Setting up external data¶
To learn more about the concept of shop data, please read chapter Concept of External Data.
Introduction¶
Many online shops offer an affiliate system, but do not have their own API for it. Often they offer their data in the form of CSV files, either by themselves or via platforms such as Awin.com.
In order to be able to use such individual data sources, there is the Data section for shops in ASA2.
There the shop data can be set up, imported and be synchronized automatically. ASA2 products can then be created based on this data.
Video Tutorial¶
URL¶
First you need to enter the URL that is used to provide the external data of the shop into the field “URL” and click the button “Check”. ASA2 will then check if the URL and the format of the data are supported.
Supported Files¶
This section describes which file extensions and file formats are currently supported.
File extensions¶
csv
txt
zip
gzip
Note
Zip and Gzip archives are supported if they contain a Csv or Txt file.
Examples:
This is a list of example URLs that would be accepted in terms of the file format.
File formats¶
Text file in CSV format
This means that the file that is delivered from the URL respectively is contained in the zip or gzip archive must be in text format. The product data in this file must be separated with a delimiter, which is typically supported when processing CSV files.
Supported delimiters¶
;
,
:
|
~
Tab (The tab control character)
Downloading File¶
If the URL check is successful, in the next step the file is automatically downloaded so that the data can be processed.
Data Mapping¶
After the file has been successfully downloaded, the data mapping section opens. Here you have to define which column of the data file contains which type of value, so that ASA2 can later assign the appropriate values to the products.
The ASA2 internal values in the left column must be assigned to the external file values in the right column.
Note
If ASA2 knows the shop, it will perform the data mapping automatically, see Known Shops.
Mandatory data¶
The selection of an mapping for the upper three values is mandatory. Without these values, no product can be created.
Item Number
Title
Affiliate URL
Item Number¶
The item number must be a number that is unique in the respective shop. The item number together with the shop ID is used in the update process to find the product within the shop data.
Title / Affiliate URL¶
It is self-explanatory that a product needs a title that can be displayed. Likewise, the affiliate link is necessary so that when clicked, the commission can be earned.
Update Column¶
In the Update column, you can select the values that should be updated automatically. Typically this should be all, but if you customize for example product titles or descriptions after first creation and don’t want them to be changed afterwards, you can uncheck these values.
Note
Keep in mind that when you create a product from the shop data for the first time, mapped values will be applied, even if Update is turned off.
Known Shops¶
If ASA2 knows the external shop, it does the work for you and assigns the values automatically. This can also be done later by clicking the “Help” button above the mapping table.
Check out the list of Known Shops.
Next step: Synchronize data