The Product Mash always looks for User Defined Properties (UDPs) at the product level. What this means is that whenever you set them up in Actinic you must always tick Product in the Place of Setting area (of the Basic Definition page of a variable on the Variables tab of the Design Library dialog). You should then use <Use Parent> as the initial value. You can then define a UDP at a section level that can be use by all products (and sections) below a defined section.

Below is an example of how to set-up a Manufacturer for each of your Actinic products that will be used for creating various feeds, including feeds for Googlebase, Shopzilla, Kelkoo, PriceRunner, Paid On Results and Amazon. You can define the value at a section level, and any products within that section will use that value and if required can be overridden by specific products (or sub-sections) within a section (by overriding the <Use parent>) value defined for each product.

1 Define a UDP (under the Design menu option select Design Library, then the Variables tab, under the Section Group).

2 Enter a Name (e.g. Manufacturer), Description and Prompt.

3 Tick Section and Product in the Place of Setting area.

4 Leave the defaults for the other values (<Allow <Use Parent> as Option is ticked, Allow Empty Value and Initial Value is set to <Use Parent()>.

5 Restart the Product Mash. In the Product Mash, click on the Feed Options button. Select the relevant feed tab (e.g. Amazon).

6 Click on the Add or Edit button in the Property (or Custom Property) area.

7 Select the relevant property (if a property is being added) in the Variable area.

8 Under Value select CustomVar.

9 Select the group where the value is defined (e.g. section).and then the relevant UDPthat you have created (e.g. Manufacturer).

10 Type in a Default value (if required). This will be used if you don't assign any values to a section (leave blank if you are unsure what value to use).

11 Press OK.

12 In Actinic go to the Properties tab on each product section that you want to define a value for (e.g. Sony).

13 All items under that section will now use the entered value. If you want to override this value simply go the product within that section and type a different value in. This also works for sub-sections within this section.