Product Synchronization: To Export Product Images

The following activity will walk you through the process of synchronizing product images.

Story

Suppose that the SweetLife Fruits & Jams company stores product images in MYOB Advanced as attachments to items. Acting as an implementation consultant helping SweetLife to set up the integration of MYOB Advanced with the BigCommerce store, you want to set up the export of images stored in MYOB Advanced to the BigCommerce store.

Configuration Overview

In the U100 dataset, for the purposes of this activity, on the Stock Items (IN202500) form, the APJAM08 stock item of the JAM item class been created.

Process Overview

In this activity, you will do the following:

  1. In the BigCommerce store, locate WebDAV credentials needed for the synchronization of product images.
  2. On the BigCommerce Stores (BC201000) form, activate the Product Image entity.
  3. On the Prepare Data form, prepare the product image data for synchronization.
  4. On the Process Data form, process the product image data prepared for synchronization.
  5. In the control panel of the BigCommerce store, review the exported images.

System Preparation

Before you complete the instructions in this activity, do the following:

  1. Make sure that the following prerequisites have been met:
  2. Download the AppleJam1.png and AppleJam2.png files to your device.
  3. Launch the MYOB Advanced website with the U100 dataset preloaded, and sign in with the following credentials:
    • Username: gibbs
    • Password: 123
  4. Sign in to the control panel of the BigCommerce store as the store owner.

Step 1: Obtaining the WebDAV Credentials

To find the information that is required to set up file transfer between MYOB Advanced and the online store over the WebDAV protocol, do the following:

  1. In the left pane of the control panel, select Settings.
  2. On the Settings page, in the Advanced section, click File access (WebDAV).

    On the File Access page, which opens, notice the following WebDAV information:

    • WebDAV Path
    • WebDAV Username
    • WebDAV Password
  3. Save this information to a file. You will need it in the next step.

Step 2: Activating the Needed Entity

To activate the Product Image entity and specify the required information, do the following:

  1. Open the BigCommerce Stores (BC201000) form.
  2. In the Store Name box of the Summary area, select SweetStore - BC.
  3. On the Entity Settings tab, select the Active check box in the row of the Product Image entity.
  4. On the Connection Settings tab, fill in the WebDAV Username and WebDAV Password boxes with the information you saved in the previous step.

    Note that the WebDAV Path box is filled in by the system automatically.

  5. On the form toolbar, click Save.

Step 3: Adding an Image to the Stock Item

To add an image to the APJAM08 stock item, do the following:

  1. On the Stock Items (IN202500) form, select the APJAM08 stock item.
  2. On the Attributes tab, drag the files you downloaded to the Image area.

    The files are attached to the form. You can browse them in the Image area or access them by clicking Files in the form title bar.

  3. On the form toolbar, click Save.

Step 4: Preparing the Image Data for Synchronization

To prepare the image data for synchronization, do the following:

  1. Open the Prepare Data (BC501000) form.
  2. In the Summary area of the form, specify the following settings:
    • Store: SweetStore - BC
    • Prepare Mode: Incremental

    Because you have not processed the Product Image entity before, the system will prepare all images attached to the synchronized items as it would if Full mode were selected.

  3. In the table, select the Selected check box in the row of the Product Image entity, and on the form toolbar, click Prepare.
  4. In the Processing dialog box, which opens, review the results of the processing, and click Close to close the dialog box and return to the Prepare Data form.

    Notice that the Prepared Records column shows the number of synchronization records that have been prepared and are ready to be processed.

Step 5: Processing the Prepared Image Data

To process the image data prepared for synchronization, do the following:

  1. While you are still viewing the Prepare Data (BC501000) form, click the link in the Ready to Process column in the row of the Product Image entity.

    The Process Data (BC501500) form opens with the SweetStore - BC store and the Product Image entity selected in the Summary area. The table displays two synchronization records of the Product Image entity.

    Tip: The ERP ID column displays the item type (stock item) and identifier (APJAM08) followed by the backslash and then the name of the image file. You can click the link in this column to open the file details on the File Maintenance (SM202510) form.
  2. On the form toolbar, click Process All to process both synchronization records displayed in the table.
  3. In the Processing dialog box, which opens, click Close to close the dialog box.

Step 6: Reviewing the Synchronized Images

To review the images that have been exported for the Apple jam 8 oz. product, do the following:

  1. Open the Sync History (BC301000) form.
  2. In the Summary area of the form, specify the following settings:
    • Store: SweetStore - BC
    • Entity: Product Image
  3. Go to the Processed tab.

    The table displays two synchronization records of the Product Image entity, as shown in the following screenshot. In the External ID column, notice that the identifier of each image in the BigCommerce store consists of two parts—the identifier of the product and the identifier of the image.

    Figure 1. Synchronization records for the product images


  4. In the first row of the table, click the link in the External ID column to review the item in the BigCommerce store. The product management page opens for the Apple jam 8 oz. product.
    Attention: If you are not signed in to the control panel of the BigCommerce store in the same browser, you will need to enter your sign-in credentials.

    Notice that the Images section (under Images & Videos) now contains two images that you uploaded in this activity. The main product image (for which the Thumbnail option button is selected) is the image that is visible in the Image area of the Attributes tab.

  5. In the left pane, click View Store (above the Home menu item) to open the storefront.
  6. Click Search in the top right, and start typing apple in the search box.
  7. Click Apple jam 8 oz. in the search results to open the product details page. Notice that a thumbnail image is displayed for this product, and review how the other image is displayed.