Chapter 3. Design Tool Modifications Using the Online Admin

The admin page of the design studio modifies files that are within the admin/files directory. In some instances the live files will be copied to the admin/files deirectory based on an action (as described in the following sections. However, you must manually move the new files from the admin/files directory to their live location. For example, if you modify the products-list.xml file, the modified file is saved to the admin/files directory. You will need to download this file and then upload it to your products directory in order for the changes to take affect.

3.1 Fonts Admin

As shown in section 2.5, the fonts.xml file is very straight forward. Before adding a font to the fonts.xml file, you need to upload the font file to the fonts directory. (i.e myfont.ttf) The file must be a true type font and the extension needs to be - ttf (case sensitive). To modify your fonts file follow these steps:

• Upload the font file to your fonts directory
• Click on the Open Exiting Fonts File button.
• The fonts.xml file is shown in the text area with the xml tags removed.
• Simply Add or remove the font name to the list. The fonts are listed in the order in which they will appear in the fonts gallery. So you'll need to place the name of the font into the list at the position in which you want it to appear. If you remove a font, there is no need to delete the actual font file from the fonts directory. You may want to add it again later.
• Be sure that the name matches the font file name exactly (i.e myfont or Myfont or MYFONT).
• Click on the Update Font File button. This will update the fonts.xml file as well as create a new fonts.png image for the gallery.
• As a sanity check, the files will not be created if you do not have the font file in the fonts directory. You will see an error message.
• Using an ftp client, download the fonts.xml and fonts.png files. Then upload them to the fonts directory.

Missing Font Notification

3.2 Products Admin

As with the fonts admin section, the products admin section is used to edit temporary copies of the product xml files in the admin/files directory. Once these files have been edited, you need to download them from the admin/files directory and upload them to the products directory.

If you are going to make changes to many of the product files you may want to use the - Synchronize Admin Directory to Products Directory - button which will copy all the product files to the admin/files directory. Any existing files in the admin/files directory will be overwritten.

3.2.1 Edit Products List File

Click on the Open Existing Products File button to launch the products-list.xml editor.

You can use this editor to add or remove a product from the products gallery. Simply add the product name and the product thumbnail image. The thumbnail image will be used to create the product montage image, products.jpg
NOTE: If you add a product to the list at the bottom you need to enter a carriage return at the end.
Once you have made your changes, click on the Update Products List and Image button. This will update the products-list.xml file and also re-create the products.jpg

If you add a new product to the list (as we did above with the Test Product) you will receive a warning message if the corresponding product file does not exist in the products directory. This is a problem if you copy this new products-list.xml file to the products directory without having the Test-Product.xml file also in the products directory.

The new products.jpg image is created. If there is no thumbnail for the new product (Test Product) then a generic placeholder image is put into the products gallery image, as seen below.

3.2.2 Create Product Config File

If you add a new product to the products-list.xml file you will need to create the corresponding product-name.xml file.

Click on the List Products button to get the updated list of products in a dropdown menu.

From the drop-down menu, select the new product, Test Product. Which will open the following window:

You have the option to create the Tes-Product.xml file from using a blank form or copy an existing product xml file. If you select the New Config option you will be presented with the following form:

If you select a product from the copy drop-down menu you will be presented with the form filled-in with the copied information.

In this case we have selected the Adult SS product as a starting point. You can know edit the information as desired and then Update the Product Configuration. The form elements are:

• Title - this is currently not used in the design studio, it is a place holder.
• Description - this is the short description that will be shown in the description box when a customer selects that product.
• Front Printing - is front printing allowed on this product.
• Back Printing - is back printing allowed on this product.
• Sizes - enter all sizes for the product with a single space between each size.
• Default Parameters - the defaults for the product when it is first selected.
• Front Printable Area - these parameters specify the x,y location, width and height of the printable area seen on the product.
• Back Printable Area - same as Front Printable Area, but for the back.

3.2.3 Modifying Product Color Options

Once you have the main portion of the configuration file saved, you can move onto the colors.

From the color portion of the product configuration form, you can Add a Color, Delete a Color, or Update a Color.
To start with an existing color, click the Fill Form with Existing Color button ad select a color from the drop-down menu. This action will fill the form with the parameters for this color.

You can modify the information as needed and then update the color. If you change the name you can then click on the Add a Color button to add the new color. If you want to change the name of an existing color, you must first do an Add Color with the new name (example Navy to Deep Navy). Then use the delete color option to select the Navy color to be removed. The color parameters need to be created as follows:

• Color Name - no special characters, only alpha-num
• Color RGB - #RRGGBB where RR is the hex code for red, GG is hex code for green, and BB is hex code for blue.
• Exclude Sizes - enter sizes that are excluded for this color, sizes separated by a single space (i.e. 3XL 4XL), use 'none' for no exclusions.
• Pricing One Side - enter size and price combo for each size, for one side printing
• Pricing Two Sides - enter size and price combo for each size, for two sided printing

If you are not going to be using the dynamic pricing for single quantity, you can leave the price information blank.
For example, if you are a screen-printer that is using the get my quote option for large quantity orders you can skip the pricing information.

NOTE: As with the product-list.xml file, an changes made to a file require you to manually copy the product file to the products directory. You will receive a warning reminding you of this fact.