Common attribute values

Question

I've ripping my hair out trying to understand this

I would think that Magento is capable of doing what I am about to describe, but I haven't the slightest clue how to do it. , Basically, my question is:

 How can I have one attribute constitute a set of fixed attributes/values?

As an example, I will describe my ideal product input method.

1. Add New Prodsuct
2. Fill out product attributes
3. Select a value for one particular attribute which will add a set of attributes depending on the value selected.
4. Save the Product, without ever having had to enter redundant information.

Lets say a particular product has the following attributes available

• Attribute 1
• Attribute 2
• Attribute 3
• and then there is Attribute 4.

After giving Attribute 4 it's value, that value should grab a completely different set of attributes.,... such as price, weight, style number, material, et cetera.

So, when that product is finally added, it will show those attributes imported from Attribute 4 on the Website Product Page.

a more realistc example

I am selling phones. I have thousands of phones to sell. Some of these phones, however, have the same attributes, such as : weight, model, model description, brand, wired/cordless... The only thing that differentiates one of these phones from another is the Color and Price. All colors will be the same price, weight, model, and so on, but they will differ in:

• Quantity
• Quality
• Location in warehouse
• Reference number
• Color
• Price
• Cost

Furthermore, the brand will also have a brand description.

Answer 1

If you want a solution without writing any code a quick way would be to add the products with the same attributes one after the other setting just the differing attributes and afterwords from the product grid do a mass update on these products for the attributes that are the same.

Answer 2

The previous answer is a good workaround. Also, to add to it, you could mark the "Is Default" option for the most common attribute options. So, if more than 50% of your products have the same value, this would eliminate more redundant data entry by automatically setting the value for Attributes 1, 2, & 3.

My personal opinion is that using the Magento System CSV Import option is the best way to do mass entry of products. Microsoft Excel and other spreadsheet editors have much quicker ways of copying data from cell to cell (product to product). So, you could do all of your product attribute duplication in the CSV before importing and save much time.