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Input formats for custom attributes

Lee Wells
  • Updated

    Each Domain Specific Data API defines a fixed set of attributes that are essential within its domain, e.g. product titles for Retail or departure dates for Travel. Custom attributes allow to extend the Domain Specific Data API by additional company-specific attributes, e.g. processor_speed is not relevant for each retailer but highly relevant for an electronic store.

    This document explains how to use custom attributes.

    Overview

    Fredhopper requires two UTF-8 encoded CSV files (columns separated by double tabs) to load custom attributes:

    • custom_attributes_meta.csv: Describes each custom attribute, e.g. attribute processor_speed is of type float.
    • custom_attributes_values.csv: List the actual values for each custom attribute, e.g. 3.6 for processor_speed.

    Please ensure that the file names mentioned above are exactly the names of the files you provide to Fredhopper.

    Content guidelines
    Ensure for both CSV files:
    • Columns are separated by double tabs \t\t
    • UTF-8 encoded with standard PC end of line sequencing
    • Only printable characters (i.e. no control characters)
    • All columns are in the defined order and have the defined headers.
    • Encode linebreaks in fields as \n
    • Contain at least 2 Carriage Returns

     

    Meta data

    Each custom attribute must be defined in the file custom_attributes_meta.csv by the following columns:

    Column Description Allow values
    attribute_id Identifier of the attribute Must match [a-z0-9_]+. The indexer will enforce this format, rejecting the attribute definition, and possibly the item. We recommend to begin an attribute id with a letter.
    type Data type of the attribute. As specified in Basetype definition
    locale Language/country combination for which the name applies Valid Java Locale, e.g. en_US, fr_FR, de_DE, de_CH
    name Language/country specific name of the attribute  

    For example:

    attribute_id type locale name
    processor_speed float en_GB Processor speed
    color set en_GB Color
    color set nl_NL Kleur

     

    Values

    The values for all custom attributes have to be provided in the file custom_attributes_values.csv with the following columns:

    Column Description Allow values
    product_id Identifier of the product We recommend using identifiers matching [a-z0-9_]+. Refrain from using numeric only identifiers, unless you make sure that ids do not clash between items used in different universes, for example by adding a symbolic prefix to the numeric ids. The indexer will not enforce any format, by default, and hence will accept all item ids.
    locale Language/country combination for which the name applies Valid Java Locale, e.g. en_US, fr_FR, de_DE, de_CH
    attribute_id Identifier of the attribute as specified in the meta information. Must match [a-z0-9_]+. The indexer will enforce this format, rejecting the attribute definition, and possibly the item. We recommend to begin an attribute id with a letter.
    attribute_value_id Identifier of the attribute value for types with enumerated, for which one may specify localized alternatives. We recommend the attribute value id to match [a-z0-9_]+. If not matching, the indexer will convert any offending symbol to its hexadecimal representation.
    attribute_value Value of the attribute for the product  

    For example:

    product_id locale attribute_id attribute_value_id attribute_value
    p_123456 en_GB color blue blue
    p_123456 en_GB color red red
    p_123456 nl_NL color blue blauw
    p_123456 nl_NL color red rood
    p_456789   margin   10
    p_456789 en_GB promotion_code discount_10 10% discount
    p_456789 nl_NL promotion_code discount_10 10% korting
    Required vs. optional fields
    •  Attribute_value_id is optional if there is only one locale - in that case, the attribute_value will be used as the attribute_value_id
      product_id locale attribute_id attribute_value_id attribute_value
      p_123456 en_GB color   blue
      p_123456 en_GB color   red
    • If there are multiple attribute values (in a set) and only one locale, the values can be separated by ;;
      product_id locale attribute_id attribute_value_id attribute_value
      p_123456 en_GB color   blue;;red
    • If there are multiple attribute values (in a set) and more than one locale, the values must be shown on different lines AND the attribute_value_id cannot be null:
      product_id locale attribute_id attribute_value_id attribute_value
      p_123456 en_GB color blue blue
      p_123456 en_GB color red red
      p_123456 nl_NL color blue blauw
      p_123456 nl_NL color red rood
     

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