Hikashop Google Products Plugin generates empty file

-- HikaShop version -- : 5.0.0
-- Joomla version -- : 4.4.0
-- PHP version -- : 8.1
-- Browser(s) name and version -- : All
-- Error-message(debug-mod must be tuned on) -- : None

I configured and activated the Hikashop Google Products Plugin on my site. However, if I trigger the download with the button at the bottom, only an empty xml file is generated with no products included. Only the channel title and description are included.
I am probably missing something?

Note that on the frontend, I only use the Hikashop add to cart button. The productpages are Joomla articles styled with the Yootheme Pro Builder, don't know if that could be an issue. The products refer to the Joomla page using the canonical URL.

See attached a screenshot of the plugin parameters

Hi,

The image has been scaled down by the forum because it is too big and thus we can't read what's written on it.
Could you upload it elsewhere, or upload smaller chunks of the image ?

I suppose the issue must be with one of the settings in there.

I guess this should work better?

tinyurl.com/ytjstynx

Note that I also tested this on another site I have, and there it works.... Seems something specific for this site?

Hello,

I see that you didn't set any Gtin, while GTIN (and/or MPN) can indeed be required by Google merchant.
The HikaShop Google Products plugin actually has options to provide them to Google.
For example, the "Add Product Code (mpn)" setting of the plugin will use the product code you entered in your products as MPN in your feed.
And you can use the GTIN setting below to add the GTIN.
I would recommend to have a look at all the settings available in the plugin and their tooltips.
And you can also read the Google merchant documentation which explains what is needed for which type of products:
Learn more here AND more information here .
It's all explained in there.

Regards

Hi Philippe, I think you misread my question. My problem right now is that simply no content is being written to the xml file. It only generates the following code:

So, none of the products is written to the file (while I have active products).
I am aware that I need to work on GTIN and MPN before the file is fully valid, but it starts with actually having the file.

Hi,

Note that I also tested this on another site I have, and there it works.... Seems something specific for this site?

That's hard to say. The settings look fine.
But it could be that your products don't have a price, or that they have a discount, or that they don't have stock.

Otherwise, I guess we would need a backend access to check things out.

The products have stock, no discount or anything else I could think of. The shop works fine otherwise and I am selling products.
So, if you could take a look at the backend, yes please.
It's been a long time since I needed support, I cannot see where I can supply login credentials, can you let me know?

Hi,

Please go through our contact form:
www.hikashop.com/support/contact-us.html
Make sure you include a link to this thread in your message.

I just sent you login credentials.

Hi,

I checked your settings and everything looks fine.
I need to do some debugging in order to find what's going on.
Could you also provide a FTP access via our contact form please ?
www.hikashop.com/support/contact-us.html

I supplied the credentails.

Do you have any news on this matter?
Thanks.

Hi,

Yes, I didn't had the time to look into it yesterday, but I was able to today.
The issue is that the plugin doesn't take into account products which are only linked to the main category of the shop.
That's usually not a problem as people normally have categories in their shop but I can see you didn't create any category.
I've added the patch on your website with the FTP access provided, and we'll also include the same fix on our end.

Ah, perfect. It is just a shop with a few products, so there will never be a need to categorize here.
Thanks for checking this out.
Let me know once you finished all your investigations so I can disable the support accounts for security reasons.

Hi,

It's finished so you can disable them.

I am still having one issue unfortunately. It concerns the Gtin feld.

I configured a custom product field called "gtin" and filled the products with the Gtins. Then I used the column name in the plugin so that the Gtin should be used in the xml file. Hoever, the Gtin is not written, while everything else now looks fine. I don't know if this could be related to the bug you fixed last week?
Find here screenshots of my setup in case I made a mistake:

Plugin setup: tinyurl.com/ysjozzxm
Custom field setup : tinyurl.com/yoxnpvce
Product setup: tinyurl.com/yu7vtyla

I just re-enabled the support user I supplied credentials for last week just in case you want to check the backend of the site.

Hi,

Here are the guidelines for the XML feed:
support.google.com/merchants/answer/7052112?hl=en
And here, you have the section relative to the product identifiers:
support.google.com/merchants/answer/7052...#product_identifiers
Among the parameters there, you have the "identifiers exists":
You need indicate in that parameter that your products have an identifier, and the GTIN is among then.
Since you didn't enter anything in the "identifier exists" setting of the plugin, the plugin is not providing it in the XML, and if it were to provide the GTIN, it would generate an error when importing the XML.
So in the "identifier exists" setting, enter "TRUE" and the GTIN will then be taken into account in the XML.

Hi Nicholas, I actually already had set the "identifier exists" to "true", but apparently the plugin only adds Gtins when the value is written in caps: "TRUE". Indeed doing so creates the Gtins.
Actually, I try to closely follow the Merchant Center recommendations, and at support.google.com/merchants/answer/6324478?hl=en it is advised to specify the value in non-caps.
Because the plugin only allows you to enter the value in caps, in the XML file, the value for <g:identifier_exists> is now also written in caps. Not sure if this could be an issue, but I think, allowing to set the value in non-caps would be better.
But for now, I have an xml-file with all values needed filled in.