Synchronize Magento Shopping Carts With VTiger
If you are aware of the word Magento, you’d surely know about what is a Shopping Cart, as well as the other way around. That’s how much powerful Magento is. A shopping cart is a piece of e-commerce software on a web server that allows visitors to an Internet site to select items for eventual purchase, and Magento is an open-source technology that provides the online merchants with a flexible shopping cart system.
Heads Up! Magento Community (version 1.6 upto 1.9.) are supported by the VTiger 7 Shopping Cart module
Note: Only Sales Professional and Ultimate Edition of VTiger 7 CRM offer this handy feature
Overview
VTiger 7’s Shopping Cart module is designed in such a way that it caters Magento Community Edition 1.6 to 1.9. Three common modules which are featured by VTiger 7 are as following:
Contacts in Vtiger as Customers in Magento
Products in Vtiger as Products in Magento
Sales Order in Vtiger as Order in Magento
About Magento
It was launched on 31st March 2008 as an open source e-commerce web application and was developed by the Varien. Varein is now known as Magento Inc. Initially it was developed with the help of open source community programmers. Zend Framework was used for constructing the Magento. The method of data storing used by the Magento is entity-attribute-value (EAV).
The one and only free version offered by the Magento is its Community Edition
Where to Get?
Just go to this link http://www.magentocommerce.com/download, from here you can download and install the Magento. You can also select between the various options and download the version most suitable to you. You have to place the zip or tar file in the web root directory (Linux) after downloading.
Apache web root directory path:
Linux machines: /var/www/
Windows machines: C:\wamp\www\
After downloading, create a new database named as “Magento” or any other name of your choice. Once the database has been created, open the source in browser to continue the installation of Magento. Do not forget the User Name and Password which you used in the process of installing Magento on server. It will be used to Login admin section of Magento.
How to Install
For installation process follow the given steps:
- First of all go to your browser and open the source (http://localhost/Magento/index.php)
- Set the settings which meets your requirements and preferences
- During the process of configuration of Magento you have to enter User Name and password along with database name
- If you want to access Magento Backend, admin account is required. So, create an admin account
- Magento configuration is now completed
- User experience is depicted by the frontend in the Magento
- Store Management is done by the Backend and it requires Login
Admin Login Page (Magento)
It looks like this:
Admin Home Page (Magento)
This is the Magento’s admin dashboard:
How to Install VTiger 7 Patch in Magento
You have to install the VTiger patch in Magento source designed by VTiger.
- To access the patch file “MagentoConnector.zip”, follow this Link
- Extract the files in Magento source
- Then you have to clear the Magento cache
- For the access, log in to the admin panel.
- Provide your credentials of VTiger CRM to use Magento
Getting Started with Magento
Your Magento is now ready to use. To test its working and spot any discrepancy, create a new test record. It will help in validating the connectors’ functionality. Connectors fetch data from Magento to VTiger 7. Put some records in the Magento before synchronization.
Soap user should be configured in Magento once the application is ready to go live. These are the steps to create a soap user:
Adding a New Soap User
- First of all, log into the Magento admin and follow this path: System > Web Services > Soap/XML – RPC – Users
- Now click on the option titled as “Add New User” and fill the required details
- Use “Save User” button to finalize the details
Note: To get in contact with the VTiger 7 CRM, you’ll need Username and API key
Adding a New Role
- Go to System > Web Services > Soap / XML – RPC – Roles
- In Roles, click the “Add New Role” button to submit the details
- To enter the Role Name, use “Role Info” tab
- To save the role access, use the “All” option in “Role Resources” block located under “Role resources” tab
- Finally, save and exit.
Assigning the Role to the Configured User
- Start by following this path: System > Web Services > Soap / XML – RPC – Roles
- Now choose the role you have just created
- Go to “Role Users” tab and choose “No” from dropdown list (numbered as “2” in the following screenshot). Locate the user with “Search” option (it will be helpful once you have many users). Once you find it, use the accompanying checkbox to create and assign, then “Save the Role” (number 5 in the picture).
Contacts & Products
We can sync (Contacts and Products) the Magento and Vtiger 7. Demo data will be populated in Magento in advance to sync. Some of the products will be configured with only one Customer record and no order in Magento’s database
Contacts Mapping
| Vtiger Contacts | Magento Customers |
| First Name | First Name |
| Last Name | Last Name |
| Primary Email | |
| Mobile Phone | Shipping Address Telephone |
| Office Phone | Billing Address Telephone |
| Shipping Address | Shipping Address |
| Billing Address | Billing Address |
| Date of Birth | DOB |
Product Mappings
| Vtiger Products | Magento Products |
| Product Name | Name |
| Part Number | SKU |
| Product Category | Root Category |
| Sub category | Subcategory |
| Unit Price | Price |
| Description | Description |
| Quantity in Stock | Qty |
Understanding Sales Order
We can calibrate the credibility of the configurations including orders being synchronized. For that, first go to front end of the application and checkout with Guest/Customer login credentials. Once checked out, the Order record should be created at the backend. This will allow you to sync Orders module from Magento to Vtiger 7.
| Vtiger Sales Order | Magento Orders |
| Contact Name (Autocreated) | – |
| Organization Name (Autocreated) | – |
| Status | Order Status |
| Billing Address | Billing Address |
| Shipping Address | Shipping Address |
| Line Items | |
| Item Name | Product |
| Quantity | Qty |
| Price | List Price |
| Shipping & Handling Charges | Shipping & Handling |
| Items Total | Subtotal |
| Tax | Tax on Product |
| Grand Total | Grand Total |
How to Incorporate Shopping Cart Feature in Vtiger 7
To examine the pattern of information that is being synchronized between these two applications, we are required to enter the application details into the VTiger 7. To connect with a certain shopping cart, few sets of values are required.
Use application URL, Username, API key (set in Magento) to interact with application. I’ll explain the protocol:
- Start by logging in to the Vtiger
- Then go the main “Menu”
- Choose Contacts located under ESSENTIALS
- And choose the Shopping Cart option
- Now input Application URL, Username, API Key (same that was configured in Magento).
Essentials:
- Base currencies in both the applications (Magento & VTiger 7) should be the same
- Synchronize Products before Sales Orders in VTiger 7 as sales orders are always built on products
After successful synchronization, this screen should be displayed.
And this report showing the customers from Magento being synchronized to Vtiger 7.
Following output will result if base currencies in VTiger 7 and Magento are not the same. Records can only be synchronized if the base currencies in both of the applications are same. But no worries, you will be able to complete the synchronization after configuring the currencies.
