The Base Product and Variation Group Scenarios and Base Product and Variation Product
Scenarios topics both use the products described here.
Scenario Product Overview
For the sake of simplicity, the following scenarios don’t use SiteGenesis data. To follow along
with the scenarios, you must create these products.
These scenarios make the following assumptions:
- The product is a T-shirt that is available in different colors and sizes. The table
lists the SKUs for the shirts, based on size and color.
|
Navy |
Green |
Amber |
Sky |
S |
TS-1 |
TS-4 |
TS-7 |
TS-10 |
M |
TS-2 |
TS-5 |
TS-8 |
TS-11 |
L |
TS-3 |
TS-6 |
TS-9 |
TS-12 |
- The functionality described is based on the SiteGenesis application. Your application
can behave differently, depending on the templates you have developed.
- The images and catalog are stored in Business Manager.
- On the Catalog page Image Settings tab for the apparel-catalog, set the
Variation Attribute ID to color.
Create a Custom Product Property
You can use other properties to group variation products.
- Select Administration > Site Development > System Object
Types.
- Click the Product system object.
- Click the Attribute Definitions tab.
- Click New.
- On the Object Type 'Product' - Attribute Definition Details page, enter:
- ID: bucketColor
- Display Name: Bucket Color
- Help Text: Bucket color
- Value Type: String
- Localizable/Site-Specific: No
- Click Apply.
- Click <<Back.
- Click the Attribute Grouping tab.
- For the Presentation Attributes group, click Edit.
- Click the ellipsis (...), select the bucketColor attribute, and
click Select.
- Click <<Back.
- On the Attribute Grouping tab, the Presentation Attributes page
shows five attributes.
To Create the Base Product:
-
Select
site > Merchant Tools >
Products and Catalogs > Products.
- On the Simple Product Search page, click New.
- On the Product page General tab, enter the following values and click
Apply:
Field |
Value |
ID |
TS
|
Catalog |
apparel-catalog
|
Tax Class |
Standard
|
Online |
Yes
|
Searchable |
Yes
|
Name |
T-shirt
|
- Click the Categories tab and click Edit
Categories.
- Expand womens > womens-clothing, select
womens-clothing-tops, and click Apply.
- Click the Inventory tab and for the Inventory
(assigned to SiteGenesis) list, click Create.
- Select Perpetual.
- Set the Allocation to 100 and click
Create.
- Click Back.
To Create the Variation Products:
- Click the Product page Variations tab for the T-shirt
product.
- Under Add Shared Variation Attribute,for
ID, click New.
Note: Clicking
Add doesn't perform the same action.
- Enter the following values:
Field |
Value
|
Attribute Definition ID: |
color
|
Name: |
(Don't enter any text. The text is provided automatically once you click
Apply.) |
Custom ID: |
color
|
Custom Display Name: |
color
|
Slicing Attribute |
No (deselected) |
- Click Apply. The Defined Variation Values for color section
opens.
- In the Defined Variation Values for color section, enter the
following values and click Apply after entering each value.
Value |
Display Value |
Description |
navy |
Navy |
Navy Blue |
green |
Hemlock |
Hemlock Green |
amber |
Amber |
Burnt Amber |
sky |
Sky |
Sky Blue |
- To return to the Product page Variations tab, click <<Back
.
- Under =Add Shared Variation Attribute, for
ID, click New.
Note: Clicking
Add doesn't perform the same action.
- Enter the following values and click Apply:
Field |
Value |
Attribute Definition ID: |
size
|
Name: |
(Don't enter any text. The text is provided automatically once you click
Apply.) |
Custom ID: |
clothingSize
|
Custom Display Name: |
size
|
Slicing Attribute |
No (deselected) |
- In the Defined Variation Values for clothingSize section, enter
the following values and click Apply after entering each value.
Value |
Display Value |
Description |
S
|
Small
|
Small
|
M
|
Medium
|
Medium
|
L
|
Large
|
Large
|
- To return to the Product page Variations tab, click <<Back
.
- Under Add Shared Variation Attribute, for
ID, click New.
Note: Clicking
Add doesn't perform the same action.
- Enter the following values:
Field |
Value |
Attribute Definition ID: |
bucketColor
|
Name: |
(Don't enter any text. The text is provided automatically once you click
Apply.) |
Custom ID: |
bucketColor
|
Custom Display Name: |
Bucket Color
|
Slicing Attribute |
No (deselected) |
- Click Apply. The Defined Variation Values for color section
opens.
- In the Defined Variation Values for color section, enter the
following values and click Apply after entering each value.
Value |
Display Value |
Description |
Blue
|
Blue
|
Blue
|
Green
|
Green
|
Green
|
Orange
|
Orange
|
Orange
|
- To return to the Variations tab, click <<Back.
- On the Product page Variations tab, in the Variation Products section, click
Add to automatically create a variation product. Configure the
following products:
ID |
color |
size |
bucketColor |
TS-1 |
navy (Navy) |
S (Small) |
Blue |
TS-2 |
navy (Navy) |
M (Medium) |
Blue |
TS-3 |
navy (Navy) |
L (Large) |
Blue |
TS-4 |
green (Hemlock) |
S (Small) |
Green |
TS-5 |
green (Hemlock) |
M (Medium) |
Green |
TS-6 |
green (Hemlock) |
L (Large) |
Green |
TS-7 |
amber (Amber) |
S (Small) |
Orange |
TS-8 |
amber (Amber) |
M (Medium) |
Orange |
TS-9 |
amber (Amber) |
L (Large) |
Orange |
TS-10 |
sky (Sky) |
S (Small) |
Blue |
TS-11 |
sky (Sky) |
M (Medium) |
Blue |
TS-12 |
sky (Sky) |
L (Large) |
Blue |
- Click the ID link in list of variation products (such as TS-1) to
navigate to the Variations tab for the variation product.
For each variation
product:
- Click the Inventory tab and for the Inventory
(assigned to SiteGenesis) list, click Create.
-
In the New Record page General tab, configure the following values:
Field |
Value |
Perpetual |
Yes (selected) |
Allocation |
100 |
- Click Create.
- To return to the Product page, click the Products link in the
breadcrumb at the top of the page.
- Search on
TS-
. All the variation products are returned as results.
- Click the box to the left of each variation product and click Edit
Selected.
- Make sure Update/Delete Product Attributes is selected and click
Next
-
On the Step 2: Update/Delete Product Attributes page, click Select
attributes. Select and configure the following attributes:
Field |
Update |
Value |
Searchable |
Default |
Yes |
Online |
Default |
Yes |
- Click Finish: Go to Batch Process.
- Click Refresh until you see the completed batch process with a
status of
Success
.
- Select
site
> Merchant
Tools > Search > Search Indexes
page, then select all the indexes and click Rebuild
to rebuild the index.
Note: It's important to rebuild the availability index, or the
products do not appear on the storefront.
To Create Variation Groups:
- Click the Product page Variations tab for the T-shirt
product.
- In the Variation Group section, click Add. Review any warnings
and click OK. The page reloads and an empty variation group with the
ID TS-13 is added.
- Configure variation groups based on Bucket Color:
ID |
color |
size |
Bucket Color |
TS-13 |
-None- |
-None- |
Blue (Blue) |
TS-14 |
-None- |
-None- |
Green (Green) |
TS-15 |
-None- |
-None- |
Orange (Orange) |
-
Configure variation groups based on size:
ID |
color |
size |
Bucket Color |
TS-16 |
-None- |
S (Small) |
-None- |
TS-17 |
-None- |
M( Medium) |
-None- |
TS-18 |
-None- |
L (large) |
-None- |
-
Configure variation groups based on other combinations:
ID |
color |
size |
Bucket Color |
TS-19 |
-None- |
S (Small) |
Blue (Blue) |
TS-20 |
navy (Navy) |
M( Medium) |
-None- |
TS-21 |
sky (Sky) |
M( Medium) |
-None- |
- Click Apply.
- For each variation group: click the variation group, click Lock,
click the General tab, enter the following values, and click
Apply:
Field |
Value |
Searchable |
Yes (default and SiteGenesis) |
Online |
Yes (default and SiteGenesis) |
To Assign Images to Products
Download the images from the Code Example
repository or use your own images. Images must be 195 x 195 pixels and have the following
names:
To Add Images to Products:
- Select
site > Merchant Tools >
Products and Catalogs > Products.
- Click the By ID tab.
- Search for TS.
- To edit the product, on the Product page General tab for the T-shirt product, click
Lock.
- Scroll down to the bottom of the page and click the Edit button
in the Images section.
To Upload Images:
- In the File Browser pane, right-click the large folder icon and
select Add.
-
Navigate to the following images and click
Upload:
- tshirt_amber.jpg
- tshirt_hemlock.jpg
- tshirt_navy.jpg
- tshirt_sky.jpg
- The medium variations use the same image as large variations and so don't need anything
to be uploaded.
- In the File Browser pane, right-click the small folder icon and
select Add.
-
Navigate to the following images and click
Upload:
- tshirt_amber_small.jpg
- tshirt_hemlock_small.jpg
- tshirt_navy_small.jpg
- tshirt_sky_small.jpg
- In the File Browser pane, right-click the swatch folder icon and
select Add.
-
Navigate to the following images and click
Upload:
- amber_swatch.jpg
- hemlock_swatch.jpg
- navy_swatch.jpg
- sky_swatch.jpg
To assign images to the Base Product:
You can find the image to assign in the File Browser search and drag it over the empty icon for
the view type. You can also click the empty icon to replace and type the path in the Path
field.
- To add images for each view type, click base product in
the Image Manager window.
- To enter the path for the image, click the empty icon for the view type. You can also
use the File Browser to find images you have uploaded and drag them onto the empty icon.
- Enter
large/tshirt_amber.jpg
in the Path for the view type
'large'
- Enter
medium/tshirt_amber.jpg
in the Path for the view type
'medium'
- Enter
small/tshirt_amber_small.jpg
in the Path> for the view type
'small'
- Enter
swatch/amber.jpg
in the Path for the view type
'swatch'
To assign images to variation Products:
You can find the images to assign in the File Browser. Search and drag the image over the empty
icon for the view type or click the empty icon to replace and type the path in the Path
field.
- To add images for the variations under the view type 'large', click each variation in
the Image Manager window.
- Enter large/tshirt_amber.jpg in the Path for the variation
value
'navy'
.
- Enter large/tshirt_hemlock.jpg in the Path for the variation
value
'hemlock'
.
- Enter large/tshirt_navy.jpg in the Path for the variation
value
'amber'
.
- Enter large/tshirt_sky.jpg in the Path for the variation
value
'sky'
.
- Repeat Step 1 for
view type 'medium'
. Use the same images as the large
view type.
- To add images for the variations under the view type
'small'
, click
each variation in the Image Manager window.
- Enter small/tshirt_amber_small.jpg in the Path for the
variation value
'amber'
.
- Enter small/tshirt_hemlock_small.jpg in the Path for the
variation value
'hemlock'
.
- Enter small/tshirt_navy_small.jpg in the Path for the
variation value
'navy'
.
- Enter small/tshirt_sky_small.jpg in the Path for the
variation value
'sky'
.
- On the Images window (only accessible when a product is locked), select a product
variation in the Image Manager pane.
- To add images for the variations under the view type
'swatch'
, click
each variation in the Image Manager window.
- Enter swatch/amber_swatch.jpg in the Path for the variation
value
'navy
under the view type 'swatch'
.
- Enter swatch/hemlock_swatch.jpg in the Path for the variation
value
'hemlock
under the view type 'swatch'
.
- Enter swatch/navy_swatch.jpg in the Path for the variation
value
'amber'
under the view type 'swatch'
.
- Enter swatch/sky_swatch.jpg in the Path for the variation
value
'sky'
under the view type 'swatch'
.
Note: If you add the swatch to the base product, instead of adding swatches to the
variation products, it's shown once for every variation type. Therefore, you see
multiple identical swatches in the storefront.
To Assign Images to Variation
Groups:
- In the Image Manager window, click the Edit button.
- In the Variation Attributes window, in the Attributes list,
select bucketColor.
- Check the box for each variation group you have created. For example,
bucketColor='Orange'.
- Click OK.
- In the Image Manager window, click bucketColor='Orange'.
- Enter large/tshirt_amber.jpg in the Path for the view type
'large'
.
- Enter large/tshirt_amber.jpg in the
Path for the view type 'medium'
- Enter small/tshirt_amber_small.jpg in the
Path for the view type 'small'
- Enter swatch/amber_swatch.jpg in the
Path for the view type 'swatch'
- In the Image Manager window, click
bucketColor='Green'
.
- Enter large/tshirt_hemlock.jpg in the
Path for the view type 'large'
- Enter large/tshirt_hemlock.jpg in the
Path for the view type 'medium'
- Enter small/tshirt_hemlock_small.jpg in the
Path for the view type 'small'
- Enter swatch/hemlock_swatch.jpg in the
Path for the view type 'swatch'
- In the Image Manager window, under
color='Navy'
click
bucketColor='Blue'
.
- Enter large/tshirt_navy.jpg in the
Path for the view type 'large'
- Enter large/tshirt_navy.jpg in the
Path for the view type 'medium'
- Enter small/tshirt_navy_small.jpg in the
Path for the view type 'small'
- Enter swatch/navy_swatch.jpg in the
Path for the view type 'swatch'
- In the Image Manager window, under
color='Sky'
click
bucketColor='Blue'
.
- Enter large/tshirt_sky.jpg in the
Path for the view type 'large'
- Enter large/tshirt_sky.jpg in the
Path for the view type 'medium'
- Enter small/tshirt_sky_small.jpg in the
Path for the view type 'small'
- Enter swatch/sky_swatch.jpg in the
Path for the view type 'swatch'