Managing product data with Pimcore

Tilen Habjan11.07.2017eCommerce

We have already discussed how various PIM systems help us manage product data. This time, we’ll take a closer look at how PIM’s leading open source tool, Pimcore, deals with saving data.

TECHNOLOGY

Pimcore is based on the Symfony model and it has a built-in Composer. It uses MySQL/MariaDB to edit databases, while the graphical user interface is powered by the framework Sencha ExtJS 6.

SAVING DATA

Pimcore divides saving data into three branches:

Documents
Assets
Objects

Documents

Documents are a CMS part of the Pimcore application and are intended for editing pages, navigation and other unstructured content.

Document types:

Page: presents the CMS website, where the path in the tree structure is the same as the site’s URL address
Snippet: enables an easier download of frequently used content for the use on the website
Link: a simple URL link used for navigation
Email: a document with special functions for the use in transactional e-mails
Newsletter: similar to an e-mail but with different functions
Hardlink: link to other documents
Folder: a folder similar to a folder in an ordinary file system
PrintPage: a page similar to Page but adapted for printing
PrintContainer: a set of PrintPage pages ready for printing

Assets

Assets are files that can be edited in the Pimcore application and can be structurally organized in folders in the tree structure. Even though picture is most commonly used here, Pimcore also enables the organization of PDF and Microsoft Word documents.

We can edit the chosen pictures inside the application and we can also add various thumbnails for different channels of presentation. Picture editor uses Adobe Creative SDK for Web, which is among the best online applications for editing photos.

Thumbnail display can also be edited for displaying cookies.

Objects

Objects are the PIM part of the Pimcore application. With them, we create, format, structure and categorize products. Class definition states that objects can be used to structure various types of data, such as products, categories, people, clients, news, orders, etc.

Class definition is simple with the use of the graphical interface.

Display of editing class definition

When we define attributes, several types of data are available:

Text Types
Number Types
Date Types
Select Types
Relation Types
Blocks
Classification Store
Table
Structured table
Fieldcollections
Object Bricks
Localized Fields
Key Value Pairs
Geographic Types
Image Types
Video Type
Calculated Value Type

TYPES OF OBJECT DATA

Text Types

Pimcore enables the use of different text input fields:

Input: a simple one-line input field for a word or shorter text
Password: field similar to Input, but with a hidden character entry
Textarea: field for input of longer, unformatted text
WYSIWYG: field similar to Textarea with an added widget for text formatting

Text field WYSIWYG enables formatting of the input text.

Select Types

Pimcore offers 7 different Select fields. With the exception of the Multiselect field all fields are shown as a one-line drop-down field.

Select Type fields:

Select
User
Country
Language
Multiselection
Countries (Multiselect)
Language (Multiselect)

With the field Multiselect we can choose multiple options simultaneously.

Relation Types

Relation Type fields enable a mutual interconnection of Pimcore elements.

The following fields are available:

Href
Multihref
Objects

Href and Multihref can mutually connect any Pimcore element; let it be Document, Asset or Object. Href enables the relation of one element with another, while Multihref enables the relation of one element with a larger number of elements.

Relation Type Object can mutually connect one or more objects, where we can only choose certain types of objects and thus optimize the work process.

Fields Multihref and Objects are displayed in some sort of table (Grid Widget) with a display of elements added to the currently viewed object.

Display of fields Multihref and Objects

Display of the Href Field is similar to the Text Input Field with added buttons for element search:

Object Bricks

It often occurs that products include only the basic set of attributes, common to all products. However, certain subgroups of products also need additional attributes. In this case, we use Object Bricks. These objects enable a product upgrade with additional attributes while maintaining the same definition of the product.

We can add any number of Object Brick attributes to a certain product and simplify our formatting.

Localized Fields

When editing products for different markets, it’s important that the information is given in the chosen languages. Here is where Localized Fields come in handy. These fields let us define those product attributes that require multilingual translations. For technical reasons the above stated types of information aren’t possible to localize.

The use of Localized Fields is very simple and user friendly, since different languages are arranged in different tabs.

Languages can be chosen with the help of tabs.

Classification Store

Classification Store is essentially similar to Object Bricks; it only differs in the possibility of additional categorization of fields. We can also use it in the Localized field, which gives us the ability to translate the additional object attributes.

Contrary to Object Bricks, the Classification Store has a more complex configuration. Its categorization is as follows:

Classification Store:

Group Collections:
- Groups:
  - Key Definitions

We can see that the Classification Store includes a larger number of Group Collections, which includes more Groups, while a group includes more KeyDefinitions. An individual KeyDefinition can be found in any number of groups.

Additionally, a certain type of object can include a larger number of Classification Store elements.

Organization of attributes inside a group

After a longer use of the Pimcore application, it has proven to be an excellent tool for storing a large number of product data. Configuring new objects or relations among the existing ones is simple due to the robust graphical interface, so we would recommend it to anyone who wishes to simplify the process of editing information. However, if you’d prefer to leave it up to us, you can always tap us on the shoulder. :)

Did we grab your attention?

Contact our coworker David, PIM solution specialist, to learn more.

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Tilen Habjan

You won’t find Tilen in our offices anymore, but we know that no matter where he is now, he is doing a phenomenal job. We’ve kept a piece of them with us as a memory. :)

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