Using PCC OroCommerce Connector

OroCommerce is an e-commerce platform which is also responsible for management of products and inventory. You can connect your OroCommerce store and export your catalog data from PCC to the OroCommerce platform after the connection is established between PCC and OroCommerce. The goal of this integration is to sync PCC product data into the client’s ORO commerce backend store.

The PCC OroCommerce connector enables you to connect PCC with your OroCommerce store and transfer data between these applications seamlessly.

Click the View Details icon to view the details and features of the connector and the following is displayed.

Figure 220: OroCommerce connector description

Configuring the Connector

You need to configure the connector and add the Client ID and Client Secret for setting up the store. Once the store is configured, the product information present in the PCC catalog can be exported to the relevant store in the OroCommerce platform.

The first step is to generate the Client ID and Client Secret to configure a OroCommerce store using these details. A detailed description about the same is explained in the Appendix section A.10. Generating Client ID and Client Secret Key to Configure OroCommerce Store.

To add a new OroCommerce store configuration:

1. Go to the PCC Platform Connectors screen and click the Set Configurations    icon available for OroCommerce as shown below.

The following screen appears.

Figure 213: PCC Oro Commerce Connector screen

By default, the Setup Credentials tab is selected.

2. Click Add New Store Configuration and the following dialog box appears to add the store details.

3. Type the Store Name, that is, the name of the OroCommerce store to which the product is to be mapped from PCC. For example, Test store.

4. Copy-paste the Client ID of the OroCommerce store to be configured which is mentioned in the text file generated as explained in the Appendix section A.10. Generating Client ID and Client Secret Key to Configure OroCommerce Store.  

5. Copy-paste the Client Secret required for authentication as mentioned in the text file generated as explained in the Appendix section A.10. Generating Client ID and Client Secret Key to Configure OroCommerce Store.  

6. Type in the Default Attribute Family Code to be assigned to the product; If not present, the process will pick up the default code from the store configuration.

7. Type in the Default Primary Unit Precision to be assigned to the product; If not present, the process will pick up the default code from the store configuration.
   

   The icon next to each field provides details on what data must be added.

Here is a sample of how the dialog box will appear after the details have been filled:

8. Once all the values are entered, click the Check connection with entered values icon next to the Store Name to check whether the access token entered as well as the store URL is valid.

If the details are not valid, an error is displayed as follows.

Make the necessary changes and ensure that the connection is valid. If the connection is valid, the following message is displayed.

9. Click Add Store and the store is added successfully and is visible in the list on the PCC Oro Commerce Connector page as shown below.

The following table lists the various fields along with its description that are visible on the Setup Credentials screen.

You can sort / filter the data in the columns in ascending or descending order as needed. By default, the latest store created is displayed first based on the date when it was created in descending order.

Editing the Store Configuration

Sometimes, the connectors might have some updates (a new feature / version update) which might result in changes in the tokens of the stores configured. You can edit the details configured in case of any such changes.

To edit the store configured:

1. In the Actions column, click the Edit Store Configuration icon next to the store to be edited. The following screen appears.

2. Make the changes as needed and click Edit Store.  The details are updated successfully.

Deleting the Store Configuration

You can also delete the store configured if the store is no longer required for exporting the product data.

To delete the store configured:

1. In the Actions column, click the Delete Store Configuration icon next to the store to be deleted. The following screen appears.

Details about the store to be deleted are displayed.

2. Click Delete Store and the store is deleted successfully.

Syncing SKU Data from PCC to OroCommerce Store

The process to export any data and view it remains the same as explained in chapter 22 Export Catalog.

You can sync the product data, that is, SKUs along with their attribute values and linked assets from the catalog in PCC to the OroCommerce store by exporting the data using the OroCommerce sync option.  

Let us understand how to export the data using the OroCommerce sync option in the following section.

Attribute Set-Up

To sync the data from PCC to OroCommerce, we must set-up the attributes. In this section, we are going to look at the steps for Attribute Mapping.

There are two types of attributes in an Oro commerce product. They are:

1. The attributes that have direct values for them. Those are represented in the attributes section of product. These are usually the specific properties of that product.

2. The attributes that have values referenced with different entities.

The attributes that have direct values for them:

These attributes are represented in the attributes section of the product. These are usually the specific properties of that product.
Some examples of attributes are as follows:
sub_brand_name, trade_item_description, product_height, package_height etc.

These attributes may vary for different store/product. To associate these to an attribute in PCC, the user needs to add meta-attribute OC_PRODUCT_ATTRIBUTE to PCC attribute and the value of the meta-attribute will be treated as the attribute name of OroCommerce product.
For e.g., if there is an attribute in PCC called ‘height’, which has the above meta-attribute with value as product_height then, the SKU attribute value for this attribute will be converted as product_height for OroCommerce product.

You can do the same by following the below steps:

1. Go to the Attribute Master in PCC and under the Attribute Metadata Master tab, select the ‘Add’ icon to add OC_PRODUCT_ATTRIBUTE, type a description and click Add Meta Attribute.

2. Now you must go to the Attribute tab and select the attribute for which you must add the meta-attribute and then click on Edit.

3. Select the Meta Attribute from the dropdown as shown in the below screenshot and click on Edit Attribute. This step is key to see the product attributes updated in your store.

4. Now, you must log into the OroCommerce store, select Product from the drop-down list and then click on Product Attributes.

5. Now you must click on the Create Attribute button on the top-right corner of the window.

6. Fill in the Field name and the Type and click on Continue.

7. Click on Save and Close.

8. You will find the newly added attribute in the list as shown below for your reference.

Here is a screenshot of the meta attribute in the attribute page in PCC for your reference:

9. To add new attributes, you must first add them in your OroCommerce admin site and then add the attribute in PCC as well. Assign the meta-attribute OC_PRODUCT_ATTRIBUTE and the value will be the relevant name in your OroCommerce admin site.

2. The attributes that have values referenced with different entities:
These attributes are OroCommerce store properties that can be assigned to a product.
Some of these attributes are:

Short Description, Description, Slug Prototypes, Attribute Family, Primary Unit Precision, Unit Precision, Inventory Status, Manage Inventory, Inventory Threshold, Highlight Low Inventory, Low Inventory Threshold, Is Upcoming, Minimum Quantity to Order, Maximum Quantity to Order, Decrement Quantity, Back Order etc.

To associate these attributes to the PCC attributes, the user needs to add system metatags for ORO to the PCC attributes. Each of these meta tags indicates one of the above special attributes. Meta tags are designed like OC_{{ATTRIBUTE_NAME_IN_UPPERCASE_WITH_UNDERSCORE_AS_SEPARATOR}}
Some of the metatags and respective ORO attributes are as follows:
OC_SHORT_DESCRIPTION Short Description
OC_DESCRIPTION Description
OC_LOW_INVENTORY Low Inventory

To associate meta tags to the attributes

10. Since the meta tags are already set up for the catalog, in order to associate the meta tag to the attributes, in the Attributes tab, select the attribute and click on Edit.

11. Now select the Metatag as OroCommerce and select the meta tag value you want to assign and click on Edit Attribute. Shown below is an example for ‘Minimum Quantity to Order’:

Attribute Family:

Attribute Family is a special field in OroCommerce products. It represents the group of attributes that can be assigned to a product. Ideally, all the SKUs belonging to a particular taxonomy have the same set of attributes. In such case, we can set this property at the taxonomy level. To do this, the user needs to add a meta-attribute named as OC_ATTRIBUTE_FAMILY to the taxonomy and the value of that meta-attribute will be the attribute family code which is present in the OroCommerce store.

When there is no attribute family code available, the process will pick up by default from the store configuration.

Here are the steps to add a taxonomy meta data:

1. Select the Taxonomy Metadata Master tab. Go to Meta Attributes tab and click on Add. and the new meta attribute OC_ATTRIBUTE_FAMILY

2. Now, you must add the new meta attribute OC_ATTRIBUTE_FAMILY.

3. Go to the Taxonomy Tree, select the required node, and click on Edit and select Edit Node. Here is a sample screenshot for your reference:

4. Select Meta attribute from the dropdown and add the metadata as OC_ATTRIBUTE_FAMILY and type in the value that is the attribute code in your store and click on Edit Node.

This step is not mandatory as you are defining a default family code in the configuration.

Exporting the Data Directly to OroCommerce using API

This option will directly export / sync the catalog data to OroCommerce. Depending on the option selected, that is, SKUs present in the selected categories / entire catalog will be synced to OroCommerce directly.

Following are some of the key points to be noted while exporting data to OroCommerce:

• The system will fetch all the categories to be matched with existing taxonomies in PCC. So, if the taxonomy structure does not match, the SKU(s) will be placed in a default node in the OroCommerce site.

• The attributes need to be added in the admin site and that should exist in PCC with an attribute meta tag or attribute meta data. The attributes need to be associated with an attribute family and the value of that meta-attribute will be the attribute family code (in taxonomy) which is present in the OroCommerce store.

• The structure and attributes need to exist in OroCommerce and should match with PCC.

• The Product Name is mandatory for the SKU(s). This can be managed as SKU Title in PCC.

• These are some sample metatags that are relevant for OroCommerce and can be associated to respective attributes in the PCC catalog. If any of these metatags are associated to a SKU attribute, the values will reflect for the respective fields in OroCommerce:

OC_SHORT_DESCRIPTION – Short Description

OC_DESCRIPTION – Description

OC_LOW_INVENTORY – Low Inventory

Here is a screenshot of the meta tags associated with OroCommerce in PCC:

To export the product data to OroCommerce:

1. Open the catalog in PCC from which the data is to be synced to OroCommerce as shown below.

2. Select the nodes which have the SKUs to be exported / you can export the entire catalog if all SKUs from all the nodes must be exported. Let us select a node Electronic items which contains SKUs to be synced to OroCommerce.

3. Right-click the node and then click Export Node to export SKUs from specific nodes as shown below.

The following screen appears.

4. Click the Export Catalog  icon for file type OroCommerce Sync and the following screen appears.

5. Enter the Export Name for the file to be saved.

You have 3 Export Options to choose from. They are explained as follows:

• All - By default, this option will be selected. When you choose this option, All the SKU(s) in the catalog will be exported.

• SKUs in selected nodes - In this option, the node(s) which you want to export are selected.

• SKUs using saved condition - When you choose this option, you can select a Saved Condition. As you start typing, PCC will start suggesting the various conditions that have been saved.

You can select Incremental Export Only if you only want SKU(s) added/updated after the selected date to be exported.

Once you select Incremental Export Only, you will have the following 3 options to choose from:

• SKUs modified since last export

• SKUs modified since last export by me (The specific individual account)

• SKUs modified since date – When you select this option, you must click on the    icon and choose the date from which you want the SKUs that have got modified

6. Select the Store Name from the drop-down list to which the data is to be synced as shown below.

7. Click Export and the export process is initiated.

   Refer section Viewing the Export File for more information on how to view the status of the export. Once the export process is successfully completed, you can go to the OroCommerce platform and view details in the Products page as shown below.

As shown above, the SKU try000089 present in Electronic Items node selected to be synced to the OroCommerce site is displayed here. You can scroll the page further to view the SKU attributes and related SKUs synced to the store for this specific SKU.

Thus, you can make changes to the SKUs, update values in the PCC catalog which will be reflected in the OroCommerce platform after the sync is done successfully.

However, if an error occurs during the export process, an error file will be generated with details of the errors. The Export page will display the following information in case of an error.

You can download the error file and make the necessary changes and export again after correcting the errors listed. Following is a sample error file.

The Product load summary will be shown for all records, and it will have the following fields:

• Total products – displays the total count of SKUs being exported

• Products processed – displays the total count of SKUs processed

• Products successfully loaded – displays the count of SKUs loaded successfully from the processed SKUs

• Failed to load – displays the total count of SKUs that have failed from the processed SKUs.