Variant categories

Variants are a special type of category. Though they are maintained in the same area of the Business Center as normal categories, they differ in two important ways:

  • Variant categories are never browseable (and have no parent).

  • Variant values are added to the variant category itself, rather than drawn from the standard item catalog.

As with sub-items, when you add a variant category as an attribute to a parent item, you will be able to select the set of values that are available for that item. This means that you can consolidate similar variants (for example, colors) into a single category and then fine-tune the selection available to each item.

To establish a variant and its values:

  1. Log on to the Business Center as a merchant administrator.
  2. Click the Items:Categories link in the navigator.

    A search form and a list of defined categories (if any) are displayed.

  3. Click Create New.
  4. On the Category Details page, make the following settings:
    Category details Description
    Category Enter a unique name for the category.
    Internal Name Enter a name for the category that will be easily recognizable to users of the Business Center; this name will never appear in the Customer Center.
    Category Type Set this to "Variant category".
    Texts Enter the name of the category in each language supported by your application.

    For existing categories, the Category Details page is different for each category type and that you define the Internal Name and Category Type only when first creating a category.)

  5. Click Create to submit your settings so far.

    The page reloads showing the settings appropriate for your selected category type (Variant category).

  6. Make the following settings:
    Settings Description
    Parent Category Variant categories are never browsable (and have no parent). However, you must set this to the root category.
    Visible Set this to "Yes" if you want the category to appear when browsing the Customer Center. Set this to "No" if you do not want the categories to appear. Often, categories that you create for grouping sub-items will be non-browsable (as with the wireless networking category in the computer-system example discussed at the start of this section).
  7. Click Add New Variant. You must now enter the set of options that are available:

    • Enter a unique Variant Code in the field provided. This value must be unique from all other variant codes and item numbers on the system because this will be entered as a key value in the Item table. The value you enter here will not appear in the Customer Center (you can enter local-language names for the option in the next step). If you are specifying variant values that might appear under several variant categories (such as color selections for various items), then consider using a prefix for each code (for example, "TVFcomputer1-Red" rather than just "Red").

    • Enter the name of the variant in each language supported by your application.

  8. Click Create to submit the new value.
  9. Click Back to return to the Category Details page. Continue adding values using the Add New Variant button until you have defined all of the values you require for the variant.