Edit Product Type

This page lets you define the product type name and description as well as the attributes that products of this type can have. You can disable unneeded attributes, add your own attributes, and specify default attribute values that will be assigned to newly created products of this type.

Product Type ID	Informational field. The number assigned to this product type.
Product Type	The string used as the name of this type throughout the Admin Area, for example, in the Product Type field in the Add Product window.
Product Type Description	Information about the purpose of this product type or a list of products that should be assigned to this type. Appears on the Manage Product Types page.

Attribute List
The remaining sections of the page list all attributes that products of the current product type can have.

The attributes on this page are organized the same way as in the Add Product or Edit Product windows. There is a small '?' icon next to every attribute that you can click to open a small window with the attribute description and the corresponding template tag.

Default Attributes
The system provides default attributes common to the majority of products. They exist in every product type and cannot be deleted.

Custom Attributes
The default attributes may not be enough to properly describe some products. For instance, they do not include a Length attribute. If your store sells any products characterized by length, you should create the missing attribute and specify the length for each product of a certain product type.

To add new attributes to the product type, use the New Custom Attributes section.

The shopping cart system allows you to create two types of additional attributes:

Text and Numbers (Single Line)	Attributes of this type can hold a number or a single-line text up to 256 characters in length. For instance, the Length attribute, which is a numeric value, should use this attribute type.
Large Text	Attributes of this type can hold large volumes of text, optionally marked up with HTML tags. This attribute type may be useful for displaying large textual product descriptions.

Select the appropriate attribute type and click the Add button. A new window will open where you can specify the details of the new attribute. After you complete the form, the new attribute will be added to the page.

Existing (previously defined) custom attributes are listed in the Custom Attributes section. Every custom attribute has two links, Edit and Delete, which can be used to edit an attribute’s details or delete an attribute, respectively.

Default Values
For every attribute listed on the page, you may set a default value. This value will be assigned to the corresponding attribute of every product added to the catalog, if the product is assigned the current product type. Thus, you won't need to specify the same values for every new product of this type.

For instance, you can set the default value for the Product Tax Class attribute to 'Taxable.' Consequently, you will not need to set the 'Taxable' value each time you enter a new product of this type. Of course, these values can be changed later for any product.

Disabling Attributes
If products of the current type do not have one or more of the listed attributes (or you do not want to specify them), you can disable them.

Clear the corresponding checkboxes in the Visibility column on the left and then click the Save button (located at the top or at the bottom of the page). You will then never be prompted to enter the corresponding attribute(s) values when you add or edit a product.

Saving Changes
To save the changes made on this page, click the Save button.

To return to the list of product types without saving any changes, click the Cancel button.