Creating a variation
The following methods of creating variations exist:
- Create the variations manually in the product details on the Variations tab; see Manual creation, below
Product variation assistant
The product variation assistant helps you to create variations for a product quickly and simply. For the basics about variations, refer to
Product details – Variations,
above. The assistant can be started in the following ways:
- Open it directly from the Variations tab in the product details. There you can click the Start product variation assistant link.
Perform the following steps in the assistant:
On this page, select the product type and variation attributes .
All available product types are listed in the Product type drop-down menu. Select the appropriate entry. After selection, the available variation attributes are displayed. Each attribute is displayed in its own edit area. Using the check boxes, you can specify whether the corresponding attribute should be used to create variations. Existing values are displayed.
If you need an additional value for an attribute, enter it in the entry field below the corresponding value list. If you need additional values, click Show more fields and enter the values in the new fields.
If you need a new attribute, click New attribute. Enter the name and edit the values as with existing attributes. For new attributes, you can determine whether the attribute values should be language-dependent. The values for the other languages are entered later in the details for the corresponding attribute of the product type.
If the selected product type has no variation attributes yet, create new attributes with values as described above.
If you need a new product type, select the New product type entry in the drop-down menu and enter the name in the Name entry field. Two attribute edit areas are displayed. Edit these attributed as described above.
Note:
In the wizard a maximum number 10 values can be entered per attribute. A message is displayed to indicate when you have entered the maximum number of attribute values. If you need additional values, you must enter these directly for the corresponding product type.
Click Next to go on to the next step.
When doing this, please note the following:
- The
icon allows you to delete values and attributes.
- Attributes which have already been saved for the product type are displayed in grey. The available values cannot be changed. You may still add values.
- If variation products have already been created, the product type assignment cannot be changed. The drop-down menu is displayed in grey. You must first delete all relevant variation products before changing the product type assignment.
- Only the attributes defined in the assistant are displayed for a new product type. If you would like to create additional attributes, open the details of the product type; see Product type details - Attributes, below.
- For language-dependent attribute values, you can only create the value for the administration language in the assistant. The values for additional languages must be created in the product type details; see Product type details - Attributes, below.
- Variation products
On this page, you can see the variations which can be made by combining the attribute values.
The name consists of the product number of the master product and a sequential integer. If necessary, you can modify the suggestions by overwriting them in the entry fields.
The variation products are generated for the selected variations. All variations are selected by default. If you do not want a variation product for a variation to be generated, remove the selection.
To set the generated variation products to visible, mark the Set the generated variation products to visible check box.
If a variation product has already been created for a combination, the entry is displayed with a grey check box. These entries cannot be changed as long as the relevant variation product exist.
Click Next to go on to the next step.
On this page, set how the variation products are displayed in the shop. Select this desired option by clicking the corresponding option field. See also
Product type details - Layout,
below.
Click Finish to end the assistant, save all settings and generate the variation products.
Manual creation
To create variation products manually, proceed as follows:
- Create a product type with attributes which contain the variation values. To do this, use attribute types with value selection. For more information, see Product types, below.
- Create a new single product; see Creating a single product, above. This is the master product. Assign the newly generated product type to the master product.
- Switch to the Variations tab in the product details of the master product, and select the section Variation attributes
- In the overview, select the attribute values to be used to generate variation products. Save your entries by clicking Save.
- Switch to the Variation products section. The drop-down menus in the bottom table row contain the values that you selected for creation of variations.
- Select the variations you wish to create in the drop-down menu(s). If necessary, enter a new product number. Otherwise a number will be automatically generated on the basis of the master product number. Save your entries by clicking Save.