“Custom Woocommerce Measure Price Calculator ” Documentation by “Pixel Power” v1.0

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Created: 16/07/2014
By: PixelPower

Thank you for purchasing my plugin. If you have any questions that are beyond the scope of this help file, please feel free to contact through codecanyon.

Installation

1. Download the extension from your dashboard

2. Go to Plugins > Add New > Upload and select the ZIP file you just downloaded

3. Click Install Now, and then Activate

4. Read the next sections to learn how to setup and configure the plugin.

Calculator Basics

Default Units

The first step in configuring the plugin is to select the default Dimension, Weight, Area, and/or Volume units in which you’ll define your products’ area and volume. This is done from WooCommerce > Settings > Products > Product Data:

Configuring the Calculator

The plugin both modifies the “Shipping” tab and adds a new tab named “Measurement” to the Product Data meta box in the product edit admin page. In this tab, you select:

· The Measurement to calculate, for instance “Area”

· Whether to display the product price per unit on the frontend for easy comparisons (ie $1.68 sq. ft.) or simply the product price (ie $27.48). Enabling the checkbox will calculate a price per unit based on the product price and configured measurement (under Shipping) for the quantity.

· Pricing label to display next to the product price per unit (defaults to the “pricing unit” if blank)

· Pricing unit to display with price

· The label to display next to the input field(s) (ie “Enter Sq Ft Needed”)

· The input field’s unit to display on the frontend

· For the Dimensions, Area, Volume, and Weight calculators you can choose whether a desired amount can be entered by the user, which will automatically update the selected quantity and price, or whether the value will be an informational display-only value that is dynamically updated as the product quantity is changed

Available Units

The following units are available natively with the plugin:

Weight

· t (tonne/metric ton)

· kg

· g

· tn (short ton)

· lbs

· oz

Length

· km

· m

· cm

· mm

· in

· ft

· yd

· mi (mile)

Area

· ha (hectare)

· sq km

· sq m

· sq cm

· sq mm

· acs (acre)

· sq. mi.

· sq. yd.

· sq. ft.

· sq. in.

Volume

· cu m

· L

· mL

· gal

· qt

· pt

· cup

· fl. oz.

· cu. yd.

· cu. ft.

· cu. in.

Notes:

· SI (metric) and English units can be mixed, though a small loss of precision may be experienced. Use a consistent unit system for all measurements and for defining prices for a given product for optimal results.

Creating Measurement Products

Measurement Types

After you’ve set the default store units, you can start setting up products. The first setup option you’ll need to determine for any product is the Measurement type. You can choose any of the following measurement types:

· Dimensions: product length, width, or height

· Area: simple area, or length x width

· Perimeter: based on (2 x Length) + (2 x Width)

· Volume: simple volume, area x height, or length x width x height

· Weight: the product weight

· Room Walls: an area-type calculator intended for selling wallpaper

Note, for example, the two versions of “area” (simple and L x W). This affects the user input — do you want the customer to enter the square footage (or other area unit)? Use simple area. Want customers to enter the length and width and calculate area for them? Then you’d use the L x W version. This is true for volume as well.

For each measurement type, you can calculate price based on quantity-based mode (for example, measured objects that come in defined packages, such as flooring), or you can allow the user to enter the measurements, called user-defined mode, for which price is calculated (for example, purchasing a number of hours of tutoring).

Calculator Modes

You can switch between calculator modes once you’ve determined measurement type for your product. Determine whether customers should be able to set price based on custom measurements (user-defined mode) or to only allow defined quantities (quantity-based mode). For quantity-based mode, keep the “Calculated Price” box unchecked; for user-defined mode, you must check the “Calculated Price” box:

Select mode by enabling or disabling calculated price

Quantity Mode Configuration

The Quantity-based Mode (disable “Calculated Price”) is used to assist customers with determining the minimum quantity of product required to meet some measurement. For instance, the number of boxes of tiles needed to cover a given square footage would use an area calculator in quantity mode since the final price will be based on a quantity of boxes.

Product Properties

After you’ve selected “Measurement” type, you can set the regular price for the product. For a quantity-based mode calculation, this should be the price of a quantity of “one” — using the tile example, this will be the price of a whole box. The price per square foot can be calculated from that if desired:

If you’re happy displaying the price per box/quantity, you can leave the price as is. If you want to display price per square foot (or per unit), you’ll need to take one more step. To enable calculation of price per unit, go to the “Measurement” tab under Product Data and enable the “Show Product Price per Unit” box:

This will display the price per unit (for easier comparison) instead of the price per quantity in the product catalog.

Next, you’ll need to define the product properties (Weight, Dimensions, Area, or Volume) in the “Shipping” tab of the Product Data meta box for your quantity. For my tile example, I need to set the area that represents a quantity of “1 box”. Since 1 box will hold 12 sq ft of tile, I enter 12 for my area value. This sets the quantity values so that no matter what length x width (or area) the customer enters, the calculator will include the correct number of boxes to cover at least the area needed. (For convenience with the area/volume measurements, you can set an exact value, ie 4 sq. ft. or 1.7 cu m, or you can set a length and a width, ie 2 ft x 2 ft to derive the area.)

After saving the product, the product page will include the quantity-based calculator (this example uses simple area and price per unit display):

Product Using Quantity Mode

Here the customer supplies the area of the floor they need to cover and the calculator determines the minimum quantity of product (boxes of tile) required to meet or exceed the area.

User-Defined Mode Configuration

Use the User-defined Mode (enable “Calculated Price”) to sell customizable products which are priced per measurement (i.e., fabric sold at $1.50 per yard). The pricing calculator is configured very similarly to the quantity-based calculator above, with a few exceptions. Firstly, dimensions are not required to be configured for a product (under “Shipping”) since there’s no quantity, and hence no defined properties. This calculator is intended for products with user-supplied measurements, such as a tarp with a custom length/width, or mulch sold by the cubic yard.

After selecting a calculator measurement type (dimensions, area, volume, or weight), you enable the “Show Product Price Per Unit” option, and then the “Calculated Price” option which reveals a few new fields: Calculated Weight, Calculated Inventory, and Area Options for the product measurements. The Pricing Label will be shown next to the product price, and the Pricing Unit is the unit the price is defined in.

Making these changes also allows you to configure an optional minimum product price (useful for products that have low costs so that some price is charged), as well as a price “per unit” in the “General” tab, which is reflected in the Catalog and Product pages:

Pricing Per Unit in Catalog

As shown in the configuration image above, custom field labels can be configured (i.e., “Garden Size” and “Thickness” for the product area and height inputs). Notice that pricing mode also creates Measurement Options. Options can be restricted to certain values by entering them, separated by commas, in the “options” field, as in the above configuration image (here “Area Options” and “Height Options”). Leaving the “Options” field empty will create a free-form input box that the customer can enter any value into. Setting “Options” to a single value creates a static measurement field on the frontend which can’t be changed. Configuring a comma-separated list of values will create a dropdown on the frontend for the customer to choose between; note that fractional values are supported:

Product with Pricing Calculator

With this calculator configured the customer enters the area in square feet they wish to cover with mulch, the depth, and the calculator determines the total cubic yardage and thus price. The product dimensions are shown in the cart:

Pricing Calculator Product in Cart

Remember, any of the calculator measurements (dimensions, area, volume, or weight) can be used with any combination of units and custom labels.

Room Walls Calculator

The Room Walls calculator is simply an Area (length x width) calculator that is tailored for wallpaper sales with length/width labels pre-defined for you. The wallpaper product must have an area (either length x width, or simple area) defined so that the number of rolls required can be calculated. The calculator prompts the customer for the distance around the room and the height of the walls, those values are used to determine the total wall area of the room regardless of shape, and thus the quantity of wallpaper rolls required:

Product with Wallpaper Quantity Calculator

Features Supported

Inventory Support

Product inventory can be managed “per unit” by enabling the “Calculated Inventory” option if you’re using the user-defined mode. Doing so adds the configured pricing units to the Product Data > Inventory – Stock Qty input, meaning that if you sell for instance fabric by the foot, you can configure the number of feet currently in stock:

Inventory by the Foot

If the customer orders 2 x 10 foot products a total of 20 feet will be deducted from your available inventory.

Dynamic Weight

Product weight can be configured “per unit” by enabling the “Calculated Weight” option in user-defined mode. Doing this adds the configured pricing units to the Product Data > Shipping – Weight field, allowing you to set the weight “per unit”, (ie lbs / sq ft) for your customizable product:

Example: Shipping based on Pounds per Square Foot

Thus when your customer orders 2 square feet of a product weighing 5 lbs per sq ft, the product weight will be set to 10 lbs and accurate shipping prices can be calculated.

Pricing Table

The Pricing Table feature allows you to create product prices that vary based on the product measurement: dimension, area, volume, or weight, depending on the measurement calculator in user-defined mode. Pricing table rules can be configured by clicking the “Pricing Table” link found next to the “Calculator Settings” heading on the Product Data > Measurement tab:

Easily configure product prices that vary based on size

Defining a pricing rule is easy with the following fields:

· Measurement Range – you need at least a starting value (which can be 0). Configure an ending value to create a closed range, or leave the end value empty for the last rule to create an “open” rule that will match all measurements greater than or equal to the starting value. The start/end range is inclusive, so 0-10 will match from 0 up to and including 10.

· Price per Unit – a pricing rule must have a price per unit

· Sale Price per Unit – set a sale price for this range

These pricing rules will be automatically applied on the frontend as the customer configures their product.

Note: Everyone’s pricing breaks will be different, so this plugin respects pricing you set. Depending on your pricing breaks, higher quantities of product may result in cheaper pricing. For example, lets assume that you have a product that is sold by the foot:

0-10 ft: price $1/ft ⇨ if 10ft ordered, price = $10
11-20 ft: price $0.75/ft ⇨ if 11ft ordered, price = $8.25

You can easily list the full set of prices with the shortcode [wc_measurement_price_calculator_pricing_table]. When used on a product page, this will display the pricing rules for that product. The shortcode can be used anywhere on the site by simply providing either a product_id or product_sku:[wc_measurement_price_calculator_pricing_table product_sku="ABC123"]. The pricing rules will be displayed in a table which can be styled to match your site:

Prices are always up to date on the frontend thanks to a simple yet powerful shortcode

This can be really helpful for displaying product information within a blog post or on landing pages. We recommend using the WooCommerce Tab Manager to create a custom product tab to display this information.

Window Blinds Sellers: A note for window blinds sellers: this feature will probably not allow a window blinds pricing table to be configured as they generally require a price based on the width and height of a window. The pricing table works only with the product total measurement, for instance the total Area rather than the width/height.

Variable Products: Although the pricing table can be used with product variations, these rules can currently only be defined at the parent product level, meaning that all product variations will share the same set of rules.

Boxes of Tile (Quantity-Based Mode Product)

1. Set the price per box/quantity under “Regular Price”.

2. Go to the “Shipping” tab. Enter the size of your quantity. For example, if this is tile, you’ll want to enter the total area the box will cover. If this is a dimension, volume, or weight product, then you’ll want to enter the quantity for the corresponding measurement that represents “one” of whatever you’re selling.

3. Go to the “Measurement” tab. Select the measurement type you need; for types such as “area” that have multiple possibilities, choose the type that represents what you’ll want customers to enter. Also select whether you want to display pricing per quantity (regular price) or pricing per unit (calculated unit price).

Setting up a quantity product based on area

4. Leave “Calculated Price” disabled and change the measurement labels if desired. Save the product, and it will look something like this on the frontend:

Quantity product using area

Fabric by the Yard (User-defined Mode Product)

1. Go to the “Measurement” tab under Product Data. Select the Measurement type for your product. Since we’re using fabric here, we’ll need a “Dimension” type (length). You’ll need to enable pricing per unit since customers will be entering the total number of units.

2. Once “Show Product Price per Unit” is enabled, you must also enable “Calculated Price” so that customers can determine price based on measurement.

3. Adjust any measurement labels or options if needed.

4. Go to the “General” tab and enter the price per unit, as well as any sale or minimum pricing if needed.

Price Mode using dimension product

5. Save the product, and customers will be able to enter the needed measurement on the frontend. The quantity for the product will remain at 1, so customers can add quantity if they need multiple cuts of fabric at the same length:

Mulch by the Cubic Yard (User-defined Mode Product)

1. Go to the “Measurement” tab and choose the measurement type; I’ll use Volume (AxH) in this example. Enable “Show Pricing per Unit” and “Calculate Price”.

2. Enter your units and change measurement labels if needed. Note that in this example I’m setting fixed options for the mulch height/thickness. This will create a dropdown menu for customers on the frontend:

3. Go to the “General” tab and enter pricing information. In this example, I’m going to set the minimum price at $11.00, which will be equivalent to 0.50 cu. yds.

4. Save the product information. Notice that in the first image, the customer hasn’t entered enough mulch to meet the minimum price, so $11 is listed. Once the customer has exceeded the minimum price, as in the second image, the accurate price is displayed:

Wallpaper for a Room (Quantity-based Mode)

1. Go to the “General” tab and set the regular price as the price per roll of wallpaper.

2. Go to the “Shipping” tab. Enter either the area per roll, or the length and width of the roll in your default unit to set the size of the quantity (area of one roll).

3. Go to the “Measurement” tab and select the “Room Walls” product type. Determine whether or not you’d like to display the price per roll or price per unit (enable “Show Price per Unit” if so), and adjust labels / units if needed.

4. Finish product setup and save. The product page will look something like this: