Taxonomies (admin)¶
A taxonomy is the structure you classify products against: a tree of levels (Footwear, then Trainers) where each level carries attributes (Size, Colour, Material) that products at that level are asked for. Shoppers see those attributes as filters, and each product gets a completeness score from how many required attributes are filled in. The concepts and the code behind them are in Product Taxonomy.
You manage taxonomies under Catalogue > Taxonomies. Merchandisers, admins and super admins can build and edit them. Activating and deleting are for admins and super admins, because activating can clear product data.
The list¶
/admin/catalogue/taxonomies shows each taxonomy with its number of levels and attributes and when it last changed. The one in use has an Active badge. Only one taxonomy is active at a time.
- New taxonomy asks for a name, or Start from a worked example (Electronics with Laptops and Audio, and a few typed attributes) so you can see how levels and inheritance fit together.
- Edit opens the editor.
- Duplicate copies a taxonomy, keeping all ids so anything that refers to them keeps working if you activate the copy. A good way to try a restructure without touching what is live.
- Activate makes it the active taxonomy (see below).
- Delete removes a taxonomy that is not active.
If your plan doesn't include the taxonomy engine the page says so. You can still build taxonomies, but they won't classify products, drive filters or show attributes until the plan includes it.
Activating a taxonomy¶
The first time you activate a taxonomy nothing changes on products.
Switching from one active taxonomy to another clears the classification of every product: the level and the attribute values are archived once on the product and removed from the live fields. Activating the old taxonomy again does not bring them back, and search filters built from the old attributes stop working until products are classified again.
So the dialog tells you how many products will be cleared and asks you to type the name of the taxonomy you're activating before the button is enabled.
The editor¶
The tree of levels is on the left, the selected level on the right. Select nothing (or the taxonomy's name in the breadcrumb) to edit the taxonomy's own name and description, duplicate or delete it.
Edits are a draft. Nothing is saved until you press Save changes in the bar at the bottom. The bar shows when you have unsaved changes, Discard throws them away, and the browser warns you if you try to leave with unsaved edits.
Levels¶
- Add a top level with Top level, a sub-level or a level beside the selected one from the panel. New levels are named inline: type and press Enter.
- Rename by double-clicking a level in the tree (or press F2), or edit the name in the panel.
- Reorder and move by dragging a level: drop on the upper or lower part of another level to place it before or after, on the middle to put it inside. There is a keyboard route too: with a level focused, Alt + Up/Down moves it among its siblings, Alt + Right makes it a child of the sibling above, Alt + Left moves it out beside its parent. The Move... button opens a dialog to choose a new parent, which is also the way to move levels on a phone.
- Delete a level (and everything under it) from the panel, or press Delete on a focused level. If the taxonomy is active the dialog says how many products are classified there. They are left unclassified, not deleted.
- Filter the tree with the box above it. Expand/collapse all are beside it.
- Each level shows how many attributes it defines and, for the active taxonomy, how many products sit at or below it.
On a phone the tree is a list you drill into: tap a level's arrow to see what is inside it, tap its name to edit it, and use All levels to come back.
Attributes¶
The panel lists the attributes defined on the selected level. Open one to edit it, use the arrow buttons or the grip to reorder, or the bin to delete.
| Setting | What it does |
|---|---|
| Name, help text | What whoever classifies the product sees |
| Type | Text, Number, Yes / No, Choose one or Choose several |
| Required | Counts towards the completeness score |
| Label on the product page, Show on the product page | Whether and how the value appears in the shop's specification list |
| Allowed values | For the two choice types, one per line. Paste a whole list at once; blanks and duplicates are removed when you leave the box, and Sort A-Z tidies it |
| Shown in filters as | How the attribute appears as a filter on category and search pages: List of values (tick boxes), Colour swatches (the same list with a colour dot by each value) or Number range (min and max boxes). Yes / no attributes only offer the list; numbers offer list or range |
| Unit | For a number range: shown beside the min and max boxes (mm, cm, kg). Values such as "40" and "40mm" both count as 40 |
| Swatch colours | For colour swatches: a colour picker per allowed value. Values named after a colour (Navy, Light Grey, Black) get their colour automatically, so set one only where the name doesn't say it (Midnight, Heather). Automatic clears it. A free-text attribute takes Value = #hex lines instead |
| Length, value range, pattern | Optional rules for text and number attributes |
| Custom error message | Shown instead of the standard message when a rule fails |
An attribute's id is made when you first save and then never changes, because products, filters and search refer to it. Renaming an attribute is always safe.
Below the list, Inherited attributes shows what the level gets from its ancestors, read-only, with the level it comes from (click to go there). A level can define an attribute with the same id as an ancestor's, which replaces it for products at that level; the inherited list marks it Overridden here.
Variant options¶
Below the editor, Variant options says which filter each variant option group counts towards on category and search pages. A group normally feeds the attribute whose id matches its code; choose another attribute when they differ (a kit group feeding Supplied as), and list any option named differently from the filter's value (2 x 2.0Ah kit = Kit with batteries). Each group saves on its own, straight away, and the search index rebuilds in the background. This is separate from Save changes, which saves the levels and attributes.
Saving¶
On save the whole tree is checked and every problem is listed together, for example a choice attribute with no values, two levels with the same name under one parent, or a pattern that isn't a valid regular expression. Fix them and save again.
If the taxonomy is active and your changes would leave products holding data that no longer fits (a removed or moved level, a removed attribute, a removed value that products have chosen), a dialog lists each case with the number of products first. Product data is never deleted by a save: values for removed attributes stay on the product but are hidden and ignored, and products at a removed level become unclassified until you assign them elsewhere.
If someone else saved the taxonomy after you opened it, your save is refused with a message and nothing is overwritten. Reload to see their version.
Search after a structural change¶
Filters read what was indexed. After you move or remove levels or attributes of the active taxonomy a banner offers Reindex products. It starts the same product reindex as on the Search overview; you can say Later and do it from there. Renames, reordering and label or help-text changes don't need a reindex.
On the product page¶
The product (and variant) edit page has a Taxonomy tab:
- Choose the level the product sits at. The attribute inputs for that level, including those inherited from levels above, appear straight away without reloading the page, so edits to the rest of the product are kept. Values for attributes both levels share are carried over.
- Fill in the attributes. Choose-one attributes are drop-downs, choose-several are tick chips (with a filter box for long lists), yes/no is a three-way select. Required ones are starred.
- The completeness bar follows the required attributes as you fill them in.
On save the values are validated against the attribute rules, values for attributes that don't apply at the chosen level are dropped, the completeness score is recomputed, and any value that breaks its rule is not saved and is listed in a notice after the page reloads, so one bad value doesn't lose the rest of your edit. Choosing Not classified clears the product's classification.
This is the same behaviour as the manageProductTaxonomy tool in MCP.