Once you have created a Shopping Cart, you may need to export the Product Catalog to another Project, or use it with other software, such as accounting packages for example. On the other hand, you may need to import a Product Catalog so that you don't have to start from scratch on a new one.

With WebSite X5, you can use the options in the Toolbar of the Shopping Cart | Products window for all Import/Export operations. When you export a Product Catalog, the resulting file is in .TXT or .CSV format, and can be opened by a normal text editor (such as Windows Notepad) or Microsoft Excel.

If you want to manually edit the file obtained from exporting the Product Catalog, or create a new file to import, you must remember the following rules:

• The first line must contain the correct field headings, which are: ID;Category;Name/Code;Description;Price;Enable VAT;VAT Value;Weight;Options;Enable Discounts;Discounts
• Deleting a field from the heading amounts to deleting the corresponding data for all the Products. The following fields are obligatory and cannot be deleted from the heading: Category, Name/Code, Description, Price.
• Each row after the heading corresponds to one Product.
• All the parameters must be separated from the next by the ";" character.
• The following fields are obligatory for each Product: Category, Name/Code, Description, Price. All other fields are optional and may be omitted (by not writing anything between the ";" characters for the field in question).
• The Product ID is generated automatically by the Program: if you add a new Product you must leave the ID field empty. You cannot insert this parameter yourself.
• Any spaces that have been left, including those left intentionally, will be removed during the import operation.

The parameters in the .TXT or .CSV file are:

Parameter: ID

Obligatory: No

Description: It uniquely identifies the Product.

Value: It is generated and associated with the Product automatically by the Program.
If you want to edit the .TXT or .CSV file of a previous export operation, do not change the IDs but leave the field empty for new Products that may be added. Even if you create a new .TXT or .CSV file from scratch to import the Catalog to the Shopping Cart, do not fill in the Product ID fields. During the Import operation, the Program checks that there are no duplicate IDs and generates the missing ones.

Parameter: Category

Obligatory: Yes

Description: The name of the Category the Product belongs to.

Value: You can repeat the paths of Categories and sub-Categories using the ">" character.
For example, if the Product in the Catalog is a T-shirt that belongs to the "Casual" sub-Category of the "Mens Clothing" Category, you can enter the path in the .TXT or .CSV file as:
... ; Mens Clothing > Casual ; ...
You can include all the necessary sub-Categories using this method.

Parameter: Name/Code

Obligatory: Yes

Description: The Name or Code of the Product.

Value: When the Catalog is exported in .TXT or .CSV format, this parameter is taken from the Name/Code field of the Product Settings | General window.

Parameter: Description

Obligatory: Yes

Description: The description of the Product.

Value: When the Catalog is exported in .TXT or .CSV format, this parameter is taken from the Description field of the Product Settings | General window.

Parameter: Price

Obligatory: Yes

Description: The price of the Product.

Value: When the Catalog is exported in .TXT or .CSV format, this parameter is taken from the Price field of the Product Settings | General window.

Parameter: Enable VAT

Obligatory: No

Description: This indicates whether a specific VAT rate applies to the Product.

Value: When the Catalog is exported in .TXT or .CSV format, this parameter is taken from the VAT (%) option of the Product Settings | General window. This option is only active if you have selected the Set VAT for each Product option in the Options section, because you need to apply a specific VAT rate to a particular Product, that is different from the other Products in the Catalog. In these cases, the prices are given with VAT excluded.
This parameter can be set as 0 or 1: 0 if the VAT (%) option is not selected, and 1 if it is.

Parameter: VAT Value

Obligatory: No

Description: The specific VAT rate to apply to the price of the Product.

Value: When the Catalog is exported in .TXT or .CSV format, this parameter is taken from the VAT (%) option of the Product Settings | General window which, as mentioned above, is only active if you have selected the Set VAT for each Product option in the Options section.
If the VAT (%) option of the Product Settings | General window is selected but no value is specified, the Default VAT (%) indicated in the Options section is applied.

Parameter: Weight

Obligatory: No

Description: The weight of the Product.

Value: When the Catalog is exported in .TXT or .CSV format, this parameter is taken from the Weight field of the Product Settings | General window.

Parameter: Options

Obligatory: No

Description: The list of Variations to the Product.

Value: When the Catalog is exported in .TXT or .CSV format, this parameter is taken from the Product Variations field of the Product Settings | Options window.
If you are preparing a .TXT or .CSV file to import, the Product Variations list can be entered using the "|" character in the following format:
... ; Variation1 |Variation2 | Variation3 ; ....
Continue until you have added all the necessary Variations.

Parameter: Enable Discounts

Obligatory: No

Description: This indicates whether a bulk discount is applicable.

Value: When the Catalog is exported in .TXT or .CSV format, this parameter is taken from the Apply Bulk Discount field of the Product Settings | Options window.
This parameter can be set as 0 or 1: 0 if the Apply Bulk Discount option is not selected, and 1 if it is.

Parameter: Discounts

Obligatory: No

Description: The list of Bulk Discounts applicable to the Product.

Value: When the Catalog is exported in .TXT or .CSV format, this parameter is also taken from the Apply Bulk Discount field of the Product Settings | Options window.
If you are preparing a .TXT or .CSV file to import, the Bulk Discount list must be entered in the following format:
... ; quantity : discount | quantity : discount ; ...
For example, if a 10% discount is applicable to orders over 20 items, and a 15% discount for orders over 50 items, you must enter:
... ; 20 : 10 | 50 : 15 ; ...
Use the "|" character to separate the discounts.

If you import a .TXT or .CSV file that is the result of previous export operation, or has been created manually, the Program will probably update it, for example by adding any missing IDs. If you need an updated copy of the .TXT or .CSV file, you must export the Product Catalog again.

You can download a sample .CSV file for further clarification:http://www.websitex5.com/changelog/v9/files/cart9.csv