HikaShop

Description Toolbar Main Information Additional Information Categories Related products Options Characteristics Prices Images Files

 

Description

This screen enables you to create or edit a product or a variant. This screen enables you to manage categories, related products, prices, characteristics, images, files, etc for your product. Also, the name, the description, the keywords, the meta description and the url can be directly translated via this interface if you use one of our commercial versions in combination with joomfish. Otherwise, you can use joomfish and translate them via the joomfish interface.

 

Toolbar

 

• Add to cart HTML link : You can get the HTML to use in order to have an add to cart link anywhere you can add HMTL. The link, once clicked, will add the product to the cart and then redirect the user to the checkout.
• Save : Save the current product and return to the products Management screen.
• Apply : Apply the modifications to the current product and stay on the same screen.
• Cancel : Return to the previous screen without saving the modifications.
• Go to the main product : if you are editing a variant this additional button will bring you back to the edit screen of the main product.
• Help : This button enables you to turn ON/OFF the help section, this screen will appear or disappear.

 

Main Information

If you use one of our commercial versions, you will be able to enter the name, the description, the keywords, the meta description and the url in different languages. This feature requires to have joomfish installed and can be activated in the configuration page, in the display tab. The languages available will be the ones in joomfish. If you don't enter something for a translation, it will just use the default information in the Main information tab instead. After you click on save or apply an additional publish icon will appear next to the fields where you entered something in the languages tabs so that you can easily enable or disable them. The default publish status can also be changed in the configuration page of HikaShop.

 

• Name : The name of the product. This field is required.
• Description : The description of the product. You can insert here joomla content tags and they will be replaced on the front end by their content plugins. If you activate the "read more" option of the configuration, you should see an additional button on the bottom of the description HTML editor allowing you to add a read more tag in the description ( alternatively, you can use the HTML tag if you want to add the read more manually ). The text before the read more tag would be displayed on the listings of products displayed with the item box layout "image and description" while the full text would be displayed on the product page.
• Url : The url of the product is a url to the manufacturer website in order to get more information for your customers. This url, if filled in, will be displayed on the product page.
• Meta description : The meta description of the product is used as metatag on the product page, if filled in. It needs to be shorter than 155 characters. That's because search engines don't use more than 155 characters for meta descriptions so it is recommended to not have longer meta descriptions.
• Keywords : The keywords of the product are used as metatag on the product page, if filled in. They need to be in the format: keyword1,keyword2

The url, meta description and keywords are not editable for variants. They will automatically use the main product values. If you don't set a value in a field of a variant, the main product value will be used.

 

Additional Information

• Code : The code of the product is a unique identifier for each product, each variant.
• Tax category : You can a tax category for the product. Then, when the price is displayed, the price with taxes will be calculated based on the tax rules, the price without tax and the zone of the customer. Before the customer enters his address, the price with taxes will be calculated based on the main zone which is defined in the configuration page.
• Brand: You can select here a manufacturer for your product. The manufacturers can be created via the menu Products->Manufacturers.
• Layout on product page: You can choose the type of display for this product, for example default, regular or reversed, another option is "Inherit" this option will use the default option defined in the main configuration of hikashop.
• Quantity : The quantity in stock for the product. Unless the quantity is unlimited, people won't be able to buy over the stock and each time an order is made with this product, the stock will be adjusted. When an order is cancelled (there is an option in the configuration page to set the statuses involved), the stock will be restored.
• Minimum quantity per order : You can set the minimum of products to buy. You can, for example, do wholesales.
• Maximum quantity per order : You can limit the number of products a user can buy at once.  That enables you, for example, to avoid people buying all your stock when having an interesting discount and will let more customers benefit from it.
• Product available from : You can optionally set a sale start date. Your customers will be able to see the product if it's published even if the current date is before this sale start date, but then they won't be able to buy it and a short message will inform them of the sale start date.
• Product available until : You can optionally set a sale end date. Your customers will be able to see the product if it's published even if the current date is after this sale end date, but then they won't be able to buy it and a short message will inform them of the sale end date.
• Weight :The weight of the product. If the weight is set, it means that the product is shippable. Otherwise, the product is virtual. If all the products in the order of the customer are virtual, the shipping address and shipping method won't be asked to the customer even if they are activated. The billing address will still be asked. The weight will also be used in shipping methods calculations.
• Volume : You can enter the length, width and height of your product as well as the dimension unit in which you enter them. They will be used in shipping methods calculations.
• Published : If a product is published it means that it can be seen by your customers in your shop.

The tax category, sale start date and sale end date are not editable for variants. They will automatically use the main product values. Additional dropdowns will enable to select the value of each characteristic for variants. If you don't set a value in a field of a variant, the main product value will be used.

• Access level : You can restrict that product from being displayed on the front end to joomla groups of users. You can also do so for variants which will enable you to propose variants of products only to certain groups of users. This option is only available in the Business edition of HikaShop.

 

Categories

You can add several categories to your product. Then, when your customers browse your categories on your website, they will be able to see the product in each category you set here.

• Add button : You can add a category by clicking on this button. That will displayed a popup with the interface to browse your categories, select them with the checkbox and click on OK to add them.
• Delete icon : You can delete the link to a category by clicking on this icon. The category itself won't be deleted.

Please note that those modifications will only be applied when you save the product. This part is not editable for variants.

 

Related products

You will be able to show related products on the product page using a content module.

• Add button : You can add a related product by clicking on this button. That will displayed a popup with the interface to browse your products, select them with the checkbox and click on OK to add them.
• Delete icon : You can delete the link to a product by clicking on this icon.

Please note that those modifications will only be applied when you save the product. This part is not editable for variants.

 

How to display your related products below your products:

1. Create a new module of the type "HikaShop content module" via the joomla modules manager and leave it unpublished in the joomla options of the module.

2. In the HikaShop options of the module (there is a link to them on the right of the module's joomla options screen), make sure that the "Type of content" option is set to "product" and that the option "Content on product page" is set to "Related products".

3. In the configuration of HikaShop, click on the "Select" button of the "Modules under the product page" option. Set your related module to published and click on OK. Then, save the configuration.

 

Options

Options enable you to propose to your customers additional options for a product. For example, if you sell computers, you could ask your users whether they want more RAM, or a bigger Hard Drive Disk by paying a bit more. The total price is then updated in live so that the user can see the full price of the product + the options before adding the product with its options to his cart. Note that an option can only have ONE characteristic which will be displayed as dropdown on the main product page.

• Add button : You can add an option by clicking on this button. That will displayed a popup with the interface to browse your products, select them with the checkbox and click on OK to add them.
• Delete icon : You can delete an option by clicking on this icon.

Please note that those modifications will only be applied when you save the product. Options are only available in our commercial editions.

Before selecting an option in that interface, you will first have to create a new product (which you could put in an unpublished category if you don't want users to see it on products listings). After adding that product as an option to your main product, you will see a dropdown with 2 possibilities on the product page. If you need more or different options, you will have to add a characteristic to your option product allowing you to have one variant of the option product per choice on the dropdown. You can see such options on our demo website:

Let's take the example of the creation of the RAM option :

First, we made one characteristic called RAM quantity with the three values via the menu Products->Characteristics.

Second, we created one product option (like a normal product) that we called RAM and we added that characteristic to it.

Third, we clicked on the "manage variants" of that option product and set the name of each variant and its price.

Finally, we added the RAM option product as an option of the desktop computer product on the desktop computer edition screen.

 

Characteristics

Characteristics are useful when your products have several variants. For example, you sell a table model which has 5 different colors possible. You have a stock for each color or you might have different prices, different weight, images, etc. But you want the table to be listed only once when your customers browse your shop. That's what characteristics are for. Then, on the product page, your customers will be able to change the characteristics value of the product. You can see an example of a product page with one characteristic on this page of our demo website.

First, you will have to add the characteristics you need to the characteristics management interface accessible via the main HikaShop menu. Don't forget to add all the values you need for your characteristics in the "Values" area of each one of your characteristics.

Once you're done adding your characteristics, you will be able to see them here, when clicking on the Add button. After selecting the needed characteristics, when you save your product or that you click on Manage variants, each variant will be automatically created and unpublished. When you click on Manage variants, you will see the listing of all the variants of the product and you will be able to edit each one to customize them. If you don't set a value in a field of a variant, the main product value will be used. So if you don't set a weight for your variants but that you have one for the main product, the system will use the main product weight for your variants.

• Add button : You can add a characteristic by clicking on this button. That will displayed a popup with the interface to browse the possible characteristics.
• Delete icon : You can delete the characteristic by clicking on this icon.

Please note that those modifications will only be applied when you save the product. Also, note that the system will try to keep consistent variants and characteristics, so if you play too much with them you might have some of your variants deleted, so be careful. Of course, you can always manually create, edit or delete variants on the variants management screen.

This part is not editable for variants.

 

 

If you have troubles with the display of variants of a product on the front end, you should:

1. Delete all the variants of the product on the listing of variants that you can access via the button "manage variants" on the product edition screen.

2. Delete the characteristics of the product.

3. Save the product.

4. Add the characteristics again.

5. The system will regenerate all the variants automatically and you should be able to see the dropdowns properly on the front end.

 

Prices

In HikaShop, a product or a variant can have several prices. First, you can set prices for each of the currencies published on your store. Second, you can set prices based on minimum quantity so that people buying several times the same product in the same order will get a lower price per unit. If you want, you can also set your prices in only one currency and the system will automatically calculate the price in other currencies based on the rates of each currency (defined in the currencies management interface). You can't have a price with a minimum quantity without another price without minimum quantity for a product in one currency. If you do, it will be discarded at display. Finally, if you don't set any prices for a product, it will be considered as a free product. For a variant, that will result in the system using automatically the main product prices and thus, it can only be free if the main product is free.

You cannot use that system to limit the user to order at least x items. When the product is not free, you need to have a minimum quantity of 0.

• Add button : You can add a price row by clicking on this button. If you want to remove a price row, just set its price to 0. Those modifications will be applied only after you saved the product.
• Access level : With the Business edition of HikaShop, you will have an additional column named "Access level" where you will be able to limit a price to a group of users.

 

Images

You can add several images to your product. They will be displayed on the front end when displaying the product page. The first one will also be used as the default image for this product in listings of products.

• Add button : You can add an image by clicking on this button. That will displayed a popup with the interface to upload an image.
• Edit icon : You can edit the image information by clicking on this icon.
• Delete icon : You can delete the image by clicking on this icon.

Please note that those modifications will only be applied when you save the product.

• Note that you are always limited in file size by the upload_max_filesize and post_max_size set in your php.ini file (the php configuration file ). That is totally independent from HikaShop and if you need to upload bigger files, you should increase those values or ask your hosting company to do so.
• The files you upload here will be saved in the upload folder of HikaShop. You can change its location in the configuration page of HikaShop under the Files tab. When you do so, the files won't be moved by HikaShop and if you already uploaded some files, you will have to move them manually from the old folder to the new one.

If you don't set any images for a variant, the main product images will be used.

 

Files

You can add several files to your product. If you select the "Free download" option, the files will be available for download directly on the product page. Otherwise, they will only be downloadable by the user on his order details page once he purchased the product. The confirmation email sent at that time will also contain links to all the files of the products bought in the order.

You can set some restrictions on downloads in the Files tab of the configuration page.

• Add button : You can add a file by clicking on this button. That will displayed a popup with the interface to upload a file.
• Edit icon : You can edit the file information by clicking on this icon.
• Delete icon : You can delete the file by clicking on this icon.

Please note that those modifications will only be applied when you save the product.

• Note that you are always limited in file size by the upload_max_filesize and post_max_size set in your php.ini file (the php configuration file ). That is totally independent from HikaShop and if you need to upload bigger files, you should increase those values or ask your hosting company to do so.
• The files you upload here will be saved in the upload secure folder of HikaShop. You can change its location in the configuration page of HikaShop under the Files tab. It is highly recommended that you set this folder outside the website directory. When you do so, the files won't be moved by HikaShop and if you already uploaded some files, you will have to move them manually from the old folder to the new one.
• A link to these files will be sent in the confirmation email that will receive the customer once his order is confirmed. Also, the customer will be able to see these links on his order details page. If that's not the case, then it's probably that his order is not confirmed (and it might come from a payment notification issue with your payment gateway).
• The download of files for purchases cannot work with a guest checkout as the user needs to be logged in when downloading the files, for security reasons.

If you don't set any files for a variant, the main product files will be used.