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The Order Manager can send information about a merchant's products and their associated Web pages to Froogle, Google's searchable and brows able shopping index that is used to find products which are for sale online. This service was renamed Google Product Search in 2008.
Once the user establishes a Froogle account, they can configure the Order Manager to send product data to Froogle with just one button click.
The use of the term, "Categories", in this topic does not refer to the Order Manager's Category field found on the product inventory record; the two are unrelated.
Before data can be sent to Froogle, the user must set some system parameters in the Order Manager. Please review the Froogle parameter group. For assistance in setting system parameters, refer to the Knowledge Base topic, Set System Parameters.
Froogle allows the user to assign a descriptive label, such as "Men's Clothing" or "Computer Components", to identify the particular "type" of a product. Although the Order Manager is able to have up to three levels associated with a single product, Froogle only accepts one.
The level information that is sent to Froogle is at the discretion of the user, as it is controlled by the setting of the Order Manager system parameter, FroogleCategorySource. If this parameter is set to Any Assigned Level, the Order Manager will send the value found in the first non-blank level it finds for the product. For instance, when product data is sent to Froogle, the Order Manager will check for each product's Group assignment. If it finds a value in that field, it sends that value to Froogle. If it does not find a Group assignment, it looks for a Subcategory assignment next, and if a value is found in that field then it will send the Subcategory value. If it does not find a Subcategory assignment for a product, it checks for a Category assignment and if found, sends that information.
If the user chooses one of the other selections for system parameter FroogleCategorySource, the program will only send the value in the specified field to Froogle as the product's Category information.
To enter Category, Subcategory and Group information for products in the Order Manager, refer to the Knowledge Base topic, Levels (Categories, Subcategories, Groups).
Do not confuse the use of the term "categories" or "Category" in this topic with the Order Manager's internal Category field that is part of a product inventory record. The latter has no bearing on the data that is sent to Froogle.
In order for Froogle to know where to direct shoppers who are looking for your products, the user must specify the product table field names, which contain the path information to a product's web page and image file, in system parameters FroogleFileNameField and FrooglePageType (for web pages) and FroogleImageField and FroogleImageType (for images).
The easiest way to set this up is to use each products SKU as its web page name and its image name. For example, a product with the SKU ABC123 would have a web page called ABC123.html and an image called ABC123.jpg or ABC123.gif. Alternatively, you can use other product attributes as web page and image names. See the chart below for more information about Froogle system parameters.
Here are the system parameters that must be set before data can be sent to Froogle:
|
Parameter Name |
|
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FroogleCategorySource |
Where to get the Category that is sent to Froogle. The options are Category, Any Assigned Level, Path and Text1 through Text 5. If you select "Any Assigned Level", the program will select one of each product's page assignments from the Levels screen, and send Category, or Category > Subcategory, or Category > Subcategory > Group. If you select any other option, that field will be used for the Category. |
|
FroogleCharsAllowedInFileNames |
When the program builds file names from SKUs or item names it normally only allows letters, numbers, underscores and dashes (and slashes if Allow Slashes is True). To allow other characters (e.g. ! or . ) in file names, enter those characters here. Just enter the allowable characters - nothing else. |
|
FroogleDescriptionField |
The name of the field in the Inventory table that should be sent to Froogle for product Descriptions. The choices are Description, Item Name, Header, Footer, Headline and Text1 through Text 5. |
|
FroogleFileName |
The file name for your text data feed, as assigned to you by Froogle. This will usually be your Froogle user name or a slight variation of it. |
|
FroogleFileNameField |
Field to use for sending Froogle the paths to your product pages. If you select SKU, the program will combine the FroogleWebPagePath, the SKU and the FrooglePageType, remove any invalid characters, and send the result to Froogle. The choices are Path, SKU, Code, Text1 through Text 5, File Name and Item Name. |
|
FroogleHostName |
The host name of the FTP server assigned to you by Froogle for uploading your data feed. DO NOT include "ftp://" in front of the host name. Example: yourstore.google.com |
|
FroogleImageField |
Field to use for sending Froogle the paths to product images. If you select SKU, the program will combine the FroogleWebImagePath, the SKU and the FroogleImageType, remove any invalid characters, and send the result to Froogle. The choices are: Image, SKU, Path, Thumbnail, Text1 through Text5 and Item Name. |
|
FroogleImageType |
Usually .gif or .jpg. Include the leading "dot". This extension will be added to any image names that do not already have an extension. |
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FroogleISBNField |
Field that will contain ISBN numbers for your products. Only needed for books. The choices are None, SKU, Barcode, Code, ID and Text1 through Text5. |
|
FroogleLowerCaseURLs |
If TRUE, paths for pages and images sent to Froogle will be converted to all lower case. |
|
FroogleOutputLoc |
Path where the program should create the Froogle feed files. |
|
FrooglePageType |
Usually .htm or .html. Include the leading "dot". This extension will be added to any product page names that do not already have an extension. |
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FrooglePassword |
The password assigned to you by Froogle for uploading your data feed. |
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FrooglePriceLevel |
Price Level (1 to 10) to use when sending prices to Froogle. |
|
FroogleReplaceSpacesWith |
Select _ or - to replace spaces and other invalid characters in automatically generated file names with that character. |
|
FroogleSendParentSKUs |
If TRUE, the program will include Parent SKUs in Froogle product feeds. |
|
FroogleSendSubSKUs |
If TRUE, the program will include Sub SKUs in Froogle product feeds. |
|
FroogleUserName |
The user name assigned to you by Froogle for uploading your data feed. |
|
FroogleUseSalePrices |
If TRUE, the program will check the Sale On field for the price level specified in FrooglePriceLevel for each of your products, then send Froogle either the standard or sale price. If FALSE, the standard price for the selected price level will always be sent and the sale prices will not be used. |
|
FroogleWebImagePath |
The full path on your web site where product images are located. |
|
FroogleWebPagePath |
The full path on your web site where HTML product pages are located. |
After all group, subcategory and category information has been entered into the Order Manager and the Froogle system parameters have been set correctly:
Go to the Main Menu > Maintenance Menu > Import/Export tab.
Click Froogle Feed from the list of activities.
The Order Manager creates a text file with the product information and FTPs it directly to Froogle.
Created: 2/14/11
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