ProductsHandler Usage Notes

The ProductsHandler supports the import and export of product-related fields for your Zen Cart.

Feature Name	Comments
Export/Import	Both
Customized Fields for Export	✓
Export Filters	Product's Status, Product's Manufacturer, Product's Category
Required Columns (aka Fields) for Import	v_products_id, v_products_model
DbIo Commands	REMOVE, ADD, UNLINK (added in v1.6.4)

Special Fields

This handler supports some additional "special" fields:

Field Name	Description
v_manufacturers_name	The 'name' associated with the product's manufacturers_id.
v_tax_class_title	The 'name' associated with the product's products_tax_class_id.
v_categories_name	The name(s) associated with the product's master_categories_id, using the store's default language. This is represented by ^-separated names reflecting the product's category path.
v_dbio_command	Can be either an empty string (no command), ADD to force the addition/insertion of a product's definition, REMOVE to cause the product to be removed from the database or UNLINK to unlink the product from a category other than its master-category.

Configuration Settings

This handler uses a couple of Database I/O Manager configuration settings that control import features:

Allow Duplicate Models?

This setting, which defaults to No on installation, indicates whether (Yes) or not to allow duplicate model numbers to be applied to products on an import. If set to No, a csv-line import that would result in a duplicate model-number to be applied is not imported.

Product Creation Requires Command?

This setting, added for v1.6.4, indicates whether (Yes) or not (No, the default) a DbIo ADD command is required to create a product if no matching v_products_id or v_products_model is found.

Auto-create Categories on Import?

This setting, which defaults to No on installation, indicates whether (Yes) or not to automatically create otherwise non-existent categories when importing a product. If set to No, a csv-line import that contains an undefined v_categories_name and would result in a product's addition/insert is not imported.

Controlling a Product's Master and Linked Categories

A product's import can optionally set the product's master_categories_id or add a product to a linked category:

1. If the product is new, then the v_categories_name field must be present so that the product's master_categories_id can be determined.
2. If the product is being updated, then the v_categories_name (if included) identifies the product's new master_categories_id. The product's previous master_categories_id becomes a linked category.
3. If the product exists and the v_dbio_command is set to UNLINK, then the product is removed from v_categories_name if that category is not the product's current master-category.

Export Features

The default, non-customized export for this handler gathers all the fields from the products, products_description and meta_tags_products_description tables, along with this handler's special fields.

Notes:

1. If you are exporting all fields for a multi-lingual store, the fields from the products_description and meta_tags_products_description tables will each be grouped by language (default language first).
2. If you are exporting customized fields for a multi-lingual store, any fields within those two language-dependent table are grouped by language (default language first).