Product types import
The concept of product types
Product types are probably the most powerful, yet least used option of VirtueMart. Product types appear on the product details page. This is how they show up:
Product types consist of 3 different pieces of information. These pieces are:
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Product types
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Product type parameters
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Product type names
Product types can be seen as groups of information. Similar products have similar information. The picture shows the product details of a body paint kit. All body paint kits can have 1 or more of these parameters. We want to show this information to the customer in a simple overview that is where product types step in.
The table as seen in the picture can be divided up into 3 sections. Each section matches a piece of product type information. The sections we have are the red top bar, a left column and a right column. Replacing the actual data with the product type pieces of information gives this table:
| Product type name | |
|---|---|
| Product type parameter | parameter value |
| Product type parameter | parameter value |
| Product type parameter | parameter value |
| Product type parameter | parameter value |
| Product type parameter | parameter value |
| Product type parameter | parameter value |
| Product type parameter | parameter value |
This is the concept of product types.
Importing product types with CSVI VirtueMart
Importing product types with CSVI VirtueMart involves a 3-step procedure:
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Upload product types
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Upload product type parameters
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Upload product type names
In the below examples all possible fields are used. This is not mandatory. Only the product type name is needed by CSVI VirtueMart to know where the data belongs to.
Upload product types
Take another look at the table above. We see that the product types is on the top of the table, so this needs to be imported first. The product types file will look like this:
| product_type_name | product_type_description | product_type_publish | product_type_browsepage | product_type_flypage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Details | Details of this product | Y |
Upload product type parameters
The product type parameters are shown on the left side of the table, so they are imported second. The file to import looks like this:
| product_type_name | parameter_name | parameter_label | parameter_description | parameter_list_order | parameter_type | parameter_values | parameter_multiselect | parameter_default | parameter_unit |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Details | color | Color | Color of this product | 1 | T | ||||
| Details | packaging | Packaging | How the product is packaged | 2 | T | ||||
| Details | material | Material | Material this product is made of | 3 | T | ||||
| Details | texture | Texture | Texture of this product | 4 | T | ||||
| Details | fragrance | Fragrance | Fragrance of this product | 5 | T | ||||
| Details | flavor | Flavor | Flavor of this product | 6 | T | ||||
| Details | herbal | Herbal | Made of herbal ingredients | 7 | T |
The parameter_name cannot have spaces as this name is going to be used to create database columns. CSVI VirtueMart will convert any spaces to underscores.
Upload product type names
Before importing the product type names take the following steps:
- Go to the Maintenance menu
- Select Update Available fields
- Click on Continue
- CSVI VirtueMart now knows your product type parameters exist
Now that the top and left side of the table have been imported we still need to do the right side of the table, the product type parameters. The file to import looks like this:
| product_sku | product_type_name | color | packaging | material | texture | fragrance | flavor | herbal |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1234 | Details | Tube | Assorted | Assorted | ||||
| 5678 | Details | Jar | Chocolate Marshmallow | Chocolate Marshmallow |
The first two column headers are fields needed by CSVI VirtueMart as it tells the system what product type the parameter values are for and about which product you are talking. The rest of the field names are the parameter names found in the product type parameters file. See the matching red fields.
In case a parameter is set to the type of multiple values (V) and the product_type_parameter_values is used to define a set of fixed values that can only be used multiple values need to be separated by a semi-colon (;).
A separate file is required for each product type name because the field names are linked to the product type