Variant Master
Card for a variant master – the display container (parent product) of a variant item in Shopware 6.
In Shopware, a variant item consists of a container (the parent product that shows the selection) and its variant children (the sellable variations such as "T-shirt red", "T-shirt yellow"). The variant master is that container as a dedicated object in the connector.
The master is not a BC item
The variant master is never stocked, never sold and never appears on an order – orders always reference the child SKUs, which are real BC items. The master only holds the container data (title, description, SEO, variant set) and the list of assigned variants.
Opening the page
- Via Search: Shopware 6 Variant Masters (list) → click an entry
- From the Shopware 6 Item Card of an item → action Create Variant Master (create) or Open Variant Master (already assigned)
Workflow (overview)
The variant master has four steps. All of them run solely on your click in Business Central – nothing is transferred automatically.
- Create from item – On the item card, Create Variant Master. Title, description, SEO, manufacturer and variant set are copied from the item; the item becomes the main variant. By default the container SKU is the item SKU plus a suffix (
M), e.g.01.0000.32→01.0000.32M. - Maintain – On the master card, edit the container's title/description/SEO, assign more items as variants (Add Items in the Variants section) and set the main variant (Set as Main Variant).
- Upload – Action Upload: creates or updates the container in Shopware and uploads all assigned items as variant children.
- Dissolve or Remove from Shop – see Actions.
A step-by-step guide for adopting existing structures is under Migrating existing variants.
Fields
General
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Shop Code | Shop this master belongs to. Read-only – taken from the item on creation. |
| Code | Unique code of the master within the shop. Defaults to the source item number. Read-only. |
| Shop SKU | Shopware product number (productNumber) of the container. Default: source SKU + container suffix (e.g. …M). To adopt an existing container this SKU must match the existing container SKU in the shop exactly – then the upload updates the existing container instead of creating a new one. |
| Title | Name of the container product in the shop (e.g. T-shirt). |
| Active | Whether the container product is active in the shop. |
| Main Variant Item No. | Item whose variant child is the main variant of the listing (mainVariantId). Also provides the container's mandatory tax and price. |
| Source Item No. | Item the master was copied from. Informational only; clicking opens the source item's Shopware 6 item card. Use Detach Source to clear the reference. |
| Description Template | Description template for the container. If set, the container description is rendered from the template on upload (marketing text and technical data of the main variant); the manually maintained description is then not sent. If empty, the description text is transferred unchanged. |
Variants
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Variant Set | Variant set (property groups and options) that defines the variant dimensions (e.g. color, size). See Property sets. |
| Variant Selection | Display in the shop: Standard (dropdown), Image (thumbnails) or Color (color swatches). |
Below is the Assigned Variants section – the assigned items (children). Here you assign more items via Add Items and set the main variant with Set as Main Variant.
Description
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Description | HTML description of the container product. Variant children without their own description inherit this text in Shopware. If a variant maintains its own description (field Description Long on its item card), it overrides the container text; clearing the field re-enables inheritance automatically. |
SEO
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| SEO Title | SEO page title of the container (max. 56 characters). |
| SEO Description | SEO meta description (max. 155 characters). |
| SEO Keywords | 3–5 SEO keywords. |
| SEO URL | SEO-friendly URL path of the container. |
Status
All fields read-only.
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Online | Whether the container product currently exists in the shop. |
| Synced | Whether the master was uploaded successfully. |
| Last Sync | Time of the last upload. |
| Shopware Product ID | UUID of the container product in Shopware. |
Assignments (parts)
Below the status are the same assignment sections as for a single item, here for the container product: Categories (shop categories), Tags (shop tags) and Sales Channel Visibility (visibility per sales channel: all / search / link).
Actions
| Action | Description |
|---|---|
| Upload | Uploads the master: creates or updates the container product (title, description, SEO plus tax and price of the main variant), registers the configurator options and uploads each assigned item as a variant child (including its own description). Finally the main variant is set in the storefront listing. Errors on individual variants are collected and reported and do not abort the upload. |
| Remove from Shop | Removes the variant grouping from the shop: the container product is deleted and the assigned items that were online are then automatically re-uploaded as normal single products — they remain sellable in the shop and are maintained by the regular item sync. The master and all assignments remain in Business Central; a later Upload groups the items as variants again. |
| Dissolve | Dissolves the structure completely: deletes the container product in the shop (variants cascade), then re-uploads the assigned items as single products, then deletes the master in Business Central. A confirmation prompt appears. |
| Copy from Source | Copies the shop content (title, description, SEO, manufacturer, variant settings) from the source item to the master again. Manual changes on the master are overwritten after confirmation; Shop SKU and main variant are preserved. Only available if a source item is set. |
| Detach Source | Clears the reference to the source item (field Source Item No. is emptied). All content of the master remains unchanged. |
Token warm-up
On Upload, Remove from Shop and Dissolve the OAuth token for the shop is "warmed up" first so the subsequent call uses the cached token. This is the same mechanism as Upload Item on the item card.
Migrating existing variants
If a structure was uploaded via the old path ("Upload Item with Variants"), you recognise it in the shop by the M suffix of the container product (e.g. 01.0000.32M). Here is how to move it into a variant master without recreating the shop container:
- In BC, open the Shopware 6 item card of the former main item and choose Create Variant Master.
- Verify that the master's Shop SKU matches the existing container SKU in the shop exactly (e.g.
01.0000.32M). Then the first upload adopts the existing container via update – no deletion, no duplicates. - In the Variants section, assign the remaining variant items via Add Items.
- Check the Main Variant Item No. as well as the master's title and description (copied from the item).
- Click Upload and verify in the storefront: variant selection, prices, description.
- To get rid of a structure entirely, use Dissolve (dissolves in the shop and re-uploads the items as single products).
Known limitations (phase 1)
- Container images: The container gets no images of its own; the listing shows the cover image of the respective variant.
- Container price: The container takes the main variant's price as a mandatory fallback (it is not sellable itself). The sellable prices live on the variant children.
- Import shop → BC: The shop-to-BC reconciliation does not (yet) create variant masters (phase 2).
Related pages
- Item card – single item, entry point Create/Open Variant Master
- Property sets – variant sets and options