ChannelEngine: custom fields

About this article

This article explains how to create and manage custom fields on ChannelEngine.

Table of contents

Introduction

Manage custom fields via the product feed

Manage custom fields via the web interface

Manage custom fields via API

Custom fields groups

Introduction

There are two main types of product fields on ChannelEngine:

• ChannelEngine fields - standard fields such as Name, Description, Price, and Image URL. These fields represent the minimum data required to list a product on a marketplace. ChannelEngine creates these fields by default.
• Custom fields - user-defined fields that store additional product data. These fields represent any specific product characteristic, such as Number of wheels, Warranty period, or Heel height. ChannelEngine imports custom fields from your product feed or via the Merchant API.

Both fields appear as mappable fields in the Mappings step when you set up your product feeds and in the Mappings step when you connect to a specific channel, such as Amazon or bol.

You can manage custom fields via the Merchant API, a product feed, or the ChannelEngine web interface. 

Manage custom fields via the product feed

You can add, update, or delete custom fields as columns in your product feed. Go to Products, Product feeds and upload your product feed to ChannelEngine. Any fields from your feed will be imported into ChannelEngine. To learn how to set up your product feed, check out the article ChannelEngine: product feeds.

If you use several product feeds (i.e.: a leading feed and additional feeds), include a unique product identifier, which is the Merchant product number, as a column into each feed.

Manage custom fields via the web interface

You can add, update, or delete custom fields in the custom fields overview or within the product details page.

Manage within the custom fields overview

Add a custom field at the top of the custom fields overview. To add a custom field:

1. Go to Products, Custom fields.
2. Click Add custom field.

The overview shows the following columns:

1. Field name - name of the custom field. Make it as descriptive as possible.
2. Language - language of text values. 
3. Field type - data type. There are four types: Text, Integer, Decimal, and Boolean. 
   • Decimal - number that can have digits after a decimal point. E.g.: 9.14. This type is suitable for price-related fields.
   • Integer - whole number without a decimal point. E.g.: 9. This type is suitable for stock-related fields.
   • Text - sequence of characters, such as letters, numbers, and symbols, treated as words or phrases. E.g.: This is a Nitro smartphone. The Text type is suitable for descriptive fields, e.g.: Unique selling point.
   • Boolean - value that is either ‘true’ or ‘false’. This type is suitable for fields like Includes batteries.
4. Include in channel product feed - defines if the field is public, which makes the field accessible to third-party applications, including affiliate and click-and-ad channels, other custom channels, and other channel integrations that use the Channel API (i.e.: self-integrated channels). 
   1. If public (green check mark), the field is included in feeds for custom channels. 
   2. If not public (red cross icon), the field is still available for channel mappings, but it is not included in feeds for custom channels.
5. Description - description of the custom field.
6. Actions:

   • Information - shows where a custom field is used and if it can be deleted.

     

   • Edit - allows updating the description and visibility of a custom field. It is not possible to change Name or Field type once the custom field is created.
   • Delete - allows deleting a custom field. If a custom field is in use in mappings or rules, it cannot be deleted, which is indicated in the information pop-up.

Manage within the product details page

Add custom fields by going to Products, selecting a particular product, and clicking Add new custom field or Add existing custom field.

• Add new custom field - opens the Custom fields page, from which you can add a new custom field.
• Add existing custom field - adds an existing custom field to this product and allows to assign a value for it.

Edit and delete (if possible) your custom fields and their values directly within the product details page. If the custom field is in use in mapping or rules, it cannot be deleted.

Manage with AI attribute builder

Add custom fields using the AI attribute builder, which analyzes your existing product content and suggests enhancements that you can save as custom fields on your products.

The AI attribute builder allows you to create better titles, generate SEO-friendly descriptions, extract dimensions from your product content, and combine fields to create a new attribute.

To learn how to enhance your product content with AI, check out ChannelEngine: AI attribute builder.

Manage custom fields via API

Manage custom fields via the Merchant API, as product extra data. Check out Merchant API: custom fields.

Custom fields groups

If you have a large number of custom fields in your ChannelEngine environment, it can become difficult to manage and use them. The custom fields group feature allows you to divide your attributes into groups that are easier to create, update, and map – as well as to link these groups to the marketplaces you work with, via the Merchant API. Check out Merchant API: custom fields.