Copying, transferring and saving CMS Experience Worlds as templates: Installation and set-up

5 · Copy to a linked shop (cross-shop)

Sections, blocks and elements can be used not only within the same shop, but also to another Shopware shop transfer – e.g. from a staging shop to a live shop or to a mirrored language/country shop. The transfer takes place on the server side via the target shop’s Admin API. Any missing media files are automatically created in the destination shop (The folder structure is replicated, and image files are uploaded).

5.1 · Preparing the target shop (creating the integration)

In the Zielshop API access is required:

1. Go to the Administration section in the Zielshop: Settings → System → Integrations.
2. First, a suitable one Role create (Settings → System → Users & Permissions → Roles → „Create role“). A slim role with exactly two sections is sufficient – not „Administrator“: Worlds of Experience (View, Edit, Create) and Media (View, Edit, Create, Delete). The „Delete“ option for media is only needed so that a failed image upload can be properly rolled back.
3. „Add integration“ Click, give it a name (e.g. „CMS Copy“) and assign the folder you have just created to it Role assign.
4. Access Key ID and Secret Access Key make a note of it. The secret is only once displayed when creating.

5.2 · Save the connection details in the source shop

In the Source Shop (in which the plugin is installed):

1. Contents → Linked shops Open it from the main menu.
2. „Add connection“ click.
3. Enter: Name the connection (freely selectable), Base URL of the destination shop (e.g. https://shop.example.com) and Access Key ID and Secret Access Key from step 5.1.
4. Save. The secret is stored in encrypted form and is never displayed in plain text again (to change it, simply re-enter it; leave it blank to keep it unchanged).
5. On „Test connection“ Click. If successful, the status will appear „OK“ including the Shopware version detected for the target shop.

5.3 · Copying content to the linked shop

1. In the source shop, open the section, block or element you wish to copy, as described in sections 1–3.
2. In the dialogue box at the top, the Objective by „This shop“ on „Connected Shop“ switch over.
3. The Connection select → the Destination experience world Select from the linked shop.
4. For blocks or elements, also the Target section or the Target block and that Target element Select (only destinations compatible with the vehicle type will be offered).
5. On „Copy“ click.

After the transfer, a Results window, which summarises what has been transferred – the number of blocks or elements copied, and the number of mirrored media files. With „Done“ close.

5.4 · What to bear in mind when copying across shops

• Media: Linked images are recreated in the destination shop using the same folder structure. Any existing media files (with the same file name) are reused – Running the process again will not produce any duplicates.
• Version numbers: The source and destination shops should be running the same main version of Shopware. If there are significant differences between versions, individual element types may vary.
• Plugin-specific CMS elements: The destination shop should have the same CMS element plugins installed as the source shop (which is the case anyway for mirrored shops). If a copied section or block contains an element from a plugin that is not present in the destination shop missing, although this block is transmitted, it cannot be not rendered – it remains an invisible, non-functional placeholder. If in doubt, remove the relevant block from the destination shop afterwards or install the missing plugin there.
• Product/category links: Element configurations that refer to product or category IDs will only work in the destination shop if the same IDs exist there (typically in mirrored shops). In non-mirrored shops, such links may need to be created manually.
• Languages: The system/default language of the source shop is always converted into the default language of the target shop – regardless of which language is currently set in the admin panel. Additional translations are currently not to be carried over; other languages in the target shop remain blank and must be maintained separately there.
• Rights: If the integration’s write permissions in the target shop are insufficient, the transfer will fail with an error message – in which case, extend the integration’s role (section 5.1).