Shopify Wizard Setup

The Shopify Setup Wizard connects Business Central to your Shopify store and switches on the data flows you need. It creates the sales channel, connects to your Shopify app, downloads the default mapping, and starts the job queues for the flows you choose. You don't have to configure each of these by hand.

You can change your choices later without starting over. See Change the data flows later.

Before you start

  • You created and installed a custom app in Shopify and saved its Client ID and Client Secret. See Create Shopify App.
  • In the Shopify app, you added https://app.tinx-it.com/shopify.html to the allowed redirection URLs. The wizard shows this address as the Redirect URI. It must match exactly.
  • The setting Allow HttpClient Requests is on for the Tinx Shopify Connector extension. You find it on the Extension Management page.
  • You know your store name: the part of your store address before .myshopify.com. For https://mystore.myshopify.com it is mystore.

The wizard uses the sales channel code SHOPIFY for the standard setup. If a sales channel with that code already exists for another platform, or is already set up with the wizard, the wizard stops and tells you. To connect an additional store, choose Create Sales Channel Record Only in step 2.

Start the wizard

  1. Search for Sales Channels and open the list or a sales channel card.
  2. Choose Shopify Setup Wizard.

You can also search for Shopify Setup Wizard. The step number is shown in the title of the wizard.

The steps

Step 1: Welcome

Read the terms and conditions and select I accept the terms and conditions. You agree to share data with Tinx services. Next is available after you accept.

Step 2: Setup Mode

Enter your Store Name, then choose how to set up:

Mode What you get
Default (Create Sales Channel Record Only off) The sales channel SHOPIFY, plus the Shopify schema and the default mapping. The wizard continues with the data flows.
Create Sales Channel Record Only on Only the sales channel record, with a code and description you choose. You connect to Shopify in the next steps, but you configure the mapping, job queues and synchronization yourself. The wizard ends after step 5.

For a record-only channel, the code must be new. The wizard stops if the code already exists.

Step 3: Connect your Shopify app

Fill in:

  • Redirect URI: prefilled. Only change it if your Shopify app uses another address.
  • Client ID: the Client ID (API key) of your app.
  • Client Secret: the secret of your app. It is stored securely and never shown again. If you come back to this step, leave the field empty to keep the stored secret.

Choose Next. The wizard saves the connection details and opens Shopify in your browser. Sign in if needed and approve the app.

Shopify then sends you to the Redirect URI. Keep that page open and copy the complete address (URL) from the address bar. Then return to Business Central.

If you haven't created the app yet, the Guide: create a Shopify app link in this step opens the guide in a new tab. The wizard stays open.

Step 4: Paste the result

Paste the copied address into Redirect URL or Code and choose Next. You can also paste only the value of the code parameter.

The wizard then:

  1. checks that the state and the shop in the address match the authorization you just started,
  2. completes the connection with the app you approved,
  3. tests the connection with a small request to your store.

The code from Shopify can be used only once and is short-lived. If something fails after the connection was made, for example the connection test, you can choose Next again. You don't have to paste the address again. If you choose Back, you start the authorization again from step 3.

Step 5: Connected to Shopify

The connection works. What happens next depends on your setup mode:

  • Default mode: choose Next to download the Shopify schema and the default mapping. This takes approximately five minutes. Leave the wizard open.
  • Record only: the sales channel is created and connected. Choose Finish. The Open Sales Channels link opens the list.

After this step you can't go back to the connection, because the default mapping is applied.

Step 6: Data flows from Shopify to Business Central (inbound)

Switch on the data you want to retrieve from Shopify. Settings that apply to a flow appear when you switch the flow on.

Flow What it does Settings
Customers Creates a customer, including shipping addresses, for each new private (B2C) Shopify customer and for customers on imported orders. Customer No. Series
Companies Creates a customer for each Shopify (B2B) company, with its primary contact and other contacts. Sublogin No. Series (for the contacts)
Orders Imports new orders with status, payment transactions and fulfillment information, and creates a sales order for each. Order No. Series
Order ID Starting Point: orders with a lower ID are not imported. Leave 0 to import all orders, including historical orders.
Freight Cost and Gift Card: choose the type first, then the number.
Delete Cancelled Orders: removes sales orders that were cancelled in Shopify and not yet posted.
Post Shipment/Invoice Fulfilled Orders: posts the shipment and invoice of orders that are fulfilled in Shopify.
Refunds Creates a sales return order for each refund, and a new sales order for each exchange. Return Order No. Series. Freight Cost is shown here when Orders is off.

Step 7: Data flows from Business Central to Shopify (outbound)

Flow What it does
Customers Creating, changing or deleting a private (B2C) customer in Business Central creates, updates or deletes the Shopify customer.
Companies Sends business customers to Shopify with their locations, addresses, contacts, catalogs and main contact.
Products Creating or changing an item creates or updates the Shopify product and its variants, including images, and publishes it to the sales channels you choose. Deleting an item deletes the product. 
When you switch it on, the wizard offers to retrieve your Shopify sales channels first. Choose Yes if you want to publish to them. 
Two options depend on Products: Metafields (item attributes as product metafields) and Collections (categories as collections).
Fulfillments Sends fulfillments to Shopify. 
Send Tracking URL also sends a tracking link with the fulfillment. Take a tracking link from your carrier and split it at the tracking number. Everything before the number is the Prefix, everything after it is the Suffix. Example: for https://my.dhlecommerce.nl/home/tracktrace/JVGL0123456789?lang=nl_NL the prefix is https://my.dhlecommerce.nl/home/tracktrace/ and the suffix is ?lang=nl_NL. Leave the suffix empty when the link ends with the number.
Available Stock Sends the available stock per item to your Shopify location whenever it changes. The stock formula determines how the available stock is calculated. See below.

Available Stock

When you switch it on, the wizard asks two questions:

  1. Do you have existing product data? If no, the flow is simply activated. Products you create from Business Central get their Shopify product when they are sent.
  2. Does the Shopify SKU match the BC Item No. exactly? Stock can only be matched to items this way. If it doesn't match, the flow stays off.

With existing product data, the wizard downloads your Shopify products and locations (this can take a few minutes), then shows:

  • the stock formula: change it if needed and close the page to continue,
  • your Shopify locations: stock is sent to the first location in the list. Delete the locations you don't want to use and close the page. At least one location must remain.

The wizard then calculates the stock.

Step 8: Tutorials

Links to tutorials about the configuration of the connector.

Step 9: Summary

Review the connected store and the inbound and outbound flows that are on, and the status of your Tinx license. Choose Finish to complete the setup.

Job queues after the wizard

The wizard starts and stops the job queue entries for you:

  • The inbound job queues start (status Ready) as soon as at least one inbound flow is on.
  • The outbound job queue starts as soon as at least one outbound flow is on.
  • The item stock calculation starts while Available Stock is on.
  • Entries of flows that are off stay On Hold. A job queue entry that is running is left alone.

Data is only retrieved or sent once the entries are Ready. Your license can still block the runs. To review or change the entries, choose Open TINX Job Queues in the summary. Open Synchronization Dashboard opens the dashboard where you can review and activate the data flows.

Change the data flows later

  1. Open the SHOPIFY sales channel card.
  2. Choose Shopify Flow Settings.

The wizard opens at the inbound flows, so you skip the connection steps. You can change the data flows, number series and stock settings. The action only appears for a sales channel that was set up with the wizard.

The default mapping is a starting point. Our solution is flexible and can be tailored to your processes. Contact support@tinx-it.nl if you want help with custom flows.

Leaving the wizard early

If you close the wizard before the setup is complete, you are asked to confirm. You can then delete the partially configured sales channel. Active sales channels are never deleted.

Troubleshooting

Message What to do
The store name is not valid. Enter only the part before .myshopify.com.
The sales channel SHOPIFY is already set up with the default mapping. Open the SHOPIFY sales channel and choose Shopify Flow Settings. To connect another store, turn on Create Sales Channel Record Only.
The sales channel code SHOPIFY is already used by a sales channel with another webshop type. Rename or remove that sales channel, or configure Shopify manually.
The sales channel … already exists. Enter another code. Choose a new code for the record-only channel.
The connection to Shopify failed. Please check the store name and the app credentials… Check the store name, Client ID and Client Secret, and make sure Allow HttpClient Requests is on for the extension.
The state returned by Shopify does not match… Start the authorization again. You pasted an address from an earlier attempt. Go back to step 3, choose Next and use the new Shopify page.
Shopify returned shop … but the authorization was started for shop … You approved another store. Sign in to the correct store in Shopify and start again.
No authorization code was received from Shopify. Copy the complete address of the page after approving, and try again.
The Shopify schema / default mapping could not be downloaded or applied. Check your internet connection and choose Next again. If it keeps failing, contact your Tinx partner.
The data flow "…" is not available because the default mapping has no job lines… The default mapping isn't complete yet. Apply it first or contact your Tinx partner.
Enter the Tracking URL Prefix… / The tracking URL cannot be set up… Enter the prefix or turn off Send Tracking URL. The second message means the mapping has no url field for the fulfillment: apply the default mapping first.

Related information

Questions or comments

If you have any questions or comments about this article or need further help, contact Support or write directly to us at docs@tinx-it.nl.