Update Woocommerce product feed manager 2.0.5

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Woocommerce product feed manager v2.0.5 is now available via automatic update and the downloads page.

Version 2.0 of our WooCommerce Product Feed Manager plugin is a major upgrade from its previous version in which the feed generation process has been overhauled and converted from a real-time process to a background process. The main reason for this important update was that the old versions had difficulties handling feeds with very large product quantities. Switching to a background process also has the advantage that you can continue to work on your feeds whilst the selected feed is being updated in the background.

We recommend users update as soon as possible in order to keep your product feeds up to date with the latest bug fixes, security enhancements, and feed requirements.

Improved performance

The feed generation process has been overhauled and remodeled from a real-time process to a background process. As soon as you start your manual feed update, the correct product ids are stored in a queue and the feed update process will start updating the feed file in the background so you can close the Edit Feed page and work on other feeds or even select other feeds to be added to the feed queue. Whilst in the previous version you had to wait until the feed generation was finished, you now can work on your other feeds as the feed generation work is done in the background. In the feeds list, you can see what feed is being processed and what feeds are in the queue to be processed.

Added new WordPress filters

We added the “wppfm_category_mapping_exclude”, “wppfm_category_mapping_exclude_tree” and “wppfm_category_mapping_max_categories” filters. You can use these filters to limit the number of categories in the Category Mapping list on the Edit Feed page. Shops with very large numbers of categories can have issues with this Category Mapping list. By using one or more of the mentioned filters you can limit the number of categories and thus prevent issues with the Category Mapping list.

Read more about using filters on wpbeginner.com. To use the first two filters you can return an array or a comma-separated string with category id’s that you want to be removed from the Category Mapping list. The “wppfm_category_mapping_exclude” filter will only remove the categories with the given ids, the “wppfm_category_mapping_exclude_tree” filter will also remove the children categories from the list. With the “wppfm_category_mapping_max_categories” filter you can return a number to the filter that will limit the number of categories in the Category Mapping list.

Eg. If you want to remove the categories with ids 10, 12, 14 and 16 from the Category Mapping, including their children categories, you could use the following code in your functions.php file:

Third party attributes

We also fixed an issue where attributes from third-party plugins, with a name that started with an underscore, would show up in the WooCommerce Source list as an empty line.

In connection with the previous fix, we changed the way third-party attributes show up in the WooCommerce Source list. In the previous version the name of this attribute would be cleaned from underscores, but as of version 2.0, the name will not be cleaned anymore.

Changelog

  • Fixed an issue where when the user had not selected the “include variations” option, the non-product specific variation data like min_variation_price or max_variation_price would not be included in the main version of the variation product.
  • Changed the feed processing process so it can handle feeds with large number of products
  • Fixed an error that would cause the feed process to fail with product variations that included sale dates
  • Changed the way the variation data was accessed that caused some messages in logging files
  • Fixed an issue where third-party attributes that start with an underscore would show up as an empty row in the Google Source pulldown list
  • Changed the way third-party attributes are shown in the source list. They now keep their original name
  • Fixed a few security issues
  • Added the WooCommerce version check
  • Improved the auto feed update timing
  • Added the wppfm_category_mapping_exclude, wppfm_category_mapping_exclude_tree and wppfm_category_mapping_max_categories filters that allow the user to influence the category mapping list
  • Fixed an issue where the Stock count would show a wrong number when the actual Stock account was 0

Update Woocommerce product feed manager 1.9.4

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Woocommerce product feed manager v1.9.4 is now available via automatic update and the downloads page.

This is not only a maintenance update that includes bug fixes but also includes added functionality and user improvements..

We recommend users update as soon as possible in order to keep your product feeds up to date with the latest bug fixes, security enhancements and feed requirements.

Feed item WordPress filter

This is one of the coolest addition to this version that will make the plugin even more flexible as it is already. We have added filter hooks to our plugin so you are able to manipulate any item from the feeds by using the wppfm_feed_item_value() filter in either plugin or functions.php

I have created an example code on Github so you can have an idea about the working and posibilities.

WooCommerce Composite Products

We have several customers that use the woocommerce composite products to create product kits and complex products by grouping existing simple or variable products. Our plugin will now support that plugin and will work with this type of product.

Added support for custom made taxonomies

In some cases we found out our clients need support of custom taxonomies. As of version 1.9.0 our plugin will pick those taxonomies up and list them in the source dropdown in the feed manager. So for example if you create a gender taxonomy for you products you will be able to add the gender to the product feed for each product.

Dynamic remarketing for Google Shopping

Until now we did not support the Adwords remarketing tags. But because Dynamic remarketing is such an important part of any online marketing strategy we have included the attributes to the google shopping feed template.

Added attributes are

  • display_ads_id
  • display_ads_similar_id
  • display_ads_title
  • display_ads_link
  • display_ads_value
  • display_ads_recommendation_preference
  • excluded_destination
  • adwords_grouping
  • adwords_labels

Even more changes

The functionality above are the most important updates but there is even more and in the change log below you will find every bit of improvement and added functionality in our new 1.9.4 version.

Remember to update your plugin

Do remember to go and update your product feed manager plugin and also keep an eye out on update in the channel manager if you have the Product feed manager E-commerce version. Channel templates do get updates so your product feeds keep being valid in the channels where you show your products.

Changelog

  • Fixed an issue where filtering failed when the user would not enter an “or” input
  • Improved the backup process
  • Improved memory usages during feed generation
  • Fixed an issue where the min and max variation regular prices would not be configured according the the WooCommerce money settings
  • Fixed an issue with the duplicate function
  • Improved the database setup and update process
  • Improved the way channels are downloaded
  • Added support for WooCommerce Composite Products
  • Improved the error handling messages for licensing activities
  • Added the wppfm_feed_item_value filter that allows users to edit the value of any item in a feed using this filter option
  • Added support for Google Dynamic Remarketing
  • Fixed an issue where the plugin would conflict with the Mandrill plugin
  • The output lists are now sorted alphabetically
  • Added support for user made taxonomies
  • Added a function that removes WordPress Gallery shortcode from the product description
  • Added a warning if a user uses prohibited characters in the feed name
  • Fixed an error that could cause calculations in a change value to produce a period as a decimal separator even though a comma is set as required decimal separator
  • Changed the Min and Max Variation prices that are not supported by WooCommerce anymore
  • Fixed an issue where the url of variable products from which some attributes where not set would not be correct
  • Prepared the code to support the WooCommerce Product Feed Manager WPML Support plugin that adds WPML multilingual support the the plugin

Woocommerce product feed manager v1.8.1 released

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We are very proud of our Product feed manager for woocommerce. It has been grown to an advanced product feed manager with some awesome feature sets that will make your product feeds get the most out of your listings in shopping channels.

Today we release an other update with great added functionality to help you create awesome feeds. Let me list the important ones.

Edit feed title and description

add feed title and description

You can now add a feed title and Feed description to your feed. Normally this was set to the feed file name you gave it in the settings. So now you can have even more controle and add a custom feed title and custom feed description that will be displayed in the product feed file.

Same day automatic feed update

When you created a feed and set the update time this would in previous version only be activated the day after the update. In this new update the schedule will be effective right after the you updates the feed and independent of the manual update.

So when you update the feed on 13:00 hours and the automatic update is set to 23:00 hours it will execute this update on the same date. Before it would wait for the next day and now it more like one would expect it to behave.

Save feed without updating

One other request was to have the possibility to save the feed without updating the feed file. So in the feed manager you will now find two buttons one to save and generate file and an other button that will only save the feed.

save feed without generating file

Greater support alternative plugins

This added functionality will improve the support of other plugins greatly. There are a lot of plugin that will create custom product fields and are useful to use in the attribute mapping of our plugin. Because of the plugins all user there own naming convention it is nearly impossible to support all kinds of plugins.

But we have found a nifty way to let you set the prefix of the id of the custom product field the plugin uses.

You will have to do some research yourself though. First check out if the custom product fields are not already listed in the Attribute mapping tool.

If not find out what the plugin is using as an ID in creating their custom product fields. You will have to look for functions like woocommerce_wp_text_input() The id in that function will reveal the used prefix.

In our little helper plugin for additional product identifiers we use id’s like _wpmr_gtin where _wpmr_ is the prefix.

If you have found the prefix used in the third party plugin you can add this in our Third Party Attributes field witch you will find in our Settings section of our plugin.

The settings will be saved automatically and you will find the custom product field in the attribute as source.

Update your wp product feed manager

As you can see there are some great added functionality. Please make sure your update your copy and start using the new functions in our plugin.

Woocommerce product feed manager v1.5.1 released

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Woocommerce product feed manager v1.5.1 is now available via automatic update.

This is a maintenance and bug fix release. Like with all our plugin updates and especially those that include Channel updates, we recommend our users update as soon as possible.

  • Fixed an issue that caused an error when calculations where done on a combined input field
  • Fixed a code error that caused the plugin not to activate on PHP versions 5.3 or lower
  • Added support for the Zbozi channel
  • Added support for the Facebook channel
  • Added support for the Commerce Connector channel
  • Added a Last Feed Update source that represents the feed update date and time
  • Made some changed to the auto feed update that should improve the update process
  • Changed the Edit Feed Page so the user cannot change the channel after the feed has been stored
  • Changed the Edit Feed Page so the user can change the Target Country and Default Category during and after the feed has been stored
  • Added a Settings page that includes the option to set if you want to set the ftp server in active mode when downloading channels
  • Fixed an issue that could cause the license registration form not to show up
  • Changed the code to force feed file names not to have spaces

Update your channels!

We have added three new Channels and updated the Google with some big changes. Because of this big change in the Google channel you will need to update your google channel before you are able to create new feeds.

If you find any issue with your older feeds please update your channel templates!

Note: if you have the Google Feed Manager you have only the google channel and do not have to update your channel.

Setup a basic Google shopping feed

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Setting up the feed

In this post and video we want to show you how to setup a basic Google shopping feed with our Woocommerce Google feed manager.

First step we create a feed and give it a descriptive name, choose the Google channel, the country we want to target, and the default Google category for our products.

Next we set the Update schedule witch is the time when you want the plugin recreate the feed so it wil contains the right products and the right product data like prices and removed or new products etc.

Category mapping

woocommerce google feed manager category mapping

Category mapping

After setting the ‘Update schedule’ we start with mapping the shop categories to the relevant Google categories. The select all the categories from the products we want to include in our feed. After that we can map the products to a google category. By default it is connected to the earlier choose default category.

With the dropdown you can easily choose the right Google category the products belong to. You will find all available categories from Google in the dropdown. When mapping a Google category to a top level product category the child categories are mapped to the same google category.

Remember, the products from the product categories you did not select will not be included in the google feed. So you must select at least one category in order to create a feed with products in it.

This is basically it. You can save your feed and start using it.

Special feed settings

There are settings that in some cases can cause a feed to generate errors in Google Merchant center. For example if you do not have a SKU for each product you would need to change the id to post_id in stead of the standard SKU.

An other example is that you need to have a unique identifier like a GTIN number, MPN and Brand. If you miss these identifiers you can set the identifier exist’ to False. Please note that Setting it to ‘False’ for products that do have an identifier will not work; Google will disapprove those products or even suspend your account.

Under ‘Highly recommended’ you find the Product_type field This field represents your webshop product category and i always set it to Product Category String. The ‘Product category string’ shows the product categories with arrows formatted like this: Mother category > Child > Grandchild

Try to set as manny Highly recommended fields as you possible can like the MPN and is_bundle field. This will give Google some vital data so it can match your products way better.

Save and view the feed

woocommerce google feed manager feed list

Feed List

Next step is saving your feed and check the feed in the feed list. It will show you the feed url, how many products there are in the feed, the status of the feed and action links.

When you click the ‘View’ button you can view the feed in your browser. Note that every browser shows the feed different and you should get familiar how to see the xml code in your particular browser. For example the Chrome browser will display the xml feed without a problem but Firefox you will need to add ‘view-source:’ for the url in the adres bar.

Activate your feed

The last step is to activate your feed. This will make the plugin renew the feed with the earlier set Update schedule of the feed settings.

Watch the video to see creating a feed in action. There will be video’s with more advanced setup of the feed and will show you what you can do more with Woocommerce Google feed manager.

Please let us know if you have any question about using the plugin and get te best out of it.

Manage Channel templates

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Add, remove and update channel templates

We have updated the google channel template and i wanted to to take this opportunity to show you how the “manage channel section” works ie installing, updating and removing channels.

First of all visit the “manage channels” section of the plugin.
You will find the installed and Uninstalled channel templates we support.

You will need to install a Channel template before you can use him in the Feed manager. So when you just started with our plugin the first thing you will have to do is to install the Channel of your choice.

Installing and Uninstalling is really easy Just Click on the install or Remove button to either install of remove the channel from the feed manager.

Updating Channels is important

Updating the channels is really important. We will always update channels as soon as the channel makes any changes in their feed requirements. By updating your Channel templates you are sure your feed will be approved by the Channel.

A channel will show a red version alert when there is a new update. Click the Update button to start the update. It is that easy.

Unsupported channel?

When your missing a template where you would like to show your product on. Please request the channel in our Feature request forum and we love to add the channel to our list of supported channel templates.

Exclude product from your feed

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Advanced product filter

As off version 0.31.0 from our wp product feed manager and version 0.18.0 of the Woocommerce Google feed manager we have added advanced filter options. It will make it possible to exclude product from your product feeds.

Before, you could exclude and include products only by selecting the right category under “Category Mapping” This is not always right because you may have categories where you don’t want to include all product.

There are many situations where you would like to be able to exclude certain product from your feed. For instance you would like to exclude seasonal products, unprofitable products, products out of stock and not available.

Advance product filters, how to

Let’s take a look at the new filter options where to find them and how they work.

Let say we have products with low price in one category where CPA will exceed gross margin. So we want to exclude products under 10 bugs in the Music category.

Under the Category mapping we find a edit button next to the sentence “All products from the selected Shop Categories will be included in the feed”

advanced-product-filtering

When we click this button we get af familiar setup we also find under Condition with the attribute mapping.

How to use it

advanced-product-filter-create

We first select a source field “Regular price” next we select in the dropdown “is smaller than” and fill in 10. When we save the feed we will no longer have products in the feed with a regular price below $ 10,-

That’s how easy it is to use. Take an other look at the video for a walk through.

Google changes shopping feed specifications

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As of June 1, 2015 Google introduces new Google Shopping feed specification. However, the new requirements wil not be enforced instantly. Google will give merchants some time for adjustment.

Most of the required changes need to be implemented by September 15, 2015.
The idea behind the update is to create a richer experience for customer searching for products and simplify the feed specification.

The changes to the specification include:

  • GTINs: For AU, BR, CZ, FR, DE, IT, JP, NL, ES, CH, UK & US, you need to submit ‘gtin’ and ‘brand’ attributes for all products sold in ‘new’ condition from a designated brand. The list of designated brands will grow over time. The requirements remain the same for products that don’t meet these criteria.
  • ID Attribute: You need to submit valid and unique strings. For example trailing whitespaces or control characters will no longer be accepted. Invalid submissions will be disapproved.
  • Apparel and Variant attributes: For Brazil, the attributes ‘color’, ‘age group’ and ‘gender’ are now required for the ‘Apparel & Accessories’ category and the ‘size’ attribute is now required for the categories ‘Apparel & Accessories > Clothing’ and ‘Apparel & Accessories > Shoes’. These requirements are already in place in France, Germany, Japan, the UK, and the US.
  • Shipping: Will be required in Switzerland, the Czech Republic, the Netherlands, Italy, Spain, and Japan. Enforcement of this requirement begins February 1, 2016.
  • Units & Quantity Attributes can now also be submitted in the US to support products sold in bulk or by volume like tiles or floorboards.

From all the changes above the GTIN requirement can potentially have the biggest impact on merchants. Unless you already put GTIN in your Google Shopping feed, make sure that your products do not include designated brands. If they do, you will need to acquire GTIN from your supplier. Otherwise you Google Shopping feed will be disapproved mid-September.

We will notify our customers on any changes in feed specs they should be aware of. There for we send out a news mailinglist and put out an alert within the WordPress plugin.