WC External Variations

Adds basic support for external products to WooCommerce variations/variable products. This plugin allows you to define an external URL on any variation and will then open that link when the user clicks on the Add To Cart button. Because the Javascript is used for this, any adding to cart that is done via the backend such as with APIs will not redirect properly.

Note that as of 03/2023 this plugin is not longer under active development.

Shortcode support

This plugin provides two shortcodes that you can use within your site: 1. [wcev_product_attr] – allows you to display an product attribute, use the “name” attribute to find the right attribute. 2. [wcev_var_field] – allows you to display a custom field, attribute or data element for a variation, use the “id” attribute to point to the right field. The order of precendence is as follows: custom fields, attributes, then data elements. 3. [wcev_var_postdate] – displays the formatted post date and time for a variation, doesn’t take attributes.

External SKU and status fields

In addition to the external URL field, a second field called “External SKU” is provided for each variation. You can set this field and then use the provided shortcode to display it. The purpose is to track the external SKU separately from the internal one.

There is now ability to specify the ‘Add to Button’ text in a specific variation. If the global setting is set, the variation-specific field will override it.

Settings

To change settings, go to WooCommerce Settings -> Products -> External Variations. The following are available: * Ability to change if links open in new or same window * Ability to change if links open when the ‘Add to Cart’ button is clicked or when the variation is selected * Ability to override the ‘Add to Cart’ button text for all external variations

More Details

Please note that this plugin has only been tested in a vanilla WordPress / WooCommerce installation without any other plugins. If you have other plugins that modify the functionality of the Add to Cart button, this plugin may not work or cause unintended consequences.

Source code for this plugin can be found at Github

You can find this plugin at WordPress.org

Known Issues

When the number of variations exceeds 30, the plugin stops working. This is due to a WooCommerce limit and can be bypassed by using a filter as described here: https://docs.woocommerce.com/document/change-limit-on-number-of-variations-for-dynamic-variable-product-dropdowns/