[ic] OK to remove columns in products.xls?

[Hostmaster]

> > > > Hello list members,
> > > > I've used the products.xls example supplied with IC to
> > > build a product
> > > > database for my client which contains 1891 records.  There are some
> > > > fields on the spreadsheet that I can't place on the catalog.  Can
> > > > someone tell me what the following fields are for, and where on the
> > > > catalog they are found?
> > > > 1)  title  (we are using description and comments, but this field
> > > > eludes us - where would we see it on the demo?)
> > > > 2)  related
> > > > 3)  dl_type
> > > > 4)  dl_location
> > > > 5)  inactive
> > > > 6)  image_large  (I see where thumb and image are used, but not
> > > > image_large)
> > > >
> > > > If we don't need certain fields in our catalog, is it safe
> > > to remove
> > > > them, or does Interchange require the fields be included,
> > > whether they
> > > > are used or not?
> > > >
> > > > Thank you,
> > > > Michael G.
> > >
> > > I'm not sure where most those fields are used in the demo,
> > > but it's possible that they aren't used and they're just
> > > there in case you want to use them. I do know that if you
> > > mark a 1 in the inactive field for a product, it shouldn't
> > > show up in searches.
> > >
> > > You don't want to remove any headers without also cleaning up
> > > each record's data to correspond to the new header sequence.
> > > But, you're using Excel so maybe you can figure something out
> > > with that.
> > >
> > > - Grant
> > >
> > I'd strongly recommend leaving them. The dl_ are for soft download
goods.
> > I believe that 'related' is used in some of the components that you may
> > not be using today, but may well use in the future. For the sake
> > of leaving
> > them there, you do risk breaking something. It's not worth the effort.
> >
> > Regards,
> >
> > John.
>
> I agree with John.  Put off customizing things of that nature until you
> build your own catalog from scratch.
>
> - Grant

Thank you Grant, Paul and John for the excellent advice.  The Spreadsheet
will remain as is until I learn more about customization.
Gratefully,
Michael G.