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1

Make PDF Catalogs From Miva Merchant

Make catalogs for every purpose: events, seasons, segments, etc.

Use the same content as your online store — including HTML, variants & more

Choice of dynamic or grid layouts, with many options

Brand with your colors, logo, & artwork

 

 

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2

Auto-Update PDF Catalogs On Your Miva Merchant Site

Always Fresh® means catalogs are updated every night

Create a link to your site one time — the link remains the same

Post an Always Fresh catalog or brochure for every category

 

 

 

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3

PDF for Every Product Page On Your Miva Merchant Site

Creates a PDF for every product on your Miva Merchant site — updated niy

Instantly downloadable

Uses your artwork & colors

Free up to 1000 product families

 

 

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4

Lite Edition for Sales Reps & Dealers

For sales reps, dealers, distributors, etc.

They select the tempate & products — you control the design and content

Perfect for 1:1 sales, wish list reminders, abandoned cart follow-ups, including with shipments, trade show handouts

 

 

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5

Flexible Job File (FJF) for Batch Processing

Run publications with no human intervention

Launch jobs with any configuration and any combination of products

Generate Job Files with any tool, or from any system (CRM, etc.)

 

 

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Miva Merchant / Catalog-On-Demand

FAQ

How do I integrate Catalog-on-Demand with CS-Cart?

We use the CS-Cart API. Here is the documentation on how to import data and images from CS-Cart.

Is it possible to make the product description or image in my print catalogs different than what is in our CS-Cart store?

You can use the Private Data Editor (PDE) to change product data. This includes the description, images, and attributes. If you do this, you will want to use the Locked Product feature, which prevents your edited data from being overwritten by the next import.

For some publications (such as niche catalogs) I want to be able to add or override attribute values and prices. Is this possible?

Yes, you can do this and more with the “Override and Supplementary Data” capability, documented here. Here are the available features:

  • Price overrides — Publish a price that is different than the price contained in your database
  • SKU number override — Publish with a SKU number that is different than the SKU numbers in your database
  • Attribute value override — Publish attribute values that are different than the attribute values in your database
  • Attribute supplements — Publish attribute labels and values that are in addition to what you have in your database

Is there a way to automatically strip out, replace, or otherwise change content before publishing?

Yes, by using Catalog-on-Demand Plug-Ins. This is a powerful capability to apply JavaScript in just about any way you can imagine to transform your content for publishing. You might use it to publish or suppress prices, combine attributes in a separate field, pull data from another source, or almost anything else. You can create your own Plug-Ins, or we can make them for you.

I have extensive formatting and HTML in my product descriptions. How is this handled?

Catalog-on-Demand supports simple HTML for print publications, such as bullets and some styling. Other HTML, such as complicated embedded tables or extensive styling, does not transfer well from web to print. Such HTML may be easily stripped out with simple checkboxes.

In addition, Plug-Ins can be created to handle just about any other clean up or formatting replacement that you can imagine.

How can I make the product categories in my print catalogs different than in my CS-Cart store?

You can use Private Data Editor to recategorize your products. There is a Catalog-on-Demand setting that prevents the CS-Cart import from overwriting your categories.

The product images on my CS-Cart store vary in size and shape. Can I still use them for print catalogs?

Yes. Catalog-on-Demand automatically handles all the sizing, positioning, and text wrap issues associated with having different shape images for different products.

How to Automatically Import Product Data and Images from Miva Merchant into Catalog-on-Demand

Part I : Export files from miva merchant for use with catalog-on-demand

You will need to export two files from your Miva Merchant system. No custom coding is required; you can use the built-in export modules that Miva provides.

  1. To find the export modules, log into your Miva Merchant admin. Click the + sign next to “Utilities”. Then click the + sign next to “Export Data”.
  2. The first export file you need to create will contain your categories. Begin by clicking the link “Export Categories to Flat File” on the left side of your Miva admin. On the right side, make the following changes:
    1. Next to “Export Categories to File” change the filename to categories.dat
    2. Next to “File Format” change the dropdown box to “Legacy Import Categories from Flat File”
    3. Next to “File Delimiter” select the “Tab” button
  3. The screen should look similar to the image shown below. Finally, click the Export button to begin the export process.

  1. The second export file you need to create will contain your products. On the left side of the Miva Merchant admin screen, click the “Export Products to Flat File” link. On the right side, make the following changes:
    1. Next to “Export Products to File” change the filename to products.dat
    2. Next to “File Format” change the dropdown box to “Legacy Import Categories from Flat File” or “Import Products from Flat File (The exact wording will depend on which version of Miva Merchant you have installed.)
    3. Next to “File Delimiter” select the “Tab” button
    4. In the “Category Settings” box, select “Include category list”
  2. The screen should look similar to the image shown below. Finally, click the Export button to begin the export process.

  1. Finally, these files need to be placed in a public URL so that they can be accessed by Catalog-on-Demand. We recommend that you make the URL obscure. An example might be http://www.mycompany.com/72gB3d9. You will need to create this directory on your server, and then use an FTP tool to move the categories.dat and products.dat files from your export directory (typically something like “private/mivadata/Merchant5/s01/export) to the directory you just created.
  2. Test the file availability by opening your browser and making sure you can reach http://www.mycompany.com/72gB3d9/categories.dat and http://www.mycompany.com/72gB3d9/products.dat. (Replace http://www.mycompany.com/72gB3d9/ with your domain and obscure directory.)

Thanks to Susan Petracco of NetBlazon for the above documentation and screenshots. And thanks to Pat Pepe of West Florida Components for helping us get started!

Part II: Set up your catalog-on-demand account page

  1. Sign into Catalog-on-Demand (registration is free if you have not already done so).
  2. Click on Account (top menu). Click on Data Import Setup. 
  3. Under Import type, select Miva Merchant import.
  4. Enter the URL where you have placed your two data files (see Part I above).
  5. Enter the base URL for your product pages. An example might be http://www.mycompany.com/widgets. This URL, plus PRODUCT_CODE, should link to your product pages (e.g., http://www.mycompany.com/widgets/34343).
  6. Enter the base URL for your product images. An example might be http://www.mycompany.com/mm5. This URL, plus PRODUCT_IMAGE, should link to your product images (e.g., http://www.mycompany.com/mm5/graphics/00000001/coolprod.jpg).
  7. Normally you will leave the encoding set at the default (UTF-8).
  8. Normally you will not check “Ignore HTML tables” or “Remove color tags.”
  9. Choose at least one day of the week. We recommend you choose every day of the week.
  10. Click Create Data Import Setup.
  11. Click Import Now.
  12. After a few minutes, click on History (in the Data Import section). You may need to click refresh, because the import does not start for about 2 or 3 minutes.
  13. When the import is complete, click on Download Report. 
  14. Review the report for errors. If you have any questions or issues, please contact support.
  15. If all is well, then you are ready to publish!

Part III: Import options

Catalog-on-Demand offers the following options for importing data from your Miva Merchant database.

  • Ignore HTML tables — If checked, then any HTML tables in your CS-Cart product descriptions will not be imported. Sometimes this is necessary if you have complex HTML tables that do not appear correctly in your print catalog.
  • Remove color tags — This is useful if you have color formatting in your HTML that you do not want to appear in your print catalog.
  • Remove all styles — This is useful if you have font formatting in your HTML that you do not want to appear in your print catalog.