filtering a custom-developed FLEXI field

I have a problem I haven't been able to resolve involving filtering fields in a category. I have taken over a site built by a previous developer using FlexiContent.

Here's the page in question:
www.decor-jewelry.com/jewelry/loose-diamonds

It's for a jewelry store and they have an online search feature to sift through all the loose diamonds they have in inventory. Users can choose a range of weights by carat, a range of color, and a range of clarity. And the site will display all diamonds that match the filtering.

Here are the filterable fields:

Carats go from zero.zero to xx.xx numerically.
Color goes from D to Z alphabetically
Clarity goes from FL to I3 in a NON-alpha range.
(FL, IF, VVS1, VVS2, VS1, VS2, SI1, SI2, SI3, I1, I2, I3)

Everything works fine with filtering results until you start entering values for Clarity. Because the clarity values are non-numeric and non-alpha in their field value lists, I suspect the filtered results are getting screwed up trying to figure out a "range" for clarity.

Here are my specific questions:

1) I tried changing the label/value in the clarity field so that the value could be alpha sorted even if the label was not in any kind of order. Unfortunately, when I do this, all the items end up with an empty value in this field instead of picking up the newly defined one. Is there some re-indexing process I need to do? Or some easy way to get the new field values into each item? Or would I have to change them all by hand. I still don't know if this would even work, but it seems like the obvious solution.

2) Is there any way to make the clarity filter be a single pull-down instead of a range? It seems to work if I select the same value for the starting and ending range. But as soon as the range gets out of something that can be alpha sorted, the filter generates no results.

I am at a loss to solve this specific filtering problem. If I can't figure it out myself, the client is happy to pay for a professional flexicontent developer to tackle the problem.

Any help would be appreciated. We hope to have the loose diamond search mechanism fixed in time for the busy shopping season that starts after Thanksgiving in the U.S.

Thank you for any help you can provide.

FLEXIcontent does not currently support ranges in category/search filters, (it will) you probably have a hacked(=customized) version of FLEXIcontent

are you a developer?

No, I'm not a developer. I've taken over a site built by a previous designer/developer.

What, if any, are my options to solve the problem for the client? They need to be able to filter for carat, color, and clarity. The only thing that doesn't work is the clarity.

Is there a developer you know who might be able to tackle this issue?

heff66 wrote: 2) Is there any way to make the clarity filter be a single pull-down instead of a range? It seems to work if I select the same value for the starting and ending range. But as soon as the range gets out of something that can be alpha sorted, the filter generates no results.

Exactly visiting your page , i see that it makes little sense for clarity to be a range !!

It should be a single pull down

I suspect that the field type of the filters is a modified field of flexicontent select field

Currently i am finishing FLEXIcontent filter addition for next version of FLEXIcontent ...

You can send me a PM, with admin login to the site,
and i will take a quick look at it , and tell you what is needed

Regards

You should already have a login. (Now super user)

If you could take a look at making it a single pulldown, that would sure help.

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For a buyer of loose diamonds it does makes sense to have clarity be a range.
The 3 "C"s all have an effect on the price.
So they are not looking for one clarity rating.
It is the combination of the three Cs which affects the price.

So what I am saying is this is probably not an option.
Ask the client before you change it to a single drop-down.

I guess when the range is sort of random text like this the only way to do it would be to assign an index to the values so the range calculation works.

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