A new feed is creating by selecting 'Add feed' or 'New' from the components->datafeeds menu selection in the joomla administrator.

But first visit the affiliate company's website and retrieve the feed url. Copy the feed url and past it into the 'feed url' field of the feedconfiguration.  Give this configuration a (unique) name.

Selecting the class

Each type of feed has it's own parser class.  You must select the correct class for a correct import. The default setting is 'auto detect', this will work for most XML feeds, however 'auto detect' will not work correctly for most CSV feeds. When using CSV feeds select the correct version (using the right delimiter) manually.

Below shows the picture for Legwear International a webgains feed.

hit the apply button, the feed should be fetched and the right hand should show data. The next step is to specifiy the mapping of the feed to the database using the 'Field Selection' sub menu. The component will try to prefill fields.

Groups and select fields

The database compromises 10 fields for categories, the first field 'Select0' or 'Group' is a fixed value entered in the feed configuration. The Select0/Group is the main category topic of the feed.

The other nine fields are mapped from the actual feed. For this tutorial the setup as to groups 'Fashion' and 'Accommodation', for this field the correct value for the Select0/Group field would be 'Fashion'. If you website is just a single topic the Select0 field is probably less relevant as a 'group' parameter, however you could use it the create a group of 'Premium' and a group of 'Normal' feeds. ( and use a module later to have a top pick from the premium feeds later)

For the component the 10 fields have no specific meaning. Whenever starting a new group you must determine first how you want to use the fields ( and stick to it ). This tutorial will create a website with to groups, the mapping for the groups will be:

The order of the fields is not important, however life will be easier if you keep them in some common sense order.

For the Legwear International feed the mapping will look like:

Hit the Save button, and click 'Cron/Import data' the actually import the feed.

The callback function in the feed configuration allows the parse all items thru a filter, manipulating the data. This will be covered in another article.

The examples for the other three feeds of this tutorial:

Lingerie.co.uk (affiliatewindow)

Bellvilla ( Tradetracker)

Waytostay (Tradetracker)

After adding and importing the feeds, you should see the feeds in the feed submenu and some information about the imported items in the 'overview' and 'items' sub menu's.

Next step Adding a menu

Finding identical products

The real problem creating a price comparison website using joomla or any other script is finding identical products. For some product ranges price comparison is possible using unique codes like the EAN or ISBN code. Although even these codes are not as unique as you might hope they a quit good base for price comparison. In some fields like holidays or fashion ean codes are less common or not supplied in the datafeed. Finding identical (or even similar) product required some creative thinking, for accommodations the 'accommodation name' might be good option to use, for mobile phone the brand and type are indicators for more or less identical phones.

Siblings

Whatever your choice of 'identical products' is, the component supports finding siblings with the exact same 'key'

How to use

In the feed configuration assign the desired key to a 'Select' field. For example assign the ean field to select7. Assign the same key to the same select field for all your feeds ( at least feeds used in the same group/Select0)

In the menu configuration select the field for siblings ( in the advanced tab) and the number of siblings to show.

In the layout use

$this->assignRef('siblings', $this->get( 'Siblings')); 

to get a list of siblings of the displayed items.

A layout is not included in the distribution. An example layout is available after making a donation ( suggestion 25 euro)

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