Making Sense of the OpenCart Filter Module

In OpenCart 1.5.5 the OpenCart development team introduced a new module, called Filter.

In this post we will explain more about the Filter module - how to configure it and how it helps your customers navigate through your website.
 

​Set-up

For this tutorial we will use an example online store for printers and consumables. We will use OpenCart 2.0.3.1, but the same process applies for all OpenCart versions 1.5.5 - 2.0.3.1.

Let’s imagine that your printer store has the following categories: Canon, Hewlett-Packard, Kodak, Samsung. Each category will contain several printers and consumables:

So how does the Filter module come into play?

The OpenCart Filter module provides your customers with an additional method to filter the products in your category listing. If they have navigated to the category Canon, the filters can help them view only specific products (for example, only the printers, excluding the consumables).

Note: The Filter module is applicable only for the category listing. You as an administrator have the option to enable it for other pages as well, but keep in mind it will only work for the categories.

Using the example above we will allow the customers to filter the category products by Printers and Consumables. Let’s go!

Step 1) Creating the filters

We will navigate to the OpenCart admin panel > Catalog > Filters and create a new filter group with 2 filters - Printers and Consumables:

Step 2) Associating the filters with the categories

Now we need to link these newly created filters to the appropriate categories. We will navigate to each category in Admin > Catalog > Categories > Edit and insert the filter using the Data > Filters field:

Step 3) Associating the filters with the products

Now we will go through each product and assign a filter to it. This is done in Admin > Catalog > Products > Edit > Links > Filters. The printers will have the filter “Printer Filter > Printers” and the consumables will have the filter “Printer Filter > Consumables”:

Step 4) Enabling the Filter module

Navigate to Admin > Extensions > Modules and install the Filter module. Do not forget to access the module and set it to “Enabled”.

Almost done. Now we must associate it with the category view. Navigate to Admin > System > Design > Layouts > Category > Edit. Add the Filter module to a position of your choice. In our example we will add it to Column Left:

Note: The Filter module is applicable only for the category listing. You as an administrator have the option to enable it for other pages as well, but keep in mind it will only work for the categories.

Step 5) Enjoy the filters

Your categories will now have a Filter module with the enabled filters. Here is how it would look like in the end:

That’s all, folks!

You have just learned how to set up the OpenCart Filter module and how it is used by your customers.

I hope you found the above short tutorial useful. Feel free to share your questions or comments in the comments section below.