I really need a global "search and replace" capability

[Yourvirtualworld]

I've diligently searched the threads for a solution to this problem. Most of my many products pages have identical text, script, and other content. It baffles me that there is no global "search and replace" function enabling me to make changes across the product lines without having to make hundreds of individual page edits. It would seem to be one of those tools that would be built-in out of the box like we find in word processors, spreadsheets, web site builders, publishing software, accounting, or any software creating and manipulating textual/numeric digital content as Zen Cart does. This is a very labor intensive (i.e. expensive) and error-prone way to manage any version of a Zen Cart shop.

Am I missing something?

[stevesh]

Am I missing something?

One of us may be. I haven't built a site where many (or even any) of the product descriptions contain common text. scripts and other content, so I've never thought of the need for search and replace. I'd like to see a link to your site.

[kobra]

Most of my many products pages have identical text, script, and other content

Identical content is a mistake for search engines - content should be unique

As this content resides in the database, there is no feature for search & replace

[Yourvirtualworld]

Identical content is a mistake for search engines - content should be unique

As this content resides in the database, there is no feature for search & replace

I'd qualify that to note that portions are identical while the bulk is unique. I'm expecting that visitors landing on a given page will get a similar message in part regardless of which product page they hit.

[Yourvirtualworld]

Identical content is a mistake for search engines - content should be unique

As this content resides in the database, there is no feature for search & replace

I'd qualify that to note that portions are identical while the bulk is unique. I'm expecting that visitors landing on a given page will get a similar message in part regardless of which product page they hit. MagneticOne has a module seen at http://www.magneticone.com/store/Zen...m.for.Zen.Cart but it seems pricey given the probable coding to get the job done. Maybe I'm wrong.

[kobra]

What is your time worth??

[Limitless]

I'd qualify that to note that portions are identical while the bulk is unique. I'm expecting that visitors landing on a given page will get a similar message in part regardless of which product page they hit. MagneticOne has a module seen at http://www.magneticone.com/store/Zen...m.for.Zen.Cart but it seems pricey given the probable coding to get the job done. Maybe I'm wrong.

Magneticone's software is pretty decent in what it can do for you. Give it a shot.

Also, you could do it in the raw via SQL queries:

update [table_name] set [field_name] = replace([field_name],'[string_to_find]','[string_to_replace]');


or you could export your entire product set out, edit it in Excel and import back in with the Easypopulate or the like.

[Yourvirtualworld]

Is the export function in ZC Admin or my web site admin control panel?

[schoolboy]

Is the export function in ZC Admin or my web site admin control panel?

Whether you like it or not, unique content has to be MANUALLY entered against each product record - so the question is about how to do this as efficiently and as quickly as possible.

Easy Populate is the answer, and you should use EP version 4 by Chadderuski. The module is not in the plugins (yet) but can be obtained HERE.

This allows ALL product data to be exported to a CSV file, which you then bring into a spreadsheet (OpenOffice is better than MS Excel), and you make your changes in the spreadsheet.

When done, you SAVE the file as a CSV, and re-inport into zencart.

There are a lot of technical considerations - especially with the FORMAT of the CSV file, but it is highly effective. Last week, we imported 32,500 products into THIS SITE, and it took under an hour.

[torvista]

I have many groups of products that have 95% common text descriptions, I use boilerplate text that resides in a separate php file as described here
http://www.thatsoftwareguy.com/zenca...scription.html

which gets re-used in many places, enabling global changes to be made very easily.

A futher discussion here
http://www.zen-cart.com/showthread.p...om-description

This was recently packaged into a mod which I could not find at first glance....