Developer forum

I'll have a dev take a look at this.

Do you by any chance have some sample code?

Thanks, Nicolai

//var productcollection = Dynamicweb.eCommerce.Products.Product.GetProductsByGroupID(groupid);
			Dynamicweb.eCommerce.Products.ProductCollection productcollection = null;
			var group = Dynamicweb.eCommerce.Products.Group.GetGroupByID(groupid);
			if (group != null) {
				//workaround: make sure group object reloads all products by setting it to null, otherwise they might be comming from cache
				group.Products = null;
				//by calling group.Products the list gets reloaded
				productcollection = group.Products; 
			}
			
			if (productcollection == null) return new List<ProductListItem>();
			
			return productcollection.OrderBy(a => a.RelationSorting).Select(a =>
				new ProductListItem
				{
					ID = a.ID,
					Titel = a.Name,
					Afbeelding = a.ImageSmall
				}
			).ToList<ProductListItem>();

code above demonstrates issue 3

//if a product is attached to multiple translated groups it gets duplicated or more in this collection depending on the group translation
			var productcollection = Dynamicweb.eCommerce.Products.Product.GetProductsByGroupID(groupid);
			
			if (productcollection == null) return new List<ProductListItem>();
 
			//sorting on RelationSorting does not work because it is not in the select criteria of Dynamicweb.eCommerce.Products.Product.GetProductsByGroupID
			return productcollection.OrderBy(a => a.RelationSorting).Select(a =>
				new ProductListItem
				{
					ID = a.ID,
					Titel = a.Name,
					Afbeelding = a.ImageSmall
				}
			).ToList<ProductListItem>();

code above demonstrates issues 1 and 2

Hi Remi,

Let me try and explain why you're experiencing these issues.

1) The value for the property RelationSorting is not part of the query because that value is potentially different for each group the product is part of. You might argue that the product is only part of one group in this context but in order to keep things consistant, this value is not loaded when a ProductCollection is filled with products. It's loaded on-demand when ProductCollection.Sort() is invoked with the UserDefined parameter. See method SortProductsByCustomSorting in the sample code at the bottom of this post.

2) I am unable to reproduce this issue. When invoking the GetProductsByGroupID with only the group id parameter, I get all products in the current language context. It is possible to specify a different language by using the overload shown in the example below (GetProductsByGroupIDAndLanguage).

3) It is true that the Group class uses internal caching but it's not for no reason. Groups are queried a lot and are changed relatively little. Therefore, it makes sense to cache them. Sometimes, however, it is required to invalidate the cache. This happens automatically when saving a group or a product through the API.

So what you are experiencing should only occur when you manipulate the database directly and circumvent the API. In this case, you should invoke Group.ClearCache() or Group.Save() or Product.Save() as all of these actions will clear the cache. Your own workaround will also work. I have included code in the sample (GetProductsFromGroup) that illustrates this.

Sample code:

    public class eComApiTest
    {
        public void SortProductsByCustomSorting(ProductCollection productsToSort, ProductCollection.SortDirection direction)
        {
            // Invoke sort on the ProductCollection
            productsToSort.Sort(ProductCollection.SortBy.UserDefined, direction);
        }

        public ProductCollection GetProductsByGroupIDAndLanguage(string groupID, string languageID)
        {
            // Get products by <groupId> and <languageId>
            var productsFromGroupInGivenLanguage = Product.GetProductsByGroupID(groupID, true, languageID);

            // Return products
            return productsFromGroupInGivenLanguage;
        }

        public ProductCollection GetProductsFromGroup(string groupId, string languageId)
        {
            // Get a product known to be in <groupId>
            var product = Product.GetProductByID("MyID", null, languageId);
            // Give it a new name
            product.Name = "New name";
            // Save it - will also clear Group cache
            product.Save();

            // Get <groupId>
            var group = Group.GetGroupByID(groupId, languageId);
            // Get products - will contain <product> and <product> will be named "New name"
            var products = group.Products;

            //Return products
            return products;
        }
    }

I hope this clears the air a bit :)

- Jeppe

hi Jeppe,

I hope you have some time to answer my questions above and confirm the bug? Thanks.