Variant Import/Export Module Gem back in Sept 2011

[kitdang]

All,

Is there an updated Variant module than the one that was sent out back in Sept 2011? I read a few post that James from EMS might be working on an updated version?

Also, I would like to survey how others go about onboarding new products? I have hundreds of new products and wasn't sure what is the best approach since I have to create variants for each products.

Thanks in advance

[eMediaSales]

Re: Variant Import/Export Module Gem back in Sept 2011

I think the latest version is v5.007 published in Sept 2011. What version do you have? Is something not working as expected? We use it a lot with our customers.

[kitdang]

Re: Variant Import/Export Module Gem back in Sept 2011

James,

I have v5.007. Everything is working fine for creating new variants for existing products. I am just curious how others are onboarding new batch of products to use miva built in inventory control.

The reason why I asked is we have custom fields that are used by sub-skus only (to help create diff statuses level similar to your inventory manager 5). So we currently

1. use your template to create parent SKUs with attributes/options
2. import template to create parent items
3. export template with new variants
4. modify files to include custom fields data
5. import template file

Is this how you guys are doing this? Is there a faster way to onboard new products?

[eMediaSales]

Re: Variant Import/Export Module Gem back in Sept 2011

Hi Kit,

You can essentially skip steps 2 - 4 or combine them into step 5. The module will create both the parents and variants in the same run, so long as the parent exists in the spreadsheet first. Attribute/options listed on the variant lines will be added to the parent on-demand, and custom field data for the variants can be populated in the first run too.

The process you made is actually very good for sanity testing and for the first few runs, but once you get comfortable with the spreadsheet format, you could onboard a complete new product including attributes/options/custom fields all in one run.

Best,
James

[kitdang]

Re: Variant Import/Export Module Gem back in Sept 2011

James,

Thanks for tip. One more question, I notice that the sub-skus are all created with "_". Is there an option to use "-" instead?

[gmanning]

Re: Variant Import/Export Module Gem back in Sept 2011

James,

Thanks for tip. One more question, I notice that the sub-skus are all created with "_". Is there an option to use "-" instead?

Now that we can choose the delimiter in PR8, is there a way to import with a custom delimiter?

[elcucococo]

Re: Variant Import/Export Module Gem back in Sept 2011

Hi Kit,

You can essentially skip steps 2 - 4 or combine them into step 5. The module will create both the parents and variants in the same run, so long as the parent exists in the spreadsheet first. Attribute/options listed on the variant lines will be added to the parent on-demand, and custom field data for the variants can be populated in the first run too.

The process you made is actually very good for sanity testing and for the first few runs, but once you get comfortable with the spreadsheet format, you could onboard a complete new product including attributes/options/custom fields all in one run.

Best,
James

James, I'm interested in this module, but I can't find it on your site. Can you tell me where I can get it? Thanks

[Rick Wilson]

Re: Variant Import/Export Module Gem back in Sept 2011

Carlos,

Email me and I'll send it to you.

[mdurkee]

Re: Variant Import/Export Module Gem back in Sept 2011

I think the latest version is v5.007 published in Sept 2011. What version do you have? Is something not working as expected? We use it a lot with our customers.

James, I realize it has been a long time but do you have any updated versions to this little gem? I could really use something to help me add/update products to my store and now that I have updated to Miva 9 it takes longer than ever.

Thanks for any tips you may have for us stores that use variants and attribute templates.

Maxanne

[Rick Wilson]

Re: Variant Import/Export Module Gem back in Sept 2011

That feature is now built into the core

[emdub]

Re: Variant Import/Export Module Gem back in Sept 2011

Does this new feature allow for the import/export of Inventory Kits? If not is there anything that does do this? Nearly all of our products rely on Inventory Kits, and as it is now, I am manually adding each variant product/products to each option in the Inventory Kit Builder. Being able to do this as a spreadsheet would be a great help.

Also, does this allow me to set a 'specific value' price for one or two attribute options, but keep 'controlled by master product' for all the others? This is another major time sink for me, and it gets wiped out any time I make a change to a product's Inventory Kit, and need to click "Generate Variants".

[Brennan]

Re: Variant Import/Export Module Gem back in Sept 2011

Miva does have a built in import (there is no export yet) to import inventory variants. It allows you to import products, attributes, options and it will variant products. The import is located under Data Management, Export Data.

This does allow you to do kits as well.

Attached is a example file which shows how this import works.

With Kits there is an additional required column called PRODUCT_KIT_CODE

Required Columns	Optional Columns
MASTER_PRODUCT_CODE	PRODUCT_NAME
PRODUCT_KIT_CODE	PRODUCT_SKU
ATTRIBUTE_CODE	THUMBNAIL_URL
OPTION_CODE	IMAGE_URL
	PRICE
	COST
	DESCRIPTION
	WEIGHT
	TAXABLE
	ACTIVE
	TRACK_PRODUCT_INVENTORY
	CATEGORY_CODES
	CANONICAL_CATEGORY_CODE
	ALTERNATE_DISPLAY_PAGE

[mdurkee]

Re: Variant Import/Export Module Gem back in Sept 2011

That feature is now built into the core

Ok - thanks Rick,
I have worked for quite a while to try and figure out the build in module to import the variants. Is there a video, sample file or anything that could help me figure out how to use it? The module that I have been using allowed for me to download the data in the exact format that I would upload it. The built in template comes out with the header record only. Since I use attribute templates, I am unsure how to fill in the flat worksheet.
Thanks for any help you can point me to.
Maxanne

*EDIT: Just saw the reply from Brennan above with the example attached . . . UGH. (Sorry)

Using that template does upload the variants but there is still the problem where they are not mapped. When you locate the master product and then click on the inventory variants tab, each one will say "none selected". You have to edit each one individually and select the size and color. Does anyone know a way to get the mapping to connect?

Thanks again

[Brennan]

Re: Variant Import/Export Module Gem back in Sept 2011

Hi Maxanne -

I just uploaded that spreadsheet to a demo store and the t-shirt product has all the variants created and they are mapped correctly. What product are you testing with?

[mdurkee]

Re: Variant Import/Export Module Gem back in Sept 2011

I uploaded three products to my site.
TR023192; TR023193; TR021204 - (these happen to be boardshorts)
Once the items are uploaded, the variants are created and in the order that I have them on the spreadsheet. When I go to the main product (the active one) and click on the Inventory variants tab, the variants are listed there but the size/color is not mapped.
I have an open ticket as well because now that I have upgraded to Miva 9, the data in the attributes tab is all crazy. I use attribute templates so I have one for color and another for size. I have those added and defined before I upload my spreadsheet.
Thing is, sometimes the color one is repeated several times and other times the size one is repeated. There is no way for me to delete the additional items shown there so not sure how to deal with it and how it may be affecting my product page.

Thanks for looking into this for me.