some help on this one. I'm under pressure of resolving the problem in a
matter of days, by the end of which I'm surely not an interchange guru yet.

Any clues are greatly appreciated.

Marc Brevoort