Hello, Josep. Here are a few points on how the import of variations and configurable products will work in 4.7.2:
1. Variations will be imported together with configurable products, as separate entries in the same CSV file.
2. The Product code column in the CSV file still serves to distinguish new products from existing ones. So, if a product (or a variation) with the specified code is found in the store, it will be overwritten.
3. The Product type column in the CSV file determines if a product is simple (S), configurable (C), or a variation of a configurable product (V).
4. The order of entries in the CSV files is important: first there must be an entry of the configurable product, and the entries for its variations must come right after it, in the following lines. If you insert a line with a simple product between variations (like CVPV instead of PCVV or CVVP), you'll get an error.
5. There will be a new column called Variation options that must be filled in for each variation. It will contain the information about the option variants that comprise this variation. Naturally, two different variations of a single configurable product can't have the same variation options.
If you'd like, you can already try importing a product with variations on http://dev.demo.cs-cart.com. There is a configurable product with variations called T-shirt; you can export it, see how the product and its variations are organized, and then import a product of your own. I've attached a CSV file and an image that shows how the exported configurable product looks in the spreadsheet editor. Imported products will look similar (except that your imported file will probably have more columns with prices, quantities, etc.)
I hope that answers your question. Please feel free to ask if some of these points aren't clear; we are currently working on documentation regarding this functionality, so your questions may help us improve the articles.
Hello Ikoshkin,
Thanks for your detailed explanation.
1.- Ok
2.- Ok
3.- Ok
4.- Ok, but this requires more work preparing the CSV file prior to import.
5.- Ok, this new column Variation options is logical that it is necessary.
Although I think you could try that, when filling in this column in product variations, the Options column of the configurable product was not necessary and was created automatically.
The Options column is the most laborious to create by hand.
I have done the tests in http://dev.demo.cs-cart.comchanging the reference of the products of the CSV file that you have provided me and effectively creating the configurable product with its variations in a correct way.
I want to propose another solution to create configurable products from previously imported product variations. To see if it would be possible.
1.- Import Product variations as variable products (marked as V in column Type)
2.- Select products imported in Backend=>Manage products
3.- Click on new option named "Create configurable product based on products selected"
4.- The previous button opens a popup or page with a form in which the necessary data (name, options, variants,...) are requested to create the configurable product linked to the products previously selected.
I do not know if this would be very complicated to do but it would make the job much easier for the store administrators, since each provider offers the data in a different way.
Thank you
Josep