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Catalog Management

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Custom Product Navigation

Standard product navigation in the Sana Commerce - SQL Provider is managed in the 'ProductCategory' table in the SQL database. In this table the navigation structure is defined. Standard product navigation is mostly used for a database import.

The second type of product navigation in SQL Provider is the custom navigation which is managed in the backoffice. It allows the creation of the custom structure with many levels of navigation. The default theme used in the SC web store currently supports the three level navigation but the quantity of levels can be increased if needed.

Custom product navigation is activated in the 'Site configuration' section in the backoffice. Please follow this link to know more.

Custom product navigation section is located in the 'Catalog management' module of the backoffice. In order to start managing the product navigation you need to select the website.

'Product Navigation' Main Page

The overall structure of the navigation tree is displayed on the left. It consists of categories and sub-categories. Sub-categories can be viewed by clicking the 'arrow' sign. The names of invisible categories have 'grey' color.

In order to specify the level of each navigation item the 'arrow' buttons on the bottom part of the window are used. The buttons

specify the navigation level of an item while the buttons

are used to change its position in the navigation tree.

To create a new navigation item click the

button. Each new navigation item is created as a child item in relation to the item which was selected before creating a new one. To delete an item click the

button. When a navigation item of a higher level is deleted all the items of the lower level are deleted too.

On the right side of the page the edit navigation item pane is presented. By using it you can:

Edit the title of an item;
Set the visibility of an item;
Link product groups to an item;
Specify products which should be linked to the product navigation;
Add the additional language translations to the item title.

Because each navigation item has the unique ID in the Sana Commerce SQL database several items of one level can have the same title.

The list of product groups is retrieved from the same 'ProductCategory' table in the SQL database as in standard product navigation. Product groups are linked to the navigation item by clicking the 'arrow' buttons.

It is possible to select several product groups and add them to an item at once by pressing and holding the 'Ctrl' or 'Shift' button before moving these groups.

'Item numbers' field allows a user to directly link products to a navigation item. It is possible to link one product to several items.

If there are no product groups linked or product numbers specified for a navigation item and it does not have any items of the lower level this navigation item will not be shown on the webshop.

The name of each navigation item can have the translation to different languages. Click the

button near the language in the 'Languages' panel to add a new translation for the navigation item.

Adding the New Language to a Product Category

Click the 'Save' button to save your changes or the 'Undo' button to undo them.

When using the 'Undo' option all changes made to the 'Product navigation details' section will be cancelled.

Main Navigation Code

Any product can be connected to multiple navigation items when using the custom navigation. In this case the system cannot determine which navigation path is valid on the 'Product details' page. To solve the situation a special field called 'MainNavigationId' can be added to a product in the 'Product' table in the SQL database. By selecting the navigation item ID in this field a user can clearly specify the valid navigation path for an item.

The 'MainNavigationId' field, which is manually added to the product XML file, looks like the following way:

where '0585' (as an example) is the navigation item ID which is taken from the 'ProductNavigation' table.

Main navigation code is also used to generate the URL for the 'Product Details' page as a direct link from pages on which the link to a product details page is available ('Shop Homepage', 'Search Page', 'Related Products' and others).

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Sana Commerce does not accept any liability for the content of this website, or for the consequences of any actions taken on the basis of the information provided. The information below should be interpreted as an example. No rights can be derived from this information.

Sana Software – e-Commerce for Microsoft Dynamics

Updated: September 2011