Site Export File Consistency
The Catalog, Customers, Inventory and Access Roles site export files are created consistently, exported in sorted order so that a diff of XML feeds is guaranteed to reveal data changes and differences. Developers work in a collaborative environment, working with and changing a common site import definition. Thus, exports provide the only way to compare the content of two instances.
- The customer file is sorted by address ID in ascending alphabetical order
- The access roles file is sorted in ascending alphabetical order based on the resource path of an access control element. If the resource paths of two access control elements are the same, it then sorts by the permission.
- The Inventory file is sorted in ascending alphabetical order based on product ID.
- The catalog file is sorted by the following rules (in the following order):
| Element | Sort order |
|---|---|
| Categories | Depth-first recursive ordering. Sibling categories are ordered by position. Unsorted categories appear at end of list ordered by name. Example: Root, JA, JB, JC, K, KA, KB, |
| Category refinement definitions | Sorted by position |
| Category refinement bucket definitions | Sorted by position |
| Category product attribute groups | Sorted by position |
| Category product attributes | Sorted by position |
| Category links | Sorted by position |
| Products | Sorted by SKU |
| Product bundled products | Sorted by position |
| Product retail set products | Sorted by position |
| Product product set products | Sorted by position |
| Product options | Sorted by position |
| Product links | Sorted by position |
| Product variation attributes | Sorted by position |
| Product variations | Sorted by position |
| Shared product options | Sorted by ID |
| Shared product option values | Sorted by position |
| Shared variation attributes | Sorted by ID |
| Shared variation attribute values | Sorted by position |
| Category assignments | Ordered by category name, then position (unsorted products at end), then product SKU |
| Recommendations | Ordered by sourcetype, sourceid, targettype, typecode, position |
| For all business objects: Custom attributes | Sorted alphabetically by ID across all attribute groups |