Combine tool

The Combine products tool is a feature which allows you to handle relations between products after they have been imported to PIM. This can be very useful if the remote system does not, or cannot, account for product relations such as variants, or if it’s simply more economical to handle product relations directly in Dynamicweb PIM.

The Combine tool is not active by default - to activate it:

• Go to Settings > Ecommerce > Advanced configuration > General
• In the Additional fields section, check the Allow combining products as family checkbox

A new button for combining products will appear in both the Dynamicweb PIM and Dynamicweb Ecommerce toolbars.

To use the feature select any number of products without variants and click the Combine products button to launch the combination dialog (Figure 1.1).

Figure 1.1 Combine products as family

The products may be combined in two ways:

• As variants
• As a product family

Both options are explained below.

Please note, that when combining products you should allow the product number field to differ across variants. Main products are generated without a product number, and unless you allow field contents to vary so will the variants and product family members.

Please also note that product IDs will be replaced with the ID of the master product - consider using the product number as a key value instead on integrated solutions.

Variants are products which differ only in respect to one or more variant groups – size, color, etc.

When combining a set of products as variants (Figure 2.1), you will select one or more exisiting variant groups and assign a variant option to each product, e.g. Large or Black.

Figure 2.1 Combine as variants

To combine a set of products as variants:

• Select the Create variants mode
• Select the relevant variant groups
• Review the list of products you are combining – you can add or delete products from the selection
• Click Next

You must now do three things (Figure 2.2):

• Assign the relevant variant options to each product
• Select a product to generate a main product from
• Click Save

Figure 2.2 Combine as variants

Variant combinations must be unique – you can’t save two products with the same variant option (e.g. black). If you’re trying to do this the products are not truly variants of each other.

Please note, that you cannot add new variant products using this view - this is only intended as a tool for combining existing products.

A product family is a collection of products which are related but not variants of each other.

Like variants, products in a family are located under a main product – but the main product is not intended to be a product in its own right, but simply acts as a container for data shared by all the products in the family (Figure 3.1).

Figure 3.1 Combine as family

To combine products in a family:

• Select the Create family mode
• Review the list of products you are combining – you can add or delete products from the selection
• Click Next

On the next screen (Figure 3.2):

• Select a product to generate a main product from
• Click Save

Figure 3.2 Combine as family

If a product family has been created using the Combine tool, you can also use the tool to extract variants from the group – this creates regular products from the variants. You will be given a choice between deleting the master product when all variants have been extracted or keeping it around as a regular product.

To extract a variant or all variants from a product family:

• Open a group of products joined using the Combine tool
• Click the Combine tool to open the combine products dialog
• On the list of products click the Extract icon – or click the Extract all button to dissolve the whole group (Figure 4.1)

Figure 4.1 Extracting a single product or exploding the whole group