Creative Web Development - CSS, XHTML, Javascript and RTML for Yahoo Store

Yahoo Store - Deleting one item deletes multiple items?

On the Yahoo Store forums today, someone asked why, when they deleted one item from their site, it removed other items as well (assuming I read their question correctly!) So, since I need to get to sleep before work, that's the topic of today's post - why does my store delete multiple items when I try to delete one?

The reason is because when you delete a page, all the Contents of that page are deleted.

This can come in handy if you want to bulk-delete items - create a temporary page, paste a ton of ids into the Contents, and then delete that temporary page.

But, it can also have its downsides - delete the "Dog Sale" section, and any items from "Dog Sale" that are also in "Dog Treats" or "Dog Toys" are deleted as well.

Ultimately, you should add a custom variable called "cross-sell" (for example) to your item Type (do this on the Types page in the Editor - you can't add type "ids" to Catalog Manager) and have your RTML templates use that variable instead. Because this variable is type "ids" and not "objects", they won't have the parent-child relationship, and won't delete all the other items on the page like the Contents variable does.

So, in order to safely delete a page, follow these steps:

1. Make sure you are in Advanced mode in your editor (if you see two lines of yellow buttons on the home page, you are. If not, click the red arrow to the far right of them and you will be).
2. Navigate to the item you want to delete.
3. Click Edit
4. Scroll to the Contents field.
5. Select everything and delete it (use Ctrl+X so you have it on your clipboard in case you change your mind).
6. Update your changes
7. Press Delete in the yellow button bar.

Now that item, and only that item, is deleted. Good stuff.

Tags

Internet, Javascript, Yahoo Store, Store Editor, RTML

posted by steve at 3:42 AM