The ID field is either assigned by Store Editor or specified by the merchant (depending on the method used to create the page) and will be used in the URL for the page (for example, the ID newwidget would yield a URL of http://store.widgetdesigns.com/accountname/newwidget.html or widgetdesigns.com/newwidget.html).
The Code field is unique for each item in your store and though typically for merchant-use only such as a SKU (Stock Keeping Unit). The Code field is displayed by default on the item page (such as an ISBN for books), but you can turn off the display of the Code if desired. Learn more.
How IDs are Assigned in the Store Editor
The ID field, in most cases, is assigned by the Store Editor based on a formula for creating a valid and unique page name based on what is entered in the Name field. When you create a new section or item by using the Section or Item buttons in the Store Editor, you will see a placeholder ID of newitem.
The placeholder ID newitem will be replaced with the ID assigned by the Store Editor based on what you enter in the Name field.
For merchants using the Add Product Wizard, the ID will also be based on the value you enter in the Name field. For example, if you are adding a product and you enter Acme Brand Widget in the Name field, the ID for the page will be acme-brand-widget.
Based on what you enter in the Name field, the Store Editor will assign a valid and unique page name. The formula for assigning a page ID works as follows:
- Test for length and valid characters:
- The Store Editor splits whatever is entered into the Name field into words based on spaces between words.
- Special characters and spaces as well as the articles a, an, and the are stripped out.
- If equal to or less than 13 characters, proceed to step two to test for unique page ID.
- If greater than 13 characters, words of more than 3 characters are truncated to 2 characters and combined to form the ID.
- Test for unique page ID:
- If page ID does not exist, then ID from step 1 is assigned to the page and will be used for the page URL.
- If page ID already exists, a number starting with 1 is appended to the result of step 1 until a unique page ID is found. Once found, that page ID is assigned.
Example Name and Resulting IDs
Name Entered | Details | Action | Resulting ID |
cheap widget | 11 characters, first instance | space removed, no truncation | cheapwidget |
shiny cheap widget | 16 characters, first instance | space removed, words truncated to 2 letters and combined | shchwi |
new shiny cheap widget | 19 characters, first instance, one word 3 or less characters | space removed, words truncated to 2 letters (except for "new" being 3 or less characters) and combined | newshchwi |
cheap widget | 11 characters, second instance | space removed, no truncation, number 1 appended | cheapwidget1 |
don't bother | 12 characters, first instance | space r emoved, no truncation, non-alpha-numeric character removed | dontbother |
Creating a Specific ID
You can also choose to create specific IDs in the Advanced mode of the Store Editor. Creating specific IDs can be useful for search engine optimization purposes by inserting keywords into the URLs of pages. Page IDs must still be unique and valid (only lowercase letters, numbers, and dashes). If IDs created in this manner contain spaces or special characters, they will be replaced with hyphens (-).
Create a specific ID for a page
- Sign in to your My Services page.
- Click the Store link.
- Go to Store Editor.
- From the Advanced Editor toolbar, go to Contents.
- Click the New button.
- On the Create New Object page:
- In the Id field, enter an ID.
Note: Since this name will be used as part of the page URL, you can only use lowercase letters, numbers, and dashes. - From the Type pull-down menu, select a Type (item. is the default when creating an item).
- Click the Continue button.You will be taken to the Edit view of the page where you can edit the section or item page as you wish.
Note: The new page will automatically be created as an item page. If you wish to have the page be a section page instead:
- Give the page a name.
- Leave the Price field blank.
- Set Orderable to No.
- Click the Hide Product button.
- Click the Update button when finished.
Two ways to have the page you created appear under another section
- Click Cut in the Editor Toolbar, navigate to the section where you wish to add the page, and click the page name in the Clipboard appearing under the Editor Toolbar.
- Add the ID of the page you wish to add to the Contents field of the page to which you wish to add the page. Learn more.