Product Types¶

Product types let you categorise your products into logical groups like "Clothing", "Electronics", or "Gift Cards". They are simple labels with an auto-generated URL-friendly alias, useful for filtering and organisation in the backoffice and on the storefront.

How It Works¶

Each product type has three properties:

Id -- a unique GUID.
Name -- the display name (e.g. "Clothing").
Alias -- auto-generated URL slug from the name (e.g. "clothing"). This is created using SlugHelper and must be unique.

Product types are assigned to product roots. You can query products by product type using ProductQueryParameters.

Service API¶

All product type management is through IProductTypeService.

Create a Product Type¶

var result = await productTypeService.CreateProductType("Clothing", cancellationToken);

if (result.Success)
{
    var productType = result.ResultObject;
    // productType.Name  = "Clothing"
    // productType.Alias = "clothing"  (auto-generated)
}

The alias is auto-generated from the name. If a product type with the same alias already exists, the operation returns an error.

Update a Product Type¶

var result = await productTypeService.UpdateProductType(
    productTypeId,
    "Apparel",  // new name
    cancellationToken);

// Alias is regenerated: "apparel"

When you update the name, the alias is regenerated. The service checks that the new alias does not conflict with another existing product type.

Delete a Product Type¶

var result = await productTypeService.DeleteProductType(productTypeId, cancellationToken);

if (!result.Success)
{
    // "Cannot delete product type 'Clothing' because it is assigned to 3 product(s)"
}

Warning: You cannot delete a product type that is currently assigned to any products. Unassign it from all products first.

List All Product Types¶

var types = await productTypeService.GetProductTypes(cancellationToken);
// Returns List<ProductType> ordered by Name

Get Product Types by IDs¶

For batch loading (e.g. in value converters):

var types = await productTypeService.GetProductTypesByIds(
    [typeId1, typeId2],
    cancellationToken);

Querying Products by Type¶

Use ProductQueryParameters to filter products by product type:

// By product type GUID
var parameters = new ProductQueryParameters
{
    ProductTypeKey = productTypeId
};

// By multiple type GUIDs
var parameters = new ProductQueryParameters
{
    ProductTypeKeys = [typeId1, typeId2]
};

// By alias string
var parameters = new ProductQueryParameters
{
    ProductTypeAlias = "clothing"
};

var products = await productService.QueryProducts(parameters);

Key Points¶

Product types are simple name/alias pairs -- they do not carry additional configuration.
Aliases are auto-generated from names and must be unique across all product types.
You cannot delete a product type that is in use by products.
Product types are returned sorted alphabetically by name.