Data Management

The Data tab in Commerce Connect Settings (Commerce Connect > Settings > Data) provides powerful administrative functions for managing synced product data, background jobs, and system operations.

Data Loss Warning

The functions on this page can permanently delete product data, categories, brands, and background jobs. Use these tools carefully and only when you understand their impact.

When to Use These Tools

These administrative functions are designed for specific scenarios:

• Testing/Demo Environments: Seed test data for demonstrations or development
• Data Corruption: Purge and resync when BigCommerce-WordPress® sync fails
• Stuck Background Jobs: Clear job queues when sync operations hang
• System Maintenance: Clean up failed or outdated background processes

Production Warning

DO NOT use Seed Test Data or Purge operations on live production sites unless you fully understand the consequences and have recent backups.

Seed Test Data

Purpose: Initialize your WordPress® database with sample BigCommerce product data for testing and demonstrations.

Location: Settings > Data > “Seed Test Data” section

What It Does:

• Connects to a default BigCommerce store
• Imports sample products, categories, and brands
• Creates demonstration product catalog in WordPress®

Destructive Operation

Seeding test data DELETES all existing products, categories, and brands in your WordPress® database before importing sample data.

When to Use Seed Test Data

✅ DO use when:

• Setting up a demo environment for the first time
• Creating a testing environment to validate plugin functionality
• Resetting a development site to known state
• Demonstrating Commerce Connect features to stakeholders

❌ DON’T use when:

• Your site has live product data you want to keep
• You’re running a production e-commerce site
• You haven’t backed up your current product catalog
• You’re troubleshooting sync issues (use Purge instead)

How to Use

1. Back up your database if you have any product data you want to keep
2. Navigate to Commerce Connect > Settings > Data
3. Locate the “Seed Test Data” section
4. Read the warning about deleting existing data
5. Click Seed Data button
6. Wait for the seeding process to complete
7. Verify sample products appear in Products admin

Troubleshooting

Seed operation fails partway through:

• Check your BigCommerce API credentials in Settings > Connection
• Verify your WordPress® site has sufficient memory (increase WP_MAX_MEMORY_LIMIT if needed)
• Check error logs at Tools > Site Health > Info > Server

Partial data imported:

• Run the Seed Data operation again - it clears existing data before importing
• If problem persists, contact support with error logs

Regeneration Flags / Purge

Purpose: Force a complete resynchronization of product data from BigCommerce to WordPress®.

Location: Settings > Data > “Regeneration Flags” section

What It Does:

• Marks all products for regeneration from BigCommerce
• Triggers fresh sync of product data, categories, and brands
• Updates “Last Purge Time” timestamp
• Does NOT delete data - only marks for resync

Non-Destructive Sync

Unlike Seed Test Data, the Purge operation does not delete your products. It marks them for regeneration, causing Commerce Connect to fetch fresh data from BigCommerce.

When to Use Purge

✅ DO use when:

• Product data appears corrupted or out of sync between BigCommerce and WordPress®
• Images aren’t displaying correctly after bulk updates in BigCommerce
• Product prices, descriptions, or inventory counts are incorrect in WordPress®
• After making major structural changes in BigCommerce (category reorganization, bulk field updates)
• Sync failures have left products in inconsistent state

❌ DON’T use when:

• Webhooks are working normally (products sync automatically)
• Only one or two products need updating (edit those products directly in BigCommerce instead)
• You’re experiencing checkout issues (purge only affects product display data, not checkout)

How to Use

1. Navigate to Commerce Connect > Settings > Data
2. Locate the “Regeneration Flags” section
3. Note the “Last Purge Time” timestamp (if any)
4. Click Purge button
5. Wait for regeneration process to complete (may take several minutes for large catalogs)
6. Verify products display correctly on your site
7. Check “Last Purge Time” has updated to current timestamp

Understanding Regeneration

When you click Purge:

1. Commerce Connect sets regeneration flags on all synced products
2. Background sync jobs fetch fresh data from BigCommerce for each flagged product
3. Product metadata, images, prices, and categories update in WordPress®
4. Regeneration status indicator appears on product edit screens during sync

Regeneration Status Messages:

• “There have not changes in BigCommerce and since you are going to WordPress®” - Sync is checking for updates
• Product data successfully regenerated when status message clears

Troubleshooting

Purge doesn’t fix sync issues:

• Verify BigCommerce API credentials are valid (Settings > Connection)
• Check webhook status (see Batch Schedule Jobs section)
• Review background job queue for errors (Tools > Background Jobs)

Purge takes too long:

• Large product catalogs (1000+ products) may take 10-30 minutes for large catalogs (1000+ products) to fully regenerate
• Background jobs process in batches to avoid server timeouts
• Check WP-Cron is running properly (wp cron event list via WP-CLI)

Batch Schedule Jobs

Purpose: Clear the scheduled jobs queue when background sync operations become stuck or corrupted.

Location: Settings > Data > “Batch Schedule Jobs” section

What It Does:

• Empties the scheduled batch jobs table
• Removes pending product sync operations from queue
• Clears stuck or failed background tasks

System Impact

Clearing scheduled jobs stops all pending sync operations. Products mid-sync will not complete until you trigger a new sync or purge operation.

When to Use Clear Scheduled Jobs

✅ DO use when:

• Background sync queue is stuck (products won’t sync despite Purge operation)
• Duplicate sync jobs are running (same product syncing repeatedly)
• Job queue shows thousands of pending operations that won’t process
• System performance is slow due to job queue backlog
• After fixing database corruption affecting job tables

❌ DON’T use when:

• Sync is working normally (jobs are processing as expected)
• Products are actively syncing (check for “Syncing…” status first)
• You haven’t identified a specific problem with the job queue

How to Use

1. Navigate to Commerce Connect > Settings > Data
2. Locate the “Batch Schedule Jobs” section
3. Read the description of what this operation clears
4. Click Clear Scheduled Jobs Table button
5. Confirm the operation (if prompted)
6. Wait for confirmation message
7. Trigger a new product sync or Purge to repopulate the job queue if needed

After Clearing Jobs

What happens next:

• All pending sync operations are removed from the queue
• Webhooks will continue to trigger new sync jobs when products change in BigCommerce
• Manual product edits in BigCommerce will queue new sync jobs
• Run a Purge operation if you need to resync all products immediately

Troubleshooting

Jobs still stuck after clearing:

• Check PHP error logs for fatal errors during job processing
• Verify WP-Cron is enabled and running (wp cron event list)
• Increase PHP max_execution_time and memory_limit if jobs are timing out
• Review database health (corrupted tables can prevent job queue from working)

New jobs not queuing after clearing:

• Verify webhooks are registered (see Webhooks section in Configuration guide)
• Check BigCommerce API connection status (Settings > Connection)
• Test manual product sync to confirm system is operational

Miscellaneous Data

Purpose: Delete background content jobs for system maintenance and cleanup.

Location: Settings > Data > “Miscellaneous Data” section

What It Does:

• Removes background job entries for content processing
• Clears failed or outdated content sync jobs
• Includes red warning indicator to highlight destructive nature

Warning Icon Present

This function displays a red warning icon because it permanently removes background job records. Only use when necessary for system maintenance.

When to Use Delete Background Content Jobs

✅ DO use when:

• Background job table has accumulated failed jobs over time
• System performance is degraded due to large background jobs table
• After resolving persistent job failures (cleanup old failed attempts)
• During system maintenance to clear outdated job records
• Migrating or restructuring your WordPress® database

❌ DON’T use when:

• Jobs are actively processing content
• You haven’t identified a specific problem requiring cleanup
• System is functioning normally
• You’re troubleshooting an unrelated issue

How to Use

1. Navigate to Commerce Connect > Settings > Data
2. Locate the “Miscellaneous Data” section
3. Note the red warning icon indicating destructive operation
4. Understand that this removes background job records permanently
5. Click Delete Background Content Jobs button
6. Confirm the operation (if prompted)
7. Wait for confirmation message

Understanding Background Content Jobs

What are background content jobs?

• Asynchronous tasks that process product content, images, and metadata
• Run in the background to avoid blocking WordPress® admin interface
• Tracked in WordPress® database tables for status monitoring
• Accumulate over time, especially failed or stuck jobs

Why delete them?

• Failed jobs won’t automatically clean up
• Large tables of old jobs can slow database queries
• Removing outdated jobs improves system performance

Troubleshooting

Jobs reappear after deletion:

• This is normal - new jobs are created as products sync from BigCommerce
• If old failed jobs reappear, you may have a database replication issue

Performance doesn’t improve:

• Deleting jobs only helps if the background jobs table was very large
• Check overall database optimization (wp db optimize via WP-CLI)
• Review other performance factors (caching, hosting resources)

Best Practices

Before Using Any Data Management Function

1. Back up your database - Use your hosting provider’s backup tool or WP-CLI
2. Verify your environment - Confirm you’re on staging/development, NOT production
3. Check recent activity - Review what changed in BigCommerce recently
4. Read the warnings - Understand what each function does before clicking

Safe Testing Workflow

For testing these functions safely:

1. Clone your production site to staging environment
2. Test data operations on staging first
3. Verify results before applying to production
4. Document what worked for future reference

Monitoring After Operations

After using any data management function:

1. Check product counts - Compare WordPress® product count to BigCommerce
2. Test product pages - Verify products display correctly on frontend
3. Review logs - Check error logs for any issues during operation
4. Monitor webhooks - Confirm webhooks are firing correctly

Common Scenarios

Scenario: Demo Environment Setup

Goal: Set up a demo site with sample products.

Steps:

1. Install Commerce Connect on fresh WordPress® site
2. Configure BigCommerce API credentials (Settings > Connection)
3. Navigate to Settings > Data
4. Click Seed Data to import sample products
5. Verify sample products appear in WordPress® admin
6. Test product blocks on frontend pages

Scenario: Products Out of Sync

Goal: Fix products showing outdated information in WordPress®.

Steps:

1. Verify products are up to date in BigCommerce admin
2. Navigate to Settings > Data
3. Click Purge to trigger regeneration
4. Wait 5-10 minutes for background sync to complete
5. Check product pages on frontend to confirm updates
6. If still out of sync, try Clear Scheduled Jobs then Purge again

Scenario: Stuck Background Jobs

Goal: Resolve sync queue that won’t process.

Steps:

1. Navigate to Tools > Background Jobs (or WP-CLI: wp queue list)
2. Confirm jobs are stuck (same jobs pending for hours)
3. Navigate to Settings > Data
4. Click Clear Scheduled Jobs Table
5. Click Purge to queue fresh sync operations
6. Monitor job queue to confirm processing resumes

Scenario: Performance Degradation

Goal: Clean up accumulated failed jobs.

Steps:

1. Check database size of background jobs tables
2. Navigate to Settings > Data
3. Click Delete Background Content Jobs to remove old job records
4. Run database optimization (wp db optimize via WP-CLI)
5. Monitor system performance over next 24 hours
6. Schedule regular maintenance if jobs accumulate frequently

Related Documentation

• Configuration - Initial BigCommerce connection setup
• Verification & Testing - Your first product sync
• Troubleshooting - Common issues and solutions
• WP-CLI Commands - Programmatic data management

Support

If you encounter issues with data management operations:

1. Check error logs - Tools > Site Health > Info > Error Log
2. Review webhook status - Settings > Data > Webhooks section
3. Test API connection - Settings > Connection (verify “Connected” status)
4. Contact support - Provide error logs and steps you’ve already tried