Easy Populate 1.2.5.4 support

Hello PeppyOne,
On my live site my directory looks something like:
/at/home/public_html/zencart/

At home, what I just set up for testing this past weekend, it looks like:
E:\wamp\www\zencart\

In both cases I just created a new temp directory (actually, just copy the temp directory enclosed in the zip file) into my zencart directory. The first one, /at/home/... is on a shared host - linux based, while the second one, E:\wamp\... is on a windoze machine that I am using on a daily basis. On the shared host you can change the permissions using your ftp program to something like 777, and that should help ensure that EP is able to read and write to the directory, along with everyone else that knows it exist. On a windows based system just open a properties box and make sure that Read-only is not checked.

It ends up looking something like ../public_html/zencart/temp, ../public_html/zencart/admin, ../public_html/zencart/admin/include, ../public_html/zencart/include, etc. Please use care, as there is both the catalog include directory and the admin include directory.

Sorry that I can't be of more help at this point, this isn't my computer, the cable company has been having problems for the last 24 hours, so I am without my internet (using a public computer in the local library right now).

One last thing, check under the admin tab, the one on the far left, and see if EP is showing up at the bottom. If it is, then it is installed, if not, then something is wrong. This is where you can tell it where to find the temp directory. The EP menu item under Tools (far right) is for executing the program.

I'm having someone install my EZ Populate, she is charging me only a few dollars so I'm sure it must be ridiculously easy...either way I have a database of 17,000 products from a reseller I worked with years ago...database is in CSV format and the images for each product are on 3 DVD roms...would I be able to copy these to my desktop so that ezpopulate can just take them right off my desktop? How woudl I upload all those files? Can someone please give me a link to where I can download the actual excel template for ez populate? or email me?

thanks.

Awev, Again many thanks. EP shows up in config so I know it is installed. It is the blankety, blank uploads directory file that does not show up. I have the CMOD set at 777. When I installed zencart I installed it directly to the root directly. I did not create a folder to put it in. Maybe that is my problem. When I did install zen cart the first time and created a folder for it I always got the 404 message. Maybe I have zen Cart installed incorrectly or not to its best advantage. My uploads file is my root directory but so is my admin file etc. This must be the problem. I am still waiting on my support ticket. Hope I can get some answers. Iam anxious to move one but I sit and wait now.

HI.
First of all i'm pretty much a ZenCart noob.

We have a current version ZenCart store. I have downloaded Easy Populate version - 2.74MS2.
I have installed this into admin/ as per the EP instructions.
The instructions also say to add the following line
<a href="' . tep_href_link('easypopulate.php', '', 'NONSSL') . '" class="menuBoxContentLink">Easy Populate</a><br>'.

to admin/includes/boxes/catalog.php .
We dont have a file there named catalog.php, we have a file there named catalog_dhtml.php yet that file doesn't have the section in it that is mentioned in the EP instructions.

EP is NOT showing up in the admin / config screen.

Please help. I just need EP setup so that I can do one import of around 800 products.

Thanks

Steve
http://www.wineforlife.com.au

stoscano, where did you get that version?

I'm not sure if I missed some releases, but I think the latest version is 1.2.5.4

I don't recall seeing version 2.74MS2. I'm guessin MS2 probably means milestone 2, in which case that would be for OSCommerce, not ZenCart.

My bad. It must be the wrong version.

Where do I get the free ZenCart version? And where do i find install instructions for it?
google serach takes me to the oscommerce one.

Thanks a plenty

Hello again,
Sorry, still not at my own computer, cable modem got fried - don't know why, yet I should be back on-line at my own computer later today.

spatel2007:
I don't know how your friend, or you, plan to have the directories set up for the images, yet my idea would be something like ../images/cat_01, ../images/cat_02, where cat_0x is the category name, so you can find and update/replace/remove the images in the future if needed. Then use a FTP program to copy the images from the DVDs to the correct directories. It is easy to just copy whole folders, yet the management of those images may become an issue in the future, so think about the structor now. ZC and EP will NOT upload the images for you, hence the FTP program of your choise. Make sure that you have the images in place first, as that is a mistake I did make, and I had to go back and edit the product info to link it to the images (even with the SQL patch box, it still takes time).

peppyone:
Sounds like you are doing everything correctly. I just have ZC off the root directory so I could also install Crafty live help/chat, and Evolve2 blog software, and so on, without confusing myself. Lets see what the support ticket yeilds for you.

stoscano:
MS2 is for the oSc version, and that has so many support forums that it could be a book by itself. Look at ZenCart's main (home) page, select the download tab, and then the archived files. Look for version 1.2.5.4, and skip the 2.xx versions. One vendor that I work with provides a modified version 2.74 for oSc, what is nice of them, it just won't work here on ZC, and it doesn't account for any changes that I may make, such as adding UPC/ISBN, shipping fees, etc. Since they also provide a datafeed in the EP format for oSc it is easy for me to download the datafeed, change the categories to my own, and use the supported ZenCart version of EP.

The correct link is http://www.zen-cart.com/archived_con...s/admin-tools/ to the directory.

Just a generic file included with EP - stripped of everything but the first product and headings.

thanks awev, effort appreciated, but ep still not showing up in config.

So to check, there are a bunch of files in the ep download folder. let's call the folder "ep" and it contains easypopulate.php, easypopulate_filenames.php, etc.

like "store.com/ep/easypopulate.php"
same hierarchichal level as: store.com/admin/configuration.php

I am still not getting it. I am imagining that when EP is installed, the config menu will list it and/or "tools" will list it...yes? but not happening.

thanks!

I'm trying to use the split function to create files of 300 products each. However, it only creates 2 split files. One has 300 products and the other contains the remainder. Is it not supposed to create as many split files as required with 300 products per file?

nevermind, I forgot the end of line command.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by awev

stoscano:
MS2 is for the oSc version, and that has so many support forums that it could be a book by itself. Look at ZenCart's main (home) page, select the download tab, and then the archived files. Look for version 1.2.5.4, and skip the 2.xx versions. One vendor that I work with provides a modified version 2.74 for oSc, what is nice of them, it just won't work here on ZC, and it doesn't account for any changes that I may make, such as adding UPC/ISBN, shipping fees, etc. Since they also provide a datafeed in the EP format for oSc it is easy for me to download the datafeed, change the categories to my own, and use the supported ZenCart version of EP.

The correct link is http://www.zen-cart.com/archived_con...s/admin-tools/ to the directory.

---

Or you can also use this direct link:

http://modhole.com/modhole/index.php...JAS_File_id=60

This is from Langer's own website and the last release, probably the same as found in the ZenCart archived contributions, but not sure.

Not sure how you ended up with the contribution for OSC.

Hi,
My name is Penny, and I am new here. I have a web store (www.4u-dear.com)
and i am running Zen Cart: PHP Version: 4.4.6 (Zend: 1.3.0) HTTP Server: Apache 3.

I just installed Easy Populate 1.2.5.4, It took me some time but I got it. (for a blond). Anyway, my question is : I go to Zen Cart - Tools - Easy Populate, and a page opens and have the following:

Upload EP File
Split EP File
Import from Temp Dir (temp/)
Download EP and Froogle Files

And so on... what do i do next. I have files from my suppler and they are. (.csv, and a lot of .jpg files)


Help.

Hi,

I've set up ezpopulate and it seems to be working well so that's great.

I've just got a question about the show quantity box option for products.

I originally had this set to: "No, Do not show Quantity Box". But when i update my products it seems to get reset it to: Yes, Show Quantity Box.

Has anyone else seen this?

If you have seen this I'd be really interested to know if there is a solution and what it might be.

Once again, thanks to those who have put ezpopulate together it really is a very nice mod.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by taf

Hi,

I've set up ezpopulate and it seems to be working well so that's great.

I've just got a question about the show quantity box option for products.

I originally had this set to: "No, Do not show Quantity Box". But when i update my products it seems to get reset it to: Yes, Show Quantity Box.

Has anyone else seen this?

If you have seen this I'd be really interested to know if there is a solution and what it might be.

Once again, thanks to those who have put ezpopulate together it really is a very nice mod.

---

Ignore this, this is not what i'm seeing.

hi.

I purchased EP advanced a couple months ago....i'm resetting my store and made duplicate products as links...however, the products show up multiple times on the same category. How come? I tried to put the categories and links in ptc_categories_index_path and ptc_categories_linked_path. So if i link to 4 categories, i put 4 rows of data in the spreadsheet right? And in those 4, the ptc_categories_index_path is the same throughout and the linked categories in ptc_categories_linked_path? However Since I put 4 rows of data, the item appears 4 times in my category as well....

what am I doing wrong?

thanks

Hi,

I have Easy Populate installed and loaded one of the temp data files fine but I'm still unsure of how to convert my spreadsheet structure to make it work with EP. I'm using someone elses spreadsheet for their website and his .xls file has some unique fields and not sure the best way to go about it.

I would attach the zipped spreadsheet but the 'manage attachments' doesn't seem to do anything.

The spreadsheet is for a guy who buys and sells police badges. The fields are like so...

Code, Category, Description, Type, Department, State, Date Purchased, My Cost, Asking Price, Date Sold, Sold Price, Profit Margin.

Of course there are photos of each badge as well.

Since I'm just needing to populate the inventory I'm thinking i don't need most of these fields but my brain is a little muddled right now. I looked a the example .cvs files but need a push in the right direction.

Thanks in advance for any help.

Robinstl
Add one product to your catagories, download the file by the Easy Populate and you will see the structure. Had your email I would send you a sample.

bump anyone please??

Quote:

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Originally Posted by bangsters

hi.

I purchased EP advanced a couple months ago....i'm resetting my store and made duplicate products as links...however, the products show up multiple times on the same category. How come? I tried to put the categories and links in ptc_categories_index_path and ptc_categories_linked_path. So if i link to 4 categories, i put 4 rows of data in the spreadsheet right? And in those 4, the ptc_categories_index_path is the same throughout and the linked categories in ptc_categories_linked_path? However Since I put 4 rows of data, the item appears 4 times in my category as well....

what am I doing wrong?

thanks

---

Quote:

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Originally Posted by elkbow

Robinstl
Add one product to your catagories, download the file by the Easy Populate and you will see the structure. Had your email I would send you a sample.

---

Hi Elk, thanks for replying. I still don't know what you mean specifically so I sent you my email in a private message so you could send me an example.

Thanks for the help :smile:

Here's the spreadsheet the guy provided for me

robinstl,
I sent the email and got this reply...

host xmxatip.excite.com[207.159.120.164] said: 554 5.7.1
Service unavailable; Client host [216.126.204.45] blocked using
blackholes.excite.com; Sender address rejected: Access denied Error: WS-19

Attachment 2549

Robinstl,

Did this work???

robinstl

On the post above, save the file sample.txt and open it in Excel to see the structure.

Before I go any further I just uploaded the files and clicked on install. I got the following messages.... the link names in the "errors" are not true as I have changed them for this example. Just verifing all is ok or did I forget something


Warning: fopen(/home/salty/public_html/store/temp/Full-EP2007Sep01-2109.txt) [function.fopen]: failed to open stream: Permission denied in /home/salty/public_html/store/*admin*/easypopulate.php on line 1089

Warning: fwrite(): supplied argument is not a valid stream resource in /home/home/public_html/store/*admin*/easypopulate.php on line 1090

Warning: fclose(): supplied argument is not a valid stream resource in /home/salty/public_html/store/*admin*/easypopulate.php on line 1091

Warning Easy Populate support & development by langer. Donations are always appreciated to support continuing development: [email protected]

Success Installation Successfull! A full download of your store has been done and is available in your uploads (temp) directory. You can use this as your 1st template for uploading/updating products.

Success File Full-EP2007Sep01-2109.txt successfully exported! The file is ready for download in your /temp/ directory.

I've just started using Zen Cart and have installed Easy Populate to migrate 400 or so products from my existing shop to the Zen one I am building.

The products have all moved over and Easy Populate has dumped them all into a category called 'New'

I have downloaded the EP text file and gone through it changing all the product categories so that they are all correct. I have then uploaded the file (splitting it first of course!) and it seems to have uploaded fine.

However, the products have all moved into categories that I put in the spreadsheet, however most are still in the 'New' category that it originally created.

I didn't create any categories within Zen for it to upload to, I believed Easy Populate would do that for me.

Now it seem though that while all the products are in their main categories they are linked from the ones originally put into the 'New category'. So, if I make 'New' inactive (as I don't want it to show up with all 400 products in) it means that the links are inactive and I end up with no products in any other categories.

How can I fix this? Other than to manually move each product from within Admin?

Would it be better to just start over, delete all products and create the categories again? Then upload everything with Easy Populate? (If so, how can I do this?)

Please can you help me?

I've noticed that this mod doesnt work so well when improved attributes controller mod is installed aswell, having huge problems downloading the easy populate files for adding/changin products quickly.
Anyone else encountered this?
Anyone that have or would like to look into what the problem is with theese two mods?

thanks

Quote:

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Originally Posted by dedj

I've noticed that this mod doesnt work so well when improved attributes controller mod is installed aswell, having huge problems downloading the easy populate files for adding/changin products quickly.
Anyone else encountered this?
Anyone that have or would like to look into what the problem is with theese two mods?

---

These portions:
Download Model/Price/Qty tab-delimited .txt file to edit
Download Model/Category tab-delimited .txt file to edit
Download Model/Attributes tab-delimited .txt file
...Do not work for me as they download the same attribute for all products, and have never been able to find any answer for this.
(ie. if I have color red, and blue. Everything is color red...blue does not exist. go figure?)

Best to just use the Complete Download and work from there.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by boinkit

I didn't create any categories within Zen for it to upload to, I believed Easy Populate would do that for me.

How can I fix this? Other than to manually move each product from within Admin?

Would it be better to just start over, delete all products and create the categories again? Then upload everything with Easy Populate? (If so, how can I do this?)

Please can you help me?

---

I found the same thing, but used only one product to discover that...
The original Catagory and Subcatagory must be listed prior to installing the Easy Populate Up-Load file. So I deleted the product, created the catagory and subcatagory then uploaded the [FONT=Times New Roman]tab-delimited .txt file and it correctly installed.[/FONT]

Hello folks, I'll try to answer a few questions as best as I can

Quote:

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Originally Posted by bangsters

hi.

I purchased EP advanced a couple months ago....i'm resetting my store and made duplicate products as links...however, the products show up multiple times on the same category. How come? I tried to put the categories and links in ptc_categories_index_path and ptc_categories_linked_path. So if i link to 4 categories, i put 4 rows of data in the spreadsheet right? And in those 4, the ptc_categories_index_path is the same throughout and the linked categories in ptc_categories_linked_path? However Since I put 4 rows of data, the item appears 4 times in my category as well....

what am I doing wrong?

thanks

---

First, I don't have or use EPA (Easy Populate Advanced), and so I can't answer. Second, you would have to go to the web site for EPA for support, as this is the commercial version, and I think the code has be compiled (no longer in plain text), so it isn't something I could look at. In EP it is something like v_category_1, v_category_2, ... v_category_7 - so you could have something nested six categories down from the main category. It may be something similar, such as ptc_categories_linked_path_1, ptc_categories_linked_path_2, etc.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by shawnz28

Before I go any further I just uploaded the files and clicked on install. I got the following messages.... the link names in the "errors" are not true as I have changed them for this example. Just verifing all is ok or did I forget something


Warning: fopen(/home/salty/public_html/store/temp/Full-EP2007Sep01-2109.txt) [function.fopen]: failed to open stream: Permission denied in /home/salty/public_html/store/*admin*/easypopulate.php on line 1089

Warning: fwrite(): supplied argument is not a valid stream resource in /home/home/public_html/store/*admin*/easypopulate.php on line 1090

Warning: fclose(): supplied argument is not a valid stream resource in /home/salty/public_html/store/*admin*/easypopulate.php on line 1091

Warning Easy Populate support & development by langer. Donations are always appreciated to support continuing development: [email protected]

Success Installation Successfull! A full download of your store has been done and is available in your uploads (temp) directory. You can use this as your 1st template for uploading/updating products.

Success File Full-EP2007Sep01-2109.txt successfully exported! The file is ready for download in your /temp/ directory.

---

I would try doing two things - looking at the file created to make sure everything is there, and then try uploading just a couple items to ensure it works. It sounds as if it worked everything out, so it should work, just run a couple test to make sure.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by boinkit

I've just started using Zen Cart and have installed Easy Populate to migrate 400 or so products from my existing shop to the Zen one I am building.

The products have all moved over and Easy Populate has dumped them all into a category called 'New'

I have downloaded the EP text file and gone through it changing all the product categories so that they are all correct. I have then uploaded the file (splitting it first of course!) and it seems to have uploaded fine.

However, the products have all moved into categories that I put in the spreadsheet, however most are still in the 'New' category that it originally created.

I didn't create any categories within Zen for it to upload to, I believed Easy Populate would do that for me.

Now it seem though that while all the products are in their main categories they are linked from the ones originally put into the 'New category'. So, if I make 'New' inactive (as I don't want it to show up with all 400 products in) it means that the links are inactive and I end up with no products in any other categories.

How can I fix this? Other than to manually move each product from within Admin?

Would it be better to just start over, delete all products and create the categories again? Then upload everything with Easy Populate? (If so, how can I do this?)

Please can you help me?

---

Why you are getting the results that you are I have no idea. Make sure you save the file that you edited with the correct categories. Next, using whatever tool you want to use, even the MySQL patch box is an option, delete all of the categories and items. EP uses a rather simple test, and based on the results determines what needs to be done. It goes something like this:

Code:

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1) Extract the info from the uploaded file
2) Break it into parts, and assign the different values to the different v_whatever_etc
3) Test to see if item exist in the database by doing a search for it, and save the results (True = found item, False = not found/new item).
4) If it found the item in the database (True) then continue with step 5, else it is a new item and jump to step 8
5) Populate some information for the update from the current record (info in the db) into p_whatever_# (use as defaults just in case we don't get anything new for it)
6) If the value for v_whatever_# is not blank or null then assign it to p_whatever_# of the same name.
7) Don't insert it as a new item, instead use the MySQL UPDATE command to commit the changes, and then jump to 10 below
8) Since this is a new item (was not found in the db, so the result was False), populate p_whatever_# with the values from v_whatever_# of the same name
9) Use the MySQL INSERT command to commit the new information to the database.
NOTE: It is here that if it is a new item that it creates the categories if they don't exist.  It should be that easy from your point of view, yet to EP it is just a bit more involved, not much more though.
10) If we have not reached the end of the file yet then return to step 3 above to process the next item.

---

The above is just a bare outline of what EP does. It does look to see if the category already exist, like it tests for an existing item. Use care, Cat_1 is not the same as cat_1 or even cAt_1, it is case sensitive. EP should create a new category if it doesn't find an existing one by the same name, it is both smart and dumb in that way (smart in that you should not have to create a new category, dumb in that it is not smart enough to know what you really mean).

I hope I have been able to help just a little bit in understanding things, and maybe help get things working.

awev,
thanks for that info. I understand what it is doing, but on the download of the attributes it continually gives me only one attribute for all products and ignores the actual attributes assigned to the products. I now have over 900 products and had to manually assign around 630 attributes to those products.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by boinkit

I've just started using Zen Cart and have installed Easy Populate to migrate 400 or so products from my existing shop to the Zen one I am building.

The products have all moved over and Easy Populate has dumped them all into a category called 'New'

I have downloaded the EP text file and gone through it changing all the product categories so that they are all correct. I have then uploaded the file (splitting it first of course!) and it seems to have uploaded fine.

However, the products have all moved into categories that I put in the spreadsheet, however most are still in the 'New' category that it originally created.

I didn't create any categories within Zen for it to upload to, I believed Easy Populate would do that for me.

Now it seem though that while all the products are in their main categories they are linked from the ones originally put into the 'New category'. So, if I make 'New' inactive (as I don't want it to show up with all 400 products in) it means that the links are inactive and I end up with no products in any other categories.

How can I fix this? Other than to manually move each product from within Admin?

Would it be better to just start over, delete all products and create the categories again? Then upload everything with Easy Populate? (If so, how can I do this?)

Please can you help me?

---

You cannot move products from one category to another using EasyPopulate standard.

If you already have products in certain category and then you upload a new file with EasyPopulate specifying different categories, what will happen is that EP will create linked products in the new categories.

I've been there before, I'm sure many more have also been in the same situation.

I think it's just best to start over.

In the ZC admin section, go to Tool>Install SQL Patches and run the following line

DELETE FROM products;

This partially deletes all products. Then go to Tools>EasyPopulate
You will see some message telling you that there are products that were not deleted completely and says to click to fix that. Click it to have it fixed.

Then you can reupload the EP file with all the products in the correct categories this time.


Hopefully, awev will have some free time and release an updated version of EP with some more features. :)

This may have been covered somewhere in this thread but I could not find it using several different searches so, here goes...

Has anyone been able to add an additional field to either or both the file that gets downloaded as well the upload/updating function? The additional field already exists in the database so I'm not asking about how to add an additional product field in general - just how to add the field to EP.

I'm wending my way through the main file and it seems that it should be possible with some editing, but a clue as to where to look for this would save me some time.

Thanks!

earmsby, I think awev sort of explains how modify EP to do this in post 879 of this thread.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by earmsby

This may have been covered somewhere in this thread but I could not find it using several different searches so, here goes...

Has anyone been able to add an additional field to either or both the file that gets downloaded as well the upload/updating function? The additional field already exists in the database so I'm not asking about how to add an additional product field in general - just how to add the field to EP.

I'm wending my way through the main file and it seems that it should be possible with some editing, but a clue as to where to look for this would save me some time.

Thanks!

---

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by tj1

earmsby, I think awev sort of explains how modify EP to do this in post 879 of this thread.

---

The link to the post is http://www.zen-cart.com/forum/showpo...&postcount=879

Good luck with the mods

Thanks for the link. Somehow this particular post didn't come up in any of my searches. I'll give it a try!

I'm helping a friend set up Zen Cart on his site and I'm tring to install Easy Populate. The problem I'm having is that all the links to download it that I've found on this thread are dead and there is nothing can be found doing a google search.

I'm very surprised at how very little documentation there is to Zen Cart and that this forum is meant as THE documentation on how to use Zen Cart, unless you are willing to pay for a $60 book. :shocking:

I think pointing people to a forum learn about how to use a product is a very bad idea as forums are best used when people can not figure out how to use a product and need help. If no documentation exists then EVERY task requires a post or searching the forum leading in order to get even the simplest thing done. With so many posts, it becomes even more difficult to find a solution as you have to read about many more other problems before you find anything about your own task, which may or may not help.

Even 'tutorials' found in the threads are nothing but FAQs. Why do I need to read a FAQ on how to solve problems that I might encounter while using the product if I don't even have information on how to use the product?

If I could find information using google searches, get a hold of a word or pdf doc, find a good website, or if I could actually find information on this forum there wouldn't be a problem. However they either do not exist or do not provide information that is needed.

I haven't used Zen Cart enough to know whether it is a good product, but not being able to find documentation to figure out how to use it tells me that it is likely only the most dedicated people have any possiblity of success with it and everyone else shouldn't have much hope.

Sorry, this is not a reply to the above comment but I do need to ask a question on easy populate. I get no response (my browser times out when I insert anything this way). I downloaded a complete file and removed all but the 1st product and uploaded it. EP does not let me know anything has been done (it does work though). I have chmod all EP files to 777 and the temp dir the same way with no change in results and even tried the same on a test Zen site. I use EP on a osCommerce install and it works fine but both Zen sites act the same way. Is this normal or am I missing something?

dclem,

Welcome to the world open source! Zen cart isn't really a "product." The forum is actually an extremely rich source of knowledge if you take good advantage. Many people here share their experience and knowledge for free. Just have a little patience - search for what your issue is - probably someone else had the same question. If not, ask your question, probably someone knows the answer.

If you're looking for a "product" with technical support, get ready to shell out some money. Meanwhile Zen Cart is a great resource that can do pretty much anything you want it to if you are willing to spend a little time to understand how it works.

peace,

Quote:

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Originally Posted by earmsby

dclem,

Welcome to the world open source! Zen cart isn't really a "product." The forum is actually an extremely rich source of knowledge if you take good advantage. Many people here share their experience and knowledge for free. Just have a little patience - search for what your issue is - probably someone else had the same question. If not, ask your question, probably someone knows the answer.

If you're looking for a "product" with technical support, get ready to shell out some money. Meanwhile Zen Cart is a great resource that can do pretty much anything you want it to if you are willing to spend a little time to understand how it works.

peace,

---

I didn't ask for technical support, I simply asked for documentation. Is it a sin to expect for software, even if it is open source, to have some documentation to it?

And if you read my post, you would of realized that that I have done quite a bit of searching on this forum and elsewhere for information. I managed to find 3 posts in this thread that tell me where to download easy support, but all three of them do not work. I haven't read all 900+ posts in this thread, but should I be expected to have to read that much before asking for help?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by dclem

I'm helping a friend set up Zen Cart on his site and I'm tring to install Easy Populate. The problem I'm having is that all the links to download it that I've found on this thread are dead and there is nothing can be found doing a google search.

I'm very surprised at how very little documentation there is to Zen Cart and that this forum is meant as THE documentation on how to use Zen Cart, unless you are willing to pay for a $60 book. :shocking:

I think pointing people to a forum learn about how to use a product is a very bad idea as forums are best used when people can not figure out how to use a product and need help. If no documentation exists then EVERY task requires a post or searching the forum leading in order to get even the simplest thing done. With so many posts, it becomes even more difficult to find a solution as you have to read about many more other problems before you find anything about your own task, which may or may not help.

Even 'tutorials' found in the threads are nothing but FAQs. Why do I need to read a FAQ on how to solve problems that I might encounter while using the product if I don't even have information on how to use the product?

If I could find information using google searches, get a hold of a word or pdf doc, find a good website, or if I could actually find information on this forum there wouldn't be a problem. However they either do not exist or do not provide information that is needed.

I haven't used Zen Cart enough to know whether it is a good product, but not being able to find documentation to figure out how to use it tells me that it is likely only the most dedicated people have any possiblity of success with it and everyone else shouldn't have much hope.

---

Direct links to download EasyPopulate, this was posted a couple of pages back, not sure why it didn't work for you, just tested and it's working:
http://modhole.com/modhole/index.php...JAS_File_id=60

or

http://www.zen-cart.com/archived_con...p_v1.2.5.4.zip

I'm not really sure why easypopulate is not included in the current downloads section, but just try one of the links above.

As for the rest of your post, there's plenty of documentation on pretty much everything, the problem is that it's scattered all over the place. This thread deals specifically with a community contributed module. For help with any other features of ZenCart, please post or look in the appropriate section.
ZenCart is overall the best free open source shopping cart available. I've tried a few other and they're either too difficult to use or lack many features.

Basic documentation for EasyPopulate is included with the download. ZenCart documentation is included in the docs folder when you download it.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by awhfy99

Sorry, this is not a reply to the above comment but I do need to ask a question on easy populate. I get no response (my browser times out when I insert anything this way). I downloaded a complete file and removed all but the 1st product and uploaded it. EP does not let me know anything has been done (it does work though). I have chmod all EP files to 777 and the temp dir the same way with no change in results and even tried the same on a test Zen site. I use EP on a osCommerce install and it works fine but both Zen sites act the same way. Is this normal or am I missing something?

---

This is an issue I experience on one my sites. I'm really not sure what causes it, probably some sort of configuration by the host, or some other thing, I never got an answer either. Something to do with php.ini files I think.

I should make clear that I only have this issue on a site that has been upgraded with each new ZC release. I don't have this issue with new ZC installations.

Even though the browser times out, easypopulate does what it's supposed to do, although of course, you don't get any notification of what it just did, but it works.

You shouldn't really chmod files to 777, it's not necessary to have any files set to 777.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by tj1

=-=-=-= Snip, snip, snip =-=-=-=-=


Hopefully, awev will have some free time and release an updated version of EP with some more features. :)

---

Woops, I missed that one. I have one more week of vacation left this year that I am going to be taking soon. First on my list is getting my own stores looking and acting as I want them to. Then I can look at doing a re-write of EP. It would be a stripped down version to begin with, just to get something functional out there, then we can worry about adding "more features. :)"

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by dclem

I'm helping a friend set up Zen Cart on his site and I'm tring to install Easy Populate. The problem I'm having is that all the links to download it that I've found on this thread are dead and there is nothing can be found doing a google search.

I'm very surprised at how very little documentation there is to Zen Cart and that this forum is meant as THE documentation on how to use Zen Cart, unless you are willing to pay for a $60 book. :shocking:

I think pointing people to a forum learn about how to use a product is a very bad idea as forums are best used when people can not figure out how to use a product and need help. If no documentation exists then EVERY task requires a post or searching the forum leading in order to get even the simplest thing done. With so many posts, it becomes even more difficult to find a solution as you have to read about many more other problems before you find anything about your own task, which may or may not help.

Even 'tutorials' found in the threads are nothing but FAQs. Why do I need to read a FAQ on how to solve problems that I might encounter while using the product if I don't even have information on how to use the product?

If I could find information using google searches, get a hold of a word or pdf doc, find a good website, or if I could actually find information on this forum there wouldn't be a problem. However they either do not exist or do not provide information that is needed.

I haven't used Zen Cart enough to know whether it is a good product, but not being able to find documentation to figure out how to use it tells me that it is likely only the most dedicated people have any possiblity of success with it and everyone else shouldn't have much hope.

---

DClem,
I will try to answer as best as I can.

1 - When I have tried to download modules in the past I have found that if I go to the next module that I am interested in, down load it, then go back to the first I usually can - it is most likely a server problem that works itself out.

2 - There is an incomplete Wiki - and I think it is mainly for developers. Zen Cart is a branch from osCommerce and so has fewer users, modules, and documentation. Things do seem to be a mess, and I have had trouble finding answers to my own questions. I think if you stick with it you will find that it offers a lot, just not as much as oSc, yet it has a better underlying foundation that is being built on. ZC is more modular/OO than oSc, so it is easier to expand, without having to modify as many modules, and keep up with the even more forums per module/add-on.

3 - Ok, very little in the form of a user's guild, and then more FAQs than how-tos. This is everyone's chance to take a fine product and help make it better. I mentioned near the top of this post that I will take a look at EP and see what I can do. The problem that I have is that I am a working stiff, with a life outside of computer world, and I can afford to take a year off and do everything I would like with this project (Zen Cart), and sub projects (EP being the one known to the people here on the forums, while I would like to rework a couple other areas for my own needs (data entry for customers, shipping, and shipping modules). I have a full plate yet I contribute as I can (girlfriend thinks she gets a small slice of the pie, yet she gets most of my evenings). Find something that you are interested about here at the world of Zen Cart, and help make it better - and that goes for everyone. Not everyone is a programmer nor document writer, yet we can all contribute something.

4 - Zen Cart is powerful, yet lacking in some areas, due to the smaller user base, and lack of documentation. See #2 above for more.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by awhfy99

Sorry, this is not a reply to the above comment but I do need to ask a question on easy populate. I get no response (my browser times out when I insert anything this way). I downloaded a complete file and removed all but the 1st product and uploaded it. EP does not let me know anything has been done (it does work though). I have chmod all EP files to 777 and the temp dir the same way with no change in results and even tried the same on a test Zen site. I use EP on a osCommerce install and it works fine but both Zen sites act the same way. Is this normal or am I missing something?

---

Over here in the Zen Cart world we use an older, more stable, version of EP than what you would find in osC. EP should report what it does with each item it reads in, such as insert, delete, or update, each on its own line. I cant even start to guess what is wrong, as I have used different servers configured differently, and get slightly different actions or work arounds.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by dclem

I didn't ask for technical support, I simply asked for documentation. Is it a sin to expect for software, even if it is open source, to have some documentation to it?

And if you read my post, you would of realized that that I have done quite a bit of searching on this forum and elsewhere for information. I managed to find 3 posts in this thread that tell me where to download easy support, but all three of them do not work. I haven't read all 900+ posts in this thread, but should I be expected to have to read that much before asking for help?

---

Hello again DClem,
How can we help you?

TJ1,
I see we where responding at the same time, and you hit the post button before I did. <lol>

Nice to know that a fresh install works better than an upgrade/update does.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by tj1

This is an issue I experience on one my sites. I'm really not sure what causes it, probably some sort of configuration by the host, or some other thing, I never got an answer either. Something to do with php.ini files I think.

I should make clear that I only have this issue on a site that has been upgraded with each new ZC release. I don't have this issue with new ZC installations.

Even though the browser times out, easypopulate does what it's supposed to do, although of course, you don't get any notification of what it just did, but it works.

You shouldn't really chmod files to 777, it's not necessary to have any files set to 777.

---

Thanks, found out that modhole site is working after my last post and the zip file contained a readme file that explained how to install it. Easy populate is now installed on my friends site. :smile:

I know I sounded cynical in my posts, but I never assume anything works untill I see it work. Although other people may have know about that the site is unreachable from time to time, how should I know whether a link is still good after getting a 404 error? :huh:

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by tj1

This is an issue I experience on one my sites. I'm really not sure what causes it, probably some sort of configuration by the host, or some other thing, I never got an answer either. Something to do with php.ini files I think.

I should make clear that I only have this issue on a site that has been upgraded with each new ZC release. I don't have this issue with new ZC installations.

Even though the browser times out, easypopulate does what it's supposed to do, although of course, you don't get any notification of what it just did, but it works.

You shouldn't really chmod files to 777, it's not necessary to have any files set to 777.

---

I didn't think that it was necessary for the the chmod, just covering all bases. Thanks for the response, both of my sites were installed late last year and I just recently started the changeover from osc. What I will do is to install a fresh one and wholesale move my override folders and my image directory to it and then give it another try.

Without reading the insane number of messages here maybe someone can point me to the soluton of installing easypopulate as the search function did not give me the needed results.

I downloaded it, extracted an simply copied the contents in the directory where of my shop is. which means the temp folder is in the same subfolder than the admin. I guessed this would be right. I cannot see any install procedure anywhere as indicated in the install.txt that comes with the program.

Well, the result looks like this:
http://www.wabo.ro/download/zencart1.jpg
As you can see the menu on scroll down is somewhat strange at least and if you pick easypopulate anyway the screen looks like this with the above visible error message.

The uninstall and install procedure just leads to more error messages in the header, so I just went and deleted every file separately on the server.

Anyway I can export data, but import doesn&#180;t seem to work.
I just copied some product lines and changed some data.
Upload shows success message, but no result when you open the shop.

Also by choosing: "Create Complete tab-delimited .txt file" I cannot find categories for the items to be described. I do use excel to see and work on the file.

Help? What did I do wrong?

A few days ago I posted a question about how to add a new field to be included for uploading and downloading. After quite a bit of looking through the main file, testing and printing variables, I have been able to get my extra field added both to the download as well as uploading. I thought other might be interested in how I did this.

First a few caveats:

1) I was only concerned with the Complete upload/download (and only made mods to those parts of the file)
2) The field I needed to add is an added field to the products_descriptions table. If you need to add a field from another table, this might or might not help you.
3) Line numbers given are approximate (yours may differ slightly).

Line 360

Original:
$filelayout = array_merge($filelayout , array(
'v_products_name_' . $l_id => $iii++,
'v_products_description_' . $l_id => $iii++,
));

Changed to:
$filelayout = array_merge($filelayout , array(
'v_products_name_' . $l_id => $iii++,
'v_new_field_' . $l_id => $iii++,
'v_products_description_' . $l_id => $iii++,
));


Line 791

Original:
$row['v_products_name_' . $lid] = $row2['products_name'];
$row['v_products_description_' . $lid] = $row2['products_description'];
if ($ep_supported_mods['psd'] == true) {
$row['v_products_short_desc_' . $lid] = $row2['products_short_desc'];
}

Changed to:
$row['v_products_name_' . $lid] = $row2['products_name'];
$row['v_products_description_' . $lid] = $row2['products_description'];
$row['v_new_field_' . $lid] = $row2['new_field'];
if ($ep_supported_mods['psd'] == true) {
$row['v_products_short_desc_' . $lid] = $row2['products_short_desc'];
}

Line 1280

Original:
$default_these = array(
'v_products_image',
// redundant image mods removed
'v_categories_id',
[...]
'v_products_width',
'v_products_height'
);

Changed to:
$default_these = array(
'v_products_image',
// redundant image mods removed
'v_categories_id',
[...]
'v_products_width',
'v_products_height',
'v_new_field'
);

Line 1484

Original:
// Need to report from ......_name_1 not ..._name_0
$row['v_products_name_' . $lang['id']] = $row2['products_name'];// name assigned
$row['v_products_description_' . $lang['id']] = $row2['products_description'];// description assigned

Changed to:
// Need to report from ......_name_1 not ..._name_0
$row['v_products_name_' . $lang['id']] = $row2['products_name'];// name assigned
$row['v_products_description_' . $lang['id']] = $row2['products_description'];// description assigned
$row['v_new_field_' . $lang['id']] = $row2['new_field'];

Line 1660

Original:
foreach ($langcode as $lang){
$l_id = $lang['id'];
if (isset($filelayout['v_products_name_' . $l_id ])){ // do for each language in our upload file if exist
// we set dynamically the language vars
$v_products_name[$l_id] = smart_tags($items[$filelayout['v_products_name_' . $l_id]],$smart_tags,$cr_replace,false);
$v_products_description[$l_id] = smart_tags($items[$filelayout['v_products_description_' . $l_id ]],$smart_tags,$cr_replace,$strip_smart_tags);

Changed to:
foreach ($langcode as $lang){
$l_id = $lang['id'];
if (isset($filelayout['v_products_name_' . $l_id ])){ // do for each language in our upload file if exist
// we set dynamically the language vars
$v_products_name[$l_id] = smart_tags($items[$filelayout['v_products_name_' . $l_id]],$smart_tags,$cr_replace,false);
$v_new_field[$l_id] = smart_tags($items[$filelayout['v_new_field_' . $l_id]],$smart_tags,$cr_replace,false);
$v_products_description[$l_id] = smart_tags($items[$filelayout['v_products_description_' . $l_id ]],$smart_tags,$cr_replace,$strip_smart_tags);

Line 2005

Original:
$sql =
"INSERT INTO ".TABLE_PRODUCTS_DESCRIPTION."
(products_id,
language_id,
products_name,
products_description,";

Changed to:
$sql =
"INSERT INTO ".TABLE_PRODUCTS_DESCRIPTION."
(products_id,
language_id,
products_name,
new_field,
products_description,";

Line 2007

Original:
VALUES (
'" . $v_products_id . "',
" . $key . ",
'" . zen_db_input($name) . "',
'" . zen_db_input($v_products_description[$key]) . "',
";

Changed to:
VALUES (
'" . $v_products_id . "',
" . $key . ",
'" . zen_db_input($name) . "',
'" . zen_db_input($v_new_field$key]) . "',
'" . zen_db_input($v_products_description[$key]) . "',
";

On this last change, be careful of your punctuation - it's easy to miss a quote or a '.'

I hope this helps anyone else who is trying to do the same thing that I was.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by earmsby

A few days ago I posted a question about how to add a new field to be included for uploading and downloading. After quite a bit of looking through the main file, testing and printing variables, I have been able to get my extra field added both to the download as well as uploading. I thought other might be interested in how I did this.

First a few caveats:

1) I was only concerned with the Complete upload/download (and only made mods to those parts of the file)
2) The field I needed to add is an added field to the products_descriptions table. If you need to add a field from another table, this might or might not help you.
3) Line numbers given are approximate (yours may differ slightly).

-==-=-=- Cut for length and readability -=-=-=-=-=-

Line 2007

Original:
VALUES (
'" . $v_products_id . "',
" . $key . ",
'" . zen_db_input($name) . "',
'" . zen_db_input($v_products_description[$key]) . "',
";

Changed to:
VALUES (
'" . $v_products_id . "',
" . $key . ",
'" . zen_db_input($name) . "',
'" . zen_db_input($v_new_field$key]) . "',
'" . zen_db_input($v_products_description[$key]) . "',
";

On this last change, be careful of your punctuation - it's easy to miss a quote or a '.'

I hope this helps anyone else who is trying to do the same thing that I was.

---

First, thanks Ellie for taking the time to document it, I have a few notes scattered about my copy, yet I never put it together in a neat package for display.

Second, as you noted, if you have to insert/update/delete from a second table it gets a bit more tricky, just not impossible. Where you mention line 2005, and show the snippet of code, is where the writing operations begins, the other parts formats, and reads, the info - whether from the file or the database, depending on the area, and may create a file for output. Use extra care when mucking around in this area, and double check the database tables to be effected.

I hope that in that last snippet of code the single error I saw just glancing at things is only on what is posted here.

'" . zen_db_input($v_new_field$key]) . "',

Looks as if an opening bracket, "[", is missing. It should be between the d in $v_new_field and the $ in $key, so it looks like:

'" . zen_db_input($v_new_field[$key]) . "',

I am glad you where able to modify things for your needs.

I use a number of different vendors, and each one supplies the info in a different format, with different field names, and with different amounts of info. One vendor does use osC for there demo site, and so uses EP, yet I still have to adjust things for my own site. I like having an UPC/ISBN number so if I list on Amazon/Google I don't have to do more research before listing. Because of this I am looking to create my own script/mod/program that will help in matching up the different headers to EP's, and that will form a basis for any re-write I do. The notes in the current EP files gives hints, and I have been giving myself a crash course in PHP and MySQL, and have my own ideas. I don't know if I will end up with something similar to EPA, yet I hope to dive in starting this weekend. It seems as adding fields tends to be the biggest thing here, then the attribute management. One hurdle at a time.

Hi,

I've tried using EP with a small number of products. I want to try with a larger number of products, and what I want to know is how to handle images with Easypopulate. I intend to store my images in images/cat_abc, images/cat_xyz.

1. I assume EP supports subdirectories, i.e. if I input cat_abc/imagea.jpg into the v_products_image field, this will be recognized. If the directory does not exist, EP will automatically create it. Are these correct assumptions?

2. I like I-H's ability to auto create multiple images in addition to the auto-resizing of small, medium, and large pictures. How can I utilize the features of Image-Handler 2 successfully with EP?

Hi Kai,
In answer to #1 - yes and no. Yes, EP supports sub-directories, and no, it will not create sub-directories - they, and the images, must exist before you upload (import) the information. If you upload the file before you have the images in place then EP will use ZC's default of no_image.gif, forcing you to go back and edit each item to add the photo to it.

As to #2, I am not sure, as I don't have or use IH2, so I can't say 100&#37;, just a guess. My guess would be that IH2 should operate the same as before - consider EP to be something like a typist, entering the product info for you.

Hope this helps some.

The answer to #2 is yes. I have a folder with multiple images (like 1.jpg, 1_a.jpg, etc. They were uploaded to a sub-folder of images using EP and they work just fine. You do have to place the path in the v_image column of EP (images/whatsmyfolder/1.jpg) and upload the images first before the EP is done (just like the man said).

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by awev

Hi Kai,

As to #2, I am not sure, as I don't have or use IH2, so I can't say 100%, just a guess. My guess would be that IH2 should operate the same as before - consider EP to be something like a typist, entering the product info for you.

Hope this helps some.

---

Guess I should have mentioned that the watermarking and zoom features are the two that I use and they work perfectly.

awev - thanks for the clarification on #1.

awhfy99 - did you upload the images using FTP or IH2 prior to running EP? I'm still a little bit confused as to whether I can use IH2 to automatically resize and rename images before EP is used. (as awev said, images have to reside on the server before using EP)

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by kai920

awev - thanks for the clarification on #1.

awhfy99 - did you upload the images using FTP or IH2 prior to running EP? I'm still a little bit confused as to whether I can use IH2 to automatically resize and rename images before EP is used. (as awev said, images have to reside on the server before using EP)

---

If I am understanding everything correctly this is the order that things may be done in (based on an edumayaked [educated estimated wild guess] guess) :

1) Upload images to correct area(s), such as /images/cat_1, /images/cat_2, /images/manufactures, etc
2) Upload the EP file and import it, loading the data into ZC, making sure it knows the correct location and name of the image (could also be done as step 3)
3) Instruct IH2 to create images of different sizes as you see fit (do this as the second step if you want to)
4) Let IH2 add the watermark as an image is called for and displayed - no interaction on your part other than turning the feature on to begin with.

From the look of things it really doesn't matter if you upload the product/item information using EP (step 2) before using IH2 (step 3), or after (step 3 now becomes step 2, and the former step 2 now becomes step 3). ZC picks an image based on what is needed, (i.e., small, medium or large,) and IH2 sees the request and overlays a watermark (a second image, with a high transparency setting). EP doesn't care what image ZC displays, or how IH2 helps out, it only cares that an image exists (such as the main image (medium sized)). The most important thing is step 1, getting the main image into the proper position for both EP and IH2 to work with it.

Again, take what I say with a grain of salt, and do a little testing. I only read the description a few months back for IH2, and other image handlers, and have not installed it, nor looked at the code. This seems to be a best guess on my part.

Two things to keep in mind - how much space all of the images take up on the server (my hosting companies like to limit that), and do you think IH2 will give you just as good of an image as you can create yourself? The three hosting packages I use limit the amount of HDD storage space that I can use, and the number of images are large enough, and the amount of traffic is small enough (wishing it was the other way around), that I let ZC resize my images on the fly. If I had my way I would use my photo editing program to create .gif images for the small/thumbnail views, and then size down my main images as .jpg for the main view, and keep the originals as the large image, and do it all as batch files. This would let me check the images for the quality vs. compression and a few other things, such as estimated download speeds, and adjust as I see fit.

thanks again for the reply. I think I got the hang of it now... my plan:

1. resize my product image(s) into the desired maximum size (400x400). since IH2 does not seem to alter the original image, I thought this would lessen the space requirements on my server.

2. if I want to have multiple images per product, append _01 _02 _03 to the end of the same filename. for example product, product_01, product_02, and so on.

3. upload these images to my category directory, cat_a cat_b cat_c etc.

4. in the EP delimited file, I have to make sure that each item has a unique model number

5. enter the product image URL into the EP file. I only need to input the one filename without any appended numbers (see #2 above). example: cat_a/product.jpg -- IH2 should recognize the other two files automatically (product_01 and product_02)

these are the steps I've come up with so far.

Any tips on how to generate the HTML used for the product description?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by kai920

thanks again for the reply. I think I got the hang of it now... my plan:

1. resize my product image(s) into the desired maximum size (400x400). since IH2 does not seem to alter the original image, I thought this would lessen the space requirements on my server.

=-=-=-= Snipped - don't need to repeat everything here =-=-=-=-=-=

5. enter the product image URL into the EP file. I only need to input the one filename without any appended numbers (see #2 above). example: cat_a/product.jpg -- IH2 should recognize the other two files automatically (product_01 and product_02)

these are the steps I've come up with so far.

Any tips on how to generate the HTML used for the product description?

---

The outline on how you plan to proceed looks good, and correct. Just test it with a couple items to make sure IH2 gets things correct - it should.

That last question is the hardest one to answer without knowing what tools/programs you have available and are familiar with. If you know HTML you can insert the paired tags yourself as you edit the file (say in Excel or OpenOffice Spreadsheet), or use a text editor - Crimson Editor (cedit) or the one built into ZC itself. I like to use a number of programs when I am creating a whole page/site, depending on if I feel like using windoze (HotDog Pro, or Jr/Express for the extra simple/quick) or Linux (Screem) - a program I have from a vendor automatically generates auction listings for me with HTML code in place in M$'s windoze, yet not in Linux, even using win4lin - bummer :( . You can use a word processor that generates HTML based on the features you select (WordPerect, OpenOffice, M$ Word, etc), select view code, copy and paste it into the open file. Even a plain/fancy text editor will work - again if you know HTML.

Just an idea of what I do, and I'll add comments following it.

HTML Code:

---

<p><b> The new Zoxy 321</b> replaces the Yxoz 123.  We have listened to you, our customer, and taking all of your suggestions to heart we created this to meet your current and future demands.  We started from the ground and worked our way up, to help integrate all of the new features, instead of having you guess where everything is.</p>
<p>You asked for more robust process with less energy. Have a look at what we have been able to do for you</p>
<ul><li><b>25% quicker</b> with only half the power - you finish quicker, saving time, and you are able to work on larger projects, or have more projects going at the same time.</li>
<li><b>Better integration</b> means you are able to access the functionality that you need without scratching your head, and losing valuable time, <strong> saving you 10%</strong> in labor compared to the Yxoz 123, and <b> over 15% labor savings</b> compared to our competitors. </li>
<li>Other great features and their benefits goes here, and under a couple more bulleted entries.</li> </ul>
<hr />
<p>The above information is believed to be accurate at the time of this writing.  For more detailed information please see the link below.  </p>

---

So it looks like:
The new Zoxy 321 replaces the Yxoz 123. We have listened to you, our customer, and taking all of your suggestions to heart we created this to meet your current and future demands. We started from the ground and worked our way up, to help integrate all of the new features, instead of having you guess where everything is.
You asked for more robust process with less energy. Have a look at what we have been able to do for you

• 25% quicker with only half the power - you finish quicker, saving time, and you are able to work on larger projects, or have more projects going at the same time.
• Better integration means you are able to access the functionality that you need without scratching your head, and losing valuable time, saving you 10% in labor compared to the Yxoz 123, and over 15% labor savings compared to our competitors.
• Other great features and their benefits goes here, and under a couple more bulleted entries.

<horizontal rule here - this forum doesn't let me reproduce here>
The above information is believed to be accurate at the time of this writing. For more detailed information please see the link below.

The <b> and </b>, as well as <strong> and </strong>, paired tags is for bold, <ul> and </ul> is for unordered list, <li> & </li> is list item, <p> and </p> are the paragraph markers, and <hr /> is a horizontal rule. Note that some items, like the <hr /> is not a paired tag, yet because of the new coding standards, everything should have an opening and closing tag. To get around that, instead of <hr></hr> (the slash "/" denotes a closing tag) the slash is added to the end of the opening tag, and it is understood to be a tag pair by itself. We could do the same with the paragraph tag, such as <p /> as you normally do no have a paragraph within a paragraph, yet for humans to follow along (meaning me) I use the opening and closing tags for paragraphs, not the shortcut method. In the old style of coding HTML the closing tags for paragraphs where omitted, and the horizontal rule did not have a closing take, same with the blank rule tag <br />.

I like to make bold/strong the first couple words or sentence of my opening paragraph, and then the first couple words in the bulleted list. For the list I like listing the benefit first - to grab the attention of the reader, and then the feature that provides that benefit. Helps answer the questions like "What is 25% faster?" or "How did you manage to get an additional 15% improvement while saving 50%?". No, I don't provide all of the details, trade secret or something to that effect, yet give a general idea of how it is done or how I can make that claim. Your style will determine a lot, and testing will help out as well.

Dag nab it, why did you have to ask such a hard question?

Hi,

I have had Zen Cart for over a year now for our hobby shop. My Husband spent countless hours and sleepless nights figuring out how to initially set up the store. Neither of us have any prior php experience, not even much html. :shocking: I understand this forum offers many explanations on how to do things but quite frankly, I just don't understand any of it - it's too technical for me and I don't understand all the acrynoms. :frusty:

Yesterday, my question was whether I could do a bulk product upload on Zen Cart and came across this Easy Populate. :clap: I went to the site and clicked on the link for the demo but there aren't any instructions on how to use the demo. :huh:

The first thing I would like to do with my Zen Cart before "experimenting" is to backup all my data, my store format, current categories, products and layout - how do I do that?

Secondly, I need an easy-to-understand instructions (non-techy as possible) on how to use Easy Populate.

Lastly, is there maybe another and more importantly, easier, solution to the bulk product upload than Easy Populate?

Thank you in advance for all your help! :bigups:

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by UBERHEIT

Hi,

I have had Zen Cart for over a year now for our hobby shop. My Husband spent countless hours and sleepless nights figuring out how to initially set up the store. Neither of us have any prior php experience, not even much html. :shocking: I understand this forum offers many explanations on how to do things but quite frankly, I just don't understand any of it - it's too technical for me and I don't understand all the acrynoms. :frusty:

Yesterday, my question was whether I could do a bulk product upload on Zen Cart and came across this Easy Populate. :clap: I went to the site and clicked on the link for the demo but there aren't any instructions on how to use the demo. :huh:

The first thing I would like to do with my Zen Cart before "experimenting" is to backup all my data, my store format, current categories, products and layout - how do I do that?

Secondly, I need an easy-to-understand instructions (non-techy as possible) on how to use Easy Populate.

Lastly, is there maybe another and more importantly, easier, solution to the bulk product upload than Easy Populate?

Thank you in advance for all your help! :bigups:

---

Backups are always a great idea. If you haven't done one before, what you will need to do (assuming you have access to cPanel as most hosts have this) is to log in and choose the backup option. From there, you can backup your database as well as your store configuration by selecting the appropriate options. The backups are normally downloaded to your PC, so save them where you will remember.

Zen Cart has an override system, meaning that any modified files should be within that framework. Your layout should not be affected as long as you follow the instructions on installing the EP feature. The installation is done by placing the correct files in their correct locations, running a sql patch, and then activating it through your admin, so the worst that should happen is that it will not work until everything is finished.

Once installed, just download a full version of your store (this is the first link under the input section) in Easy Populate. Use a spreadsheet application like Excel97 to open this file. The file you are working on is formatted in columns and rows, the top row MUST be left intact and the last column MUST be populated with EOFEOF on every line that is to be uploaded.

The location of the data is pretty straight forward, whatever follows the v_ on the top line is what goes into that column for each product. Many can be left blank (default values will be inserted like in date_added, date_avaialble, etc. ) but model, name, description, image, caterory (_1 is the uppermost one, _2 is the first sub-category, etc) and status (1 is active, 0 is inactive) all need to be populated.


When you are done adding new products (try just one first), rename and save your file (as tab delimited text). Go into your stores admin, select Easy Populate from the tools menu and click on Browse. Find you file on your PC and select Insert into db. One line should take a few second to do. Hopefully, you will get a confirmation that the product was added (if not, that is another issue). Go into your store an check to be sure that it looks as expected.

Anyone, if I left anything out, please feel free to help me out!

Dennis
www.stampdays.com

I might add that there are at least two contributions that should be added to most stores (in my humble opinion). The first is the "Backups for Zen Cart" (allows MYsql database backups from your admin tool dropdown) and "Save Your Sidebox Layout" (keeps your layout as it is when you save it - in case you upgrade to the latest version of Zen Cart).

Dennis
www.stampdays.com
(An OSC site soon to be Zenned):smartalec:

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by tj1

This is an issue I experience on one my sites. I'm really not sure what causes it, probably some sort of configuration by the host, or some other thing, I never got an answer either. Something to do with php.ini files I think.

I should make clear that I only have this issue on a site that has been upgraded with each new ZC release. I don't have this issue with new ZC installations.

Even though the browser times out, easypopulate does what it's supposed to do, although of course, you don't get any notification of what it just did, but it works.

---

I thought that might be the case here since my installation was 10 months old and the EP worked OK until I upgraded it to 3.7.1 but now I am not sure. I did a fresh install and the EP worked great until I uploaded the EP data from the old install to the new install. The full download did upload and it did show a few delimiter errors generated on line 241 of the functions php (something about an explode of excel_$date). After upload was complete and it showed all 39+ K lines, I tried to upload a one line file and it timed out again. Same thing as before, I get no confirmation on that file. It may be because my db is 150+ categories and almost 40k products (it's a clone of my OSC site) but I don't quite understand why everything works fine on OSC but not on Zen. Especially since the original huge file did give a confirmation (and the errors generated) Leads me to think that maybe a parameter is cockney on the later or is getting reset after the initial use. Don't want to knit-pick, but knowing the if's and what's that EP did or didn't do, could be helpful.

I emailed the author of this mod for before-sale question and never got any reply, so I figure out I'd better not spending any money on something that I will never get any support.

Hi, I'm a newbie trying to figure out how to work w/ both EP & Image Handler.

Problem:

Unlike the basic ZC template which stores all product images in the "Images" folder, IH stores my images into the bmz_cache folders it installed, and gives them random (and very long) image names, making me wonder how I'm supposed to upload batch images using EP into an image folder accessible by my delimited EP file.

How does one go about combining these two modules for streamlined image uploading? :dontgetit

Please help!

Thanks in advance,

Alice

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by bluealice

Hi, I'm a newbie trying to figure out how to work w/ both EP & Image Handler.

Problem:

Unlike the basic ZC template which stores all product images in the "Images" folder, IH stores my images into the bmz_cache folders it installed, and gives them random (and very long) image names, making me wonder how I'm supposed to upload batch images using EP into an image folder accessible by my delimited EP file.

How does one go about combining these two modules for streamlined image uploading? :dontgetit

Please help!

Thanks in advance,

Alice

---

Hi Alice,

Those file names are generated by IH2. You call your images whatever you like and upload them using EP, The IH2 then does it's thing transparently (it never really changes any image files as it's just a renamed copy that you see). Hope this answers your question!

Dennis
www.stampdays.com

Hello! Need some help here. I am using the latest version of ZC and EP. Had help from Nicholas to install EP.

I need some very, very basic instruction.

I saved the store download to my desktop. I opened it with OpenOffice Calc as a tab delimited file. everything looks good.

I need to move nearly 900 items into existing categories. Right now they are in a misc. category.

I changed the category name of two items then saved my file, (same tab-delimited format) and uploaded the file. I checked the two items to see if they showed up in their new home category and they did not. They have not moved.

What have I done wrong? When I download the store again, my changes do not appear in the new text file.

Can someone explain what I did wrong?

Thanks

I forgot to mention that I have EPA (Easy Populate Advanced) not EP and my upload reported as successful. Totally lost here.

Who can help me?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by peppyone

Hello! Need some help here. I am using the latest version of ZC and EP. Had help from Nicholas to install EP.

I need some very, very basic instruction.

I saved the store download to my desktop. I opened it with OpenOffice Calc as a tab delimited file. everything looks good.

I need to move nearly 900 items into existing categories. Right now they are in a misc. category.

I changed the category name of two items then saved my file, (same tab-delimited format) and uploaded the file. I checked the two items to see if they showed up in their new home category and they did not. They have not moved.

What have I done wrong? When I download the store again, my changes do not appear in the new text file.

Can someone explain what I did wrong?

Thanks

---

Hello PeppyOne,
Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, yet I seem to be the one responding first. We don't support the paid version of EP (known as Easy Populate Advanced[EPA]) here, as the code is not readily available to look at, or modify. You will need to seek help from where you purchased it, or have them direct you to the correct place for help, if you didn't purchase it directly from the publisher.

Now the good news. Most likely EPA created a link, and you could check by looking in your store front. You may have to clear your browser's cache first. Worst comes to worst then remove everything from your store (items, not mods or add-ons), then use the revised file to upload everything to the correct categories.

Hi,

I've got zencart running and easy populate installed. I've successfully uploaded small sample .cvs files provided with no problem but whenever I try to do this with my own inventory it simply does not load.

I'm not getting any errors just an empty site. I've taken an existing spreadsheet file that works and just replaced the various columns with my own data. When I go to save it it questions how I want the columns seperated and what kind of quotes I want to use as well.

I think this is maybe where it's going wrong. I'm using OpenOffice. I'll include both the spreadsheet and the .cvs file I save it as. Driving me nuts.

Thanks for any help.

If your file is too big and contains too many data, EP may take more time to finish it. And usually the default maximum execution time of a script is 30s, so it can just time-out while running, leaving you with a blank page. EP readme file should metion somewhere how to set the time limit.

Hi Yellow..

No it shows that the file is uploaded within about 10 seconds at most. I've been wrestling with this all afternoon.

Thanks

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by robinstl

Hi Yellow..

No it shows that the file is uploaded within about 10 seconds at most. I've been wrestling with this all afternoon.

Thanks

---

The way I was saving it was the problem. I chose just to seperate by 'tab' and no quotes and it works.

awev,

You are a dear. Thanks for letting me know. I will see what I can do on the other end. I did purchase this from the publisher directly.

I have read that EP does not help with moving products from one category to another and so this is why I got EPA. It does.

My error as I see it now is I did an upload to the uploads directory and not the database. -------> EPA novice here. <----------

so when I did the import to the database, all went well except for the two test products I was trying to move. arrrrrrgh! It is not enough to simply change the category name. you need a path? Holy cow! what path?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by awev

Hello PeppyOne,
Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, yet I seem to be the one responding first. We don't support the paid version of EP (known as Easy Populate Advanced[EPA]) here, as the code is not readily available to look at, or modify. You will need to seek help from where you purchased it, or have them direct you to the correct place for help, if you didn't purchase it directly from the publisher.

Now the good news. Most likely EPA created a link, and you could check by looking in your store front. You may have to clear your browser's cache first. Worst comes to worst then remove everything from your store (items, not mods or add-ons), then use the revised file to upload everything to the correct categories.

---

Hello again PeppyOne,
I think I found a link for you. It is http://www.zencartbuilder.com/suppor...mod_id=2&id=10
I can read the general forums, yet as I have not purchased the module I can't log into the support area, which is where the link leads to. Also, I don't have a copy of the manual/documentation :( From what I did see, and it was very limited, it looks as if the path is the cpath, what is coposed of category number and item number.

Far be it from me to deny someone an opportunity to make a buck, but I thought the whole idea behind open source was to keep it free. Why is EPA even mentioned on this forum??? It is not open source as the person who modified the original script decided to charge for his work. If I were the among the "powers that be", I would remove every post that hinted at or mentioned EPA and I would also ban the writer from posting on this site.* Call me a hard case if you will, but open source means just that!

Why give free advertising to this "Not So Community Minded Individual"?

* Unless, of course, he is one of those powers. If so, then I am probably in deep dodo for posting this reply. :yuck:

ZC is open-source, that does not mean all add-on products written for it must also be open source.
EP does have a free version though, and buying the paid version or not is your decision.

Yep! you are hard nosed alright. I had no idea that EPA was not also part of this discussion. It was explained gently and since I understand now I will not get the support I need here, I won't return.

I do hope you are spoken to more gently and are "NOT BANNED" if you should ever make a mistake. Of course you probably don't make mistakes or have misunderstandings.

There are lots of very nice, friendly folks around here in the forums. Of course there are always exceptions.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by awhfy99

Far be it from me to deny someone an opportunity to make a buck, but I thought the whole idea behind open source was to keep it free. Why is EPA even mentioned on this forum??? It is not open source as the person who modified the original script decided to charge for his work. If I were the among the "powers that be", I would remove every post that hinted at or mentioned EPA and I would also ban the writer from posting on this site.* Call me a hard case if you will, but open source means just that!

Why give free advertising to this "Not So Community Minded Individual"?

* Unless, of course, he is one of those powers. If so, then I am probably in deep dodo for posting this reply. :yuck:

---

Sorry PeppyOne,
Do stop by from time to time. The exchange of information is always good. And you are always welcome to ask a question. Just understand the limits we have in answering something related to only EPA.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by peppyone

Yep! you are hard nosed alright. I had no idea that EPA was not also part of this discussion. It was explained gently and since I understand now I will not get the support I need here, I won't return.

I do hope you are spoken to more gently and are "NOT BANNED" if you should ever make a mistake. Of course you probably don't make mistakes or have misunderstandings.

There are lots of very nice, friendly folks around here in the forums. Of course there are always exceptions.

---

:hug: Sorry Peppyone, that jab was not meant to go your way. You just happened to tweek a knob with me on that issue. I am all for open source and I take issue will developers exploiting it, not with the buyers who need the features and don't have the skills to develope it for themselves. Guess I am not used to someone taking my rantings so personally, but I don't recall mentioning your name in my outburst at all. Set back, drink a wine cooler, and relax, life is too short to take everything I say seriously!

I would bet that the EPA person is not the original programmer who wrote the EP module (the license says it is open source), and therefore had dibs on it. If every module ever written (or reworked) had a pricetag, there would be no such thing as Zen Cart or osCommerce.

We all would be paying top dollar if we wanted a decent website (like the eCommerce people would love to us do)! Come to think of it, someone could do the same with a multi-product stand-alone (of course the mod in osCommerce wouldn't be of any use at all). It could be it coded and licensed all nice and legal, and I bet they could sell the heck out of it. I am nearly positive that he/she would share the revenue with the original coders, too (right)! Really would help this community, wouldn't it! Maybe a few might benifit from its' use, but not as much as it would help line the pockets of the person who did it. Enough said, I am off of this bandwagon!!

Hi Guys.
I have my document (spreadsheet) ready to upload over 1500 items to the cart. BUT, there is a column in this spreadsheet that is used to calculate the price, Easy Populate is erroring when i try to do the import because of this column. Is there anyway of hideing this column from easy populate, yet keep it in the spreadsheet so that the pricing is right.

Many Thanks,
Steve
www.steve.com.au

Hello Steve,
The easiest way that I can think of is to save two copies of the file. The first, or master, copy you leave alone, and keep the extra column. Next, select save as ... and give it a name like file_for_ep.csv or whatever you want. In the future just update the master and create an EP copy with the new info.

The other option is to create a heading for the column such as v_my_calc_price. Just hope that EP disreguards the column - as it should since you don't actually assing it to anything in the EP files.

Hope this helps.

Thanks
AWEV. much appreciated

Hello,
I'm trying to import items using ep. I got a file from a site called Inventory Source that's supposed to work with ep and OSC, so I assumed it would work with Zen as well. When I try to import, I get this error:
SKIPPED! - Model: - Category name(s) too long (max. 32)
I don't know enough about these txt files to be able to figure out what the problem is, or to build my own from scratch. Is there an easy fix for this? Thank you.

I downloaded EP 1.2.5.4 yesterday and everything was going fine, but I noticed when I try to use the "search" in my admin catalog that no products show up. How can I fix this?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by akalsha

Hello,
I'm trying to import items using ep. I got a file from a site called Inventory Source that's supposed to work with ep and OSC, so I assumed it would work with Zen as well. When I try to import, I get this error:
SKIPPED! - Model: - Category name(s) too long (max. 32)
I don't know enough about these txt files to be able to figure out what the problem is, or to build my own from scratch. Is there an easy fix for this? Thank you.

---

On your site, download a full EP text file and compare the top line of it to the top line of what you are trying to upload (you will need a spreadsheet program like Excel 97). The v_product_model is the first field (not an option) and is limited to 32 characters and it cannot be left blank. In osCommerce, there is a default of 18 (if I remember correctly) and your upload would not work there either. I can see a description being larger than 32 char. but not a model. If the fields are not in the correct sequence, use a spreadsheet and paste the data into their correct locations and save as a tab delimited text file before uploading.

If all else fails, go back to the website and look for some instructions.

Hi, whenever I download my store file, some of the product descriptions get cut off. This mostly happens to descriptions with bullets. How can I fix this problem?

Thanks

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by james739

Hi, whenever I download my store file, some of the product descriptions get cut off. This mostly happens to descriptions with bullets. How can I fix this problem?

Thanks

---

Hello James,
What program are you using to open the file with? Crimson Editor can open a file with a line of up to 32K in length. Other programs, such as spreadsheets, may have a 256 charter limit per entry. A database program, such as MySQL, can declare a entry (field) as being the type of TEXT, what will allow up to 32 or 64K of data (text). Look a couple pages back on this forum for info on programs that don't have small limits, like 2K per item (one page of text). The issues where that EP inserts all of the attribute info for each item, and so the spreadsheets like Excel and OpenOffice would run out of rows.

One question - when you use bullets, do you use the html code to create the list with bullets, or do you use <tab>* so you don't have to type in 4 or 5 spaces, and still have it indented? The tab key inserts a tab charter, and a lot of times that is used as a field separator, and so EP may be putting the rest of the description in the next field, or discarding it - thinking that you have two or more items described, and only using the first.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by lmassia

I downloaded EP 1.2.5.4 yesterday and everything was going fine, but I noticed when I try to use the "search" in my admin catalog that no products show up. How can I fix this?

---

After adding new items you should go to Admin>Tools>Store Manager and use 'Reset ALL Products Master Categories ID'. You should also use Update ALL Products Price Sorter, so that price is sorted correctly.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by jayenne

Hi all, I have written a tutorial explaining the steps and processes involved with importing Attributes using easy populate - I hope it helps.

If there are miss understanding on my part leading to errors please forgive me, correct me then sue me ;)

• on that not I would like to say, BACKUP! then BACKUP AGAIN! any loss of data remains your loss NOT mine - I accept no liability whatsoever for any damage, harm or act of god resulting from you following this tutorial (Phew - close one)....
• ...Also, for a pretty version with tabular examples CLICK HERE

HOW TO: prepare and import an Attribute file using easy populate...

Login in to the backend of your website.

You should ensure that all options and attributes that may be used by any of the products you wish to import, have been created and are correct.

Select from the top menu: tools > Easy Populate

From the right column under Data Files, select Attributes - this will export the current attribute data from your site.

Select Save from the newly created attributes row within the table to save the attributes file to your computer.

You now have a popup window asking you to open/save the file… Save this file to a location on your computer then import this file into Excel (or equivalent) as a tab delimited file.

Reading and understanding the file format, row & columns….

Note: Within the new excel worksheet you will now see a set of headers on the first row (these should never be altered). Each subsequent row is the attribute details of a single product.

For each row, the columns read as follows…

PRODUCTS….

v_products_id = The products ID number... e.g: 375
v_products_model = The products Model number... e.g: 123987

The first two columns v_products_id & v_products_model identify the product you wish to add the attributes to. These columns are the products ID and the products model number.
The product ID is required, the model number is not – however it is a safeguard and should be included where possible.
.
.
.
.
Jayenne

---

Thanks Jayenne for your thoughtful effort to document all this.
I found your tutorial in search for the 'symtom' that I'm having that is, (please follow sequences below)
1. I've been successfully using Easy Populate to bulk upload all products fine.
2. Now I am trying to add 'size' attribute to all products, which I thought would be very simple.
3. Zen cart's Option Name Manager would not let me add to All products except when those All products have at least one option value already set.
4. So I decide to use Easy Populate to 'set' Size Option Name to all products. (I haven't read your tutorial yet to this point) I've linked v_products_model field from step #1 above and set v_attribute_options_id to 2, v_attribute_options_name_1_1 to size, v_attribute_values_id to 19, and v_attribute_values_name to 7. As I upload to my server, it gave updates were successful message.
5. But step #4 is not working regardless of the message. Products don't show the attribute, and it's not there from the Admin.
6. Now I have read your tutorial, and see that v_products_id is a requirement. Downloading from the admin panel of my current products did not give me the field.

Now my question is, does your tutorial applies only to the Advanced version? If so, is attributes functionality not available in standard version? Is there any workarounds?

Thanks in advance,

Steve Kim.

Hello Steve Kim,
The advanced version of Easy Populate (EPA) is a commercial version and supported by the retailer, or the publisher. The instructions you quoted are for the basic Easy Populate, version 1.2.5.4, not the newer (and more buggy) version 2.7x.

Please keep in mind that these are generic instructions, that will work on the majority of systems. Unforutenitly, not all systems are set up the same. Some people may still be running version 1.28 of Zen Cart, while most of upgraded to version 1.37. Some hosting companies may still be running Apache 1.x/PHP 3.x, while most have made the switch to 2.2x/4.x. So, while the instructions are fine in a general sort of way, your mileage may very.

That doesn't mean we wont help, just that we will have to figure out what is happening. I am not the one with knowlge in this area, so I will leave the rest to someone else.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by awev

Hello Steve Kim,
The advanced version of Easy Populate (EPA) is a commercial version and supported by the retailer, or the publisher. The instructions you quoted are for the basic Easy Populate, version 1.2.5.4, not the newer (and more buggy) version 2.7x.

Please keep in mind that these are generic instructions, that will work on the majority of systems. Unforutenitly, not all systems are set up the same. Some people may still be running version 1.28 of Zen Cart, while most of upgraded to version 1.37. Some hosting companies may still be running Apache 1.x/PHP 3.x, while most have made the switch to 2.2x/4.x. So, while the instructions are fine in a general sort of way, your mileage may very.

That doesn't mean we wont help, just that we will have to figure out what is happening. I am not the one with knowlge in this area, so I will leave the rest to someone else.

---

You're right. I should've included what I had when asking if the tutorial was for the commercial version.

What I have is the non-commercial version 1.2.5.4. I basically need some help updating attributes (size) to all of my products - yes, one kind of product.

To summarize the problem, 1. EP does not update products_attributes table even with update success message is returned, and alongside 2. EP's download Model/Attributes tab delimited .txt file does not give me v_products_id field.

However, I've modified the easypopulate.php to include v_products_id fields, like so below, doing EP upload with v_products_id field present still did not update products_attributes table although EP's upload sucess message returns.

Code:

---

// VJ product attributes begin
 case 'attrib':
  $iii = 0;
  $filelayout = array(
  'v_products_id'    => $iii++,
  'v_products_model'    => $iii++
  );

---

Has anyone updated one's products' options using EP, as initial upload (no existing attributes/options)??

Thanks,

Steve Kim.

Hi,
hope someone can help me with an easy way of listing the product at their NETT price with any taxes included.
I have a lot of products to go and edit prices with if I need to work out each one minus the taxes.
Any idea will be great , did a search and couldnt find anything :(

Hello GabbyTwin,

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by gabbytwin

Hi,
hope someone can help me with an easy way of listing the product at their NETT price with any taxes included.
I have a lot of products to go and edit prices with if I need to work out each one minus the taxes.
Any idea will be great , did a search and couldnt find anything :(

---

I am not sure I know what you are asking. In Zen Cart you can turn on the displaying of the price with tax for the customer, administer, one or the other, both or neither.

Most people suggest opening the download from EP in a spreadsheet as it may be quicker than even a flat database (i.e., SQLite). This would make it easy to add your own column, for your own use, such as price_with_tax, and just have it calculated for you (price*tax rate).

If you think everything is being downloaded with the tax already added, and you want to remove it, then the new column would be something like price_without_tax, and you have to figure out how much to discount something to get the price before tax. The price before tax is a little more tricky as you can't just use the tax rate. An example is if I sell something for 100 units (dollars, lair, euros, yens, etc), and tax is 10%, the total is 110 units. If I just subtracted 10% from the final sale price I would be subtracting 11 units (10% of 110), leaving 99 units, a difference of 1%, or 1 unit, from the actual price before tax.

You could also alter EP's files to add a new field (column), and make sure you include the proper code in both the up-load and down-load sections. You would need to make sure you use the correct table and field in EP's database to do so, yet it most likely could be done.

Maybe AWEV can answer this one (Help)
I try to download the attributes and the file shows only one attribute, the same one, for all my products.
Example. If I have a shirt color blue and a choice of red, the attributes download shows all 1050 products as having only a red attribute and ignores the blue attribute.

Thanks

Hello Elkbow,
Sorry, I have not started playing with attributes yet in ZC, and have avoided them in EP up to this point. I know that will change in the near future, I am just worried about one headache at a time right now. Just from what you have said, and other posts in the last 10 or 15 pages, I will try offering a guess.

First, you may want to change your shirt to have no color, and add blue as an option. This would then show blue as an attribute. Make sure that you indicate that the customer MUST select an attribute - with blue being the default, or red as an option.

As to EP adding the attribute to all of your items, I think there is a problem with the logic it uses to retrive the info, and then output it. I am rather sure that you don't sell 1050 shirts of the same type with the same color options. How to fix it I don't know at this point, just rest assured that it doesn't goofe up to much with the actual database(ZC), and that seems to remain correct. This is where I am NOT knowldegable about the things.

To summersize, set the default color of the shirt to blank, add blue as an option, making it the default, and force people to select a color.

Hope this helps in some small way.

Awev
Thanks for the reply. I used that example of color to make it easy. Actually I think I have too many attributes. This is an Archery Shop and there are really a LOT of combinations available to the customer. So What I have now done, is list the products, then go into the attributes and configure them one at a time. If you really want to see how many-- and EP would really help here -- look at archeryshop.com/zencart.

Look up the product Arrows, or under Accessories/Inserts/aluminum Inserts and you will realize how important the EP Attribute function is to me. I was considering a download by MySql, correct the table, then upload, but I'll probable wack my DB.

I appreciate your answer, and when installed for another company, I will use your method at the start.

Elkbow

Hi Elkbow,
Make a backup of your database that is part of ZenCart, then download it to your computer. If you don't have MySQL set up yet go ahead and grab it, along with the GUI tools. You can use the Admin GUI tool to do a restore from the file you downloaded.

Don't worry about messing up your database, since you imported it as a restore operation you can do it again, if you break it the first (or fifth) time, and keep hacking away at it till you get it the way you like it. You can use the Browswer GUI tool to help examine everything, execute "SELECT" commands, run updates, etc.

Once everything is as you like it do a backup of your local copy, drop the ZC database, and a restore from your local backup (the edited, corrected version).

If you have never used MySQL before, or any type of SQL rdbm, then this will be a nice crash course in it. The browser GUI provides some nice, helpful, info in the lower right hand corner of the screen.

I keep getting this error upon checkout -
Please update your order ...
Product Name: Bariatric Mattress Only 48 W ... Quantity Units errors -
You ordered a total of: 1 Min: 0 Units: 0

I only get this error with the products I entered using epa.
The minimum, units and quantity all show up the same in the products manually entered as the products entered via epa.

I have tried to turn off any type of inventory control using the stock, listing and product type edits but nothing takes this error message off. The only way it disappeared was when I went into an item (first entered using epa) manually and changed the product quantity from 1 to 99999. I have over 8000 products that I entered using several different databases. I really don't want to go into the databases and change all the quantities again. I just want to disable any type of inventory control (which I thought I did). I don't have inventory issues.

One more epa related problem - I cannot add or change the quantity of products ordered on any of the items entered using epa. The manual products all have a quantity altering button available at the product description page and the checkout page but never for the epa loaded products.

Any ideas?

Dear Colleagues,

New Zenner here. I note that there are two EasyPop versions available on Download. One is Easypop Langer and the other is Easypop from OSC. Which one is the best, in your opinion. In the meantime, I shall endeavour to read all of the post's associated with EP and try to locate an easy to read and understand method of installing the mod into Zencart.

On another note, why has the issue of there being no way to import XML live feed into Zencart not been resolved yet? If it has been resolved, please post details. On this latter issue, I have read the following article;

http://www.sitepoint.com/article/php...arsing-rss-1-0

Thx.

freshstart.

Does the free download one work on the most recent version of zencart or do we have to purchase the mod for the $65 on langers site?

The version everyone should download is 1.2.5.4 last updated by langer, the other one is older and has many bugs.

Direct links to download EasyPopulate:
http://modhole.com/modhole/index.php...JAS_File_id=60

or

http://www.zen-cart.com/archived_con...p_v1.2.5.4.zip

There's really no need to read any of the post in this thread to be able to successfully install and use EasyPopulate, installation and usage instructions are included in the download.

The standard and free download works on the latest version of ZenCart. No need to purchase the advanced version unless you need more advanced features. I tried the advanced version once and I actually found it a bit more difficult to use so I just stuck to using the standard version.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by treewoman

I keep getting this error upon checkout -
Please update your order ...
Product Name: Bariatric Mattress Only 48 W ... Quantity Units errors -
You ordered a total of: 1 Min: 0 Units: 0

I only get this error with the products I entered using epa.
The minimum, units and quantity all show up the same in the products manually entered as the products entered via epa.

I have tried to turn off any type of inventory control using the stock, listing and product type edits but nothing takes this error message off. The only way it disappeared was when I went into an item (first entered using epa) manually and changed the product quantity from 1 to 99999. I have over 8000 products that I entered using several different databases. I really don't want to go into the databases and change all the quantities again. I just want to disable any type of inventory control (which I thought I did). I don't have inventory issues.

One more epa related problem - I cannot add or change the quantity of products ordered on any of the items entered using epa. The manual products all have a quantity altering button available at the product description page and the checkout page but never for the epa loaded products.

Any ideas?

---

Does anyone have any ideas about this? I am really in need of help to get my site live.