TopLayer/LEO – Variation Generator

TopLayer/LEO – Variation Generator helps WooCommerce stores create organized sub-SKUs with images, price changes, and swatches in bulk with ease.

Setup and Configuration

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Creating Product Swatches

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Swatches can be added to the product catalog to display a products variables. Swatches appear as a small square below the products image and can be configured in 4 types of display:

1. Single color, (choose from pallet, hex color, eye-dropper)
2. 2-color, (shown as 2 solid colors in a diagonally separated square)
3. Sampled image, (sample product image to show pattern or texture)
4. Text, (a simple 1-3 character text can be used, good for showing sizes)

Creating a new attribute with swatches:

1. Go to: Products > Attributes
2. Enter name for attribute, i.e. “Color”
3. Enter slug or leave blank to automatically assign
4. Check box for “Enable Swatches”

Enabling swatches on an existing attribute:

1. Go to: Products > Attributes
2. Hover over the attribute name on the table
3. Choose “edit”
4. Check box for “Enable Swatches”
5. Click ‘Update”

To configure product swatches:

1. Go to: Products > Attributes
2. Click on attribute to configure terms
3. Choose an existing term or create a new one
4. Choose display mode, (color, sampled image, text)
5. For “Color”, add primary color for single color, add secondary color for split-swatch
6. For “Sampled Image”, click on “show media files”, selecting an image thumbnail square sampling to capture an image swatch
7. For “Text”, enter characters in “Swatch Text” field

Tips:

• Colors can be selected with and eye-dropper tool by clicking on “show media files”, selecting an image, use eye-dropper tool for primary or secondary colors, or switch to square sampling to capture an image swatch
• Variation Generator will use a term’s slug in the SKU generation as a default, i.e. PROD-001-BK, PROD-002-WH
• Image sampling square can be enlarged to show better detail
• Configuring swatches and slugs before generating variables can save time by automating your variation’s SKU

Using the Variation Generator

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The Variation Generator has three modes of operation:

• Create new variable product
• Edit existing simple product
• Update existing variable product

Create a new variable product

1. Go to WooCommerce > Settings > TopLayer/LEO > Variation Generator
2. Choose Create new variable product
3. Complete the Base product fields
4. Add attributes and select terms
5. Configure Sub-SKUs, upcharges, images, and optional linked image mappings
6. Click Generate product

Convert a simple product

1. Choose Edit existing simple product
2. Select the simple product from the dropdown
3. Review the loaded product fields
4. Add attributes and selected terms
5. Click Generate product

The selected simple product is converted to a variable product and receives the generated variations.

Update an existing variable product

1. Choose Update existing variable product
2. Select the variable product from the dropdown
3. Review the loaded product fields and attributes
4. Select the final attributes and terms you want on the product
5. Unselect any terms that should no longer be part of the product
6. Click Generate product

When updating an existing variable product, the plugin deletes and rebuilds that product’s variations from the current selection. It also syncs selected product attribute term relationships and removes unselected product attribute term relationships.

Build price adjustments

Use Base price for the parent variation starting price and add per-term upcharges where needed.

For example:

• Base price: 20.00.
• Size XL upcharge: 3.00
• Premium finish upcharge: 5.00

A variation with Size XL and Premium finish receives a regular price of 28.00.

If a sale price is set, the same selected term upcharges are applied to the sale price.

Tips:

• Importing as simple products and adding variations with Variation Generator is an efficient order of operations
• Deleting a products variations before generating new variations keeps the workflow clean

Troubleshooting

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No attributes appear in the dropdown

Variation Generator uses global WooCommerce product attributes. Go to Products > Attributes and create at least one global attribute, then return to the generator.

No variations are created

Check that at least one term is selected for each attribute row. The generator requires selected terms before it can build combinations.

A generated SKU conflicts with another product

WooCommerce requires unique SKUs. Change the parent SKU, SKU separator, or one of the term Sub-SKUs, then generate again.

A quick-created term fails

Make sure both the term name and slug are filled in. The slug must be unique within that attribute taxonomy.

My updated variable product still has old options

When updating a variable product, confirm that the unwanted terms are unselected in the generator before clicking Generate product. The plugin will rebuild the product from the selected terms.

Swatches do not show on the frontend

Check the following:

• Swatches are enabled for the global attribute under Products > Attributes.
• The attribute terms have saved swatch settings.
• Attribute swatches are enabled on the generated product.
• The product is a variable product with selected terms for that attribute.

Variation images are not what I expected

Review the image priority:

• Linked image dependency match.
• First available selected term image.
• Parent product image.

If you use linked image dependencies, confirm that the dependency attribute is also selected in the product configuration.

FAQs

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Help customers by answering commonly asked questions.