Product Variations, Options, and Modifiers in Commerce Manager

You can create variations and options and assign them to products to build child products with those variations and options. Variations are reusable, and you can attach the same variation to any number of products. You can also create a link between the existing variation and a new product. For example, a shoe size variation has five options and the size variation is linked to two shoe products that inherit the property.

For more information about building child product in Commerce Manager using variations and options, see the Assigning variations and building child products section.

Use modifiers to change the properties of child products that are inherited from a base product. With modifiers, you only need to have one base product with a variation attached to the product.

Modifiers attached to a variation option are applied to a base product to create child products. For example, instead of creating three base products for three different shirt colors, you can do the following:

1. Create a base product, shirt, with the variation, color, attached to it.
2. Create three options for the color variation.
3. Create a modifier for each option to change the properties of each child product. For example, attach a description append modifier to each option so that each child product has a different description based on the color of the child product.
4. Build the child products.

Below is an example of a child product of shirt which has a specific description associated with it because of the description append modifier setting for the option yellow:

Do the following to create variations, options, and modifiers:

1. Create variations.
2. For each variation, create options.
3. For each option, set modifiers.

1. In the Product Experience Manager > Configurations page, click Variations tab.

2. Click Add Variation.

3. In the Variation Name field, enter a name.

   Use only letters, both uppercase and lower case, digits 0 to 9, underscore (_), or hyphen (-) in the name. Do not use any other special characters.

4. Click Next>.

   If you don’t want to add options now, you can click Save & Exit to save the variation and exit the window.

5. In the Options tab, click Add option.

   1. In the Name field, enter the name of the option.

      Use only letters, both uppercase and lower case, digits 0 to 9, underscore (_), or hyphen (-) in the name. Do not use any other special characters.

   2. In the Description field, enter a description for the option.

   3. Click Add option.

   4. To add more options, repeat step 5.

The Product Experience Manager > Configurations > Variations tab displays all variations that you create.

1. In the Product Experience Manager > Configurations > Variations tab, click a variation. The following tabs are displayed:

   • Details: Provides the name of the variation.
   • Options: Provides the name and description of each option within the variation.

1. To update a variation, in the Product Experience Manager > Configurations > Variations tab, do one of the following:

   • Click the variation.
   • Click the ... > Edit icon next to the variation.

2. To update the name of the variation, in the Details Name field, enter the new name.

3. To edit the options within the variation, do the following:

   1. In the Options tab, click the ...> Edit Option next to the option name.
   2. Update the details as required.
   3. Click Save.

You must rebuild the child products for the product that contains the variation and options to apply the changes.

You can only delete the variations that are not in use. If you try to delete a variation that is still in use, the following message is returned:

"One or more variations are currently in use"

If you still want to delete the variation, ensure that the variation is deleted from all products that use the variation.

1. In the Product Experience Manager > Configurations > Variations tab, click the ... icon next to the variation that you want to delete.

2. Click Delete.

   A warning message confirming the delete action is displayed.

3. Click Delete.

The variation and all options within the variation are deleted. You must rebuild the child products for the product that contain the variation and options to apply the changes. When you rebuild the child products, all child products that contain the variation and options are also deleted.

1. To delete an option in a variation, in the Product Experience Manager > Configurations > Variations tab, click the variation.
2. In the Options tab, click the ... icon and click Delete Option.

You must rebuild the child products for the product that contain this option to apply the changes. When you rebuild child products, all child products generated with this option are deleted from the store.

1. To add modifiers to an option, in the Product Experience Manager > Configurations > Variations tab, do the following:

   1. Click a variation.

   2. Click the Options tab.

      All options created for the variation are listed.

   3. Click the ... icon for the option that you want to edit and click Edit Modifiers.

   4. Enter appropriate values for:

      • Modifier
      • Operation
      • Value

   Modifier values can only contain A-Z, a-z, 0 to 9, -, and _. No spaces or special characters are allowed.

   You cannot duplicate a modifier type and operation combination. However, you can add a different operation for the same modifier type. For example, you can only have one SKU builder modifier. However, you can add another SKU append modifier to the same option.

   1. Click Save.

   For more information about different modifiers, the values, and how to use them, see the modifier types section.

Modifiers are applied to the child products that are built using the variations and options for which modifiers are created.

1. In the Edit Modifiers tab, add the required modifiers to an option from the following modifiers types and values:

   • In the Modifier field, if you select SKU, select one of the following operations and appropriate values:

     • equals: Sets the SKU of the child product generated using this option to the value provided in the Value field.
     • append: Appends the string specified in the Value field to the product SKU of child products generated using this option.
     • prepend: Prepends the string specified in the Value field to the product SKU of child products generated using this option.
     • builder: Searches for child product that matches the value provided in the seek field and updates it to the value provided in the set field. For example, a shirt has an option Red for color and option Medium for the Size option and you set the seek value color and set value Red. When you build child product with these options, a child product [Basic-Shirt-Medium-Red] is created in the storefront: A sku_builder modifier is created for the Red option.

   • In the Modifier field, if you select slug, select one of the following operations and appropriate values:

     • equals : Sets the slug of the child product generated using this option to the value provided in the Value field.
     • append : Appends the string specified in the Value field to the to the product slug of child products generated using this option.
     • prepend : Prepends the string specified in the Value field to the to the product slug of child products generated using this option.
     • builder : Sets a part of the product slug of the child product by searching for the value provided in the seek field. It updates it to the value provided in the set field.

   • In the Modifier field, if you select description, select one of the following operations and appropriate values:

     • equals: Overrides the description of the child product with the value provided in the Value field.
     • append: Appends the value provided in the Value field to the product description.
     • prepend: Prepends the value provided in the Value field to the product description.

   • In the Modifier field, if you select name, select one of the following operations and appropriate values:

     • equals: Overrides the name of the product with the value provided in the Value field.
     • append: Appends the value provided in the Value field to the product description.
     • prepend: Prepends the value provided in the Value field to the product description.

   • commodity_type: Sets the commodity type of the child product to the value selected, such as physical or digital, in the Value field.

   • status : Sets the status of the product of the child product to the selected value, such as draft or live, in the Value field.

   • Price: In Price Modifier Name type or paste the name of the price modifier you want this option to use. Make sure the price modifier name you use matches exactly with the price modifier name you specified when creating your price modifier. See Creating price modifiers.

1. To delete a modifier added to an option, in the Product Experience Manager > Configurations > Variations tab, do the following:

   1. Click a variation.

   2. Click the Options tab.

      All options created for the variation are listed.

   3. Click the ... icon next to the option that you want updated and click Edit Modifiers.

   4. Enter appropriate values for:

      • Modifier
      • Operation
      • Value

   Modifier values can only contain A-Z, a-z, 0 to 9, -, and _. No spaces or special characters are allowed. For more information about different modifiers, the values, and how to use them, see the modifier types section.

   1. Click Save.

   You cannot duplicate a modifier type and operation combination. However, you can add a different operation for the same modifier type. For example, you can only have one SKU builder modifier. However, you can add another SKU append modifier to the same option.

You must rebuild the child products for the product that contain this option to apply the changes in the modifiers.

1. To edit a modifier added to an option, in the Product Experience Manager > Configurations > Variations tab, do the following:

   1. Click a variation.

   2. Click the Options tab.

      All options created for the variation are listed.

   3. Click the ... icon for the option that you want to edit and click Edit Modifiers. All modifiers added to the option are displayed.

   4. To delete a modifier, click the Delete icon next to the Value field of that modifier.

You must rebuild the child products for the product to apply the changes.

• Product Hierarchies
• PXM Variations
• Price books
• Catalog
• Options API
• Modifier API
• Create Child Products Using Variations and Modifiers