custom product(s) id in order item

Question

We have a custom product that customers 'make'. They pick all their options, enter their own custom text in like 50 different places. This is done in a separate system. When they 'add to cart', I save json with all their options and supply an ID to magento. There will be a base product in magento with the price, but it obviously won't know the custom details. Can the order item remember the custom id? If I add a second, should I use a separate order item, or should I concat the id's into 1 order item.

Has anyone had any experience adding custom products? Is it right to only supply magento with the output ID and not all the individual options, and how should I link back to view the products?

Thanks!

Answer 1

I think you might want to check out the 'bundle' product type, that allows for many custom settings and attribute-sets. See: http://www.divisionlab.com/solvingmagento/magento-bundle-product-type-part-1/

It would probably be the best way for full support and for a decent looking product page where the options can be selected.

Or you could, if handling is already done outside of magento, just add a custom product attribute that you populate with the json-settings.