Cfrtjryk

I am having trouble to find a way for how to add categories for all the products.

I have Apple, Samsung, Sony, Xiaomi, Huawei categories and each of there needs subcategories which will stand for models, and also specific part.

example of category tree:

Apple>Iphone 6s>Iphone 6s battery

Apple>Iphone 6s>Iphone 6s replacement screen>

Apple>Iphone 8>Iphone 8 battery

etc

All the products needs to be in separated category so I can show correct item under correct menu item and no other Iphone stuff, only the battery for example.

How do I create 500+ categories which will represent all the items we have got?

I was thinking to export existing database and edit in text editor and write all the categories there as it would be simpler then using category manager inside WordPress cpanel which is very bad for this, as I am getting lost of what is in there and what isn't.

Do you think it will work this way? Or what do you suggest?
Thanks!

You can try using BulkPress. It allows you to create hundreds of categories very easily. Follow these steps:

1. Install and activate the plugin.


2. In the left side bar, hover your cursor on Bulkpress. Then click
   on Terms.


3. A new page will appear. In Taxonomy field, choose Category.


4. Insert your Categories in the Terms field.


5. Choose your desired Parent, if required.


6. Finally, click on the Add Terms button.

Wouldn't it be handy if we could write our category hierarchy that we wish to import as:

apple|Apple|Apple products

 iphone-6s|Iphone 6s|Apple Iphone 6s

  iphone-6s-battery|Iphone 6s battery|Apple Iphone 6s battery

  iphone-6s-replacement-screen|Iphone 6s replacement screen|Iphone 6s replacement screen

  iphone-8-battery|Iphone 8 battery|Apple Iphone 8 battery

with each row as:

term slug|term name|term description

and the hierarchy defined by the indentation.

Another example:

a1|A1|Description

 a11|A11|Description

  a111|A111|Description

  a112|A112|Description

 a12|A12|Description

  a121|A121|Description

  a122|A122|Description

 a13|A13|Description

a2|A2|Description

One usage suggestion could be:

$import = '

a1|A1|Description

 a11|A11|Description

  a111|A111|Description

  a112|A112|Description

 a12|A12|Description

';



wpse324129_bulk_term_importer( $import, 'category', '|' );

that would import the terms as:

Here's a first draft for such a function to bulk import terms from a string:

/**

 * Bulk import terms with a given hierarchy.

 *

 * @param string $import    Terms to import

 * @param string $tax       Taxonomy. Default 'category'.

 * @param string $delimiter Delimiter. Default '|'.

 */

function wpse324129_bulk_term_importer( $import, $tax = 'category', $delimiter = '|' ) {

    $rows         = explode( PHP_EOL, trim( $import ) );

    $level        = 0;

    $prev_term_id = 0;

    $prev_level   = 0;

    $direction    = 0;

    $ancestors    = ;



    foreach( $rows as $row ) {

        $cols = str_getcsv( $row, $delimiter );



        if ( 3 !== count( $cols ) ) {

            throw new Exception( __( 'Incorrect number of columns', 'wpse' ) );

        }



        $term_slug = $cols[0];

        $term_name = $cols[1];

        $term_desc = $cols[2];



        // Helper parameters for the hierarchy traversal.

        $prev_level = $level;

        $level      = strlen( $term_slug ) - strlen( ltrim( $term_slug ) );

        $direction  = $level - $prev_level; // Traversing direction: 

                                            // right(+), left(-), none(0).



        // Collect the info on direct term ancestors, when we go right.

        if ( $direction > 0 && $prev_term_id > 0 ) {

            array_push( $ancestors, $prev_term_id );

        }



        // Reduce ancestors when we go left (multiple array pop).

        if ( $direction < 0 ) {

            $ancestors = array_slice( $ancestors, 0, count( $ancestors ) + $direction );

        }



        // Arguments for term creation.

        $args = [

            'description' => $term_desc,

            'slug'        => $term_slug,

        ];



        // Check parent term and add to the term creation arguments if needed.

        if ( $prev_term_id > 0 && count( $ancestors ) > 0 ) {

            $parent_id   = end( $ancestors );   

            $parent_term = get_term_by( 'term_id', $parent_id, $tax, ARRAY_A );

            if ( isset( $parent_term['term_id'] ) ) {

                $args['parent'] = $parent_term['term_id'];

            }

        }



        // Check if current term slug exists and insert if needed.

        $term = get_term_by( 'slug', $term_slug, $tax, ARRAY_A );   

        if ( ! isset( $term['term_id'] ) ) {    

            $result = wp_insert_term( $term_slug, $tax, $args );

            if ( is_wp_error( $result ) ) {

                throw new Exception( __( 'Could not insert term!', 'wpse' ) );

            }

            $term_id = $result['term_id'];

        } else {

            $term_id = $term['term_id'];

        }



        $prev_term_id = $term_id;

    }

}

For large import, one could run it through the wp-cli to avoid timeout.

Hope you can extend this further to your needs, e.g. with a format validator.

Please backup before testing!