Importing products using API

✖
Copy to clipboard

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.

  1. Back up your Kentico database.

  2. 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.

      Preparing your external source of data

  3. Copy the following files to your web project folder.

    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:

    


 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"
     // Page 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 page
             TreeNode parentPage = GetProductParentPage();
             // Get default product page type
             DataClassInfo productPageType = GetProductPageType();
             if ((parentPage == null) || (productPageType == 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 page type and assign SKU to it
                             var productDoc = (SKUTreeNode)TreeNode.New(productPageType.ClassName, tree);
                             productDoc.DocumentSKUName = sku.SKUName;
                             productDoc.DocumentSKUDescription = sku.SKUDescription;
                             productDoc.NodeSKUID = sku.SKUID;
                             productDoc.DocumentCulture = cultureCode;
                             try
                             {
                                 productDoc.Insert(parentPage, true);
                                 count++;
                             }
                             catch
                             {
                                 error += "Unable to create page '" + 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 page for product pages exists.
     /// </summary>
     private TreeNode GetProductParentPage()
     {
         // Try to get products' parent page
         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 page
                 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 page type exists.
     /// </summary>    
     private DataClassInfo GetProductPageType()
     {
         DataClassInfo defaultProductType = DataClassInfoProvider.GetDataClassInfo(className);
         return defaultProductType;
     }
     #endregion
 }

    Changing import location

    If you need to change import location, customize the GetProductParentPage() 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 page located in the root directory.

    The system then adds the imported products under this parent page.

    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.

  4. Open the ProductImport.aspx file in your Internet browser.

    The system runs the script and informs you about the import result.

    Viewing the import result

If you open the Products application, you can see that the imported products are listed under Electronics -> Cellphones.

Imported products