From NewHaven Software Wiki

Current revision as of 17:35, 5 January 2021

NewHaven Software has created an optional Magento Extension to expand the core capabilities of the Magento API and improve integration with CMS. For basic Magento deployments this extension is optional but it is required for products configured to use attributes (e.g. size and color) and Magento custom fields for data like ad code.

Magento version requirements

Minimum

• Enterprise 1.12.0.x
• Community 1.7.0.x
• Go 1.1.2.x (limited support)

Maximum

Latest tested version is 1.9.3.6

Magento 2.x (unlikely to be supported in CMS)

Magento 2.x is a significant departure for 1.x both for your site and the API that CMS communicates with. There is not a good transition path to get to 1.x to 2.x for either your site or our integration so research and plan accordingly before deciding to jump to 2.x. Be sure to find out what is involved to get your new site created and coordinate with us on our timeline for support for 2.x.

Magento 1.x is end of life (EoL) as of June 2020.

We are evaluating our integration options for 2.x but at this moment do not have a scheduled release date. Be advised, due to the complexity of the integration and how much has to be done from scratch, it is possible that 2.x support may not come.

In the meantime, we have explored alternatives for CMS users moving to Magento 2.x in advance of our support for it. There is a company called Xtento that produces inexpensive Magento extensions (for both 1.x and 2.x, Community and Enterprise) that looks promising. We've reviewed our XML requirements with them and they seem quite capable of delivering.

Perhaps most interesting about Xtento's suite of extensions is that they allow CMS to work with Magento in a non-synchronizing mode, for better or worse. In other words, instead of synchronizing invoices and packages with Magento which allows Magento to process the payments, it instead operates more like a standard integration where the order downloads into CMS with the credit card info so that CMS can handle payment processing. This is particularly beneficial for backorder and future ship (split order) processing and simplifying the integration. To accomplish this you'd need to use three of Xtento's extensions:

• Magento Order Export Module - Allowing orders to be imported (not downloaded) - Downloads and imports can be done manually or in conjunction with our File Based eCMS plug-in (sold separately). To be clear, this extension pulls new Magento orders and posts a file to an FTP site in an XML format which they can modify to meet our spec (fees from Xtento apply for this translation.)
• Magento Saved Credit Cards Module - Enabling Magento to pass credit card data to CMS for processing
• Magento Tracking Number Import Module - Import shipped item data with tracking numbers to update status in Magento - - CMS is not currently producing output suitable for use with this module but could be done outside of CMS (by you or us.)
• Magento Stock Import Module (optional) - For uploading updated stock levels - CMS is not currently producing output suitable for use with this module but could be done outside of CMS (by you or us.)

It is worth noting:

• Multiships - Magento does not support single orders with multiple recipients. This is a strength of CMS and common for B2C companies shipping gift orders. Magento instead treats each recipient as a separate order (meaning the buyer gets charged separately for each order instead of one payment for all orders.) In Magento 1.x our Magento extension stitches these separate orders together so this is another important difference to be aware of between 1.x and 2.x at the moment.
• Product Data Uploads - With their extension only supports inventory level uploads, not any other product data.
• CMS would not be communicating with a web service. These are all file-based operations so would involve either manual import/exporting of files or using our eCMS module to read/write files to an FTP site. This will require some level of file management for someone to archive processed files periodically (CMS will ignore duplicate files so file archiving doesn't have to be done multiple times a day, for example.)

Current capabilities of the base Magento Plug-in

Order Downloads

• Credit card payments are processed in Magento via Authorize.net CIM. CMS will provide Magento with shipped item data to facilitate related captures, include split and delayed shipments (back order or future ship.) These updates take place as part of the invoice creation process which takes place during order status updates.
  • Credit card data is not available from Magento hosted solutions (Go and Enterprise) due to PCI concerns on their side. In a future version of CMS we will add support for downloading credit card data from their user-hosted solutions (Community and Professional.) This is currently scheduled to be included with our next submission of CMS for PA-DSS validation Q4 2013.
• Shipcode mapping from Magento codes to CMS codes
• Order level gift messages
• Supports Magento’s coupon codes (imported as ad code)
• Magento order-level custom field support (requires the NHS Extension, see the NHS Magento Setup Guide for more info)

Order Status Updates

• Invoice creation (facilitates Magento’s payment processing)
• Support for back order invoicing
• Global support for billing delayed items now
• Status updates
• Shipment updates with tracking numbers

Product Data Uploads

• Support for Simple and Configurable products
• Creation of new products and updates to existing
  • Product code/sku
  • Descriptions
  • Pricing
  • Inventory
  • Weight
  • Status (enabled/disabled)
  • Attributes (requires the NHS Extension)