Format plugins explained

Introduction

Format plugins (also known as field plugins or just formats) describe our biggest plugin interface that may even have the highest number of plugins throughout all of CONTENTSERV.

Like every software, the SAWSConnector started of simple. Select an attribute of a product und give a technical key used to export the attribute. But when one of our target systems did not allow hyphens “-“, we were forced to “format” our value from 3843-456-XL to 3843_456_XL. Just like that, the first format plugin was born. Over time, more and more use-cases came into play and we from SAWS had to develop a scalable concept.

As of now, there are countless format plugins that cover all nearly all values that CONTENTSERV could ever possess. Every format plugin can be chained with another, has conditions that allow you to control the data flow and placeholders that allow you to load different attribute values (with formats themselves) to insert any value anywhere. The possibilities are sheer endless and are constantly expanding thanks to our ongoing development.

As you can imagine, the complexity of the configuration increased in the same manner to the newly implemented possibilities.
However, we try our very best to Help in you successfully using our Connectors by introducing convenience features (like a navigation tree) and maintaining this documentation.

Usage

Format plugins can be selected directly in the datamap or inside configurations of other format plugins.
An empty plugin selection will look like this:

You can select a plugin by clicking on it.
Plugins are organized into categories.
You may search for names, keywords and categories using the integrated search bar.

Once you have selected a plugin, two new buttons will appear next to the selection.



The gear icon will have one of four different colors:

• grey means the plugin uses it’s default configuration
• red means the plugin has an incomplete or invalid configuration
• green means the plugin has a a valid configuration
• light green means the plugin has a condition

To edit the current configuration of a plugin click the gear icon.

Next to the gear your will find a symbol to open the notes of the selected plugin and all its subconfigurations.
Some configurations can get extremly complicated, so it’s useful to add additional notes to explain the purpose of each plugin and its configuration.
Notes can also be helpful when working together with others, as understanding configurations made by others can be even more difficult.

The Configuration Editor

After opening the configuration, you will be greeted by out configuration editor:

Plugin tree

On the left you can see the format plugin tree. You can hide or show it by clicking the most left button in the editor.
The tree is used to navigate more complex navigations

Save Button

If the save button is yellow, you have unsaved changes.

Import / Export

These two buttons allow you to create and import Backups of your current configuration.
Backups are covered in a seperate tutorial.

Copy / Paste

Here you can copy and paste your current configuration.

Conditions

This Spoiler allows you to access conditional formatting.
Conditions are covered in a seperate tutorial.

Placeholders

This Spoiler allows you to access placeholder assignment.
Placeholders are covered in a seperate tutorial.

Colors

Blue

Blue settings are generic and shall be available in every format plugin configuration.

Format of the result value

This setting allows you to chain format plugins.
An example would be to first multiply a value in kg by 1000 after which you add the unit gramm to the end.

Language dependency

The Language dependency allows you to override the language handling of the selected attribute in the datamap.
This is useful if you’re complementing a language independent number with additional Text (which obviously is language dependant).

Green

Green settings are specific to the selected plugin. If the gear icon is red, these are usually incomplete.
If you’re unsure about what a green setting does, you can check out our format plugin category.
Some connectors supply specialized format plugins. You can find their wiki pages in their associated connectors.

Red

Red is used to mark advanced settings. These should only be used if deemed neccesary and if you already have some experience.

Yellow

Yellow fields signal unsaved changes. If you edit a setting and don’t save, the changed setting, as well as the save button stay yellow until you do.

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