Magento Category Products

Using this way,you can assign product to categories.

1. From Category Products tab, you can associate multiple products to that category.
2. Here, you can see list of products of the catalog.
3. Select your desire products for that category.
4. Use Filters to limit the products and click Reset Filter to show all the products.
5. After selecting products,Click Save Category.

Magento Categories Display Settings

Display Mode	You can specify here that which content elements displayed on the category page. You can select following elements: Products Only Static Block Only Static Block and Products
CMS Block	From here you can display a CMS static block at the top of the category page.
Is Anchor	To includes the “filter by attribute” section in the layered navigation,select "yes" otherwise "No".
Available Product Listing Sort By	It is a required field. The default values are Best Value, Name, and Price. Clear the Use All Available Attributes checkbox to customize the sorting option and select the attributes you want to use. You can define and add attributes as per requirement.
Default Product Listing Sort By	It is a Required field. Default value is 'Best value' of this field. Clear the Use Config Settings checkbox to define the default “Sort By” option and select an attribute from the dropdown list.
Layered Navigation Price Step	By default, the price range displayed in increments of 10, 100, and 1000 depending on the products in the list. You can change the Price Step range by clearing the Use Config Settings checkbox.

Magento Categories General Information

Field	Description
Name	It defines the name of category. It is a required field. It appears at three places. 1) Navigation Menu bar in front side 2) In URL key of the category Page 3) associated product pages
Is Active	It is a required field. Make it 'Yes',to make the category and all its sub categories active. Options include: 'Yes'/'No'
URL Key	This text will represent the category in the URL. It is used to improve search engine optimization (SEO) ranking. By default,the key is automatically generated from the name.We can overwrite it for better SEO management. for URL Key,only lower case characters and hyphen is allowed.space is not allowed.
Thumbnail Image	This image will be displayed on front-end when a customer clicks the category menu.
Description	It describes category. It appears below the category image. It appears before the product list too if exists.
Image	You can set an image for category from here. It appears at top of the category page. It appears before the description and product list too if exists.
Meta Keywords	It is used by search engines to improve SEO management.
Meta Description	It is the description of the category.
Include in Navigation Menu	It is a required field. By selecting "yes", this category will be included in the top navigation. To make the category Hidden, means the category is active but will not be displayed in top navigation, you have to select no. Hidden category is included in layered navigation. Options are: 'yes' / 'no'.

Attribute Frontend Properties

The Frontend Properties is used to specify how an attribute can be used in your store. 

Properties	Description
Use In Quick Search	You can use the attribute for quick search by setting this value 'Yes'. Options include are: Yes / No Note: What is Quick Search? It appears in the upper-right corner of your store which helps visitors to find products in the catalog. You can use full or partial product name or any other word related to the product as search term . You can see Autocomplete list just below the Quick Search box which shows any matching search terms, and shows the number of results returned for each.
Search Weight	You can assign weight to any product attribute which is used in catalog search that is numeric value from 1-5 . It specify the rank or value of the item. Where you set this? Go to Admin Panel.then select Catalog > Attributes > Manage Attributes. Find and your attribute and open it to edit. Go to Front end Properties section. To include the attribute in Quick Search box queries, set Use in Quick Search to 'Yes'. To include the attribute as a field on the Advanced Search form, set Use in Advanced Searchto 'Yes'. To establish the search value of the attribute, set Search Weight to a number from 1 to 5.
Use In Advance Search	If it is set yes for any attribute then it opens the search form where this attribute appears as a field of search. This link appears in the footer of your store. Options include are: Yes / No Each field in the form corresponds to an attribute from a product record. You can determine which fields to include by setting the attribute front end properties to “Include in Advanced Search. As a best practice, you should include only the fields that your customers are most likely to use to find a product, because using too many can impact the speed of the search. Steps to use advanced search: In the footer of your store, click the Advanced Search link. In the Search Settings form, enter any value that you want to match, in as many fields as is necessary. You can find records based on a full, or partial match. Click the Search button to display the results. If you do no see what you are looking for, click Modify your search and try another combination of values. In the footer of your store, click the Advanced Search link.
Use In Layered Navigation	You can Include the attribute as a filter in the 'Shop By' section of layered navigation. Options you can include: No The attribute will not be used in layered navigation. Filterable (with results) It will lists only products that match the filter value. Filterable (no results) It will lists all attribute values, even those that don't apply to any product in the list. Layered navigation will appear on a category page only if there are filterable attributes available. Note: What is Layered Navigation? Using this,you can find a product based on category, price range, or any other available attribute. It will appear in the left column of search results and category pages. Steps to configure layered navigation: From the Admin panel, select System > Configuration. In the Configuration panel on the left, under Catalog, select Catalog. Click to expand the Layered Navigation section. Then, do the following: To display the results after each attribute, set Display Product Count to 'Yes'. Set Price Navigation Step Calculation to one of the following: Automatic Manual For a manual calculation, enter a number in the Default Price Navigation Step field to determine how the price ranges are grouped. For example, if you enter 100, the prices will appear in groups of 100. When complete, click the Save Config button to save the settings.
Comparable on Front end	To show this attribute value in compare product report,set this as yes otherwise no. To compare products: From your storefront, find the products that you want to compare, and click the Add to Comparelink for each. In the Compare Products block in the right column, click the Compare button. The Compare Products report opens in a new window. To clear the Compare Products list, click the Clear All link. How enable or disable Compare Products: From the Admin menu, select System > Configuration. In the Configuration panel on the left, under General, select Feature. Click to expand the Compare Products section. Then, set Enable Compare Products to 'Yes'. Click the Save Config button to save your setting.
Use In Search Results Layered Navigation	You can include the attribute in the layered navigation for search results by selecting 'Yes'. Options are: Yes / No
Use for Promo Rule Conditions	By selecting 'Yes',you can make the attribute available for use in price rules. Options are: Yes / No
Position	It determines the position of the attribute in layered navigation in relation to other filterable attributes.
Enable WYSIWYG	WYSIWYG stands for "What You See Is What You Get”. It is Text Area input only. You can display the editor when you insert or edit the attribute value by selecting 'Yes'. It will allow you to format field description with HTML Tags. Options include are: Yes / No
Allow HTML Tags on Frontend	You will be able to format the attribute value with HTML tags, by selecting 'Yes'. It has Text Field and Text Area input types only. Options include are: Yes / No
Visible on Product View Page on Front-end	You can include the attribute in the additional Information tab on the product page by selecting 'Yes'. It is for simple and virtual products only. Options include: Yes / No
Used in Product Listing	You can include the attribute in the product summaries that appear in catalog listings by selecting 'Yes'. Options include are: Yes / No
Used for Sorting in Product Listing	You can include the attribute as 'Sort By' option for catalog listings by selecting 'Yes'. Options include are: Yes / No

Attribute Group and Attribute Sets

Attribute Sets:

All the products don't have same fields or properties.

For example, If my product is shoes then possible attributes can be Fabric  (values is cotton/Jersey),Sleeves (value can be Full Sleeve/Half Sleeve),Neck (value can be COLLAR/Henley/Crew Neck).

The another example is if my product is mobile then it can have following attributes:

GENERAL FEATURES
In the Box	Headset, Charger, Handset, Battery, Data Cable
Brand	Samsung
Model Name	Galaxy S4
Model ID	i9500
Form	Bar
SIM Size	Micro SIM
SIM Type	Single SIM, GSM
Touch Screen	Yes, Capacitive
Business Features	Document Viewer, Pushmail (Active Sync)
Call Features	Loudspeaker
Handset Color	White Frost

CAMERA
Primary Camera	Yes, 13 Megapixel
Secondary Camera	Yes, 2 Megapixel
Flash	LED
Video Recording	Yes, 1920 x 1080, 30 fps
HD Recording	HD, Full HD

DIMENSIONS
Size	69.8x136.6x7.9 mm
Weight	130 g

BATTERY
Type	2600 mAh

MEMORY AND STORAGE
Internal	16 GB
Expandable Memory	microSD, upto 64 GB
Memory	2 GB RAM

MULTIMEDIA
Music Player	Yes, Supports MP3, OGG, FLAC, AAC/AAC+/eAAC+, apt-X, AMR-NB/WB, WMA, AC-3
Video Player	Yes, Supports DivX, WMV7/8, Sorenson Spark, HEVC, H.264, MPEG4, DivX3.11, VC-1, VP8, H.263, Full HD

From above example,you will get perfect idea of attributes ,attribute set and attribute group.

AS we can see,different product have different attribute so I will not like to have attributes of shirt in mobile. In this situation, As a solution we have an attribute set.

You can create an attribute set like mobile,television,shoes etc. depends on product.

Now, as shown in above example of mobile, I mention all possible attributes and its values of the attribute in groups.

The possible groups for a mobile can be  general features,camera,dimensions,memory and storage and multimedia etc.

The answer of why I divide attributes in to group is it is easy to search from group when I have so many attributes. For example, if  I want to know about camera details of a mobile then  I don't need to see all the attributes of attribute set.I can easily find out it from camera group.

So,I can say that attribute  set is like a table of database where different attribute group can be divided into children table and attribute represent fields of table.

Now,we will see how to create attribute set:

Step 1:

At Admin side, select Catalog > Attributes> Manage Attribute Sets.

Step 2:

Click the Add New Set button.

Step 3:

Step 4:
Enter the name for the attribute set and select the attribute set  as its base which you want to use as a template for the new attribute set.

After saving attribute set, you can see new attribute with default attributes as we select default as base as following:

Here, There are custom attributes regarding to mobile which i have already created. So now we can assign it to the mobile attribute set.


Before assigning attribute to attribute set, we can more categorize the attributes of the mobile as groups.

For example, here  SIM Size and SIM Type are general attributes where as Primary Camera,Secondary Camera,Flash are regarding camera attributes.

So,first we will create attribute group and then will assign it to attribute set.

Now, you can see the new group name as shown in above screenshot.

Similarly I created another group for camera properties.

After creating groups,now its time to assign attribute this groups.

I hope that from above example, you get the idea how to create attribute group and attribute set,

Attribute Properties

Property	Description
Attribute Code	It is required field. It is used to identify attribute uniquely. It must begin with a letter. It can be a combination of lowercase letters (a-z) and numbers (0-9). It cannot include any special characters or spaces. It allows underscore (_) . It must be less than thirty characters in length.
Scope	You can limit the use of an attribute to a specific store view or website, or view. The value of the scope can be: 1) Store View 2) Website 3) Global
Catalog Input Type for Store Owner	It specify the data type and input control that is used to manage the product from the store Admin.Values can be: Field Description Text Field It is a single line input field for text. Text Area It is multiple-line input field that can display paragraphs of text formatted with HTML. It is used to enter paragraphs of text such as a product description. In this,you can use the WYSIWYG editor to enter and format the text with HTML. Date It is the input field for date values. You can type date directly into the field or select from a list or calendar. To see the pop-up calendar, you have click the calendar icon next to the field. Yes/No It is a drop-down list with pre-defined options of 'Yes' and 'No'. Dropdown It is a drop-down list of configurable options and you can select one from these options. It allows only one selection to be made. It is used to select options for a configurable product. Multiple Select It id list of configurable options. It allows multiple selections to be made. Hold down the Ctrl key and click each item to select more than one option. Price It is used to create price fields in addition to the predefined attributes: Price, Special Price, Tier Price and Cost. Fixed Product Tax Using this,you can define FPT rates based on the requirements of your locale.
Default Value	You can set the default value of the attribute which is helpful during data entry. You can not set default value for Multiple Select, Dropdown, or Fixed Product Tax input types.
Unique Value	You can prevent duplicate values in a data entry field, set Unique Value to 'Yes'.” It includes following options: Yes / No
Values Required	To make the field required,set Values Required to “Yes.” It includes following options: Yes / No
Input Validation for Store Owner	You can set following validations for the data entered in the field: None Decimal Number Integer Number Email URL Letters Letters (a-z, A-Z) Numbers (0-9)
Apply To	It is a required field. IT specify the product types to which this attribute will be applied. You can select any option from following: All Product Types Selected Product Types Simple Product Grouped Product Grouped Product Grouped Product Configurable Product Virtual Product Bundle Product Gift Card
Use to Create Configurable Product	This property appears only when the Dropdown input type is selected. You can select 'Yes' if this attribute will be used to create a drop-down list for a configurable product. It includes following Options include: Yes / No

System/Default Catalog Attributes

In magento,Product attributes & Attribute sets are important concepts to understand.

In simple words, an attribute represents a characteristic of a product. An attribute give you the facility to add new product properties without having to write a single line code or to add a new column in your database.The data entry fields that is completed when adding a new product to the catalog are attributes. Attributes provide product information and are used as search criteria and to present a selection of options.

Assigning attributes to the products enables your customer and search engines to find them easily.

Attribute also decides what product should be displayed when a customer search for a keyword.

For example, if the product is a shirt then Fabric,Sleeves,Neck,Fit,Style,size and color will be its properties means its attributes.

Another example is, if the product is shape then Sole Material,Heel shape,Heel height,Color,SIZE,Upper Material,Inner Lining,Ankle Height can be its attributes.

Attribute sets:

Now, It is very obvious that I don't want to use shoes attributes for shirt. This is where the attribute sets come in. An attribute set is a combination of various attributes, setting all the fields we will need for a certain type of product. When creating a product, I will select the attributeset it belongs to. By doing so, all the desired fields will be available for particular type.
System Attributes:

First,we will see meaning of system attributes which are required by store to function properly. Later on we will see its properties.

General Attributes

Attribute Code	Description	Data Type	Required
name	It is the name of the product which is used by customer to identify the product and it is display on product description page and wherever the product is listed.	Text	Yes
description	It is the description of the product which gives more details of product to the customer.	String	Yes
short_description	It is brief description of the product. The use of this attribute varies by theme.	Text	Yes
sku	SKU stands for Stock-Keeping Unit which is unique product identification number that is used to track inventory items.	Alphanumeric (AZ, 0-9)	Yes
news_from_date	From this date,product will be considered as new and will be featured in new product listings.	Date/Time	No
news_to_date	Till this date,product will be considered as new and will be featured in new product listings.	Date/Time	No
status	It decides whether the product is available for sale or not.if it is not available then it will not listed in catalog. Its value can be: enabled (1) disabled (2)	Binary (1, 2)	Yes
url_key	It is part of the URL that identifies the product.	Text	No
visibility	It specifies whether this product is visible from the catalog, search, both, or neither. It has following values: 0 (Not Visible Individually)  1 (Catalog)  2 (Search)  3 (Catalog, Search)	Text	No
gift_message_available	It specifies if a message can be included with this product purchase. Its values  can be: Yes No Use Config	Text	No
is_imported	It specifies if the product can be included in product RSS feeds. It's values can be: 0 (Yes) 1 (No)	Yes/No (0,1)	No

Image Attribute

image	It is URL address of the base image, or the main image of the product that is displayed when customer clicks the product image.	URL	No
thumbnail	It is URL address of the thumbnail image used in product listings.	URL	No
small_image	It is URL address of the small image used in product listings.	URL	No

Design Attributes

custom_design	It is used to specify a custom theme for the product detail page.	Yes/No (0,1)	No
custom_design_from	It is date to begin using the custom theme for the product detail page.	Date/Time	No
custom_design_to	It is date to stop using the custom theme for the product detail page.	Date/Time	No
custom_layout_update	Using this you can apply custom XML to modify the product detail page layout.	XML	No
page_layout	It decides the column layout of the product detail page. following are the options included: No layout updates Empty 1 column  2 columns with left bar 2 columns with right bar  3 columns	Text	No
options_container	It decides the type of container used to display product options. Following are the options included: Product Info Column Block After Info Column	Text	No

Gift Card Attributes

allow_open_amount	It decides whether the dollar value of the gift card can be specified by the customer.	Text	Yes
open_amount_main	It is the minimum amount if the gift card allows open amounts.	Numeric	No
open_amount_max	It is maximum gift card amount if the gift card allows open amounts.	Numeric	No

Pre loaded Attributes

color	It specify the color of the product.	Text	No
cost	It is the cost of the product which generally used for internal purposes only.	Numeric	No
manufacturer	It is the  name of the manufacturer of the product	Text	No

All these are system attributes. Now, We will see what are the attribute set and attribute Group in next post and how to create them.

Catalog default configurations for frontend

Before going to create any product for your store, you must go through magento's following settings for catalog:

1) Catalog defaults

2) Product categories

3) Product attributes

4) Attribute sets

5) Product catalog

In this post,we will see Catalog defaults settings which are the settings in Magento that affect the default behavior of your products.

Go to Admin menu -> System -> Configuration.

In the top-left corner you can see that it is possible to select a different Website or

Store View, if you have any. This is called the Scope Selector. 

If you select Default Config option  then it means that the settings being done will also be saved for any Website or Store View that you may add in the future.

Right now I have single online store, so it is alright to keep this setting as Default Config, but

when you have multiple stores, you need to be more careful for this settings.

The following image shows all needed default settings for catalog.

The following image shows setting for any product on front side means how it will look at front side.

Now, we will see what this settings mean:

1) List Mode: It defines how the products should be displayed .

Grid Only - The products will display in a grid structure and the customers will not have the option to change this. 

List Only - The products will display in a list structure and the customers will not have the option to change this. 

Grid (Default)/List - The products will display in a grid structure by default but the customers will be able to switch to list. 

List (Default)/Grid - The products will display in a list structure by default but the customers will be able to switch to grid

2)

 

Above settings   decide how many products will be shown in list or gird view on front side.

Products per Page on Grid Allowed Values: It sets the number of products displayed per in Grid View. To provide a selection of options to customer, enter multiple values separated by commas.

Products per Page on Grid Default Value: It sets the number of products displayed per page by default, in Grid View.

Products per Page on List Allowed Values: It sets the number of products displayed per page by default, in List View. To provide a selection of options to customer, enter multiple values separated by commas.

Products per Page on List Default Value: It sets the number of products displayed per page in a List default View.

Grid view gives the possibility to show more products in a smaller area,whereas the List view delivers more details of a product.

Note:

Using setting 1 and 2 , Magento lets you decide how you want to display your items and how many should be visible per page by default.

3) Allow All Products per Page: If it is set to “Yes,” then it will includes the “ALL” option in the Show per Page control. 

4) Product Listing Sort by: It decided the sort order of the search results list. The selection of options is determined by the display settings of the category and the available attributes. The default options are :

• Best Value
• Name
• Price

5) Use Flat Catalog Category: The structure of Magento caused category information
to be stored in various tables. By changing this setting to Yes, Magento will create
one flat catalog table for your categories, which improves performance. It is
recommended to set it to Yes.

Magento follows EAV module structure where it saves data in various tables. So when the product page is requested, a big join query is made to retrieve all the information regarding the product which causing the system slow.

Enabling Use Flat Catalog Category 'YES', will take all the data regarding catalog category spread out in different tables, flattens it in to one single table and ultimately decrease response time and increase the over all performance of magento store.

6)