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2.4 Inventory Setup

The Inventory Setup option allows you to modify individual items, modify categories, change the order items are listed in, and import/export inventory. Figure 2-31 shows the main inventory setup interface. More fields may be shown in the Inventory matrix if additional modules or fields have been activated.

2.4.1 Category Functions

To make changes to a category, select the Category Functions link shown at the top of Figure 2-31. You can use the interfaces shown in Figure 2-32 to make changes to all items in a given category, and to rename or delete a category.

Select a Category to Modify
Select a Category Function
Rename Category	Enter new category name: Then click
Delete Category	Are you sure you want to permanently remove all items in your inventory that belong to this category? YesNo
Modify All Items in Category	Enable/Disable All Items? Make Each Item Taxable? Remove Sale Prices on Each Item?
Go Back To Main Menu

Bottom of Form

There are a few things you can do with the Category Functions interface. The following describes each function:

• 
  Rename Category – To rename a category, select the category to rename from the dropdown menu near the top of the page shown in Figure 2-32. Enter the new category name in the Rename Category section and click the Rename Category button. The category will be renamed and the changes will be made to all items in that category.
  
• 
  Delete Category – To delete a category, select the category from the dropdown menu shown in Figure 2-32. By deleting a category, you will delete all items in that category. Make sure this is what you want to do! After you delete a category, you will not be able to retrieve any items in that category. You must select yes to delete all items in that category and click the Delete Category button.
  
• 
  Modify All Items in Category – This option will allow you to modify the quantity for all items in a category, or if the No Control option is set for Inventory Control Options, you will be able to enable or disable all items in the category selected. You can also make each item taxable or non-taxable, or leave them with the same value. Finally, you can remove the sale price on all items. To update the changes to the category, fill in the specified options and click the Modify Category button.
  

2.4.2 Change listing order

To change the order of items in your shop, select the Change Listing Order link shown in Figure 2-31. Use this option to automatically sort your inventory by Category and Item Name. You can also order the items in your inventory manually; they don’t have to be listed in the order they were entered. So, if you have items that you want customers to see first, you can re-number them here and click the update sequence button. Refer to Figure 2-33.

2.4.3 Import/Export Menu

When you setup a new shop, you don’t have to re-enter your data. You can import data from a different shop by selecting import/export link shown in Figure 2-31. The Miva import module can be activated to import data from a Miva database.

Import Inventory Data from a Flat File

This function will import inventory data from a delimited text data file. The file format must consist of one item per line, with each field separated by the delimiter chosen below. The first line of the file must consist of the item's field names in the following lines. To better understand this, use the export function (below) to create an example. Top of Form Text Data File: Give the full path and filename of the file that contains your data. If you prefer, you can select a file on your local machine and MCart will upload it for you. Remember that large data files can take a long time to upload. Please be patient. Choose your delimiter: Choose a character string to use as a delimeter between the fields in your data. This delimiter should not appear in the data for any of your items. If you to use the Tab character as a delimiter, put the word 'tab' here. Merge with or replace existing inventory data? MergeReplace If you choose to Merge your data, any existing items will be updated with the information found in your file. New items will be created as needed. If you choose to replace data, all existing items will be erased, and the items in the import file will be created as new items. Bottom of Form

You can import inventory data from a delimited text data file (this is a file that was created containing all inventory). The import file must be an ASCII text file. The fields can be delimited by a pipe (‘|’), tab, *, or any other character (with the exception of commas) that you select as long as they are not included in any part of the data. Refer to Figure 2-34 to see the import file section of the Import/Export interface. Most spreadsheet programs, like Microsoft Excel, can export spreadsheets into a comma / tab delimited format. You should be able to export data from most databases as well, e.g. Microsoft Access.

Figures 2-35 through 2-38 show the fields needed to import inventory. In the import file the first line of the file needs to contain the name of the columns. Each product must be on its own line of the import file. To see an example of an import file, use the Export Function to create a properly formatted input file. This will provide a format to start from if you are importing data from an existing shopping cart.

The following are descriptions of import fields followed by sample data.

The following 2 fields are related. If you have one you must include both even though one may contain no data.

The following 5 fields are related. If you have one you must include the remaining 4 even if they contain no data.

The following 3 fields are related. If you have one you must include the remaining 2 even if they contain no data.

IT01|1|20||1|productName|1.00|15.00||partnum12|654321||s,m,l,xl|blue,green.red|1,2,3,4|5,6,7,8||13.95|description goes here|picture.jpg|ForSale|

Miva data may also be imported if you have purchased and activated the module key. This function will convert your inventory database from the Mcart Xbase format to a delimited text file, which should be suitable for importing into a spreadsheet or database program. The file will consist of one item per line, with the fields for each item separated by the delimiter you select. Figure 2-39 shows the interface to import Miva data.

Export Inventory Data to a Flat File

To Export Inventory, fill in the bottom section of the Import/Export interface shown in Figure 2-40. This function will convert your inventory database (that you already had from a previous shopping cart or you have recently created) from the MCart Xbase database to a delimited text file, which is suitable for importing into a spreadsheet or database. The file will consist of one item per line, with the fields for each item separated by the delimiter you select. The shopkeeper specifies which fields are exported by checking the fields to export as shown in Figure 2-40.


Figure 2-40

2.4.4 Setting up your inventory item-by-item

To begin setting up new items in your inventory, use the Inventory Setup Interface. You can access this interface by clicking the Inventory Setup button on main Mcart interface.

For example, you can set a list of shirt-types as:

T-shirt=15,Long-Sleve Shirt=17,Sweatshirt=20

and Mcart will charge 15, 17 or 20 dollars depending upon which type is selected. Additionally, you could set the Size options to be:

S,M,L,XL,2X+2.25,3X+2.25

and Mcart will add an additional $2.25 to the price when large shirts are selected.

List available sizes with commas between them. Or leave this field blank to have no Size options for this item.

List available colors with commas between them. Or leave this field blank to have no Color options for this item.

List available options with commas between them. Or leave this field blank to have no Option1 options for this item.

List available options with commas between them. Or leave this field blank to have no Option2 options for this item.

Enter the label for a blank text field attached to this item. Some examples: 'Monogram', 'Text to put on Shirt', etc.

You can leave this field blank, and the Price will not show up with the item listing (which is useful if you have defined the price of the item from the pull-down options.) You can also set this to a string (like "FREE") if you wish.

$

Sale Price:

If this field is set, then this price will be listed as a special sale price for the item.

$

Taxable: - is this item subject to sales tax?

YesNo

Image URL:

Give the URL of a picture of this item, or leave this blank for no picture.

If you prefer, you can select an image on your local machine and Mcart will upload it and set the URL for you.

Enter a brief description of the item. HTML tags are allowed, if you want to use them. This program will not check your HTML, so be sure you check your results before making your changes permanent.

You will need to specify any information you desire in the item interface shown above. Any information that is left blank will not be displayed to the customers.

2.4.4.2 Update list

This option allows you to change the availability of items in this list. Make changes in the quantity of items and click the update list option as shown in Figure 2-42. If you have set the inventory control option to “No Control”, you will only be able to enable or disable the item. If you have selected any other inventory control option, you will be able to update the quantity of all items in the list.

	Enabled	Category	Part Number	Item Name	Item ID	SpecialSales	Wholesale	ShipNotice
		Everything		The greatest Software In the World	IT1	No	No	No
		james category		james product	IT2	No	No	No

To change the quantities of the items in this list, make changes in the input boxes above and click here.

Figure 2-42

2.4.4.3 Edit Item

This option allows you to change an item in your inventory. Select an item from the list that you created, click the edit item option shown in Figure 2-31, and you will be able to make any changes you need. You will see the same interface as when adding an item to inventory except the item data will be displayed.

2.4.4.4 Copy Item

To make a new item based on an existing one, select the item from your inventory and click the copy item button shown in Figure 2-31. This will duplicate the item you copied, and you can modify any of the contents of the newly copied item.

2.4.4.5 Remove Item

To remove an item from your inventory, select the item from the list you created and click the remove item option shown in Figure 2-31. You will be prompted to delete all data associated with the item. You must select to remove all data from the item. This will remove this item from your inventory completely.