Importing products using API
You can import products from an external source of data into Kentico using the API. As a source of data, you can use, for example, a CSV (comma-separated values) file.
Back up your Kentico database.
Prepare your external source of data, i.e. a CSV file. Make sure that all product properties required for import into the Kentico database are included.
In this example, the CSV file contains the following records (comma-separated):
Field 1 - specifies the name of the product, e.g. Apple iPhone 5.
Field 2 - specifies the description of the product, e.g. New version of iPhone.
Field 3 - specifies the price of the product. Use a dot (.) to separate decimal places, e.g. 849.99.
Field 4 - specifies the department where the product will be placed after import. You need to enter the department code name, e.g. EcommerceSite.Electronics. If you leave the record empty or enter an invalid department code name, no department will be assigned to the product after import.
Copy the following files to your web project folder.
- ImportProducts.aspx
- Importing products using API
- products.csv
ImportProducts.aspx
<%@ Page Language="C#" AutoEventWireup="true" CodeFile="ImportProducts.aspx.cs" Inherits="ImportProducts" Theme="Default" %>
<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd">
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" >
<head id="Head1" runat="server">
<title>Import</title>
</head>
<body>
<form id="form1" runat="server">
<div>
<asp:Label ID="lblInfo" runat="server" EnableViewState="false" /><br />
<asp:Label ID="lblError" runat="server" EnableViewState="false" />
</div>
</form>
</body>
</html>
ImportProducts.aspx.cs
The following sample code allows you to import products specified in your external source of data to the Products -> Electronics -> Cellphones section as Cellphones.
Modify the code to suit your needs:
- [Change import location](#changing-import-location){.internal-link}
- [Change product type](#changing-product-type){.internal-link}
using System;
using CMS.DataEngine;
using CMS.DocumentEngine;
using CMS.Ecommerce;
using CMS.Helpers;
using CMS.IO;
using CMS.Membership;
using CMS.SiteProvider;
public partial class ImportProducts : System.Web.UI.Page
{
#region "Private variables"
// Document owner
private string userName = "Administrator";
private TreeProvider tree;
private string siteName = "";
private string cultureCode;
private int siteId;
private string className = "CMSProduct.CellPhone";
#endregion
#region "Methods"
protected void Page_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
// Get site info
siteName = SiteContext.CurrentSiteName;
siteId = SiteContext.CurrentSiteID;
// Get default site culture
cultureCode = CultureHelper.GetDefaultCultureCode(siteName);
// Get user info
UserInfo ui = UserInfoProvider.GetUserInfo(userName);
if (ui != null)
{
tree = new TreeProvider(ui);
}
else
{
tree = new TreeProvider();
}
// Import products
lblError.Text = Import(Server.MapPath("products.csv"));
}
/// <summary>
/// Imports products from the specified file in *.csv format
/// </summary>
/// <param name="filePath"></param>
/// <returns></returns>
private string Import(string filePath)
{
string error = "";
FileStream file = null;
try
{
// Specify file with product data
file = FileStream.New(filePath, FileMode.Open, FileAccess.Read);
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
error = "Error loading file '" + filePath + "': " + ex.Message;
}
if (error == "")
{
// Get product parent document
TreeNode parentDocument = GetProductParentDocument();
// Get default product document type
DataClassInfo productDocumentType = GetProductDocumentType();
if ((parentDocument == null) || (productDocumentType == null))
{
error = "Unable to create products, some information missing";
}
else
{
var reader = StreamReader.New(file);
int count = 0;
// Read file
while (!reader.EndOfStream)
{
string line = reader.ReadLine();
if (line != null && line.Trim() != "")
{
// Get product data
string[] productData = line.Trim().Split(',');
// Create product (SKU)
var sku = new SKUInfo
{
SKUName = productData[0],
SKUDescription = productData[1],
SKUPrice = ValidationHelper.GetDouble(productData[2], 0),
SKUEnabled = true,
SKUSiteID = siteId,
SKUProductType = SKUProductTypeEnum.Product
};
DepartmentInfo department = DepartmentInfoProvider.GetDepartmentInfo(productData[3], siteName);
if (department != null)
{
// Assign product to its department
sku.SKUDepartmentID = department.DepartmentID;
}
try
{
SKUInfoProvider.SetSKUInfo(sku);
}
catch
{
error += "Unable to create product '" + sku.SKUName + "'. <br />";
}
// If product was created successfully
if (sku.SKUID > 0)
{
// Create product document type and assign SKU to it
var productDoc = (SKUTreeNode)TreeNode.New(productDocumentType.ClassName, tree);
productDoc.DocumentSKUName = sku.SKUName;
productDoc.DocumentSKUDescription = sku.SKUDescription;
productDoc.NodeSKUID = sku.SKUID;
productDoc.DocumentCulture = cultureCode;
try
{
productDoc.Insert(parentDocument, true);
count++;
}
catch
{
error += "Unable to create document '" + sku.SKUName + "'. <br />";
SKUInfoProvider.DeleteSKUInfo(sku.SKUID);
}
}
}
}
// Close file
if (file != null)
{
file.Close();
}
// Close reader
reader.Close();
// Display number of created products
lblInfo.Text = "Number of created products: " + count;
}
}
return error;
}
/// <summary>
/// Ensures parent document for product documents exists.
/// </summary>
private TreeNode GetProductParentDocument()
{
// Try to get products' parent document
TreeNode parent = tree.SelectSingleNode(siteName, "/Products/Electronics/Cellphones", TreeProvider.ALL_CULTURES, true, "cms.menuitem");
// Parent not found
if (parent == null)
{
// Get site root
TreeNode root = tree.SelectSingleNode(siteName, "/", TreeProvider.ALL_CULTURES, true, "cms.root");
if (root != null)
{
// Create new parent document
parent = TreeNode.New("cms.menuitem", tree);
parent.SetValue("MenuItemName", "Custom products");
parent.DocumentName = "Custom products";
parent.DocumentCulture = cultureCode;
parent.Insert(root, true);
}
}
return parent;
}
/// <summary>
/// Ensures default product document type exists.
/// </summary>
private DataClassInfo GetProductDocumentType()
{
DataClassInfo defaultProductType = DataClassInfoProvider.GetDataClassInfo(className);
return defaultProductType;
}
#endregion
}
Changing import location
If you need to change import location, customize the GetProductParentDocument() method.
Specifically, you need to modify the value of the parent variable:
parent = tree.SelectSingleNode(siteName, "/Products/Electronics/Cellphones", TreeProvider.ALL_CULTURES, true, "cms.menuitem");
For example, if you want to import your products directly into the Products section, change the path to “/Products”.
If you enter an invalid parent node path, the system creates a new document located in the root directory.
The system then adds the imported products under this parent document.
Changing product type
If you need to change the product type, customize the value of the className variable:
string className = "CMSProduct.CellPhone";
For example, if you want to import your products as Tablets, change the value to “CMSProduct.Tablet”.
To be able to perform the import, your website must have appropriate product types defined.
Open the ProductImport.aspx file in your Internet browser.
The system runs the script and informs you about the import result.
If you open the Products application, you can see that the imported products are listed under Electronics -> Cellphones.
