EAN / GTIN

[burt 3,798]

osCommerce only has products_model which most shopowners use for internal purposes.  

Shopowners need to add EAN or GTIN or both.  

 

Let's discuss and see what comes out of the discussion.

 

Bear in mind that if you upload feeds to Google Shopping, Facebook etc, more than 1 identifier (products_model is one) is needed...

[greasemonkey 182]

Synonymous with UPC... I beleive.

 

I've added UPC to my products table and pass this to the orders (packing slip and invoice) for picking.

 

It also is used as a unique reference in Quickbooks and the program/api I use to write the orders to QB.

[burt 3,798]

@@greasemonkey I'm not sure ... Is EAN == UPC == GTIN ?

 

Do we need three ?  Or just one?  Maybe two ?

 

What's the consensus?  All advice appreciated...

[♥14steve14 493]

Gary

As far as I can tell UPC numbers are 12 digits and EANs are 13 digits. They are basically the same number without the leading digit. The UPC number is used in America and EANs are for European countries and the rest of the world. Since eBay required sellers in many categories to have barcode numbers, I added the facility to add them to every product in the category page. I do believe that Amazon required them ages ago, as did google. I also added code to show the number under the model number on each product page, but don't believe that it serves any purpose being there as many are unique to my products. It may work if customers come from eBay and search for the barcode number to compare, but that will be about it I think.

 

There is a helpful site here that may make it clearer. http://www.gtin.info/

 

I believe it may simplify things for those that sell on multiple channels, but will serve no purpose to many customers. What you ought to be careful of is that if you add barcode numbers, should you really add ISBN numbers for books.

 

It may also be the time to make the product page modular so if they are not required they are just removed.(Sorry to suggest more work)

[greasemonkey 182]

 

Do we need three ?  Or just one?  Maybe two ?

 

JMO.... I'm not sure you need all 3 (or 4 if you add IBAN). You could you use the same field for all... with the appropriate label.

 

if 12 digits = upc

if 13 = ean

if (whateven IBAN is) = iban

 

Unless there are those who require more than 1?????

[♥14steve14 493]

IBAN is something to do with your online banking. ISBN is International Standard Book Number and every book has a different one.

[greasemonkey 182]

IBAN is something to do with your online banking. ISBN is International Standard Book Number and every book has a different one.

 

lol.... oops....

[burt 3,798]

There is a helpful site here that may make it clearer. http://www.gtin.info/

 

Thank You.  Based on my reading of a bit of that site;

 

UPC = EAN

 

GTIN is nothing but a name that encompasses both of these.

 

We therefore need 1 input box called "GTIN", and shopowner will insert into this either UPC or EAN (whichever he/she uses on site).

 

UPC = GTIN(12 chars)

EAN = GTIN(sometimes 8 chars, sometimes 13 chars)

 

However GTIN rules state that both of these must be stored as 14 Digits => this is simple to solve, no problem (nothing for shopowners to think/worry about)...

 

Let's simplify and leave ISBN out of the equation for now, and concentrate only on GTIN...with that in mind, does my understanding look correct?

[♥14steve14 493]

Gary

 

I think you have it dead right. I also interpret it to be the same, so we may both be wrong.

[♥kymation 629]

@@burt  I believe that the 13-digit ISBN can also be inserted into the GTIN, but I'm not sure what it needs for the remaining digit. Still, you can leave that for the shopowner to figure out.

 

Regards

Jim

[♥Dan Cole 490]

@@burt  I use UPCs and EANs for all of our products...mainly for entering in-store orders using barcode readers and for inventory management ie issuing POs, receiving stock etc.   I think one field is fine as long as it accepts at least 13 characters.

 

Dan

[burt 3,798]

Introduce GTIN

 

If you wish to test on an existing shop, make the changes as shown here:

https://github.com/gburton/Responsive-osCommerce/commit/fd9ccf9fe5bce79e57b50e50f5946e826f0b2ab2

 

and run this in phpmyadmin:

 

ALTER TABLE products ADD products_gtin CHAR(14) NULL ;

 

At this point you have a new input box at admin/categories.php for your GTIN....

 

Note:

Nothing shows shop-side, this needs a product_info module built, which is upcoming.

[burt 3,798]

Shop Side:

 

https://github.com/gburton/Responsive-osCommerce/commit/897899de7978c42641d3120a5debbedd5d07a9f5

 

1 changed file: product_info.php

&

1 new module, consisting of 3 files.

[MrPhil 646]

JMO.... I'm not sure you need all 3 (or 4 if you add IBAN). You could you use the same field for all... with the appropriate label.

 

if 12 digits = upc

if 13 = ean

if (whateven IBAN is) = iban

 

Unless there are those who require more than 1?????

 

Just so I'm understanding this, osC needs to carry around some additional ID codes for a product, mostly for use when feeding data to others? osC is not actually going to display bar codes anywhere? (shipping and inventory control bar codes are a separate matter) How about QR codes?

 

Just as a product may have multiple images associated with it, perhaps osC should allow 0 or more codes in the database for each product. Each code would be handled like images, and have a DB record with type of code and then the text for the code. The idea is not to provide only one code, nor to try to jam all the different codes into one fixed length field.

 

Just some random thoughts.

[burt 3,798]

@@MrPhil  

GTIN is an umbrella term for UPC, EAN, ISBN, ISMN and more.  

GTIN rules state that it has to be stored as a 14 digit entry, not more or less.

 

The link @@14steve14 posted above is very useful.

 

Let's stick to GTIN in this conversation please...

[Mikepo 53]

Introduce GTIN

 

If you wish to test on an existing shop, make the changes as shown here:

 

 

Just added this to my shop, works well.  Just need to populate with data from my epos system and upload to google.

 

Thanks Gary :)

[burt 3,798]

@@Mikepo Thanks for testing Mike  :pray:

[Mikepo 53]

@@burt, more testing, looks like the code is padding the char14 field with zeros

 

so 5024996161373 becomes 05024996161373

 

what is needed is just 13 characters for UK barcodes, unless I'm mistaken.

 

Mike

[burt 3,798]

Mike it has to be stored as 14 characters per their own rules.

On the output side, shopowners can mangle them as necessary to fit their needs (template file of above commit).

 

<?php $mangled = substr($gtin, -13); ?>    
<span itemprop="gtin13" class="badge"><?php echo $mangled; ?></span>

 

Does it make sense?

[Mikepo 53]

Gary, thanks, that does make sense.  Up and running live now,  :)

[Mikepo 53]

@@burt, just noticed that the GTIN number as displayed, on a grey background, is not visible on iOS devices because iOS assumes the number is a telephone number and turns it dark blue.

 

To avoid this, add

 <meta name="format-detection" content="telephone=no">

to the template_top.php <head> section, and iOS devices will ignore numbers, unfortunately this will then be applied to the whole site.  (unless someone knows how to apply it to just the product_info page?)

[burt 3,798]

That's a problem that Apple need to do something to solve.

 

What happens if shopowner has his tel number at the top of the page (which he wants linked), and a GTIN at the bottom of the page (which should not be linked).

 

From a programming point of view, Apple should not be "helpfully" linking anything unless the shopowner specifically wants it to - in which case then link.

 

Google have it right: https://developers.google.com/web/fundamentals/native-hardware/click-to-call/?hl=en

Apple (as usual) have it wrong :(

[greasemonkey 182]

@@burt do you have "special/fancy" way of passing this to the orders table without a bunch of core changes (as I've done)?

[Mikepo 53]

@@burt

totally agree with you about apple.  So using

 

<meta name="format-detection" content="telephone=no">

 

to stop iOS from highlighting numbers(such as GTIN) as telephone numbers and changing the contact_us.php to include the following

 

      <abbr title="Phone">P:</abbr> <a href="tel:<?php echo STORE_PHONE; ?>"> <?php echo STORE_PHONE; ?> </a><br>
      <abbr title="Email">E:</abbr> <a href="mailto:<?php echo STORE_OWNER_EMAIL_ADDRESS; ?>"> <?php echo STORE_OWNER_EMAIL_ADDRESS; ?> </a>
 

solves the problem.

Hope this is helpful to someone?

[burt 3,798]

@@burt do you have "special/fancy" way of passing this to the orders table without a bunch of core changes (as I've done)?

 

@@greasemonkey the products_gtin is broadly similar to products_model.  products_model is stored and available on a per-order basis.  You'd need to do similar for the products_gtin.  You should store it as part of the order, in case you ever delete the product in the future.  

 

Does it make sense?

 

checkout_process.php:  store the products_gtin (as is done with products_model)

admin/includes/classes/order.php:  grab the gtin from the orders table and make it useable (as per products_model)

admin/orders.php:  output the gtin by accessing the order class

 

Sounds terribly difficult, but it in fact fairly straightforward...