Electronic Web Interface Outgoing Feeds
The Electronic Web Interface enables you to create / send
- customers,
- stock, including book blurbs,
- order tracking,
- stock availability,
- author,
- contributor
- associated title
feeds, to the web, provided the feeds have been activated.


Create customer feed
To create customer feed, do the following
- click Tools
- select Create Outbox Files
- select By Sections
- select Customer Feed
Send customer feed
To send customer feed, do the following
- click Tools
- select Send/Receive
- select By Sections
- select Customer Feed
- select Send Only
Schedule Customer Feed
To schedule Customer Feed, do the following
- select Tools > Schedule …
- select the operations you want to schedule. You are able to schedule the following operation on either a single database or multiple databases
- send/receive
- create outbox files
- select Single or Multiple database processing
- select schedule settings – time, date, frequency
- click ‘OK, Schedule Now’
Feed Structure
XML tag name | Field Description | Data Size | Comment |
---|---|---|---|
WEBACC | Account Number | 50 char | Focus will reuse and maintain the same account number per customer |
TITLE | Title | 50 char | |
OTHNAMES | Other Names | 50 char | |
SURNAME | Surname | 50 char | |
COMPANY | |||
ADDR1 | Address Line 1 | 50 char | |
ADDR2 | Address Line 2 | 50 char | |
TOWN | Town | 50 char | |
COUNTY | County/State | 50 char | |
POSTCODE | Postcode/Zip | 50 char | |
50 char | |||
PHONE | Phone | 50 char | |
FAX | Fax | 50 char | |
WEBSITE | Website | 50 char | |
CUSTTYPE | Customer Type | 50 char | |
SCHOOLTYPE | School Type | 50 char | e.g. Independent |
DEPT | |||
POSITION | |||
IS_HO | |||
HO_CODE | |||
SORTKEY5 |

Create stock feed
To create stock feed, do the following
- click Tools
- select Create Outbox Files
- select By Sections
- select stock Feed
Send stock feed
To send stock feed, do the following
- click Tools
- select Send/Receive
- select By Sections
- select stock Feed
- select Send Only
Schedule stock Feed
To schedule stock Feed, do the following
- select Tools > Schedule …
- select the operations you want to schedule. You are able to schedule the following operation on either a single database or multiple databases
- send/receive
- create outbox files
- select Single or Multiple database processing
- select schedule settings – time, date, frequency
- click ‘OK, Schedule Now’
Feed Structure
The structure of the stock feed is user definable. CODE (Links to Code in Stock_Rec Table).
To define the structure of the stock feed, do the following
- select Tools > Options …
- select the Feeds tab
- tick the Stock feed
- select the Feed Setup tab in the bottom panel
- click OK to finish


Create tracking feed
To create tracking feed, do the following
- click Tools
- select Create Outbox Files
- select By Sections
- select Tracking Feed
Send tracking feed
To send Tracking feed, do the following
- click Tools
- select Send/Receive
- select By Sections
- select Tracking Feed
- select Send Only
Schedule tracking Feed
To schedule Tracking Feed, do the following
- select Tools > Schedule …
- select the operations you want to schedule. You are able to schedule the following operation on either a single database or multiple databases
- send/receive
- create outbox files
- select Single or Multiple database processing
- select schedule settings – time, date, frequency
- click ‘OK, Schedule Now’
Feed Structure
XML tag name | Field Description | Data Size | Comment |
---|---|---|---|
WEBACC | Customer Account | 50 Char | |
FOCORDNO | Focus order Number | 50 char | |
CUSTREF | Customer Reference | This the web order reference number | |
DATE | Date | 50 char | |
TIME | Time | 50 char | |
STKCODE | Stock Code | 50 char | |
TITLE | Title | 150 char | |
QTY | Quantity | Number 2 dec | |
Email Address | 50 char | ||
ORDSTATUS | Order Status | 50 char | |
DESPATCHDATE | Despatch Date | 50 char | |
PARCELNOS | No of Parcels | 50 char | |
DESPATCHMETHOD | Carrier & Service Type | 50 char | |
SENTTOCUST | Sent to Customer Flag | Boolean | To be updated when a customer has been notified of the record. Not included in XML message |
SENTTOWEB | Sent to website Flag | Boolean | To be updated when a WEBSITE has been notified of the record. Not included in XML message |
Configure Status Notes
To configure tracking status notes, do the following
- select Tools > Options …
- select the Feeds tab
- tick the Order Tracking feed
- select the Status Notes tab in the bottom panel
- click OK to finish

Availability Feed
This feed presents the daily stock quantity to confirm the availability status of each stock record.
As Focus is a multi-location system, the stock quantity presented in the Stock feed is a total for all locations. However, in practice there is usually a pre-designated location for web stock. This can be presented in this Availability feed.
The Availability feed file contains absolute figures of the stock balances. By replacing this file each time it is uploaded, it provides a perpetual refreshment of the location quantities, of only stock that recorded any kind of change on the web.
File Format: CSV
File Prefix: AVF
Sample Record

Feed Structure
Field Description | Comment |
---|---|
stock_code | Links to Code in Stock_Rec Table |
Quantity |
Create availability feed
To create availability feed, do the following
- click Tools
- select Create Outbox Files
- select By Sections
- select availability Feed
Send availability feed
To send availability feed, do the following
- click Tools
- select Send/Receive
- select By Sections
- select availability Feed
- select Send Only
Schedule availability feed
To schedule availability feed, do the following
- select Tools > Schedule …
- select the operations you want to schedule. You are able to schedule the following operation on either a single database or multiple databases
- send/receive
- create outbox files
- select Single or Multiple database processing
- select schedule settings – time, date, frequency
- click ‘OK, Schedule Now’
Create author feed
To create author feed, do the following
- click Tools
- select Create Outbox Files
- select By Sections
- select author Feed
Send author feed
To send author feed, do the following
- click Tools
- select Send/Receive
- select By Sections
- select author Feed
- select Send Only
Schedule author feed
To schedule author feed, do the following
- select Tools > Schedule …
- select the operations you want to schedule. You are able to schedule the following operation on either a single database or multiple databases
- send/receive
- create outbox files
- select Single or Multiple database processing
- select schedule settings – time, date, frequency
- click ‘OK, Schedule Now’
Feed Structure
Field Description | XML tag name | Comment |
---|---|---|
account | RECORD | Links to Code in Dealers Table |
stock | RECORD | Links to Code in Stock_Rec Table |
Sample Record

Create contributors feed
To create author feed, do the following
- click Tools
- select Create Outbox Files
- select By Sections
- select author Feed
Send contributors feed
To send author feed, do the following
- click Tools
- select Send/Receive
- select By Sections
- select author Feed
- select Send Only
Schedule contributors feed
To schedule author feed, do the following
- select Tools > Schedule …
- select the operations you want to schedule. You are able to schedule the following operation on either a single database or multiple databases
- send/receive
- create outbox files
- select Single or Multiple database processing
- select schedule settings – time, date, frequency
- click ‘OK, Schedule Now’
Feed Structure
Field Description | XML tag name | Comment |
---|---|---|
associated | RECORD | Links to Code in Stock_Rec Table |
stock | RECORD | Links to Code in Stock_Rec Table |
Sample Record

Create associated title feed
To create author feed, do the following
- click Tools
- select Create Outbox Files
- select By Sections
- select author Feed
Send associated title feed
To send author feed, do the following
- click Tools
- select Send/Receive
- select By Sections
- select author Feed
- select Send Only
Schedule associated title feed
To schedule author feed, do the following
- select Tools > Schedule …
- select the operations you want to schedule. You are able to schedule the following operation on either a single database or multiple databases
- send/receive
- create outbox files
- select Single or Multiple database processing
- select schedule settings – time, date, frequency
- click ‘OK, Schedule Now’