Pro and Gold Help

The basic ShopFactory Pro ImportWizard can import basic product data from comma delimited data files (CSV, TXT) only. It can not import options and choices or images, for example. It is supplied with ShopFactory Professional.

The ImportWizard supplied with ShopFactory Gold can import virtually any field supported by ShopFactory from an existing database, including product options (attributes) and image paths.

ImportWizard Pro can also import data from virtually any database. It is supplied with ShopFactory Gold and ShopFactory Total Care packages.

If your database includes categories for the products in it or has entries which can be used as categories, then you can import products completely automatically.

In this mode the Wizard will import the products and automatically create the departments required, based on categories in your database.

 If you later re-import the same products, they will be updated regardless of their location.

A department will be created for each category.

However: Each category must have a unique name for this to work. Otherwise departments will be overwriting each other. The wizard can also create sub-departments. Simply create the sub-departments by separating them from the parent department with a / . This requires ImportWizard Pro.

The uniqueness of products are determined by the "Item Number" field of the ShopFactory.

You need to map the column in the database your importing from. If any item has an empty "Item Number", Import wizard will assign a value to such item such as 'genid_xx' where xx is an integer value, and the assigned values for two of such items are distinguished from each other.

Note of caution:
Let us say you are selling computers and you have hardware for PCs and Apple. In your existing database you have categories which define a product as PC or Apple, and sub categories which state if it is software or hardware.

If you now select sub category as category for the import (after all it is the closest category describing the product), then the two departments will be joined in ShopFactory, as Import Wizard can not tell them apart since both are called Hardware) . It would need a category listing such as PC/ hardware and Apple/hardware to tell them apart — or semi manual import where you have to adjust this in ShopFactory after the import.

This method allows you to completely control, which products go into which departments of your shop.

• Start by launching ShopFactory.
• Now create the department structure for your new shop (even better if you have done this on paper first). This means you create all the departments in your shop, which will contain the products.
• Where necessary create sub-departments. This will make it easy for the customer to navigate to the product he is searching for.
• Save the shop file.
• Close ShopFactory.

When you now use the import wizard, you will import the product information directly into the departments. So in the Wizard you select the department, then you locate the products in your existing database, and click on the + button, to add the selected Products automatically to the selected department.

Department and Sub-departments can be specified in the database.

For a product to be imported into the sales sub-department in the test department;
'test/sales' should be the department field.

If you have imported product information from an existing database, you may want to at times update some of the information in ShopFactory, for example by importing only updated prices.

This works of course best in fully automatic import mode, but can also be done in semi automatic mode.

Simply open the Wizard, select the configuration file created for the first import, and go to the mapping tool.

Map the product name and if required the category, the price and any other fields which need updating. If you do not want information to be re-imported, for example because you have made changes in ShopFactory which you do not want to have overwritten, simply de-select these fields by setting the drop down menu to display the empty field.

Then continue with the import, as with a new import.

Your ImportWizard can import most product and page information.

Below you will find a list all all supported data types.

Here you will find some sample files: Download samples file.

 

Field Name	Syntax	Sample	Explanation
Product Name	Text	ShopFactory Gold
Item Number	Numerical-alphabet	2001 or SF-Gold	Catalog number / SKU
Department Name	Text	Software	To create sub-departments separate departments with a / such as Women/Shoes
Product Description	Text	A great tool to build and maintain online shops
Product Image	Full path file name	C:\program files\SF V5\image1.bmp	Import product images from your hard-drive into your shop
Price	Floating point value	1000.00
Special	Text	Summer Sales	Text to announce a special
Weight	Floating point value	12.0	You must use the weight unit set up in your shop
Tax	Text	GST, VTS, or My Local Tax 1	Defines which tax set up in ShopFactory will be applied
Link	Full path file name	C:\images\link_img.bmp	A link to a larger image or file or URL
Link Type	Integer value	1 = a local file, 2=a URL file	Defines if the Link item above is on the local computer or online
Link Caption	Text	Caption text	A text caption for the larger image
Headline	Text	ShopFactory Gold is a winner
Product Visible	Integer value	0 or 1	0= invisible, 1= visible
Longer description	Text	This is a really great product and you should buy it.
Highlights	Text	A great feature is ImportWizard
Discount Type	Integer value	1 or 2	apply (1)discount price or (2) quantity discount
Discount Price	Floating point value	998.00
Quantity Discount	(from|To|Percentage)	(0|10|2.5)(10|500|5.0)(500|5000|7.0)
Product code	Numerical-alphabet	Sf_001	A code which allows grouping products based on a specific type
Manufacturer code	Numerical-alphabet	Nec101	The SKU or Catalog number used by the Manufacturer
Manufacturer	Text	Sony	Manufacturer name
Price code	Numerical-alphabet	2K100	A code which allows grouping products based on a specific type for example to apply discounts
Available Quantity	Integer Value	1000
Min Order Quantity	Integer Value	1
Max Order Quantity	Integer Value	12
Out of Stock Message	Text	Prod A is out of stock, try again later!
Quantity Unit	Text	Carton, kg, lt
Allow decimal quantities such as 1.5	Integer value	0=NO, 1=Yes	Defines if a product can be purchased in decimal quantities rather than in numbers only
Show Add to Basket	Integer value	0=NO, 1=Yes	If set to 0 the product is displayed but has no buy now button
EAN13	EAN13 number	590123123457	An International product code - EAN, UPC, UCC or similar
Economy	Floating Point value	7.2
Air	Floating Point value	15.4
Express	Floating Point value	26.5
Product SEO Description	Text		Detailed View Meta tag description
Product SEO Keywords	Text	shop,gadget	Detailed View Meta tag keywords
Product HTML Title	Text	Product 1	Product HTML Title
Page SEO Description	Text		Page Meta tag description
Page SEO Keywords	Text	shop,gadget	Page Meta tag keywords
Page HTML Title	Text	Page Title	Page HTML Title

 

An example file to see how to set up a database with option & choices is "exop.xls". This has 2 options and 3 choices for each option.

Choose the maximum number of different options available for the products and the maximum number of choices to be offered for any of these options.

For example: 1 Option & 2 Choices You will need a column for each of the following:

Option name 01	The name of first Option (eg: Size).
Option checked 01	This field is a number which controls a range of things about the option including; If an option is shown in the shop. if a customer must select if before ordering a product or if it is disabled in ShopFactory after the import. Below are the values you can use:  Option Type Visible       Visible and required              Off  Drop down list (Default)        11 12 10  Radio button 21 22 20 Text field 31 32 30 Text Area 41 42 40 Check box 51 52 50 Example: Entering the value 22 in the field will create an option which uses a radio button to select it. The option will be visible in the shop and required.
Choice name 01	The name of first choice (eg: Small).
Choice price 01	The extra amount to be added to the product price for the first choice in the first option.
Choice order no 01	The order number for the first choice in the first option.
Choice weight 01	The added weight for the first choice in the first option.
Choice Available Quantity 01	The available stock quantity for the first choice in the first option.
Choice Minimum Quantity 01	The minimum order quantity for the first choice in the first option.
Choice Maximum Quantity 01	The maximum order quantity for the first choice in the first option.
Choice name 02	The name of second choice (eg: Small).
Choice price 02	The extra amount to be added to the product price for the second choice in the first option.
Choice order no 02	The order number for the second choice in the first option.
Choice weight 02	The added weight for the second choice in the first option.
Choice Available Quantity 02	The available stock quantity for the second choice in the first option.
Choice Minimum Quantity 02	The minimum order quantity for the second choice in the first option.
Choice Maximum Quantity 02	The maximum order quantity for the second choice in the first option.