Text Templates per Sales Channel
With text templates, Product Data builds the title, subtitle, description and key features of your listings from the item attributes – per marketplace and item category, in the language of the sales channel. The texts land on the listing and go to the marketplace or shop with the next item update. Texts somebody changed by hand stay.
You reach the text templates
- from the Product Data Dashboard: Text Templates,
- on the Marketplace Card: Text Templates, next to Content Profile,
- through search ("Tell me what you want to do").
You can always create and edit templates. Generate Texts produces texts only while Product Data is switched on and has a license or a running demo.
Creating a template
A template applies to one marketplace, one content field and optionally one item category:
| Field | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Marketplace Code | The marketplace or shop whose listings get the text |
| Content Field | Title, Subtitle, Description or Key Features |
| Item Category Code | The category the template applies to. Empty = the marketplace's template for all other items |
| Description | Your own name for the template |
| Layout | One line: blocks one after another, each followed by its separator. Paragraphs (description only): every block a paragraph of its own – as an HTML paragraph where the channel allows HTML. Key features always get one entry per block |
Inheritance: a template for an item category also applies to every category below it that has none of its own. The nearest level wins: first the item's own category, then the parent categories, finally the marketplace's template without a category. Where there is no template for a text, that text of the listing stays unchanged.
Copy from Template takes over the blocks of another template, for example of the same text on another marketplace. The confirmation says that the existing blocks are replaced.
Blocks
The lines under Blocks are the parts of the text, in the order in which they go into it.
| Field | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Type | Attribute (the values of an item attribute), Fixed Text or Item Field (Description, Description 2, Vendor Item No., Manufacturer) |
| Prefix / Suffix | Text before or after the value, e.g. in or cm. Spaces count |
| Separator After | What follows the block when another block with a value comes after it, e.g. a space, , or -. New lines start with a space |
| Show Attribute Name | Puts the name of the attribute in the channel's language in front: "Material: Cotton" – meant for key features |
| Lower First Character | The value starts in lower case, in mid-sentence for example |
| Add Unit | Appends the unit of the attribute to every value: "15 cm" |
| Value Separator | Stands between several values of an attribute. Empty = , |
| Skip If Empty | A block without a value is left out together with its separator. Switched off, the block is required: without its value no text is produced, and the listing keeps its previous one |
| Language Code | Only for this language, e.g. a fixed text in French for a channel that also sells in French. Empty = every language. Takes effect only when the Language of Item Texts is set in the merchantCENTRAL Setup; without it merchantCENTRAL does not tell languages apart, and blocks with a language code are left out |
Example
A title from Brand, the fixed text Shirt, Colour and Size (prefix Size) gives "Acme Shirt, Red, Size XL". If the colour is missing, it becomes "Acme Shirt, Size XL".
Values and languages
- Which values: the variant's own values, otherwise those of the item – the same ones merchantCENTRAL sends to the channel as attributes.
- Which words: the value from the marketplace's value mapping, otherwise the translation of the value into the channel's language, otherwise the value itself for numbers, dates and language-neutral attributes. The value mapping applies per marketplace attribute; the template takes that of the marketplace attribute under which the item attribute has value mappings (with several, the first).
- If a translation is missing, the whole block is left out – a German word in a French title would be worse than none. The result reports how many blocks are missing for that reason.
- Numbers and dates are written the way the language writes them: "1,5" in German, "1.5" in English.
- Several languages: if a channel sells in several languages (Belgium in Dutch and French, say), every text is produced in every language. The first language lands on the listing itself, every other one in the listing texts of that language.
Limits of the channel
The limits are in the marketplace's Content Profile (Marketplace Card, Content Profile): maximum length, maximum bytes, number of key features and whether HTML is allowed.
- A text that is too long is shortened at a word boundary.
- Key features beyond the maximum are left out.
- For a description in paragraphs with HTML, only whole paragraphs are taken over as long as they fit into the limit. A cut through the middle of a tag would break the page.
- If a channel does not take a text at all according to its content profile, it is not written.
Preview
On the Text Template card, under Preview, choose a Sample Item No. and optionally a Language Code. The preview shows
- under Text the text as a listing would receive it,
- under Characters the character count against the channel's limit (red when it was shortened),
- under Notes for example blocks that were left out.
Refresh Preview builds the text again after a change. The preview shows the blocks of this template; which template a listing actually gets is decided by the item category of the item.
Generating texts
Generate Texts is available in two places:
- in the Marketplace Item List (group Product Data) for the selected listings – every text there is a template for,
- in the Text Templates list and on the Text Template card for every listing the template reaches: its marketplace and its item category with all categories below. Only the text of this template is written; a run from the title template leaves description and key features untouched.
After a confirmation with the number of listings, the run produces the texts and reports per result:
| Result | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Written | The text was written to the listing |
| Unchanged | The listing had the text already |
| Changed by hand | The previous text was changed by hand and stays |
| Shortened | Shortened to the channel's limit |
| Not generated | A required value is missing, or no block has a value |
| Untranslated | Blocks left out because a value has no translation into the language |
| No template | There is no template for the listing |
| Not supported by the channel | The channel does not take this text according to its content profile |
A listing whose text has changed is flagged for the next item update of its connector.
Key features become the listing's own list. A list of the item for all channels stays untouched, but no longer applies to this listing as long as it has one of its own.
Texts changed by hand
A text is written only if the listing's previous text
- is empty,
- for the title, still equals the item description (or its translation) a new listing starts with, or
- is exactly the text the templates wrote last.
Everything else was changed by somebody by hand – including a text you applied in the SEO Engine. It stays and is counted as Changed by hand. If you want to replace such texts on purpose, choose Generate Texts and Overwrite Manual Texts. The confirmation says that the changes will be lost.
Rebuild texts automatically
In the Product Data Settings (merchantCENTRAL Setup, Extensions, Product Data, Set Up), switch Rebuild Texts Automatically on. An item then lands in a queue as soon as
- one of its attribute values changes – on the standard pages, with the tools, through the Excel import or through a connector,
- its description, description 2, vendor item no., manufacturer or item category changes,
- an item translation changes,
- a new listing is created.
A job queue entry ("Product Data: rebuild listing texts after attribute changes", every 15 minutes) rebuilds the texts of every listing of these items. Texts changed by hand stay here too.
- Switching on creates the job queue entry, switching off removes it. For that, your user needs the permission to schedule job queue entries.
- The Job Queue Entry field in the settings shows whether it runs. If it is missing or On Hold or in Error, the items stay in the queue.
- Items Waiting for Texts shows the queue with Queued At, Last Attempt At and Error Message. An item whose texts could not be produced stays with the error message and is tried again on the next run.
- Process Now works off the queue at once and reports processed and failed items. If a value changes while an item's texts are being produced, it stays in the queue for the next run.
- While Product Data is switched off or unlicensed, no items are queued, and the queue stays as it is.
- A changed translation of an attribute value or a renamed attribute value queues no items – that would affect every item with this value. Run Generate Texts for the affected template afterwards.