Catalog-on-Demand® for
ProductCart®: Quick Start

Introduction

Welcome! Catalog-on-Demand for ProductCart is the fastest, easiest, and most cost-effective way for you and your site visitors to create custom brochures, custom catalogs, and custom flyers from your product data.  

Getting Started

Your first step should be to purchase and install the Catalog-on-Demand Add-On available from Greybeard Design Group. The installation instructions are provided with the add-on.

Initial Setup

Once your module is installed, there are only a few steps to getting to the point where both you and your site visitors can begin producing custom publications. If you have any difficulties, please visit the forum and post your question or issue. 

You will need to register for Catalog-on-Demand for ProductCart before you can post to the forum. The first 15 days is free so that you may try out the system with no risk. Please visit this page for information on subscription prices.

Before proceeding with the instructions below, please be sure to visit the Catalog-on-Demand configuration screen now available through the ProductCart administrative interface. Refer to your installation insructions in order to configure these settings.

Make Your First Custom Publication

In the next few steps, you will create your first publication containing just the products you select. We are not going to do anything yet to customize the look of the publication. That comes next!

1. Export Product Data to Catalog-on-Demand
   First you should copy product data from your ProductCart database into the Catalog-on-Demand database for purposes of publishing. This step might take a few seconds or several minutes, depending on the size of your database, the quality of your Internet connection, and other factors.
   1. From the ProductCart administrative interface, click on Custom Add-Ons > Catalog-on-Demand > Export Product Data to CoD (Note to users of ProductCart v3: Select Products > Catalog-on-Demand > Export Product Data to CoD).
   2. Ensure that the email address is correct in the notification field.
   3. Click on "Perform Export". This step might take a few seconds or several minutes, depending on the size of your database, the quality of your Internet connection, and other factors.
2. Publish
   Please log into Catalog-on-Demand, using the new login you created during the registration process. Click on Key Links > Publish.
   
   1. You will see four selections for ways to select the products in your publication. The first option - "load project for review/search/selection" -- is selected by default. Click Continue.
   2. After a few moments, you will see a list of folders appear on the left side. Each folder name should correspond to one of your product categories.
   3. Click on the plus symbol to the left of one of the folders. If that reveals another folder, click on the plus sign again until you are at the "leaf" level, where you see the name of a product.
   4. Click on the product name (the actual text) and you will see the information for that product appear in the right frame.
   5. If you want to include this product in your first publication, click the check box to the left of the product name.
   6. Repeat the previous three steps to select a few more products.
   7. Click on the button labeled "Add selected to list". You will see a list of the products you just selected. Click on Publish All.
   8. Now you will see a form titled "Variable Data." 
      1. Headline: Enter anything, such as "Spring Selections for the Stegner Family"
      2. HeadlineColor: Leave at the default setting
      3. CallToAction: Enter anything, such as "Call Me Next Week!"
      4. Message: Enter anything, such as "Glenn, it was great talking to you today. I hope you and your family have a wonderful time at the lake next weekend. While you are away, please look over these selections with your wife. We will talk again after you return next week."
      5. CurrentScheme: Leave at the default setting
      6. CurrentHeaderDesignGfx: Leave at the default setting
      7. CurrentAdSet: Select Sample Ad/Fillers #1
      8. ProdGfxMaxHeight-Decimal_Inches: Leave this blank fo
      9. Click the "Send" button.
   9. Now you will see a form with additional job options.
      1. Title: Enter a job title, such as "First Test". This is just for your own reference. No spaces or special characters are allowed.
      2. Currency Symbol: Choose the symbol you prefer. If you currency symbol is not listed, please post a message to our forum.
      3. All remaining settings: Leave the rest of the settings as they are.
      4. Click "Continue"
   10. You will see a progress indicator as the job is put into the publishing queue. Once the job has been put into the queue, you will see that it is added to a Publication List.
   11. Click on View State to see how the job is progressing.
   12. When the job is finished, you will see two links: Job Output, with the PDF icon.
   13. Click on the View/Download link to see the PDF that was just produced from your data!
   14. You will see that it contains the products you selected. But the banners, color scheme, logo, etc. are NOT what you want! Keep going...

Update Your Profile Information

Probably the first thing you want to do is make sure that the publications contain your correct business information! To get started on this, you will first need to login to Catalog-on-Demand. You will need to use the user name and password created above. The login menu item is at the top of this page.

Once you are logged in, notice the "Key Links" menu that appears on the left side. At any time, you can view this menu by clicking on "Key Links" in the top menu.

1. Edit your name and image.
   1. Click on Manage Profiles - Personal
   2. Click on Edit > Update Your Profile
   3. Click on Contact Info
   4. Make sure your first name and last name are entered properly.
   5. Click Update
   6. Click on Edit > Update Your Image
   7. Click on Choose File and navigate to the image you would like to upload. Some users upload a personal photo. Other users prefer to upload a logo or related image.
   8. Click Upload
2. Edit your business information and logo.
   1. Return to the Key Links menu by clicking on Key Links in the top menu.
   2. Click on Manage Profiles - Organization
   3. Enter the correct name of your business or organization, as well as your address, web site, etc. It is ok to leave some fields empty. The publishing system will automatically suppress empty fields.
   4. Be sure to click on "Save updates" before the next step.
   5. Click on "upload new logo file"
   6. Choose your logo
   7. Click "Upload"
   8. Click back to Organization Profile
   9. You will see a message that your uploaded logo is being processed.

Create Your Color Scheme

You will of course want to match the colors of your custom flyers with the colors of your online store. This is done by creating a color scheme. You can create any number of color schemes, such as for different seasons.

1. Click on Design Elements. Color schemes are defined per LayoutPak (smart templates). The Madrona LayoutPak is included with your subscription. The Madrona LayoutPak supports two colors in its color scheme.
2. Click on the button labeled "edit color schemes" for the Madrona LayoutPak.
3. Click on "Add new color scheme". You will need to give the color scheme a name. Enter anything you like, such as "My Store Colors". Click "Submit".
4. Next you need to define your colors. Click the button on the top of the form labeled "Colors setup".
5. Click "Add new color".
   1. Give the color a name that means something to you, such as "Logo blue". 
   2. Enter the RGB values, or click "Pick Color". Notice that you can use the color picker or enter the hex notation.
   3. When you are satisfied with the color, click "Submit and add new color". Create your second color. Click "Submit".
   4. Click "Back to colors". Confirm that the colors you created are properly shown in the list of colors.
6. Click "Back to color scheme". Now you are going to assign the colors to your color scheme.
   1. At the bottom of the form, click on "select color" opposite C1 (color #1)
   2. Choose the color you want as the first color and click "Assigned selected color"
   3. Repeat for C2.
7. Click "Save updates"

Upload Your Banner Graphic

This step is optional, but it is one of the most effective ways to personalize the look of your publication. The only tricky part is making a graphic that is the right size. If you know how to do that, or know someone who does, then you're good to go. Otherwise, you will have to skip this step.

1. Create a banner graphic that is 930 x 180 pixels, using any graphics editor you like. Catalog-on-Demand will accept jpg or png.
2. Click on Publishing > Design Elements
3. As noted above, Madrona is the LayoutPak that is included with your subscription. Click on "edit design graphics".
4. Click on "Add new design graphic"
   1. Name: Enter any name you like. The description can be left blank.
   2. Role: [to be written]
   3. Graphic name: If the graphic ia available on a public server, enter the full http path to the graphic. Otherwise leave this field blank.
   4. Graphic file: You can leave this blank if you entered a path for the graphic in the field above. Otherwise, click on "Choose File" and select a file to upload.
   5. Click submit.
   6. It may take a few minutes for the graphic to be uploaded and processed. In the meantime you can continue to perform other tasks, including creation of more design graphics.

Job Parameter Sets

The purpose of a Job Parameter Set (JPS) is to simplify the process of launching a publishing job. A JPS is simply a package of configuration settings. The JPS makes it possible for you — the administrator — to limit and simplify the options that are available for users to launch jobs.

The first and most important use for a JPS is for site visitor publications. When you have a visitor to your site, you want the process of creating a custom flyer to be extremely simple. They should simply select the products, and that's it. All decisions about color schemes, banner graphics, headlines, logos, etc. should to be specified in advance by you, the administrator. The JPS is the way that you do this. It is the place where you specify all the configuration parameters. Therefore, the next step in this guide will be to define your Job Parameter Set for visitor publications.

Create a Job Parameter Set for Site Visitor Publications

The good news is that you have already done nearly all the work for creating a Job Parameter Set. You have already created a color scheme, a design graphic, entered your profile information, and everything else important. There isn't much left to do! We will start with the Job Parameter Set that already existed when you created this account.

1. Click on Job Parameter Sets
2. You will see that one JPS already exists. It is called Madrona (same as the name of the LayoutPak)
3. Click on view/edit
   1. Give the JPS a more meaningful name, such as "Madrona for Visitor Publications"
   2. Check the box titled "Use for SimpleCoD site visitor publications"
   3. Click Save Updates
4. Click on the Design Elements tab
   1. Headline — This is optional. If you do not have a design graphic, then a headline is a good idea. It tells visitors what the publication is about. The headline is also a good idea if you have a design graphic that serves mainly as a background. In this case the headline will be superimposed on top of the graphic.
      Note: If you are going to use a design graphic that already has text, then it does not make sense to superimpose a headline because you will be putting text on top of text. In this case, leave the field blank.
   2. Headline color — If you do not have a headline, you do not need to specify a color. If you do have a headline, then select a color from the dropdown. You can always go back to Design Elements and define another color if you need it.
   3. Call to Action — You should always enter something in this field. It will appear as a heading to the message on the last page.
   4. Message — This can be anything you want — such as a blurb about your company or site. Again, you should not leave this field blank.
   5. CurrentScheme — Click on the dropdown to select the color scheme that you created earlier.
   6. CurrentHeaderDesignGfx — If you created a design graphic earlier, then click on the dropdown to select it.
   7. ProdGfxMaxHeight-Decimal_Inches — Most users leave this field blank. It is what controls the maximum height of graphics that appear in the publication. The default is 2 inches. If you want you can enter a different size, ranging from 0.5" to 3".
5. Click on the LayoutPak Job Options Tab
   1. Job title — Enter something simple here... it is for your reference only when you are reviewing job histories. Enter "Visitor pub", for example.
   2. Currency symbol— This will be the currency symbol that will appear with all prices in your visitor publications. If the currency symbol you want is not available, please post a message in the forum.
   3. Display shopping carts — This setting controls whether the clickable shopping cart will appear in your visitor publications. Normally this is set to "yes", because one of the main points of the visitor publications is that they help drive traffic back to your site.
   4. Item sorting — In most cases, you will want to set this at "Best Fit - Category" for purposes of visitor publications. This will ensure that related products are grouped together in the custom flyer, and it will help use the page space most efficiently. See the bottom of this page for further explanation of the options.
   5. Default graphic URL — This option allows you to specify a URL to a default product image. In cases where the product has no defined image, the default graphic will be downloaded and used in the visitor publication.
   6. Use short descriptions — Set this to "yes" if you want to use the short descriptions from your database. Set this to "no" if you want to use the long descriptions. Note: If only one of the descriptions exists for a product, Catalog-on-Demand will use that description regardless of this setting.
   7. Email notice subject line — This will appear in the subject line of the email notification sent to your customer. For example, you might enter "Your custom flyer from AcmeUmbrellas.com"
6. Test your setup — Go into the front end of your e-commerce system and try making a visitor publication. You will probably go through several iterations of modifying the settings in your JPS in order to get the best possible results.

Additional Topics

As soon as you have site visitor publications running, you will want to continue to take even greater advantage of Catalog-on-Demand. Topics include:

• Additional LayoutPaks — You may prefer other LayoutPaks for visitor publications, sales publications, or both. More LayoutPaks are being made available every month. Check the LayoutPak page for an up-to-date listing. 
• Job Parameter Sets (JPS) for Sales Publications — The Job Parameter Sets are a terrific way to streamline and simplify the process of running jobs for your sales publications. You can read more about this in the documentation on each LayoutPak.
• Reports — There is a wealth of analytic information available to you as a result of your customers creating publications and clicking on the products. You can answer questions such as those below. The more publications that your visitors produce, the more data you have to better understand your customer preferences!
  • Which products were selected for the publications?
  • Which products did readers click on in the publications?
  • Which ads were used in the publications? Which ads received the clicks?
• Ads and Ad Sets — You can create filler ads that will automatically be inserted into what would otherwise be white space in your publication. These can be "informational" ads that give the user useful tips, they can be ads for your special promotions, or they can be ads from other businesses (such as affiliate ads).

Support

If you can't find the answer you are looking for, please post a question and/or review our support forum for common questions/issues. Please use the subforum titled ProductCart.

Frequently Asked Questions

Please see the support forum for most frequently asked questions.

Sorting Options for
ProductCart Site Visitor Publications