Flexible property definition on Products

ngibbons

Vote:

My client has products that have a large number of properties – for example:

Property	Data Type
Adult only	True/False
Dogs allowed	True/False

Given there are over a 100 of these (and there could be more in the future) – rather define these as individual properties in my class, can this be done in a more dynamic way?

Ideally we want to be able to allow Commerce Managers to enter these facilities repeatedly, giving each one a name, selecting a data type and then providing the value. This way they could add as many as they liked without the need to recompile/redeploy code.

Have you come across anything like this – is it even possible?

#131304

Jul 20, 2015 17:24

Quan Mai

Vote:

Hi,

This is not supported by default in Commerce, but nothing prevent you from doing it by code.

You can use a small tool to read from the product definition file (a CVS, may be), then create a MetaField for each field, then add it to the MetaClass of products. APIs can be found here:

http://world.episerver.com/documentation/Class-library/?documentId=commerce/7.5/A8B3DF01

http://world.episerver.com/documentation/Class-library/?documentId=commerce/7.5/276E6271

Regards.

#131306

Jul 20, 2015 18:50

ngibbons

Vote:

Thanks Q,

Any chance you could post some example code?

I undertsand that basically my models are connected to a MetaClass through the inheriting the appropriate type in the EPiServer.Commerce.Catalog.ContentTypes namespace and decorate it with the CatalogContentTypeAttribute attribute.

So what you suggestinng won't affect my model classes directly - how then could I access these created MetaFields if I wanted to display them on a product details page?

Also - we'd have to roll ouur own editor interface as well so that an editor could control through EPiServer?

Regards

Neil

#131342

Jul 21, 2015 13:39

Quan Mai

Vote:

Hi,

No, After you update the metafield, you just need to restart your site and then the properties will be available in your catalog content. Allthough you will need to access via content.Property["MetafieldName"] instead of strongly typed type, like content.MetafieldName.

The only way to have strongly typed type is to auto-generate the content types, then build.

And no, all properties will be available in Catalog Ui without additional modification.

You might need to contact our support service for sample code.

Regards.

#131346

Jul 21, 2015 14:15

ngibbons

Vote:

Thanks Q

I think I understand ... the order of events would be:

Use the custom tool to read a file of properties and update the MetaClass first.
Then, after restart, when viewing the product in the Catalog UI, all these new fields wouold be rendered as normal.

Thats definately a solution - but could the MetaField be added through the Catalog UI perhaps as some kind of collection MetaField?

So an editor opens a product, and next to an "Options" or Properties field, there's an input box "Add" button where they can add multiple ones at the same time.

Something similar to this:

Sample

#131353

Jul 21, 2015 17:31

Quan Mai

Vote:

Hi,

No, the Catalog UI is for editing only, while what you want to do is administration.

Of course there is nothing prevent you from implementation custom widgets for Catalog UI to do that - but I doubt it will be worth it.

Regards.

#131377

Jul 22, 2015 13:11

ngibbons

Vote:

Where can I find information custom widgets?

Regards

#131420

Jul 23, 2015 18:31

Quan Mai

Vote:

Some links I can find:

http://world.episerver.com/blogs/Linus-Ekstrom/Dates/2014/4/Adding-custom-views-to-your-content/

http://tedgustaf.com/blog/2014/6/create-an-episerver-widget-for-edit-mode/

Regards,

#131421

Jul 23, 2015 18:36