Extra Fields Question

[goose +]

Is it possible to have an Extra Field act like a Subcategory?

Basically what I want to do is something along these lines (i'll just use motorcycles as an example)-

Categories
Motorcycles
Parts
Wanted
etc.

Subcategories
Honda
Harley Davidson
Suzuki
Yamaha
etc.

Extra Fields
Model
Year
etc.

What I want to accomplish is to have a left side column with the Makes(Subcategories) listed, and when you click on a specific make have the appropriate models appear. So if you click on Harley Davidson for example all the Harley ads would show in the results and in the left column all of the Harley Models (extra field) would appear so you can narrow the seach down further.

There will also need to be a way to choose between the main categories (Motorcycles, Parts, Wanted, etc.) maybe a drop down box on top of the side column, with a "Search All" or the individual choices to choose from? Has anyone ever done anything similiar to this? Is it possible? thanks

[Blair +]

Goose-

The extra fields and categories are handled through two different tables in the database and aren't related. In order to do what you're describing, you'll need to replicate your category structure and your extra fields.

Keep in mind that the more detailed your customer can "drill down" through your site, the available listings within that final category will be small. To extend your motorcycle example, if we had a parent category for each make (of let's say 15 makes) and within each make had each model available within that brand (with an average of 10 models) and extended this my adding subcategories of year (for the last ten years), you would have to have a minimum of 1500 ads so that each category had a listing in it. (And this is just for the motorcycles).

In my opinion, when someone takes the time to visit a classifieds site, it's as many times an opportunity to dream about what they want rather than "I'm looking for X model and if I don't find it, I'm not looking at anything else on the site."

My advice (and I'm not saying I'm right!) is to leave the categories a bit more broad so that visitors can "roam around a bit".

[goose +]

I don't want to do a "drill down" in that you have to click on a Category, then Subcategory, and then a Model to finally get results shown.

The way I would like to set it up would be if you wanted to browse and selected "Motorcycles" in the side column every motorcycle ad would appear in the results, and the Motorcycles Makes would now appear under the "Motorcycle" category in the side column.

If someone did not want to see every Make, they could choose "Harley Davidson". All the Harley ads would be shown in the results page and in the left column all of the Harley "Models" now appear under Harley, so if you only want to see VROD's for example you could narrow it down even further. It would sort of be like a "Search All" unless more choices are selected.

Is there a way set it up using that method?