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Getting Started with Apache OFBiz E-Commerce, Release 4.0

The Catalog Manager Application

Copyright, Ruth Hoffman 2009 2Publication Number: OFBIZCS1P1V1092009, Version 1 August 2009

"Getting Started with ApacheOFBiz TM E-Commerce (Release 4.0)""The OFBiz Catalog Manager Application"

Version 1.0Copyright 2009 Ruth Hoffman

All rights reserved.

Java and all Java-based marks are trademarks or registered trademarks ofSun Microsystems, Inc.

ApacheTM, OFBizTM, Apache Derby and the OFBiz

logos are trademarks of the Apache Software Foundation.

myOFBiz and myOFBiz.com are copy write marks of Adaptive EnterpriseSolutions, Inc.

Cover: Laurie Morrison

Editorial assistance: Sue Ridgeway ([email protected])

The information in this book is distributed on an "as is" basis without anywarranty. Although every effort has been made to ensure accuracy, the authorshall have no liability to any person or entity with respect to any loss or damage

caused by or alleged to be caused directly or indirectly by the informationcontained in this work.


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Table of Contents

About This Book.................................................................................5Who Should Read This Book............................................................................ 5About The Author.............................................................................................. 5Conventions...................................................................................................... 5Organization of the Book .................................................................................. 7Downloads........................................................................................................ 8

What You Need to Know....................................................................9About E-commerce........................................................................................... 9About OFBiz ..................................................................................................... 9About OFBiz Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) ........................................ 10Finally a Note About OFBiz Versions.............................................................. 10

The Catalog Manager Application ..................................................11

1.0 Introducing the OFBiz Catalog Manager ................................................ 112.0 Navigating the Catalog Manager User Interface .................................... 14

2.1 Quickly Find an Existing Product........................................................ 152.2 Quickly Find an Existing Catalog or Category .................................... 17

3.0 OFBiz Stores.......................................................................................... 183.1 List Available Stores........................................................................... 213.2 Setting Stores On Websites................................................................ 223.3 Basic Store Settings ........................................................................... 253.4 Creating a New OFBiz Store .............................................................. 303.5 Stores and Payment ........................................................................... 313.6

Store Shipping Services ..................................................................... 34

3.7 Setting Shipping Estimates................................................................. 383.8 Notifications (Emails).......................................................................... 393.9 Store Surveys..................................................................................... 43

4.0 Products................................................................................................. 454.1 Listing Products.................................................................................. 474.2 Creating a New Product ..................................................................... 494.3 Changing Basic Product Settings ....................................................... 524.4 Product Descriptive Text .................................................................... 544.5 Product Pricing................................................................................... 574.6 Product Features................................................................................ 614.7

Product IDs......................................................................................... 65

4.8 Products as Configurations................................................................. 664.9 Product Configuration Items............................................................... 69

5.0 Price Rules............................................................................................. 736.0 Promotions............................................................................................. 77

6.1 List All OFBiz Promotions................................................................... 796.2 List Store Promotions......................................................................... 806.3 Add/Remove Store Promotions .......................................................... 81


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6.4 Promotion Configuration..................................................................... 836.5 Product Promotion Rules.................................................................... 88

7.0 Product Catalogs and Categories .......................................................... 937.1 Introduction......................................................................................... 937.2 List All Catalogs.................................................................................. 957.3 List Available Categories.................................................................... 967.4 Add/Remove Catalogs from Stores .................................................... 987.5 Creating New Catalogs....................................................................... 997.6 Creating New Categories ................................................................. 1007.7 Adding/Removing Categories From Catalogs................................... 1027.8 Building Category Hierarchies.......................................................... 1047.9 Add/Remove Products from Catalogs .............................................. 106

8.0 Miscellaneous Topics........................................................................... 1108.1 Subscriptions.................................................................................... 1108.2 Catalog Thesaurus ........................................................................... 1148.3 Product Keywords ............................................................................ 1158.4 Product Reviews............................................................................... 116

Appendix A OFBiz Downloads......................................................117Appendix B OFBiz Versions..........................................................120


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About This Book

Who Should Read This BookThis book is an introduction to the Apache "Open for Business"TM (ApacheOFBiz TM) Catalog Manager Application. If you want to understand what youget out-of-the-box with theApache OFBizCatalog Manager, this book waswritten for you. We've highlighted key features, essential functions andproduct benefits in an easy to read, non-technical format. Business owners,consultants and Users looking for a competitive edge, whether it be for asmall, home-grown business or a global multinational organization, will finduseful information here.

If you are completely new to OFBiz, consider reading the introductory,companion book in this series: "Getting Started with Apache OFBiz E-Commerce, The eCommerce Application" for a thorough understandingOFBiz e-commerce out-of-the-box, from the end-user's point of view.

On the other hand, if you are looking for an OFBiz developer's guide ordetails of the code base, this book is not for you. No JavaTM code snippets,eXtensible Markup Language (XML) or code diagramming were used in thecreation of this book and will not be discussed at any point.

About The Author

Ruth Hoffman has over 30 years of computer industry experience rangingfrom early work writing real-time command & control systems to more recentmarketing and sales support endeavors. Over the last several years, she hasmoved back to her roots as a software developer, embracing the Web andsearching for the next "killer app".

Conventions

Apache OFBiztm

is the trademarked designator for the code base and thesoftware that is the Apache Open for Business project. OFBiz (alsotrademarked) is the short-cut moniker adopted by the community and incommon use today. Throughout the remainder of this book, OFBiz shallmean the Apache OFBiz project code base and any relevant derivativematerials.


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"Cue balls" such asare used to bring attention to certain areas ofinterest on a graphic such as a web screenshot.

Bolded Type indicates the name of a software product,an OFBiz application,a named software feature, a web page or a web page form name. Forexample: OFBiz.

"e-commerce" is used as a generic term referring to online businesstransactions.

The term "eCommerce" is the name of the OFBiz application that brings e-commerce features and functions to an instance of the OFBiz EnterpriseResource Planning (ERP)1 software suite.

HTML submit buttons and some navigation tabs are indicated as follows:Button_Label

"" Indicates one or more navigation links or mouse clicks used to access aweb page or navigate through a series of web pages.

"Web" (with an upper case "W") refers to the World Wide Web defined as acomputer network consisting of a collection of Internet sites that offer text andgraphics and sound and animation resources through the hypertext transferprotocol2.

"web" (with a lower case "W") refers to a single Hypertext Markup Language(HTML) document.

1ERP is defined as a system that integrates all data an processes of an organization into a

unified system. A key ingredient of most ERP systems is the use of a unified database to storedata for the various system modules. (2009, http://www.threerivers-cams.com/Resources/Terminology)

2http://wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?s=world%20wide%20web


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Organization of the Book

This book is the second in a two part series written to introduce the Apache

Open for Business ERP software suite's e-commerce capabilities. In thisbook, "Getting Started with Apache OFBiz E-Commerce, The CatalogManager Application", we discuss the OFBizCatalog Managerapplication.The Catalog Manageris the OFBiz application used to setup, configure andmanage OFBiz e-commerce stores.

Chapter 1 begins our tour of the OFBiz Catalog Managerwith a high leveloverview of features and functions.

Chapter 2 discusses the Catalog Manager's User Interface with some helpfulhints on how to navigate the many and varied web pages that make up this

application.

Chapter 3 begins with an overview of the OFBiz "Store". It continues with adiscussion covering some basic store management tasks such as viewing theconfiguration settings of existing stores; configuring new stores; changingstore settings; store payment options; store shipping provider methods; emailnotification to users and store based surveys.

Chapter 4 is a basic introduction to OFBiz "Products". Products are acomplex beast and this chapter begins the discussion about basic productmanagement activities such as creating new products; changing properties of

existing products; adding pricing to products; giving products features andproducts as configurations.

Chapter 5 is an introduction to the OFBiz "Price Rules" engine. In this chapteryou will learn how price rules work and how to apply price rules to stores,products and groups of products.

Chapter 6 discusses store based "Promotions". Promotions or "SpecialOffers" may be configured and applied across an entire store, on a singleproduct or anywhere in between. The choice is yours. In this chapter, learnhow OFBiz promotions work.

Chapter 7 is all about OFBiz "Product Catalogs". Product catalogs arecollections of products, grouped, organized and displayed to make onlineshopping easy and browsing fun. Discover the many and varied ways OFBizsupports product listings and promotions through the implementation ofproduct catalogs.


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Chapter 8 completes our tour of the OFBiz Catalog Manager withdiscussions about several miscellaneous topics including productsubscriptions, support of catalog thesaurus and product reviews.

Downloads

While you don't need the OFBiz software to make good use of this book,there is nothing like trying it out and seeing for yourself. For detailedinstructions on how to download and install a free copy of OFBizon your PCor desktop system, please visit the official OFBiz website at:http://ofbiz.apache.org or see Appendix A OFBiz Downloads.


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What You Need to Know

While you don't need to have a PhD in Computer Science to make sense ofthis book, there are some basic things you need to know to ensure you getthe most out of it.

About E-commerce

Electronic Commerce or e-commerce has been defined as the buying andselling of products and/or services over a network. The focus of this book isthe part of e-commerce, transacted over the World Wide Web (Web), andoften referred to as business-to-consumer online retailing or e-tailing.

There is no denying the importance of e-commerce and online retailing. If youare reading this book, then you already understand this and realize thepotential OFBiz has to help our business grow and become a major e-commerce player.

What should you be looking for in e-commerce software tools? At minimum:

Support for one or more virtual store(s) where products and/or servicesare showcased and consumers browse product offerings and placeorders.

A virtual shopping cart where a consumer may select items from thestorefront and hold them until they are ready to purchase.

An automated checkout, facilitating order placement and payment.

Integration with other business applications as needed. Accounting,inventory, website management, customer management, contentmanagement and manufacturing are all business areas that may benefitfrom seemless integration with the e-commerce software.

About OFBiz

If you are looking for an Open Source3, easily customizable, robust, secureand reliable e-commerce software solution, thenOFBiz may be just the ticket.OFBiz is free for the downloading. Licensed under the Apache 2.0 umbrella,4there are no upfront fees; no royalties of any type and once you download

3With open source software you get all the code at no charge.

4For more info on the Apache 2.0 license and open source licensing as it applies to the Apache

Open for Business project, please see: http://www.apache.org/legal/resolved.html


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OFBiz, you own OFBiz. You may change it in any way, deploy it and resell itwithout penalty or obligation to the OFBizproject. That is the freedom of theApache 2.0 license.

If you are new to Open Source software and are not sure about this freedom,then no harm done. You can still download it and try it out. Or, you can justread the rest of this book and see what its all about and then decide foryourself.

As an open source community-driven project OFBiz is maintained andimproved by a dedicated team of skilled contributors. The primary source ofOFBiz information is the OFBiz Wiki (http://ofbiz.apache.org/). The reader isencouraged to visit the site as this is an active, ever improving project.

About OFBiz Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP)

Look to OFBiz for reliable, scalable and easy to integrate Enterprise readysoftware. OFBiz is an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP)5 software suitebuilt using the latest Java J2EE tools and best practices. To quote theproject's web site:

"Open For Business (OFBiz) is a suite of enterprise applications built on a commonarchitecture using common data, logic and process components. The loosely coupled natureof the applications makes these components easy to understand, extend and customize."

"The tools and architecture of OFBiz make it easy to efficiently develop and maintain

enterprise applicationsIt also makes it easy to customize and extend existing functionalitywhen you have a specific need."

6

Finally a Note About OFBiz Versions

OFBiz is community-driven software so don't be surprised if the version thatyou download today doesnt match the version used to capture screenshotsfor this book. The author has made every effort to stay current with theproject. Screenshots used to illustrate this book are taken from Release 4.0version 7x.

For more information onOFBizproject versioning, please see Appendix B"OFBiz Versions".

5ERP is defined as a system that integrates all data an processes of an organization into a

unified system. A key ingredient of most ERP systems is the use of a unified database to storedata for the various system modules. (2009, http://www.threerivers-cams.com/Resources/Terminology)6

From the OFBiz project Website,http://docs.ofbiz.org/display/OFBADMIN/Apache+OFBiz+Project+Overview


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1.0 Introducing the OFBiz Catalog Manager

The Catalog Manager is the OFBiz application used to configure andmanage the OFBiz eCommerce store. Through the Catalog Managerbrowser based User Interface (UI) you may:

Manage one or more OFBiz "Store" including: creating new stores;editing storewide settings such as the web page logo and the web pagestore "title"; setting stores on websites so that they are visible via public(or private) IP addresses; removing stores from websites; associating

inventory including physical inventory locations - called "Facilities"; settingdefault locales; setting default currency and much more.

Create and configure goods and services ("Products") that may besold through any OFBiz store. Product configuration options include:product type (physical product that may require inventory orvirtual/downloadable products); size, weight, depth, quantity (if multipleparts are included), tax adjustments, shipping adjustments, description(s)and graphical images.

Add, remove and expire products from display on the store by

managing "catalogs" and catalog "categories". Product catalogs providethe structure necessary to group together and organize any number ofdifferent products to met any business need. With the power andversatility ofOFBiz catalogs, store owners may have any combination ofproduct, catalog and store.

Configure and enforce enterprise wide pricing rules. OFBiz pricingcomes in two flavors: storewide "Promotional" pricing applied to the store'sshopping cart on a per User basis and per product pricing actions. Bothpricing actions are completely configurable and offer a wide range ofoptions and application.

Create and manage subscription services. The Catalog Managerprovides support for selling products through subscription baseddistribution models.

And much more.


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The Catalog Manageris an OFBiz application in its own right. Out-of-the-boxit is ready to run, with no further configuration or administrative supportnecessary. In this part of the book we examine how to use the Catalog

Managerto perform some basic OFBizeCommerce customization tasks.

If you would like to follow along with your own instance ofOFBiz, access theCatalog Manager"Main" page (shown in Figure 1.0) by typing the followingURL: http://localhost:8080/catalog into your browser's address bar.

The Catalog Manageris password protected. If you have not already loggedinto anotherOFBiz tool or framework component, then you will be promptedfor the OFBizAdministrator's user name and password. Enter the following:

username: admin

password: ofbiz

Note:Before we go any further, a word about OFBiz and data persistence. OFBizdata is saved in a physical disk based database. Out-of-the-box, thedistribution comes bundled with the Apache Derby relational database. Nofurther administrative support is necessary to use the Derby database with thedemonstration data or any of the OFBiz applications. While it is notrecommended to go into production using this database, testing andprototyping websites is made much easier because of this integration. For

more information on the OFBiz database environment, look for forthcomingpublications in this series at http://www.myofbiz.com or visit the OFBiz Wikimain page: http://ofbiz.apache.org.

All store, product and catalog configuration settings made through the CatalogManagerare automatically saved in this database. As a Catalog Manageruser, you need not be concerned about the underlying database, datapersistence or database interactions. OFBiz handles all that for you.


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Figure 1.0Successful Invocation Displays The Catalog Manager's "Main" Web Page

Catalog ManagerNavigation Links

Catalog Manager "WorkSpace". This section ofthe web page's contents are dependent on thecurrent task the User is performing. The "Main"view, shown here is the default screen when firstentering the Catalog Manager or when the Userreturns via the "Main" navigation link.

OFBiz Application Navigation LinksQuick Search Menu Selections


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2.0 Navigating the Catalog Manager User Interface

The Catalog ManagerUser Interface (UI) is web browser enabled. It consists

of a series of content dense web pages chock-full of HTML forms and website navigation buttons. Moving among the various parts of the CatalogManageris not intuitive. For the beginner, finding your way around may seeman impossible task.

What follows is a quick discussion of the layout of the Catalog ManagerUI:The Catalog Managerhas its own set of navigation links that run along thetop of the web page, just below a set of navigation links to other OFBizapplications (See Figure 1.0). These links jump the user to primary functionalareas within the Catalog Managerapplication. Included are navigation linksto web page(s) for managing global OFBiz settings such as:

Product Features Site and Product Promotions Pricing Rules Product Stores Search Thesaurus Product Reviews Product Configurations [Configurations are products built from

components that are not other products.] Subscriptions Enterprise-wide Shipping

Below the Catalog Managertop navigation links, the web page is divided intotwo columns: the left column contains search and quick jump navigation linksfor specific products, catalogs and categories. The right column is a genericwork space dynamically filled with forms and/or content based on thecurrently active top navigation link.


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2.1 Quickly Find an Existing Product

Quick searches allow the User to move amongst the many Catalog Manager

web pages and functional areas with a minimum of keystrokes. To use thekeyword quick search feature to find an existing product enter all or part of theproduct name as shown in Figure 2.1 below:

Figure 2.1 Quick Product Search Form

Enter keyword (all or part of thesearch criteria) here and hit the

Find button

Select and bring up list of all productsthat match "GIZ". See Figure 2.1.1 foran example of the returned results.

"Lookup" icons provideshortcuts to popup full pagesearch boxes.


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Figure 2.1.1 Return Product List From Keyword Search

Number of products returned with auto

pagination. [Note - the graphic has beenresized and does not show all 18products.]

Partial list of products returned from the

keyword product search. Click on aproduct name to bring up the Productconfiguration page.

Unique product identifier or"ProductId" as given when theproduct is created.


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2.2 Quickly Find an Existing Catalog or Category

From the left column of the Catalog ManagerUI, you can quickly find and

bring up configuration forms for existing catalogs and categories. Figure 2.2highlights some of the many ways in which to use the quick searches menuoptions:

Figure 2.2Quick Searches

Table 2.2"Quick Searches"

Feature Key

Key Feature "Lookup" icons. When selected, a detailed

lookup form is presented allowing filteredlookups based on various category features.Quickly list all available categoriesindependently of any catalog by hitting this

"lookup" icon and then selecting the Lookup

button.

Jump to specific configuration forms byselecting an option from this dropdown box. Inthe absence of any other qualifyinginformation, selection of the "Product Jump"option will bring up a form to create a newproduct.

Collapse or expand these menu options hereby select the "-"/"+" ("+" not shown).

See all the categories for the selected catalogat a glance by selecting the catalog's name inthis box. The selection of this catalog linkalso resets the contents of the "BrowseCategories box" #5 below.

Select a "top" category for the currentlyselected Catalog. Catalogs may have one ormore hierarchical groupings of categories.Each grouping has a "top" or "parent"category. This "top" (a category that itself hasno parent) selection allows you to change theparent category to another "top" categorywithin the current catalog revealing all childrenfor the selected "top" category.

If there are any products in this category theywill be listed here with links to navigatedirectly to the product configuration form.


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3.0 OFBiz Stores

"Stores", often referred to as "Product Stores", are a convenient way of

grouping global or common commerce properties together based on businessrequirements and/or business policies. Each OFBiz store has its own set ofstorewide settings that include, but are not limited to:

Store Name. A store's name appears on the website header and othercontexts where human readable text is desired. For example on orders andemail correspondences. Store names may consist of up to 100 charactersand may include spaces and upper and lower case combinations.

Company Name. An OFBiz "Company" is an OFBiz User (called a "party")that is the owner of this particular store. The "Company Name" appears on

invoices, orders, billing statements and other store related documents.

Title of the Store. A store may have a title (and a subtitle). These text stringsare used by the eCommerce application in a number of settings including thewebpage store header.

Web page(s) Style Sheets (CSS) and Header Logo. A store may have itsown logo and style sheet distinct from any other store defined for this instanceof OFBiz. If specified, this header logo and style sheet will override thedefault settings.

Active Catalogs. Each OFBiz store may have one or more "active" catalogsavailable for User browsing. Catalogs are organized collections of productlistings. "Active" catalogs are viewable by Users. "Inactive" catalogs mayexist, but are not visible to consumers.

User roles (called "Party" roles). Stores may have access controls applied tothem such that only certain authorized User's may browse or purchase fromthe store. By default, all eCommerce store User's have a role of "Customer"assigned to them when they start using the store's shopping cart duringcheckout. There is no need to assign any other roles for the OFBizeCommerce store to work.

If you need to have other roles assigned to the store, that is authorize otherUsers such as employees or sales agents to view and purchase from thestore's catalogs, the Catalog Managersupports the application of additionalroles on a store by store basis.

Shipping and shipment providers. The availability and user selection ofshipping providers such as UPS or FedX may be added or removed from a


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store using the Catalog Manager. Shipping provider availability is set perstore.

Payment Methods. OFBiz supports a number of payment methods includingonline credit card payments and offline methods such as cash, cash-on-delivery (COD), check and store account. Each store may choose whichpayment methods and payment providers to implement.

Order Fulfillment Procedures and Order Status. The order fulfillmentprocess, including payment authorization, may be configured to meet yourbusiness needs using the Catalog Manager.

Event Notifications. Each store may choose to send notifications (emails)when certain events occur. Using the Catalog Manager notifications may

turned on or off and configured with source, destination, subject line andcontent.

Product & Store Promotions. OFBiz stores may have any number of"promotions" or store based "Special Offers" associated with it. Storepromotions may be set on products, categories or products or on entirecatalogs.

Shopping Cart Behaviors. The shopping cart may be set for each store, toalways be displayed after an item is added to it, or to only be displayed when

the View Cart link is selected.

Default locale. OFBiz has been Internationalized and localized. It supports anumber of different translations out-of-the-box. You may change the defaultlocale setting from United States to any locale of your choosing on a per storebasis. Setting the default locale does not effect the User's ability to select apreferred language using the "Language" drop down selection box.

Default currency. Each store may have a default currency set. Without anymodifications, the default currency setting is the US dollar.

Tax Calculations. Applying tax to an order may be set depending on the

target audience. Tax configuration options include allowing tax exemptpurchases; showing/hiding VAT tax (where appropriate); and setting VAT taxgeographical identifiers.

And Much More.

An OFBiz instance may have any number of stores defined. Out-of-the-box,OFBiz demonstrates the configuration of three stores: the "OFBiz E-


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Commerce Store", the "OFBiz Physical Retail Store" and the "Open Travelsystem [sic] Demo Site". By default, the "OFBiz E-Commerce Store" is thestore you see when you first browse to the OFBiz eCommerce website

(http://localhost:8080/ecommerce).

If you are wondering how these demo stores came into existence (perhapsyou are thinking they are "hardwired" into the code), then read on: The threeavailable stores are derived from "seed" data provided with the distribution.As with most of the other data encountered out-of-the-box, seed data,(provided by the project as part of the download distribution), is loaded andpersisted with the embedded OFBiz database and then accessed by thevarious OFBiz applications as needed.

If you download a "nightly build" version ofOFBiz, you are downloading the

source code as well as the seed data already stored in the database. That is,someone else already ran the utilities that load predefined data into thedatabase and then zipped up the entire directory contents for ourconvenience. If you download from source, then part of the build process is torun the scripts that load seed and other data into the database.

In the following sections, we shall discuss using the Catalog Managerto:

List Stores Set Stores On Website Create new Stores

Configure Store Settings


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3.1 List Available Stores

Note:OFBiz supports both virtual and physical stores. Virtual stores conduct allbusiness on the Web and are supported by the OFBiz eCommerceapplication. An OFBiz store may also be real and include one or more physicallocations each with point-of-sale, cash registers or other payment capturedevices. The focus of this book is the OFBiz virtual e-commerce store.

An OFBiz instance may host an unlimited number ofOFBiz real and virtualstores. Why have more than one store perOFBiz instance? If you have oneset of products but many web distribution channels, maybe several Internet

domains or different websites targeted at specific audiences, then you maywant many OFBiz stores. Each OFBiz store may have its own name, lookand feel, payment methods and even its own sales promotions.

To view a list stores available out-of-the-box as part of the demonstration dataprovided:

From the Catalog Manager"Main" Page Select the Stores tab

This will bring up the "Product Store List": a table with one row for eachconfigured OFBiz store as shown in Figure 3.1

Figure 3.1 Product Store List

From the "Product Store List" you can easily navigate to an individual store's

settings by either selecting the Edit button or clicking on the store's name.

"Store Name" is a clickable navigation linkto the store settings web page for thisstore.

You may also edit a store'ssettings by selecting this link.


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3.2 Setting Stores On Websites

In the world ofOFBizeCommerce, Users browse the Web and, with a little

bit of luck, land on a website hosting an OFBiz store. An OFBiz "website"links an OFBiz store to a real life web application7 and address on the Web.This web address is known as a Uniform Resource Locator(URL)). Out-of-the-box, "localhost:8080/ecommerce" is the URL (and web application) usedby the OFBizeCommerce store. When OFBiz is deployed in a productionenvironment, the localhost portion of the URL is replaced with the domainname of the server on which OFBiz is running.

Just as single instance ofOFBiz may have any number of stores, a singleOFBiz store may point to or be "set" on any number of different websites.There is no limit to the number of unique websites an OFBiz store may be set

onto.

Note:If your business rules call for multiple stores on multiple websites, where eachstore has different product catalogs and order fulfillment policies such aspayment options and shipping, then OFBiz supports that configuration as well.

Read on to find out how this works.

To set a store on a website, select the store from the "Product Store List" (seeFigure 3.1) to display the store's primary configuration web page. From thestore's configuration page:

Select the Web Sites navigation tab.

Select the destination website from those in the dropdown menu.

Hit the Update button to submit your change.

If there was already a store on this website, you will need to remove that storebefore another store may be set there. To remove a store from a website:

Navigating to that store's primary configuration page.

Selecting the WebSites tab. Selecting the Delete button.

7Web application per Java Servlet web.xml deployment descriptor. OFBiz may have any number

of web applications each with its own web.xml deployment descriptor.


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Once the old store is removed and the new store set onto the desiredwebsite, the new store is ready to browse. No need to restart OFBiz or anypart of the OFBiz server.

Figure 3.2 demonstrates the effect of setting the "Open Travel system DemoSite" onto the default (out-of-the-box demo store) website(http://localhost:8080/ecommerce). Before setting the "Open Travel systemDemo Site" onto this website, the "OFBiz eCommerce Store" is installedthere. You can see from Figure 3.2 that after changing the website setting,the URL http://localhost:8080/ecommerce now displays the "Open Travelsystem Demo Site" logo and title, but retains the same default product catalogas the "OFBiz eCommerce Store". This is an example of multiple storessharing the same catalogs and products.1

1For those purists out there that caught this: the "Open Travel" website should really be showing

the "Open Travel" product catalog - of which there is a single rental catalog provided with thedemonstration data, and not the default eCommerce store's "Demo Catalog", after we make thewebsite switch. The author believes there is a bug in this version of OFBiz.


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Figure 3.2Before and AfterSetting the "Open Travel system Demo" Store

on the"http://localhost:8080/ecommerce WebSite"

Choose from the available websitesby selecting from this drop downbox. "eCommerce Web Site" is"http://localhost:8080/ecommerce

Hit the Update button to make

change

URL/Website before moving the "Open Travel" storefrom the "Cloned eCommerce Web Site"[http://localhost:8080/ecomclone]

After: same URL, new storeheader.


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3.3 Basic Store Settings

To view or change an existing store's configuration settings, select the store

from the "Product Store List" to bring up the HTML form used to managebasic configuration settings as shown in Figure 3.3.a.

Figure 3.3.a OFBiz Store Configuration Form, Part 1

Navigation tabs to all the settings related to configuring the currently displayedstore. Current store in the workspace is "OFBiz E-Commerce Store".


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Table 3.3.a "OFBiz Store Configuration Form Part 1"Features Settings Key

"Store Name" uniquely identifies the store within the OFBiz instance and database. This

is an opportunity to give a human readable name to the store as it already has a uniquedatabase identifier associated with it. "Store Name" is used in places, such as the list ofproduct stores, where a textual name is preferred. This setting may be changed at anytime.

"Company Name" is used in several places outside of the eCommerce Application andCatalog Managerto uniquely describe the Company orOFBiz "Party" owning the store.For example, for automatic email notifications, the "Company Name" as it appears here,is used. This setting may be changed at any time.

"Title". The store's "Title" is used on the website web page as part of the header.

"Sub-Title". The store's "Sub-Title" is used on the website web page as part of theheader.

"Pay to Party Id" is used by the OFBiz Accounting Application to identify and providecontact information about the store owner for such business functions as accountspayable, accounts receivable and general correspondences. Changing the default entryfrom "Company", is accomplished using the OFBiz Party Application and is beyond thescope of this document.

"View Cart on Add" & "Auto Save Cart". These settings control the initial shopping cartbehavior for this store. "View Cart on Add" set to "y" will always show the full shoppingcart contents after the user adds and item to the cart. The User will then need to navigateback to the storefront to continue browsing the store, or continue with checkout.

"Auto Approve Reviews". "Auto Approve Reviews" sets the default behavior for theOFBiz product review feature. OFBiz supports product reviews per product, but theapproval of review and subsequent display of review content on the "Product Detail"page may be controlled using this setting. Setting this to "N" will require a User to login

and approve a review before it is visible on the website.

Various inventory settings. Used by the OFBiz Facility Application to manage inventoryfor the store. "Check Inventory" will force the eCommerce Application to check the status of

available inventory in the inventory facility defined under "Inventory Facility Id". Tochange inventory facilities, use the OFBiz Facilities Application.

"Require Inventory" set to "Y" will alert the consumer that an item is out of stock if thenumber of items in stock (for this product) goes below 0. Note: This is a store-widesetting and not based on the availability of any one product.

"Order Number Prefix". Used by OFBiz to generate unique Order identifiers as seen bythe Users on the "Order Confirmation" page and "Order History" web pages.


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Moving down the configuration form, more settings are displayed.

Figure 3.3.b OFBiz Store Configuration Form, continued.


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Table 3.3.b"OFBiz Store Configuration Form, continued" Features/Settings Key

"Retry Failed Authorizations". If an inline authorization is attempted, for example, real

time attempts at credit card authorizations, and it fails, this setting tells OFBiz to make upto three repeated tries.

Various "Status" labels used by the OFBiz Order Application to indicate the status ofOrder items as they pass through the fulfillment process.

The content of various messages or notifications specifically for failed paymentauthorization. This is what the User sees when there are problems with the paymentauthorization process.

"Style Sheet". This is the CSS (style sheet) used to by this store when building webviews. The file used may be changed here at anytime. Additionally, the style sheet itselfmay be edited - using a text editor of choice. Editing OFBiz CSS is beyond the scope ofthis book.

Note: /images is the URL used by OFBiz to find CSS, images, Javascript and other filesserved directly by the embedded Web Server. This URL translates to a hard drive (disk)location relative to the OFBiz install directory followed by:/framework/images/webapp/images

"Header Logo". This is the location (relative to the URL /images) of the store logo usedon the store's header web page. This may be changed. The file may be replaced with alogo of your choice or you may change the file pointed to here.

"Use Primary Email Username". If set to "Y", the User's primary email address willautomatically be inserted in the username request form and used as the User's loginusername. If set to "N", the User will be asked for a unique username for login purposes.

"Require Customer Role" . This indicator is used by the OFBiz Order Entry Applicationto determine if a User is permitted access to this store's products. OFBiz Order EntryUsers will be required to login to the Order Entry application where roles will assigned. Ifthey have a role of "Customer" and this is set to "Y", then they will be allowed topurchase products from this store. If this is set to "No" then they will not be allowed toview or purchase from this store. [Note that roles are assigned using the OFBiz PartyManager Application.] This setting may be useful if you have "buyers" or other thirdparty User's who you want to restrict to viewing certain stores.

Note: a Web based consumer is automatically given a role of "Customer" when theyprocess through the eCommerceApplication's checkout process.

Various tax settings. Set here if you are required to collect VAT tax.


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Figure 3.3.c OFBiz Store Configuration Form, continued.

Table 3.3.c"OFBiz Store Configuration Form, continued" Features/Settings

"Vat Tax Auth Geo Id"/"Vat Tax Auth Party Id". Used to configure VAT tax for this store.By default, VAT tax is not collected for store orders. To configure and use the OFBizVAT tax system with this store: create a taxing authority using the OFBiz Accountingapplication and assign the correct "Geo Id" for this store and taxing authority here.

"Enable Digital Product Upload".

Various automatic retry settings for credit card payments.

Settings to automatically approve or require manual approval of invoices and orders. Setto "Y" will automatically approve invoices and orders. "N" requires a privileged User tologin to the OFBiz Order Entry application and manually approve.

Link to configure associated inventory/warehouse facility. Inventory and warehousefacilities are managed using the OFBiz Facilities Manager application. This is a link to

that application.

Update is the submit button for store configuration form.


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3.4 Creating a New OFBiz Store

To create a new OFBiz store:

Navigate to the "Product Store List" web page (See Figure 3.1).

Select the Create New Product Store button as shown below in Figure 3.4:

Figure 3.4Creating a New Product Store

Select this link to bring up a new storeconfiguration form.

You only need to enter inthe "Store Name" to createa new store.

"Product Store List" after

hitting the Update button.


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3.5 Stores and Payment

OFBiz supports many different methods of payment. The methods chosen for

a particular store will dictate the options available to the User at checkout.Using the Catalog Manager, each OFBiz store may be configured to supportany or all of the following payment methods:

Payment Type DefaultBehavior8

Notes

Billing Account Offline A "Billing Account" is a local payment account which maybe charged for payment. This account must already beestablished. Billing accounts are managed using the OFBiz Accounting application.

Cash Offline Payment is does not effect order creation or shipment ofthe product. Note however that the default store setup

requires payment reconciliation before an order isconsidered complete.

Cash On Delivery Offline Payment is does not effect order creation or shipment ofthe product. Note however that the default store setuprequires payment reconciliation before an order isconsidered complete.

Credit Card Online Requires the configuration of a number ofOFBiz servicesincluding services to:

Authorize PaymentCapture PaymentRe-authorize PaymentSupport RefundsRelease Authorization

Please refer to the OFBiz Wiki for more information.Electronic FundsTransfer (EFT)

Offline EFT are account to account transfers that are typicallyinitiated manually. Please refer to the OFBiz Wiki for moreinformation.

Gift Card Online Support for local store gift cards with automatic paymentreconciliation and ValueLink gift cards is provided.ValueLink requires further configuration. Please refer tothe OFBiz Wiki for more information.

Offline Payment Offline Payment is does not effect order creation or shipment ofthe product. Note however that the default store setuprequires payment reconciliation before an order isconsidered complete.

PayPal Online/Offline Please refer to the OFBiz Wiki for more information.

WorldPay Online Please refer to the OFBiz Wiki for more information.

8Each payment option has a default out-of-the-box behavior. Behaviors fall into two general

categories: online payments, reconciled while the user is checking out using online, automatedprocesses and offline methods which allow for payment at some future date. Online optionsrequire further configuration as noted. Offline payments allow for order creation and shipment, butrequire payment reconciliation before an order is considered "complete".


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3.5.1 Listing, Add, Remove Store Payment Methods

To list existing payment methods for a store:

Select the desired store from the "Product Store List" (Figure 3.1) Select the Payments tab from the Store's top navigation menu

This brings up the "Product Store Payment Settings" page as shown inFigure 3.5.1 listing all the payment options applied to the selected store.

Figure 3.5.1Payment Settings for the "OFBiz E-Commerce Store"


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Table 3.5.1"Payment Settings for the OFBiz E-Commerce Store" Features Key

"Payment Method Type." Type of payment method supported for thisstore.

"Service Type". A list of services, if appropriate, required to implement thepayment method. For example, credit card payments require a number ofservices to implement the various processes involved in satisfying a creditcard payment."Service Name". The name of the OFBiz service, if required, thatimplements this processing function.

"Payment Props". Default is "Global".

To remove a payment option from the store, click on the Delete button forthe payment option you wish to remove. Once this setting is removed, itwill no longer be available during checkout as a payment option.

Note: removing the setting from the store does not remove this paymenttype from the OFBiz system.

Select the Edit button to edit this payment method and bring up thispayment method's configuration in the box below.

Create / Update

If previous User action was the Edit button the Update button will bedisplayed. Selecting Update submits this form for processing.

To add another payment method to the store, select:"Payment Method Type" from the available types in the drop downselect box"Service Type" from the available types in the drop down select box

Hit the Create button to add the selected type to the store.


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3.6 Store Shipping Services

Similar to payment methods, shipping providers and shipping services are

configured globally for the entire OFBiz instance and then applied to a storeas desired.

To view a list of the existing Shipping services available for all OFBiz stores:

Navigate to the Catalog Manager"Main" web page and select the

Shipping tab

Select the Carrier Shipment Methods tab

This will bring up the "Carrier Shipment Methods" list as shown in Figure

3.6:

Figure 3.6List of Shipping Methods Configured per OFBiz Instance


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Table 3.6"List of Shipping Methods Configured per OFBiz Instance" Features Key

Key Feature "Method Type". One line for each method type configured per this

instance ofOFBiz. Method types are preset. Adding a service provider to

one of these preexisting types may be accomplished by using the Submit

button below.

Select this Edit button to edit the existing entry. Selection of this button

will pre-populate the bottom half of this screen. See

Selection of the Remove button will remove this method from this instanceofOFBiz. Once removed, it will no longer be available to add to any of thestore's configured for this instance.

Edit/Add Form. This form will be pre-populated with a shipping method ifthe Edit button has been selected. Otherwise, default values will be

inserted. The following table describes the fields used for this form.

Field Notes

ShipmentMethod TypeID

Predefined values. Select the appropriate method fromthe drop down list

Party Id The name of the shipping provider or carrier. Forexample Fed-X. Shipping provider Party Ids must

already exist. Use the "Lookup Icon" to search forexisting parties. [Many are already preconfigured withOFBiz]. To add a new party you must use the OFBizParty Manager Application.

Role Type Id Defaults to carrier. For the OFBizeCommerce store, allshipping providers will have a role of "carrier".

SequenceNumber

This is the order in which all methods will be listed forthe User.

CarrierService Code

For existing carriers, this is preset. Changing these isbeyond the scope of this document.


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3.6.1 To List/Add/Remove Shipping Methods Per Store

A single web page is used to view a list of shipping methods that have been

applied to a given OFBiz store and to add or remove a method. To bring upthe list of shipping methods per an OFBiz store:

Select the desired store from the "Product Store List" (Figure 3.1)

Select the Shipping tab from the top level store navigation bar

This will bring up the "Product Store Shipment Settings" as shown inFigure 3.6.1 below:

Figure 3.6.1Shipping Providers Available for the "OFBiz E-Commerce Store"


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Table 3.6.1"Shipping Providers Available for the OFBiz E-Commerce Store"

Feature Key

Key Feature OFBiz Store for which this list applies. This list shows all the shipping

methods that are available for the buyer to choose from when checkingout. If you don't want the buyer to choose a method, remove all methodsfrom the store.

"Method" of shipment.

Other information about the method and service provider. This informationis configured for the OFBiz instance and not on each individual store. Seesection 10.6 for more information.

Remove button removes this method from the store. It does not removethe instance from OFBiz. You may add this method back at any time.

Add button to add another, preconfigured, shipping provider to this store.


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3.7 Setting Shipping Estimates

Shipping estimates are used to provide an approximate cost for shipping of

store products. These estimates are provided to the virtual store when a Useris in the process of checking out, before they make the shipping methodselection, so that they may better determine shipping option(s).

To see a list of the preconfigured shipping estimates as delivered with OFBizout-of-the-box:


Select the Shipping Estimates tab from the top navigation links

This will bring up the "Product Store Shipment Settings" screen with a tablecontaining each configured cost estimate cross referenced with the shippingmethod and actual carrier that the cost estimate is valid for and the specificconditions that make up the estimate's calculation parameters. Please refer toFigure 3.7 below for more information:

Figure 3.7 Shipping Estimates Matrix for the "OFBiz E-Commerce Store"

Details concerning how to derive new shipping estimates are beyond thescope of this book.


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3.8 Notifications (Emails)

OFBiz has been described as having an "event" driven framework. Events

are points within the processing logic, that when invoked (executed), triggeran action. There are a number of built-in events within the OFBizeCommerce application that when triggered - usually by a User performingan action such as clicking on a navigation link - automatically sendnotifications in the form of email. The Catalog Managerprovides an interfaceto allow the configuration of email notification behavior. The following events,if configured for a store, will trigger the sending of emails:

Table 3.8 Available Email Triggering Events

Events That MayBe Used to Send

Notifications

How Event is Invoked Notes

User Registration User successfullycompletes the OFBizregistration forms(receives a uniqueUsername & password)and has been added as anOFBiz User.

By default, Users are notrequired to register with thestore website in order tobrowse or purchase products.User's who choose to registerand have completed theregistration process are sentan email notifying them ofsuccessful registration.

Order

Confirmation

Store has processed the

order and it is ready forshipment (if applicable.)

Store sends the confirmation

email after the order has beensuccessfully processed.Successful processingdepends on how the store isconfigured.

Order Complete This is automatically sentby the store if automaticorder approvals havebeen set in theconfiguration. Otherwise,the OFBiz Order

Application will initiatethe event when the statusfor an order is set to"Complete".

Order Placed onBack-order

OFBIz Order Application

Order has beenChanged


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Payment Retry Store Sent when paymentauthorization fails

Return accepted OFBiz Order Application

Return complete OFBiz Order ApplicationReturn Cancelled OFBiz Order

Application

User PasswordRequest

OFBiz framework

Tell-a-FriendRequest

Store

Gift CardPurchase

Store

Gift Card Reload StoreQuote

Confirmation

OFBizOrder Application

To add or remove any of the email notifications discussed in Table 3.8:


Select the Emails tab

This will bring up the "Product Store Email Settings" web page as shown inFigure 3.8.1:


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Figure 3.8.1Product Store Email Settings Page


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Table 3.8.1"Product Store Email Settings Page"

Feature KeyKey Feature

List of existing email notifications for this OFBiz store. Each listednotification has a "Type" that defines the event triggering the notification.

Each notification may specify a screen location for the body of the email (ifthe email is being generated from a web screen) and a screen location forany applicable attachments (if appropriate); from address; carbon copyaddress (cc); blank carbon copy address (bcc); and subject that willoverride the default subject for the event. Note that multiple address maybe entered by separating each address with a comma.

Each notification may have its own subject as it appears on the "subject"line of the email.

Select of the Update button will update the notification's configuration.

Select the Delete button to remove this notification. Removing the

notification may be reversed by adding it back. Seebelow. To add a notification back to a store, select its type from the drop down

select box as shown.

Add email addresses as needed.

Add subject content. Hit the Add button [The Add button is hidden in this screen shot by the

Email Type drop down list]


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3.9 Store Surveys

Surveys are used to interactively collect information from website visitors.There are several examples surveys on the demo store provided out-of-the-box. These range in sophistication from the single response "Mouse HandPoll" found on the website landing page, to product survey questionnairefound at checkout and customer satisfaction surveys found

Support for survey creation, publication and viewing of responses is part ofthe OFBiz Content Manager Application and beyond the scope of thisdocument. From within the Catalog Manager, you may only add or removean existing survey from a store. To view a list of surveys per store or to add orremove a survey from a store:


Select the Surveys tab

This will bring up the "Store Survey Settings" web page as shown in Figure3.9.

Figure 3.9 Store Survey Settings for Demo OFBiz E-Commerce Store


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Table 3.9"Store Survey Settings for Demo OFBiz E-Commece Store" Feature Key

Key Feature List of existing surveys for this store. One line for each survey associatedwith this store.

Link to remove this survey from this store.

Start of the form to add a new survey to this store."Type". Survey types include:Type Usage within eCommerce Store Website"Add-To Cart" Product added to cart.

"Check-Out" As User process through checkout.

"Customer Profile" User accesses profile web page(s).

"General Poll" Main web store landing page.

"Purchase Order ItemPlacement"

When item purchased using purchase order.

"Purchase OrderPlacement"

When entire purchase order is placed.

"Random Poll" Main web store landing page.

"Sales Order Placement" When order placed through sales order placement.

"Surveys". A dropdown list of available surveys to place on the store. Notethat a store may have many surveys and many of the same surveyassociated with it. Out-of-the-box available surveys include:"Account Activiation""Gift Card Purchase Information"

"Gift Card Reload Information""Tell us about your on-line shopping patterns""Tell us where the mini-poll should go""Your mouse hand is"

"Product ID". If you want this survey to be associated with a product andnot the entire store, enter the product ID here."Category ID". If you want this survey to be associated with a specificcategory and all the products in that category and not the entire storeenter the category ID here.

"From Date" "Thru Date". Select start and end dates and times for thissurvey to be visible on this store's website.

"Sequence Num". I there is more than one survey for this store, set thedesired sequence number viewing.

Add a new survey to the store.


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4.0 Products

"Products" are the goods and services bought and sold on the OFBiz

eCommerce virtual storefront. Managing the configuration of products isaccomplished using the OFBiz Catalog Manager application. Through theCatalog Manager, the User may:

List Existing Products. There are many examples of all sorts of differentproduct configurations provided out-of-the-box. An OFBiz instance mayhave an unlimited number of products configured. Use the CatalogManagerto list all products or a subsets of products.

Create New Products. Use the Catalog Managerto create new productseither by duplicating existing product definitions, creating "virtual" products

from existing product "variants" or by completing the product configurationform as described below.

Edit Existing Product Definitions. Product definitions run the full rangeof complexity. Simple product definitions that start life with just a uniqueproduct identifier and name, may require reconsideration over time. Usethe Catalog Manager to first create a new product and then change oradd product properties as needed.

Make a Product a "Virtual" Product. "Virtual" products don't exist as realobjects. They are instead like templates for other products, called "variant"

products. Variant products are made from variations using the virtualproduct template. For example, if you wish to offer pizzas for sale, youcould configure a virtual product called "pizza" and then create numerousvariants such as a: "small pizza"; "medium pizza"; "large pizza" and an"uber pizza".

The advantage of creating variants from the original "pizza" product is thaton the website, the User will see a single "pizza" product listing and anoption to select the desired variant. Otherwise, the User would seeseparate listings for a: "small pizza"; "medium pizza" etc.

Note:Virtual products cannot be added to the shopping cart or an order. Only theUser selected variant can be added.

Any existing product may be made a virtual product (and each virtualproduct may have an unlimited number of real, physical "variants") using


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the Catalog Manager. [Examples of virtual products that are part of thedemo store include product IDs: GZ-1006, WG-9943 and GC-001.]

Adding "Features" to Products. OFBiz "features" are those productcharacteristics used to differentiate amongst similar product and productvariants. Examples of features include: "Color", "Size", "Fabric" or "ModelYear". Features may be organized into categories and groups. Use theCatalog Managerto add or remove features from categories and groupsand to add or remove features from specific products.

Add Pricing to Products. Products may exist without any pricingassociations. Use the Catalog Managerto add or removing pricing rulesfor individual products.

Offer Products for Sale on OFBiz Stores. Products are made viewableon OFBiz stores by associating them with one or more OFBiz catalog.Use the Catalog Manager to add existing products to catalogs to makethem browsable.

Managing Product Suppliers. Each OFBiz product may have one ormore suppliers. The Catalog Manager provides some suppliermanagement functions.

And Much More.


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Figure 4.1.2 Results From a Product Lookup Request


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4.2 Creating a New Product

OFBiz products are uniquely identified by a "Product ID" assigned to the

product when it is created. Beyond this unique identifier, OFBiz does notrequire any other information to create a new product. Products may becreated and exist without ever being associated with an OFBiz store and/oran OFBiz catalog. Similarly products may exist and be part of many catalogsbut never be associated with a store. To create a new product:

From the Catalog Manager "Catalog Administration Main Page" webpage select the Create New Product button as shown in Figure 4.2:

Figure 4.2Creating a New Product From Link on Catalog Manager Main Page

Select the Create New Product button to

bring up the basic "Product Configuration"form seen in Figure 4.2.1


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Figure 4.2.1

New "Product Configuration" Form

Product ID may be left blank. If leftempty, OFBiz will automatically assign aunique value to this product.

The only field required to create anew product is the "Internal

Name". Without "Internal Name"the create operation from this form,will fail.

To create a new product, submit

this Form by selecting the Create

Product button


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Figure 4.2.2Successful Return After Submitting

"Create Product"

Product ID was automatically created and assignfor this product.

You may now update yourproduct if desired or comeback later and edit thisproduct's configuration.


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4.3 Changing Basic Product Settings

Product definitions consist of those properties that are added/removed to/from

a product's configuration using the "Product Configuration Form" as shown inFigure 4.3. and those features added/removed to/from a product throughassociation with otherOFBiz entities (for example, pricing.)

In this section we shall look at just a few of the many product properties thatmay be edited using the "Product Configuration Form". To edit an existingproduct's configuration, first find the product using the "Search Products"menu selections [Please see Chapter 2.0 "Navigating the Catalog ManagerUser Interface" for help in finding a product].

Once you have the "Product Configuration" Form in view, you may change

any of the fields as desired and then update the product by selecting theUpdate button.

Figure 4.3Example "Product Configuration" Form


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While there are many product properties that may be set here, in the realworld, only a few are relevant to the eCommerce application. These include,but are not limited to:

Table 4.3 Product Configuration Form Field Values/Usage

Product PropertyName

Usage[Note: Unless other wise stated, all fields are optional or default values are

provided]

"Is VIRTUAL" Indicator

"Is VARIANT" Indicator

"Product Type" Required and defaults to "Finished Good". Used by OFBiz to determineappropriate handling for various uses. For example, a "Digital Good" bydefault does not require shipping. If the product is a "Digital Good", then thebuyer will not be presented with shipping options. Possible choices for thisfield:

Product Type

Fixed Asset Usage

Service

Good

Raw Material

Subassembly

Finished Good

Digital Good

Finished/Digital Good

"Primary Category" Assign this product to a primary category if desired.

"Internal Name" Required. Name the product is known as. This is the name as seen on webstore product page(s).

"Brand Name" Marketing name for the product.

"Introduction Date" First date/time the product will appear for sale."Salesdiscontinuation thruDate"

Last date/time the product will appear for sale.

"Support Date" Last date/time product will be supported. Useful if warranties or returns areapplicable to this product.

"Disc. When Inv. NotAvail"

Indictor. If set to "Y", the store will offer a discount for waiting until inventoryis available.

"Require Inventory" Indicator. Defaults to catalog setting/"Require Inventory" setting. To overridecatalog setting for this product only: set to "Y" to make the product "invisible"to browsers when no inventory is available.

"Inventory Message" Set a message such as "This product is out of stock" when no inventory isavailable.

"Returnable" Indicator as to whether this product may be returned."Charge Shipping" Set to "Y" if shipping should be charged for this product regardless ofproduct type. Note: Promotional pricing rules may override this setting.


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4.4 Product Descriptive Text

Products may have descriptive text such as a "short description" and "long

description" as part of the product's basic settings. These product propertiesmay be easily modified using the Catalog Manager. To change productdescriptive content:

First, navigate to the desired product's configuration page (See Chapter2.0 for hints on finding products.)

Select the Content tab

For simple content edits such as the short description found on the productlisting page or the longer description found on the product detail page, scrolldown to the "Override Simple Fields" portion of the screen and enter edits asdesired. Figure 4.4 demonstrates the before and after effects of simplecontent edits as described here.


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Product Listing As Seen on Web Store for "Open Gizmo" Before SimpleContent Edits

Product Listing As Seen on Web Store for "Open Gizmo" AfterSimpleContent Edits

Use "Override Simple Fields" to Edit Basic Product Descriptive Text

Figure 4.4 Before and After Simple Product Content Edits


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Table 4.4"Before and After Simple Product Content Edit" Feature Key

KEYFeature Description "Product Description". A short (up to 255 characters) description ofproduct. This text appears as part of the product's description within the

category listing.

"Long Description". Appears on the product detail listing.

Each product may have a small, medium, large and detailed graphical imageassociated with it.

Image Usage

Small Category listing web page.

Medium N/A

Large Detail product web page.

Detail N/A

Field entries are URLs indicating where to find these images relative to the defaultOFBiz image location.

For easy uploading of images (without the worry of knowing where the default OFBizimage location is) use the "Upload Image" feature. The "Upload Image" feature is athree step process to allow easy uploading and placement of product images. Toupload images:

Use the Browse button to find the images on your local hard drive

Select the image usage from the radio buttons provided

Select the Upload Image button

This should place the image in the proper directory for use by the Catalog Manager.

Update button to submit changes.

"Detail Screen". Pointer to the Freemarker HTML template used torender the detail product web page. For more information about theFreemarker HTML templating system used by OFBiz seehttp://www.freemarker.org


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4.5 Product Pricing

To support the most flexible pricing model possible, OFBiz product pricing

consists of two parts: a "price" and one or more rules that define how theprice is applied to the product. These rules are called "pricing rules".Because pricing rules are global to the OFBiz instance and not tied toindividual products or stores, they are discussed in more detail in Chapter 5.

OFBiz "prices" are more than just numeric values statically assigned toproducts. Prices have features such as: "type", "purpose", default currency,effective date ranges and a few other characteristics, used by theeCommerce application to determine appropriate application of pricinginformation. Table 4.5 describes the available "Price Types" and how they areused by the eCommerce application to arrive at a final price for a product.

Table 4.5 Product Price Type Usage

Product Price Types How Used by eCommerce ApplicationDefault Price Used by the eCommerce store application when no pricing

rules are applicable. The "Default Price" is the only pricevalue not subject to any price rules.

Average Cost May be used in conjunction with pricing rules to determine aproduct's sale price.

Competitive Price May be used in conjunction with pricing rules to determine aproduct's sale price.

List Price An indicator that price rules exist for this product. If a "ListPrice" exists, the eCommerce application will run through allthe price rules for this product.

Maximum Price If defined, the price will never exceed this value. Will overridethe "Default Price" if the value is larger than the that of the"Default Price". Provides a failsafe maximum price if pricingrules are in effect for this product.

Minimum Price If defined, the price value will never fall below this value. Willoverride the "Default Price" if value is less than default price.Provides a failsafe minimum price if pricing rules are in effectfor this product.

Promotional Price May be used in conjunction with pricing rules to determine aproduct's sale price.

Special Promotional Price Used with price rules to determine a final "On Sale" price. Foran example of how this works, see Product ID GZ-2644("Round Gizmo")

Wholesale Price May be used in conjunction with pricing rules to determine aproduct's sale price.


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Figure 4.5.1 shows the "Demo Catalog" product listing entry for the "RoundGizmo". Round Gizmo is one of several products within the "FeaturedProducts" category of the "Demo Catalog". All products in this category have

an "On Sale" price in addition to a "List Price".

Figure 4.5.1 "Round Gizmo" Category Product Listing w/ "Sale Price"

How do these prices find there way to the catalog's product listing entry? Byassociating specific price types (as discussed above) and values to theproduct. Using the Catalog Manager, you associate one or more price"types" (see Table 4.5) to each product you want priced. To associate prices

with a product, select the Prices navigation tab from the top navigation links

on the product's configuration form. This will bring up a "Prices" configurationform, as shown in Figure 4.5.2, for this product.

Figure 4.5.2 Product Pricing for "Round Gizmo"


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Table 4.5.2"Product Pricing for Round Gizmo" Feature Key

Key Feature Descriptions "Price Type". If you only want a single price to show up on the product

listing, assign only a "Default Price" to this product. Remove any otherprices types if they appear here. The value entered in the "Price" fieldwill be the price as displayed in the catalog's product listing.

"Purpose". Select "Purchase/Initial" (default purpose) for this price toshow up on the product listing.

"Thru Date". Last date/time that this price will be available and used.Price expires on this date. No value indicates that this price will be validforever or until removed from the product or updated,

Numeric value for price. This is the value that will be used in pricingrules calculations if appropriate or as the offer price on the web store.

"Product Store Group". Prices may vary between product store groups.If they do, then limit this price to a product store group here.

"TermUomId". Not often used. If listing of this price requires additionalunit of measure information (UO

the ofbiz catalog manager

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