EasyPopulate 4.0 Support Thread

Quote:

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Originally Posted by firstcapitalfirearms

I have multiple wholesalers and would eventually like to add all of them to my site. The problem is that some wholesalers may carry the same product but they may call it a a different model number. Is there an Easy Populate Header (ex. v_products_model) that I can use that would have 1 model set up for all wholesalers. Example 1 wholesaler has a Savage Model Number of 19220 and another has it listed as a straight 19220. Is it possible that I can upload both and it will add up available inventory of both wholesalers.

Hope this makes sense.

Thanks
Mark

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So to understand, you have a single source of inventory, two or more stores drawing from that inventory, each store may call the item a different name (by model?), and you want to upload the quantities of each stores inventory, but have them considered as a single item in your central supply and without either of the stores needing a modification of their model numbers or using a different field to present the model number that they call items?

If that is the case I would say that this plugin as written would not work for you; however, I'm sure it could be modified to suit your needs.

I was originally thinking that a separate field could be used to hold the base model number and that it alone could be used to perform all database functions of EP4; however, that philosophy would also result in a problem when uploading if the unique product # assigned by each store and other information that is different between the two stores is uploaded. So the next thought is, if you're store is functioning as described above, there must be either another table or another field that links the uniquely described items to you're core stock. In that regards, you would need to have a new option developed that would interface with your core stock table and (again as I have tried to restate above the conditions I am considering) update your core stock or you would need to update your core stock after uploading the individual stocks based on the stock available in each store. That last would depend on how you operate/need, and I would suggest that any code development would support both options with a user identified selection option.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Feznizzle

Is there a way to make this work with Cross Sell?

I'm using Cross Sell Plus Advanced Sell Combo

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Could you possibly identify what about using this plugin you would like to see functioning with Cross Sell Plus Advanced Sell Combo?

As is, if that plugin is installed, EP4 will still function, so guessing that there is something about that plugin would like to be able to use EP4 to interface with.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by mc12345678

Been pondering this for a few days. Curious, what happens if you were to add more text before the first ##? I hadn't found anything that considered ## to be an escape sequence. If it still imports only to that point then probably would want to change the ## to something else either before import or in the process of importing. I seem to recall that recently some discussion was had about how/where to code for replacement of characters. Also, be sure to review the csv that is used to import and verify that the text is not cut off in there when saving your csv. If the first suggested test results in being cutoff then there is a variable associated with that field that limits the length of text, if it is not cutoff then there is something that considers ## as an end of the text.

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I searched back and found that http://www.zen-cart.com/showthread.p...69#post1211569 was where a zenner recently identified a place where upon import incoming data could be filtered/scanned/swapped. It may not specifically address your interest/desire, but is a place to start.

hello chadd,

your plugin works fine, is it possible to add "v_products_name" to export file "Model/Price/Qty"?

Output "Model/Price/Qty" like this example:

v_products_model,v_products_name,v_status,v_specials_price,v_specials_date_avail ,v_specials_expires_date,v_products_price,v_products_quantity

Quote:

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Originally Posted by any_way

hello chadd,

your plugin works fine, is it possible to add "v_products_name" to export file "Model/Price/Qty"?

Output "Model/Price/Qty" like this example:

v_products_model,v_products_name,v_status,v_specials_price,v_specials_date_avail ,v_specials_expires_date,v_products_price,v_products_quantity

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Not chadd answering; however, if you're familiar with php/code editing, if as you look from the main file to the export file and follow the path to the export of the file type you are asking about and then add the applicable statements for the variable you are interested in (I think two places would need pdating) then you could add that on your own version of the plug-in. The two places I can think of are the applicable $variable[] = statement and in the SQL to pull that information from the table(s) in question. $variable is used as an example because m not in front of the code to tell you what name should be substiituted for the word variable and haven't played with the code in a few weeks.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by mc12345678

Been pondering this for a few days. Curious, what happens if you were to add more text before the first ##? I hadn't found anything that considered ## to be an escape sequence. If it still imports only to that point then probably would want to change the ## to something else either before import or in the process of importing. I seem to recall that recently some discussion was had about how/where to code for replacement of characters. Also, be sure to review the csv that is used to import and verify that the text is not cut off in there when saving your csv. If the first suggested test results in being cutoff then there is a variable associated with that field that limits the length of text, if it is not cutoff then there is something that considers ## as an end of the text.

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Just making a comment on this just in case someone is looking to manipulate the characters on there own. On the easypopulate_import.php file around lines 550-560 you can modify the content in there to manipulate characters and anything else from the items description that you want. The code below that I've added to those lines creates it to where it replaces most characters, including white space and Microsoft Characters which were my problem:

Code:

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  if (isset($filelayout['v_products_description_'.$l_id ])) { // do for each language in our upload file if exist
                                // utf-8 conversion of smart-quotes, em-dash, en-dash, and ellipsis
                                $v_products_description[$l_id] = ep_4_curly_quotes($items[$filelayout['v_products_description_'.$l_id]]);
                                if ($ep_supported_mods['psd'] == true) { // if short descriptions exist
                                        $v_products_short_desc[$l_id] = ep_4_curly_quotes($items[$filelayout['v_products_short_desc_'.$l_id]]);
                                }
                               
                                // utf-8 conversion on funky characters ------------ [ADDED 8/23 jmadrigal] ----------------------------
                                $v_products_description[$l_id] = str_replace("’", "'", $v_products_description[$l_id]);
                                $v_products_description[$l_id] = str_replace("’", "'", $v_products_description[$l_id]);
                                $v_products_description[$l_id] = htmlentities(trim($v_products_description[$l_id]), ENT_QUOTES);
                               
}

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For the Microsoft Character problem I modified the ep_4_curly function in easypopulaet_4_functions.php. Code Is below:

Code:

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// jamadri - Fixes Microsoft Characters Issue
  $clean_text = str_replace(
  array(chr(145), chr(146), chr(147), chr(148), chr(150), chr(151), chr(133)),
  array("'", "'", '"', '"', '-', '--', '...'),
  $clean_text);

---

Quote:

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Originally Posted by mc12345678

Not chadd answering; however, if you're familiar with php/code editing, if as you look from the main file to the export file and follow the path to the export of the file type you are asking about and then add the applicable statements for the variable you are interested in (I think two places would need pdating) then you could add that on your own version of the plug-in. The two places I can think of are the applicable $variable[] = statement and in the SQL to pull that information from the table(s) in question. $variable is used as an example because m not in front of the code to tell you what name should be substiituted for the word variable and haven't played with the code in a few weeks.

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hello mc12345678,

thank's for your answer.

php editing is my problem, i understand a little bit of them, but not enough.

I think the structure of the export file is better and clearly arranged with the products_name. It's possible that many other users of this plugin think the same.

The export file is smaller and for quick updates clearly represented, products_model and products_name allow better assignment.

You can play with the code several weeks, no problem it's not hurry. a solution for this small problem would be nice.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by any_way

hello mc12345678,

thank's for your answer.

php editing is my problem, i understand a little bit of them, but not enough.

I think the structure of the export file is better and clearly arranged with the products_name. It's possible that many other users of this plugin think the same.

The export file is smaller and for quick updates clearly represented, products_model and products_name allow better assignment.

You can play with the code several weeks, no problem it's not hurry. a solution for this small problem would be nice.

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So to be sure to understand only looking for the export file to have the additional field so that when updating other fields it is better "readable" to update. There is no intention of making changes that will be updating when uploaded correct?

If the code/code change is posted here, will you be able to incorporate it into your files or do you need some other method of providing the information/update?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by mc12345678

So to be sure to understand only looking for the export file to have the additional field so that when updating other fields it is better "readable" to update. There is no intention of making changes that will be updating when uploaded correct?

If the code/code change is posted here, will you be able to incorporate it into your files or do you need some other method of providing the information/update?

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excuse my english, it is not my native language, difficult to find the right words as in native language.

I think you understand the problem, it is better "readable".

If you post the code, i can build it in my php files.

Thanks for the effort.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by any_way

excuse my english, it is not my native language, difficult to find the right words as in native language.

I think you understand the problem, it is better "readable".

If you post the code, i can build it in my php files.

Thanks for the effort.

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That is no problem. I apologize to you and those for which English is not their first language. I should remember to write in clearer english words.

That said, I think that we have communicated well enough. I think I could have something later today for you. I have some other things I am working on today.

Hi,

I'd be grateful for some feedback on what EP4 can do. I have listed below what I want to do with it and if anyone could tell me which items in this list it already does, and the easiest ways to do these, that would be great.

Chad, maybe specifically for you: if there are things listed here that it doesn't yet do, I am happy to wade in and make some mods. It would be easier if you could give me a heads-up on any major blockers to what I want to do, and faster for me if you can point me in any particular directions..

So,

1. My products are all priced by attribute. The price in the product admin page is always set to zero (so attribute prices are added to that and remain as they are).
2. I want to be able to upload multiple new products, with their attribute details (attribute name, attribute price, option name).
3. I then want to be able to:
....3.1. update attribute prices for existing products.
....3.2. add new attributes for existing products.

There are other changes I'd like to make for existing products, but the attributes seem to be the most challenging.

Any advice/suggestions?

Cheers,

Gav

Quote:

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Originally Posted by k9dug

Hi,

I'd be grateful for some feedback on what EP4 can do. I have listed below what I want to do with it and if anyone could tell me which items in this list it already does, and the easiest ways to do these, that would be great.

Chad, maybe specifically for you: if there are things listed here that it doesn't yet do, I am happy to wade in and make some mods. It would be easier if you could give me a heads-up on any major blockers to what I want to do, and faster for me if you can point me in any particular directions..

So,

1. My products are all priced by attribute. The price in the product admin page is always set to zero (so attribute prices are added to that and remain as they are).
2. I want to be able to upload multiple new products, with their attribute details (attribute name, attribute price, option name).
3. I then want to be able to:
....3.1. update attribute prices for existing products.
....3.2. add new attributes for existing products.

There are other changes I'd like to make for existing products, but the attributes seem to be the most challenging.

Any advice/suggestions?

Cheers,

Gav

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If those are the things that you see as a minimum to be needed to load this plug-in, start the installation.

1. Does as is (may need to sequence upload of various datafiles to get from nothing to your final setup.)
2. This is typically at least a two step process currently if I am correct. First upload your product with all the details associated, and then upload the attribute(s) associated with the product. A third interim upload may be necessary to add a new attribute to the database.
3. A. Can do, but realize that the change of proce for one attribute I think is applied across the board for where that attriibute is used.
3. B. Yup, see above.

While chadder is working on an update that would provide more documentation on how to do all this, the basics are this:
A basic report will get new things of the report type into the database. A detailed report will provide more thorough information about the type of thing being worked on.

At the moment, that's the breadth of my recollection of it's functionality. It is very handy for the things you are describing you would like to do. Also, some of the places I said may need multiple steps, may actually only need one, but I haven't played with it enough recently to state that. I am anxiously awaiting one of the support members of my site to populate a file for us to push live. I look forward to using this and its abilities.

Somewhat surprising, the concept of this add-in is actually relatively simple, as it strips away a lot of the user interface, but it also gives the admin a lot of control and does have the potential of incorrectly updating the database. So backup, backup, backup, and test your upload at least one line before you go and try to upload everything. Once you get a sort of stable file, then updates will be easy. :) good luck!

Thanks mc1-8,

OK, I am sort of getting my head round this..

I can create new products by downloading, editing and then importing a Full_ csv.

I can create new attributes for existing products by downloading, editing and then import an Attrib-Basic csv. I've checked in the database and even if I create the same name of attribute for different products, it gets created just once and the id re-used. Good.

To add price to a attributes, for each product, I have to download, edit and then import an Attrib-Detailed csv. Here I add the price, sort order, and any other values specific to an attribute for a particular product. All seems to work. (It does seem strange that the product option name is listed twice for each attribute, in both Attrib-Basic (v_products_options_name_1) and Attrib-Detailed (v_products_options_name)).

OK so it works, albeit with a sequence of 3 file downloads and 3 file imports.

What I need to be able to do is condense this down into a single file import. The reason is, I have to be able to export a full list and send that to my client. He has to be able to easily read the spreadsheet and carry out the following changes:

1. add products
2. add attributes
3. alter attribute prices

Much of my data will be default / handled by me, or I can write code to generate it (eg product model), but I cannot hand over three spreadsheets for monthly updates.

Does this seem feasible, at least for my limited set of procedures?

I can see various ways to do this, such as taking the order of v_products_options_values_name_1 to generate the sort order, using multiple rows per product etc...

Quote:

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Originally Posted by k9dug

Thanks mc1-8,

OK, I am sort of getting my head round this..

I can create new products by downloading, editing and then importing a Full_ csv.

I can create new attributes for existing products by downloading, editing and then import an Attrib-Basic csv. I've checked in the database and even if I create the same name of attribute for different products, it gets created just once and the id re-used. Good.

To add price to a attributes, for each product, I have to download, edit and then import an Attrib-Detailed csv. Here I add the price, sort order, and any other values specific to an attribute for a particular product. All seems to work. (It does seem strange that the product option name is listed twice for each attribute, in both Attrib-Basic (v_products_options_name_1) and Attrib-Detailed (v_products_options_name)).

OK so it works, albeit with a sequence of 3 file downloads and 3 file imports.

What I need to be able to do is condense this down into a single file import. The reason is, I have to be able to export a full list and send that to my client. He has to be able to easily read the spreadsheet and carry out the following changes:

1. add products
2. add attributes
3. alter attribute prices

Much of my data will be default / handled by me, or I can write code to generate it (eg product model), but I cannot hand over three spreadsheets for monthly updates.

Does this seem feasible, at least for my limited set of procedures?

I can see various ways to do this, such as taking the order of v_products_options_values_name_1 to generate the sort order, using multiple rows per product etc...

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So, overall, I would say it looks like you have grasped the default usage. To get your client looking at the data, you could create a new export that would have all the data in one spreadsheet, the complexity though increases as the number of category types for a product does. Though you could make it relatively easy depending on how you want to present your data to your client and of course, what you want to deal with when it comes back.

All of the functions are present in the code to accomplish what you describe, but would need to sort of reorder/group/resequence them to suit the file designation of your choosing. That is further why I stated that it is a powerful plug-in, because almost anything desired to be done with a default database is there.

As for duplicate titles, it is my understanding that there is a move afoot to make the plug-in more multi-language functional and that was what the appended number was primarily about. (Ie language 1, language 2, etc with each language designation meaning something that I can't remember at the moment).

Basically your export code file would contain the formatting and SQL statements to create your client file, and then your import code file would parse the CSV based on the filename.

As an FYI, most likely your client will not have the program(s) necessary to properly save a CSV that would work with this plug-in, so something would need to be done to facilitate that, either you properly save it, or your client obtains a method to properly save it.

OK that's good news, if all the main components are present and just need to be rearranged. Sounds like the way forward will be to create an additional export file type and then an additional import file type in the existing code files. I imagine I might have to create a few different versions of some functions, but the basis will be there.

I'll give it a try. Thanks for the insight.

(As an aside, regarding duplicate column titles for multi-language function: I wonder if it might not be better to end the column headings with standard two-character language codes, instead of "_1", "_2" etc? For example, "v_products_options_values_name_en" and "v_products_options_values_name_es" would be more intuitive than numbered columns, potentially hook into the language system more easily, and also not be order-dependent. Just a thought.. :-)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by k9dug

OK that's good news, if all the main components are present and just need to be rearranged. Sounds like the way forward will be to create an additional export file type and then an additional import file type in the existing code files. I imagine I might have to create a few different versions of some functions, but the basis will be there.

I'll give it a try. Thanks for the insight.

(As an aside, regarding duplicate column titles for multi-language function: I wonder if it might not be better to end the column headings with standard two-character language codes, instead of "_1", "_2" etc? For example, "v_products_options_values_name_en" and "v_products_options_values_name_es" would be more intuitive than numbered columns, potentially hook into the language system more easily, and also not be order-dependent. Just a thought.. :-)

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It wouldn't surprise me if that is the direction that chadder is/was going with the update. I do understand that the version to be posted in the plugins area is a large code change as when I began R&D for stock by attributes I was given some coding suggestions above and beyond a normal merge of instructions.

On the otherhand, I hope that his heart didn't just sink 3 miles deep from seeing that suggestion. :) It makes sense.

Oh I hope not! He's doing a grand job.

I'll get stuck into my mods and if I come up with anything that works I'll let you guys see it.

Cheers :)

I am having two issues with getting the v_products_description_1 field to update.

1. It seems to load on a completely new product but when I try to update it does not change.
2. I also have issues with it truncating the field at random lengths. I have queries that search and replace all special characters with their HTML friendly equivalent which seemed to help in some instances. These are MEMO fields in Access 2007 and when I export I always go into the export spec file and make sure the field is set to MEMO and has a width of 8000 characters or so.

The text files look good and import the other fields like quantity and call the correct values. I'm currently working trying to update the Manufacturer: Charles Industries on my www.navigatorschoice.com site with is v1.5.0 but have the same problems with www.scubastevesmarine.com which is v1.5.1.

I have attached the file I'm importing currently. A link to one of the items is http://www.navigatorschoice.com/inde...oducts_id=1527, it updated successfully the quantity to zero and product is call to 1. But the description should have had some red text added to it which didn't update.

Any assistance with these issues is appreciated.

Can anyone please give me the link to the plugin for this add on? I'm trying to make sure I keep up with all my plugins with the most recent version and given the fact that there are several "Easy Populate" add ons I'm not sure which is which. Thank you!!!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by joyjoy

Can anyone please give me the link to the plugin for this add on? I'm trying to make sure I keep up with all my plugins with the most recent version and given the fact that there are several "Easy Populate" add ons I'm not sure which is which. Thank you!!!

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This plugin is yet to be published to the download section of ZenCart; however, like in many/most forums, if you review the first couple of posts http://www.zen-cart.com/showthread.p...t-Thread/page1 you should be able to determine from where a plug-in may be obtained. In this case, it is available on github, but should be submitted for ZenCart review relatively soon by the author.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by scubasteve

I am having two issues with getting the v_products_description_1 field to update.

1. It seems to load on a completely new product but when I try to update it does not change.
2. I also have issues with it truncating the field at random lengths. I have queries that search and replace all special characters with their HTML friendly equivalent which seemed to help in some instances. These are MEMO fields in Access 2007 and when I export I always go into the export spec file and make sure the field is set to MEMO and has a width of 8000 characters or so.

The text files look good and import the other fields like quantity and call the correct values. I'm currently working trying to update the Manufacturer: Charles Industries on my www.navigatorschoice.com site with is v1.5.0 but have the same problems with www.scubastevesmarine.com which is v1.5.1.

I have attached the file I'm importing currently. A link to one of the items is http://www.navigatorschoice.com/inde...oducts_id=1527, it updated successfully the quantity to zero and product is call to 1. But the description should have had some red text added to it which didn't update.

Any assistance with these issues is appreciated.

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I've been thinking about this the last couple of days, but unfortunately haven't been at the right computer long enough to download and review your sample file.
I'm curious though about the lack of updating description 1 after originally uploading it.
What file type is/was used to originally insert it and then what filetype is/was used to try to update it? What type of modification was attempted? Was it just an attempt to add html color coding? (If so, I can't remember if there are tag filters in this plug-in and if there are whether those tags missing are the ones "needed/desired".

Unfortunately there is also an added complexity of all of the substitutions needed for the Access 2007 conversion.

A little more description/clarity is needed (ie. about where all of this "work" is occurring and tests done to possibly determine the cause of the random truncation. Anything consistent about the text file that is updated in relationship to the truncation point? Etc...)

I need to:

1. Move products to new categories.
2. Delete the old categories

Moving did not seem to be a problem, I just changed the "v_categories_name_1" reference. HOWEVER... when I did this, all the products showed up as LINKED. @#%$!!!

Just as annoying, there appears to be no way to delete the old categories, short of going manual.

Grrrrrrrrrrrr! Are there any paid mods out there that are worth a look? I'd pay a grand without batting an eye for a simple way to edit my db en masse.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by mc12345678

I've been thinking about this the last couple of days, but unfortunately haven't been at the right computer long enough to download and review your sample file.
I'm curious though about the lack of updating description 1 after originally uploading it.
What file type is/was used to originally insert it and then what filetype is/was used to try to update it? What type of modification was attempted? Was it just an attempt to add html color coding? (If so, I can't remember if there are tag filters in this plug-in and if there are whether those tags missing are the ones "needed/desired".

Unfortunately there is also an added complexity of all of the substitutions needed for the Access 2007 conversion.

A little more description/clarity is needed (ie. about where all of this "work" is occurring and tests done to possibly determine the cause of the random truncation. Anything consistent about the text file that is updated in relationship to the truncation point? Etc...)

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Original file type that was upload was a text file. I don't think this is the issue as the scubastevesmarine.com site was originally uploaded with Advanced Easy Populate 3.0.3 (tab delimited text file) and the Navigatorschoice.com was originally loaded with this version of EP4 a csv text file. They both experience the same issue.

Of course both sites now use EP4 and a csv text file. I have developed a search and replace code in Access to change all the special characters to their HTML equivalent to fix the issue with special characters causing a problem if loaded as the special character and not HTML. I have experienced copyright symbols, etc causing problems with loading of long memo text. Simple but long replace function that works effectively at cleaning up all the special characters. I'll put the code at the end of this post in a quote.

As for what I'm modifying it would be just uploading the complete descriptions now that I have figured out a way to resolve the special characters issue in a manner that is efficient for fixing 14,000+ items. The file I attached is adding new text which is highlighted in red. Essentially the same thing just a small sample that is easy to work with. I could manually do this for these but it really wouldn't address the issue of 100's or 1,000's of items that need to be updated, which is the real issue.

The products all contained in a Access 2007 database for each website 14,000 in on and 4,000+ in the other. All the queries build export tables to update various fields on the website. As I indicated above the description field is "cleaned" of special characters. For a description update the file exported would typically have the v_product_description_1 field at the end of the table to make the file specification in Access easier to deal with in setting the export field to a Memo field and setting the character length to a sufficient length to capture all the characters in the field for each product (I have tried differing lengths 8k, 10k, 12k all produce same import results). I have also tried loading just the description field alone with the only other field being product_model, same results.

The necessity to clean the special characters comes from the supplier whose data files send the HTML code mixed with special characters as opposed to their HTML equivalents. I have never had issue with the ACCESS 2007 export file function other than with this field. The csv files it creates function properly on any other import except for the description field.

One other thing it seems the fields while random seem to cut off around 400 or so characters if I recall correctly.

I appreciate any assistance you can provide. Let me know if there is anything else I could provide to assist in troubleshooting the issue. Thanks again.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ACCESS 2007 REPLACE SPECIAL CHARACTERS FUNCTION

unction DescSpecCharToHTML(v_products_description_en) As String

Dim fdesc_nospec As String

fdesc_nospec = Replace(Replace(Replace(Replace(Replace(Replace(Replace(Replace(Replace(Replace( Replace(Replace(Replace(Replace(Replace(Replace(v_products_description_en, Chr(34), """), Chr(145), "‘"), Chr(146), "’"), Chr(147), "“"), Chr(148), "”"), Chr(153), "™"), Chr(174), "®"), Chr(169), "©"), Chr(96), "`"), Chr(44), ","), Chr(176), "°"), Chr(39), "'"), Chr(126), "~"), Chr(153), "™"), Chr(133), "…"), Chr(252), "ü")

DescSpecCharToHTML = fdesc_nospec

End Function

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Also here are the EP4 settings if they might help with resolving the issue:

Upload Directory: MY_ADMIN_UPLOADS
Verbose Feedback: TRUE
Split Records: 4000
Execution Time: 120
Convert Curly Quotes: No Change
Convert Char 0x92: No Change
Enable Products Metatags: 1
Enable Products Music: 0

Custom Products Fields
Product Short Descriptions: FALSE
Product Unit of Measure: FALSE
Product UPC Code: FALSE
Google Product Category: FALSE
Manufacturer's Suggested Retail Price: FALSE
Group Pricing Per Item: FALSE
Exclusive Products Mod: FALSE

User Defined Products Fields:

Installed Languages
1-en: English
Default Language: 1-English
Internal Character Encoding: UTF-8
DB Collation: utf8

Database Field Lengths
categories_name:32
manufacturers_name:32
products_model:32
products_name:100

Hi,

Been using the Advanced Easy Populate on v1.3.9. Does anyone know if it will still work in v1.5.1?
Is Easy Populate 4.0 better? What is the difference? This is beta version, is it still unstable and subject to testing?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by waterbender

Hi,

This is beta version, is it still unstable and subject to testing?

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Sorry, for not being able to answer the rest of your questions, but as I understand it, this is to be published soon as an actual Zen Cart plug-in, but the author has had some other priorities above doing that. I would say that the only unstable part I have observed is the user knowing what the program will do based on the data provided and it's current limitations. (Ie, documentation does not have great depth... Yet.)

One thing that seems to be relatively different from other versions of easy populate is that it depends on the product model field to perform all of its actions. Subject to testing? Well isn't every plug-in? It does seem that those new to it go through a sort of initial testing phase as they become familiar with the file naming requirements, the interaction of the various files (what needs to be imported to get from nothing to a product priced by newly created attributes for example). Beyond that, I can't say that I have used the other versions identified. To me, the code of this plug-in is relatively straight forward so if there is something to be done with it like to rearrange or add onto, its not terribly difficult to find where to put it.

I do know there is some development being done to better support multiple languages, but not sure where that is at in development.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by waterbender

Hi,

Been using the Advanced Easy Populate on v1.3.9. Does anyone know if it will still work in v1.5.1?
Is Easy Populate 4.0 better? What is the difference? This is beta version, is it still unstable and subject to testing?

---

Advanced Easy Populate is not compatible with 1.5.1 as I understand it. Which is the reason I made the switch recently. It required me to make some changes to the files the EOREOR record is no longer required. The files are CSV instead of tab-delimited. You must upload the files prior to import and split them if necessary instead of streaming the import. I found this to be much faster than Adv EP. Overall I think this version is as good or better. It does everything I need it to do. I'm having a small issue with the long text description field but that may be unique to my situation. Still trying to figure that out. One of the changes with Categories is using the ^ symbol instead of ~ to delimit the categories. Overall once I got used to the changes I like this version a little better than Adv EP. You can install EP4 in 1.3.9h and use them both if you haven't upgraded to 1.5.1 yet while you transition.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by scubasteve

Original file type that was upload was a text file. I don't think this is the issue as the scubastevesmarine.com site was originally uploaded with Advanced Easy Populate 3.0.3 (tab delimited text file) and the Navigatorschoice.com was originally loaded with this version of EP4 a csv text file. They both experience the same issue.

Of course both sites now use EP4 and a csv text file. I have developed a search and replace code in Access to change all the special characters to their HTML equivalent to fix the issue with special characters causing a problem if loaded as the special character and not HTML. I have experienced copyright symbols, etc causing problems with loading of long memo text. Simple but long replace function that works effectively at cleaning up all the special characters. I'll put the code at the end of this post in a quote.

As for what I'm modifying it would be just uploading the complete descriptions now that I have figured out a way to resolve the special characters issue in a manner that is efficient for fixing 14,000+ items. The file I attached is adding new text which is highlighted in red. Essentially the same thing just a small sample that is easy to work with. I could manually do this for these but it really wouldn't address the issue of 100's or 1,000's of items that need to be updated, which is the real issue.

The products all contained in a Access 2007 database for each website 14,000 in on and 4,000+ in the other. All the queries build export tables to update various fields on the website. As I indicated above the description field is "cleaned" of special characters. For a description update the file exported would typically have the v_product_description_1 field at the end of the table to make the file specification in Access easier to deal with in setting the export field to a Memo field and setting the character length to a sufficient length to capture all the characters in the field for each product (I have tried differing lengths 8k, 10k, 12k all produce same import results). I have also tried loading just the description field alone with the only other field being product_model, same results.

The necessity to clean the special characters comes from the supplier whose data files send the HTML code mixed with special characters as opposed to their HTML equivalents. I have never had issue with the ACCESS 2007 export file function other than with this field. The csv files it creates function properly on any other import except for the description field.

One other thing it seems the fields while random seem to cut off around 400 or so characters if I recall correctly.

I appreciate any assistance you can provide. Let me know if there is anything else I could provide to assist in troubleshooting the issue. Thanks again.

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Okay, so there was a communication issue. My question was basically what is the name of the file that you are uploading to your database? (Provided as examples even though the capitalization and length of the filename may not be correct for this plugin: Basic, Full, Advanced, Attributes, etc...)

In order to identify why the description block as reported here will not update even though a new/revised line of data is provided, it is important to know some of the other details besides those from the screen:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by scubasteve

Also here are the EP4 settings if they might help with resolving the issue:

Upload Directory: MY_ADMIN_UPLOADS
Verbose Feedback: TRUE
Split Records: 4000
Execution Time: 120
Convert Curly Quotes: No Change
Convert Char 0x92: No Change
Enable Products Metatags: 1
Enable Products Music: 0

Custom Products Fields
Product Short Descriptions: FALSE
Product Unit of Measure: FALSE
Product UPC Code: FALSE
Google Product Category: FALSE
Manufacturer's Suggested Retail Price: FALSE
Group Pricing Per Item: FALSE
Exclusive Products Mod: FALSE

User Defined Products Fields:

Installed Languages
1-en: English
Default Language: 1-English
Internal Character Encoding: UTF-8
DB Collation: utf8

Database Field Lengths
categories_name:32
manufacturers_name:32
products_model:32
products_name:100

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For example, I don't think that having the model name and description 1 fields in the attributes file will result in a change to description 1.
If however, an applicable/appropriate filename is being used, then there is probably yet some special character in the data. Might do some sort of check for characters to be allowed in the text of the field after all of the substitutions. Also, look through your CSV that is to be manipulated using a standard text editor/viewer to verify that the text is not cutoff there at/after each save. May even want to save the file with a different name as you work from step to step so that you can run a text compare to see what changes between the two.

I'm still a little unclear as to at what point in the process the text of description 1 gets truncated. Is it from the export by access where the information is treated as a memo of tens of thousands of characters, or is it upon import to Zen Cart, or is it somewhere in between (ie, change something about the file?)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by scubasteve

Advanced Easy Populate is not compatible with 1.5.1 as I understand it. Which is the reason I made the switch recently. It required me to make some changes to the files the EOREOR record is no longer required. The files are CSV instead of tab-delimited. You must upload the files prior to import and split them if necessary instead of streaming the import. I found this to be much faster than Adv EP. Overall I think this version is as good or better. It does everything I need it to do. I'm having a small issue with the long text description field but that may be unique to my situation. Still trying to figure that out. One of the changes with Categories is using the ^ symbol instead of ~ to delimit the categories. Overall once I got used to the changes I like this version a little better than Adv EP. You can install EP4 in 1.3.9h and use them both if you haven't upgraded to 1.5.1 yet while you transition.

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Thanks for these helpful info, mc12345678 and scubasteve.

A few more questions:
"You must upload the files prior to import and split them if necessary instead of streaming the import."
- Do you mean I have to upload the file and then click import? Where do I upload the file? Is there a limit on the number of products?

"I'm having a small issue with the long text description field but that may be unique to my situation."
- I use long description regularly. What issues are you experiencing?

Can someone show me a sample files with all the necessary field titles? These are the fields I use in advanced easy populate. Are they totally different now?
v_products_id (How do I use products_id as the unique primary index in EP4?)
v_products_model (If products_id can be the primary index, can products_model field still be used?)
v_products_type (Do I still put "Product - General" in this?)
v_products_image
v_products_name_en
v_products_description_en
v_products_url_en
v_specials_price
v_specials_date_available
v_specials_expires_date
v_products_price
v_products_weight
v_products_date_available
v_products_date_added (Is there a specific date format to follow in EP4?)
v_products_quantity
v_products_quantity_order_units
v_products_quantity_order_min
v_products_quantity_mixed
v_products_qty_box_status
v_manufacturers_name
ptc_categories_index_path (You said ^ is used instaed of ~)
ptc_categories_destination_path
ptc_categories_linked_path
v_tax_class_title
v_products_status
EOREOR (If this is no longer required, what do we use instead?)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by waterbender

Thanks for these helpful info, mc12345678 and scubasteve.

A few more questions:
"You must upload the files prior to import and split them if necessary instead of streaming the import."
- Do you mean I have to upload the file and then click import? Where do I upload the file? Is there a limit on the number of products?

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Yes, Easy Populate 4 is in the Tools Menu just as AEP similar interface for uploading files. No limit that I know of, I have over 14,000 items in one store. I can't load all those at once so anything I do updating all products I split into 4,000 items per file. I believe the default is 2,000. This is changed in the Configuration menu item for EP4.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by waterbender

"I'm having a small issue with the long text description field but that may be unique to my situation."
- I use long description regularly. What issues are you experiencing?

---

See my previous posts on page 112 and 113 of this thread. Hoping someone can figure out what the issue is, I'm stumped.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by waterbender

Can someone show me a sample files with all the necessary field titles? These are the fields I use in advanced easy populate. Are they totally different now?
v_products_id (How do I use products_id as the unique primary index in EP4?)
v_products_model (If products_id can be the primary index, can products_model field still be used?)
v_products_type (Do I still put "Product - General" in this?)
v_products_image
v_products_name_en
v_products_description_en
v_products_url_en
v_specials_price
v_specials_date_available
v_specials_expires_date
v_products_price
v_products_weight
v_products_date_available
v_products_date_added (Is there a specific date format to follow in EP4?)
v_products_quantity
v_products_quantity_order_units
v_products_quantity_order_min
v_products_quantity_mixed
v_products_qty_box_status
v_manufacturers_name
ptc_categories_index_path (You said ^ is used instaed of ~)
ptc_categories_destination_path
ptc_categories_linked_path
v_tax_class_title
v_products_status
EOREOR (If this is no longer required, what do we use instead?)

---

v_products_name_en now v_products_name_1
v_products_description_en now v_products_description_1
v_products_url_en now v_products_url_1
anything with an _en ending is now _1, metatags fields come to mind as other fields where this is an issue.

Date format hasn't changed. 9/14/2012 0:00

I don't believe you update these category fields below anymore for the product category I use v_categories_name_1 (format... Top Category^Sub Cat1^Sub Cat2). I used to load categories separately with sort orders, not sure if you can do this in EP4. I haven't tried to play around with updating sort orders on categories.

ptc_categories_index_path (You said ^ is used instaed of ~)
ptc_categories_destination_path
ptc_categories_linked_path

There is no replacement for EOREOR the field goes away under EP4, took me awhile to realize that.

You can do a complete download which will have all the field names as an example. EP4 can also be installed with AEP3.0.3 without conflicting then you can remove AEP3.0.3 before upgrading your site to 1.5.1.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by mc12345678

Okay, so there was a communication issue. My question was basically what is the name of the file that you are uploading to your database? (Provided as examples even though the capitalization and length of the filename may not be correct for this plugin: Basic, Full, Advanced, Attributes, etc...)

---

Here are some of the filenames:
Added Products Export.csv
Specials Prices with Description Export.csv
zzCharles Products Update Export.csv
Export Description Update HTML.csv

Quote:

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Originally Posted by mc12345678

In order to identify why the description block as reported here will not update even though a new/revised line of data is provided, it is important to know some of the other details besides those from the screen:

For example, I don't think that having the model name and description 1 fields in the attributes file will result in a change to description 1.
If however, an applicable/appropriate filename is being used, then there is probably yet some special character in the data. Might do some sort of check for characters to be allowed in the text of the field after all of the substitutions. Also, look through your CSV that is to be manipulated using a standard text editor/viewer to verify that the text is not cutoff there at/after each save. May even want to save the file with a different name as you work from step to step so that you can run a text compare to see what changes between the two.

I'm still a little unclear as to at what point in the process the text of description 1 gets truncated. Is it from the export by access where the information is treated as a memo of tens of thousands of characters, or is it upon import to Zen Cart, or is it somewhere in between (ie, change something about the file?)

---

The description gets truncated during the import to Zen Cart. The text files being exported are not the issue as far as containing all the description. I don't load descriptions with attributes. Only with a special price change, normal price, quantity and weight updates. I also believe I have tried it with only model and description so the only thing being updated was description.

When I dissected a couple of products the place where it truncated had no special character, it is very strange. I'm going to try again with a description only update. If that doesn't work I'll try updating all descriptions to NULL and reload them and see if that works. I'll let you know how that turns out.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by scubasteve

I don't believe you update these category fields below anymore for the product category I use v_categories_name_1 (format... Top Category^Sub Cat1^Sub Cat2). I used to load categories separately with sort orders, not sure if you can do this in EP4. I haven't tried to play around with updating sort orders on categories.

---

So does anyone know how to import using products_id instead of products_model?

My next questions are how to import product categories and attributes.

For product categories, the fields in advanced easy populate are shown below. What about the fields in EP4?
c_categories_index_path
c_categories_destination_path
c_categories_image
c_sort_order
c_categories_status
cd_categories_name_en
cd_categories_description_en

For attributes, the example file is confusing because it is quite different from that of advanced easy populate. Do we not use the id of option names and id of option values? Am I right that we still have to create the option name and option value before importing attributes using EP4?

Regarding your issue with product description getting truncated, it can also happen in advanced easy populate. This is usually caused by non-standard quote marks, apostrophe or any unusual symbols.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by waterbender

Thanks for these helpful info, mc12345678 and scubasteve.

A few more questions:
"You must upload the files prior to import and split them if necessary instead of streaming the import."
- Do you mean I have to upload the file and then click import? Where do I upload the file? Is there a limit on the number of products?

"I'm having a small issue with the long text description field but that may be unique to my situation."
- I use long description regularly. What issues are you experiencing?

Can someone show me a sample files with all the necessary field titles? These are the fields I use in advanced easy populate. Are they totally different now?
v_products_id (How do I use products_id as the unique primary index in EP4?)
v_products_model (If products_id can be the primary index, can products_model field still be used?)
v_products_type (Do I still put "Product - General" in this?)
v_products_image
v_products_name_en
v_products_description_en
v_products_url_en
v_specials_price
v_specials_date_available
v_specials_expires_date
v_products_price
v_products_weight
v_products_date_available
v_products_date_added (Is there a specific date format to follow in EP4?)
v_products_quantity
v_products_quantity_order_units
v_products_quantity_order_min
v_products_quantity_mixed
v_products_qty_box_status
v_manufacturers_name
ptc_categories_index_path (You said ^ is used instaed of ~)
ptc_categories_destination_path
ptc_categories_linked_path
v_tax_class_title
v_products_status
EOREOR (If this is no longer required, what do we use instead?)

---

I can only answer some (maybe several, but not all of the questions.)

To have the data captured in the database, yes the file must exist on the server. Either it is uploaded by your favorite ftp program or from within the admin panel for easy populate 4.
Essentially, the number of products is really based on your servers; however, EP4 provides a split function that will make chunks out of a large file based on the settings you have the flexibility to change.

As to the issues with the long text description that are being experienced by scubasteve, there is still some investigation about the data. Essentially as I understand the situation, Access 2007 contains much of the data to be processed in scubasteve's situation; however, once that data is exported and at some point imported into ZC, there are characteristics about the description field that are not carried over. Although the data is initially "filtered" to some extent, I'm thinking that regardless of using EP4 or not that there would be an issue if the data were just copied and pasted into a SQL editor or even directly into ZC (that something would be modified either to make it work or to prevent a change.) As said, a bit unique situation. Others use this plug-in and are able to update the description1 field without issue.

Currently, the mandatory field is product_model, but if it were changed to the product id, then some other work would need to be done to properly address using it the product id, as the primary field. Yes if changed the product model would still be usable as a field. In fact any field that is already in the database would still be usable, but the code may need some updates to handle the specific field(s).

Is there a way to add a "User Defined Products Field", to the Detailed Products Attributes (detailed multi-line) export?

Do not care about importing it. Only as a reference on Detailed Products Attributes export!

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by scubasteve

Here are some of the filenames:
Added Products Export.csv
Specials Prices with Description Export.csv
zzCharles Products Update Export.csv
Export Description Update HTML.csv



The description gets truncated during the import to Zen Cart. The text files being exported are not the issue as far as containing all the description. I don't load descriptions with attributes. Only with a special price change, normal price, quantity and weight updates. I also believe I have tried it with only model and description so the only thing being updated was description.

When I dissected a couple of products the place where it truncated had no special character, it is very strange. I'm going to try again with a description only update. If that doesn't work I'll try updating all descriptions to NULL and reload them and see if that works. I'll let you know how that turns out.

---

Okay, so EP4 is based heavily on using the right "product" at th right time, with the right information. Off the top of my head, I can't remember if it will properly handle just any old filename, but if you are wanting to updated information that wold be provided in a full export, then the start of the filename needs to closely match the same. Basic filename. (Typically anything up to and including EP4, also the capitalization is important as well.)

When stating that there was no special character, does that mean didn't "see" a special character or was that by bit/byte inspection to verify that each character was an expected alpha-numeric character or end-of-line, etc...? State that becauuse, just because don't see it, doesn't mean it's not there.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by waterbender

So does anyone know how to import using products_id instead of products_model?

My next questions are how to import product categories and attributes.

For product categories, the fields in advanced easy populate are shown below. What about the fields in EP4?
c_categories_index_path
c_categories_destination_path
c_categories_image
c_sort_order
c_categories_status
cd_categories_name_en
cd_categories_description_en

For attributes, the example file is confusing because it is quite different from that of advanced easy populate. Do we not use the id of option names and id of option values? Am I right that we still have to create the option name and option value before importing attributes using EP4?

Regarding your issue with product description getting truncated, it can also happen in advanced easy populate. This is usually caused by non-standard quote marks, apostrophe or any unusual symbols.

---

Code change to deal with product_id.

Regarding categories and the like, ZC was built on a basic process, so yes need to have option names and values in place before assigning attributes. Yes, do not have to use the database number (category id or other designated number) to add and associate items, but do need to be sure spelling and capitalization are equivalent. From much of what I've recently been seeing, people would prefer to have the product-id and maybe keep with the option description to do the linking.

Anyways, it really is best to simply export a file of the desired type to see the structure. It is much easier to see than to describe and yes the instructions are lacking, but if you can look/get past that I would say that for the most part it is rather intuitive with little specific database knowledge. Can't remember where I saw it recently, but cases where language is referenced I thought the number corresponded to the number of the language in one of the database tables. It does not necessarily mean English, German, or Dutch for example, but that area is spposedly one that is being worked on to make it more multi-language friendly.

But, basically, yes multiple files can get uuploaded to build to a final database; however, once some backgrond data is in place, fewer fields need updating and therefore fewer files get updating.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Kevin205

Is there a way to add a "User Defined Products Field", to the Detailed Products Attributes (detailed multi-line) export?

Do not care about importing it. Only as a reference on Detailed Products Attributes export!

---

Sorry Kevin, been trying to be sure to give some feedback to those things I was able, so as not to cause something to slip through the cracks. Lots of good conversations and questions:

So as for yours, would follow the export code and in particular the detailed report section. I think there are three rows/data areas that need updating to incorporate the desire data in the export. Essentially has to be captured in the data stream (array variable) and has to be pulled via the SQL which I think takes the other two entries. The code is pretty straight forward if you go down the rabbit hole.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by mc12345678

Sorry Kevin, been trying to be sure to give some feedback to those things I was able, so as not to cause something to slip through the cracks. Lots of good conversations and questions:

So as for yours, would follow the export code and in particular the detailed report section. I think there are three rows/data areas that need updating to incorporate the desire data in the export. Essentially has to be captured in the data stream (array variable) and has to be pulled via the SQL which I think takes the other two entries. The code is pretty straight forward if you go down the rabbit hole.

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Is easypopulate_4_export.php handling the export? Would other files get involved to achieve this task?

Thank you for helping.

It looks like I can adapt most things except product_id. Some guy said that we can add products_id as a custom field under User Defined Products Fields. Once I done that, will I be able to use products_id as the primary index instead of products_model? Or do I still mess with codes?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Kevin205

Is easypopulate_4_export.php handling the export? Would other files get involved to achieve this task?

Thank you for helping.

---

Yeah the export file actually does the export, the main file (like without export or import) is a sort of "controller" to pull the files together. There are a few odds and ends that may be handled by the other files, but the meat of the exporrt is in the export file.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by waterbender

It looks like I can adapt most things except product_id. Some guy said that we can add products_id as a custom field under User Defined Products Fields. Once I done that, will I be able to use products_id as the primary index instead of products_model? Or do I still mess with codes?

---

So you would be able to export it so that you night be able to use it as a cross reference for merging datafiles from other similar products, but without some serious code changes/checks would not be able to call it the primary key. There are some considerations to be made also if it is to become the primary key. One that comes to mind is the relationship between the newly identified product number and the autonumber associated with the table for "standard" operation. By using the default of this code of this plugin, I think it cares for that already because it does an add to the table without concern of what the autonumber currently is.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by mc12345678

So you would be able to export it so that you night be able to use it as a cross reference for merging datafiles from other similar products, but without some serious code changes/checks would not be able to call it the primary key. There are some considerations to be made also if it is to become the primary key. One that comes to mind is the relationship between the newly identified product number and the autonumber associated with the table for "standard" operation. By using the default of this code of this plugin, I think it cares for that already because it does an add to the table without concern of what the autonumber currently is.

---

Hi sorry, I don't fully understand. Are you saying that you don't recommend using products_id as the primary index to import/update products unless we do some code changes to suit? I use products_model for other purpose and most products don't have unique model numbers.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by waterbender

Hi sorry, I don't fully understand. Are you saying that you don't recommend using products_id as the primary index to import/update products unless we do some code changes to suit? I use products_model for other purpose and most products don't have unique model numbers.

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With regards to this plugin, I would agree with that statement, that would not make changes to use product_id as the primary key without making changes to suit, or without acknowledging the effect(s) of doing so without making code changes to suit. Without a little investigation, I am not sure what the effect would be if say the following were true: the autonumber for the table is: 5, six products have been added to the table with id numbers of 1-6, and then the standard categories add products option is used. I don't know whether ZC would try to add an item at position 5 (error), add an item at position 7 (okay) or update the item at position 5 (essentially an error for the purposes identified here). Alternatively an additional field could be added to the table (I think numinix has something like this), but long and short of it is, it would be wrong of me not to point out some things to take into consideration. There are those out there that actually se the model number for something of value and as written this plug-in doesn't do what they want, but there are also those out there that just dutifully poplate the model_number with something unique so they can use this plugin. Whatever the case, the datafile needs something unique to be able to do it's job, and it would be my recommendation that whatever is used is available in both the datafile and onscreen when adding/modifying a product within the admin panel unless that option becomes totally disabled to support only this plugin (also not recommended).

As to the example above, if you do create code to address the autonumber, would want to also consider a situation where the last record added was 6, and now 1145 is added, what about 7 through 1144? Left blank or non-existent and the autonumber? Updated to 1146? What happens when someone picks the last possible number as their next product or a number that is outside the scope of the table? These things need to be considered if changing to the product_id instead of using a method similar to this plugin of having a unique identifier that is independent of the database size (though there may be a limit as to the length of the identifier). Again, whatever is chosen may be good for your usage, but possibly not for the masses. The other thing about this module is that it really is database/store independent. I could essentially dowload all of the products in my store, send you the file, and you could upload all of my products into your store. Sure might append something to the model number to try to ensure even further that it was unique like an acronym for my store, but more than likely it could all be copied over independent of your numbering. Further, and possibly more helpful, if your database got a little funky, could download all of the products and associated data, then clear the applicable tables and upload all of the data again without recourse of id numbers. (WARNING, this is a general discussion here, care must be taken to accomplish what was just described, or else your store could become useless. There may be other dependencies applicable to your store that may not have been discussed. Again warning, I am not responsible for actions you take based on the above discussion.)

Hi

Is there any funky switch (function/action triggered by a specific value) on one of the 'specials' fields (specials_price, specials_date_avail, specials_expires_date) that will remove or delete the Specials record for a product (linked record in the 'specials' table)... like the value '9' specified for product_status to remove/delete a product?

Would be very nice if there was.

Cheers
GAM

Quote:

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Originally Posted by mc12345678

Okay, so EP4 is based heavily on using the right "product" at th right time, with the right information. Off the top of my head, I can't remember if it will properly handle just any old filename, but if you are wanting to updated information that wold be provided in a full export, then the start of the filename needs to closely match the same. Basic filename. (Typically anything up to and including EP4, also the capitalization is important as well.)

When stating that there was no special character, does that mean didn't "see" a special character or was that by bit/byte inspection to verify that each character was an expected alpha-numeric character or end-of-line, etc...? State that becauuse, just because don't see it, doesn't mean it's not there.

---

So I tried to just send NULL descriptions to clear the descriptions, nothing changed same descriptions remained unchanged. So I suspect that all the descriptions have stayed the same no matter what upload I sent and are all prior to my changes made to eliminate special characters from my data. I only tried to upload the product model field and description field in the file. The file name was simple just Description.csv.

It is very odd that it will update prices and things like call for price but is not making any update to description. I'm tempted to clear the field in the SQL database but afraid I wouldn't get the description data back in.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by scubasteve

So I tried to just send NULL descriptions to clear the descriptions, nothing changed same descriptions remained unchanged. So I suspect that all the descriptions have stayed the same no matter what upload I sent and are all prior to my changes made to eliminate special characters from my data. I only tried to upload the product model field and description field in the file. The file name was simple just Description.csv.

It is very odd that it will update prices and things like call for price but is not making any update to description. I'm tempted to clear the field in the SQL database but afraid I wouldn't get the description data back in.

---

Okay, I understand there may be a language barrier. I will try to keep my discssion straight and simple.

Some data fields will be updated no matter what the file is named; however, some fields (it would appear description 1 is an example) will only be updated if the filename starts with one of the standard file names (attrib-basic-ep, attrib-detailed-ep,featured-ep,full,categorymeta,category, etc...) Description.csv is not a filename recgnized by the program. As the limited instructions say to do. Export a file of the type that you would like to import. Change the data, save the file and then upload and import the file. Changes will be made as appropriate.

This is the error message I am now getting when I click on easypopulate. WARNING: An Error occurred, please refresh the page and try again.

I manage to use it and export the product list, now Im trying to upload and import the full product list... but it is no longer working.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by isolveja

This is the error message I am now getting when I click on easypopulate. WARNING: An Error occurred, please refresh the page and try again.

I manage to use it and export the product list, now Im trying to upload and import the full product list... but it is no longer working.

---

Are there error messages in your error log(s)? What else "changed"? Was something installed, edited, or deleted?

What do you mean when you say. Click on easy populate? Are you not able to get the the EP window, or is it that once there, you can not import?

Please, we are not in front of your computer and need more information to be able to help.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by mc12345678

Are there error messages in your error log(s)? What else "changed"? Was something installed, edited, or deleted?

What do you mean when you say. Click on easy populate? Are you not able to get the the EP window, or is it that once there, you can not import?

Please, we are not in front of your computer and need more information to be able to help.

---

I changed nothing. There are no other error message. Nothing was installed edited or deleted. When I click on EP the window does not come up instead I get that error message.

I am trying to upload my Full product listing but it is not importing into my database.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by GAM

Hi

Is there any funky switch (function/action triggered by a specific value) on one of the 'specials' fields (specials_price, specials_date_avail, specials_expires_date) that will remove or delete the Specials record for a product (linked record in the 'specials' table)... like the value '9' specified for product_status to remove/delete a product?

Would be very nice if there was.

Cheers
GAM

---

FYI
Looking into the code itself I discovered that specifying 0 (zero) on v_specials_price for a record deletes the Special on import.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by isolveja

I changed nothing. There are no other error message. Nothing was installed edited or deleted. When I click on EP the window does not come up instead I get that error message.

---

So it's working again? Did you have to reinstall the plug-in?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by isolveja

I am trying to upload my Full product listing but it is not importing into my database.

---

Seems like it is working for you again or at least not displaying an error?

Okay the real question, what is the name of the file that has the datat you are trying to import? Does the beginning of the filename match the beginning of the filename of any exported file?

Anyone able to shed some light on this... EP4 reporting the following even though 'specials price' is LOWER than 'normal price'.

(my debugging info preceding the standard error message is included in sample output below, e.g., s_price: 6.7270 p_price: 14.1363, where s_price = 'specials_price' and p_price = 'products_price')

Code:

---

s_price: 6.7270 p_price: 14.1363SKIPPED! - Model: EKFBASUSCH3AN - specials price higher than normal price...
s_price: 90.0000 p_price: 115.5000SKIPPED! - Model: EKFBASUSCH3WAN - specials price higher than normal price...
s_price: 90.0000 p_price: 127.9545SKIPPED! - Model: EKFBKITGAX58UD7AN - specials price higher than normal price...
s_price: 90.0000 p_price: 139.1363SKIPPED! - Model: EKFC260275285GTXGWN - specials price higher than normal price...
s_price: 80.0000 p_price: 109.8181SKIPPED! - Model: EKFC285GTXA - specials price higher than normal price...
s_price: 77.3520 p_price: 104.7272SKIPPED! - Model: EKFC295GTX1PCBBackAN - specials price higher than normal price...
s_price: 50.0000 p_price: 123.0454SKIPPED! - Model: EKFC4890CFAN - specials price higher than normal price...
s_price: 80.0000 p_price: 117.4545SKIPPED! - Model: EKFC4890SAPPHIREPCBAN - specials price higher than normal price...
s_price: 80.0000 p_price: 107.6818SKIPPED! - Model: EKFC5870V2AN - specials price higher than normal price...
s_price: 90.0000 p_price: 108.1363SKIPPED! - Model: EKFC9800GX2SLIN - specials price higher than normal price...
s_price: 80.0000 p_price: 163.1818SKIPPED! - Model: EKFCR600CFA - specials price higher than normal price...
s_price: 35.3180 p_price: 143.4545SKIPPED! - Model: EKFCR600CFXA - specials price higher than normal price...
s_price: 40.3520 p_price: 163.8636SKIPPED! - Model: EKMMSUPHFINTELN - specials price higher than normal price...
s_price: 8.5000 p_price: 10.3181SKIPPED! - Model: EKMOS680i1 - specials price higher than normal price...
s_price: 9.0910 p_price: 36.3636SKIPPED! - Model: EKMOS680i2 - specials price higher than normal price...
s_price: 9.0910 p_price: 36.3636SKIPPED! - Model: EKMOS680i2A - specials price higher than normal price...
s_price: 9.0910 p_price: 36.3636SKIPPED! - Model: EKFBKITGAP67AUD7AN - specials price higher than normal price...
s_price: 90.0000 p_price: 155.0909SKIPPED! - Model: EKFC5850AEN - specials price higher than normal price...
s_price: 99.9000 p_price: 112.6818SKIPPED! - Model: EKFC5870AEN - specials price higher than normal price...
s_price: 99.9410 p_price: 124.5454SKIPPED! - Model: EKFC5870PEN - specials price higher than normal price...
s_price: 95.8500 p_price: 108.1363SKIPPED! - Model: EKSUPHFFEN - specials price higher than normal price...
s_price: 79.1270 p_price: 104.5000SKIPPED! - Model: EKFC570GTXSEPEN - specials price higher than normal price...

---

I've tried numerous things but just cannot understand why this is occurring for the handful of products above out of a few hundred in the original upload file.

Example of header and first data record in the file (only records that error are included in the current test file):

Code:

---

v_products_model,v_products_type,v_products_image,v_products_name_1,v_products_description_1,v_products_url_1,v_specials_price,v_specials_date_avail,v_specials_expires_date,v_products_price,v_product_is_call,v_products_sort_order,v_products_quantity_order_min,v_products_quantity_order_units,v_products_priced_by_attribute,v_product_is_always_free_shipping,v_date_avail,v_date_added,v_products_quantity,v_manufacturers_name,v_categories_name_1,v_tax_class_title,v_status
EKALUFC4870KITV2,1,ek/EKALUFC4870KITV2.jpg,ALU - FC4870 KIT V2,"<p class=""prodname"">EK-ALU-4870 Kit V2</p><br /><p class=""prodname2"">ALU replacement part for EK-FC4850/4870 water blocks</p><br /><p class=""proddesc"">With the ALU replacement part you can make all your EK-FC4850/4870 compatible with (Club 3D) non-reference Radeon HD 4870 graphic cards</p><br /><p class=""prodinc""><b>Enclosed:</b><br>- ALU Part<br>- Mounting screws<br>- Thermal pad</p><p class=""prodname2"">EKWB EAN: 3830046993670</p><div><p align=""center""><a title=""Check Compatibility list for this product"" target=""_blank"" href=""http://www.coolingconfigurator.com/waterblock/3830046993670""><img src=""/store/images/ek_compat.gif"">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</a><a target=""_blank"" href=""http://www.ekwaterblocks.com/shop/EK-IM/EK-IM-3830046993670.pdf""><img src=""/store/images/ek_install_man.gif"">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</a><a target=""_blank"" href=""http://www.ekwaterblocks.com/shop/EK-PSS/EK-PSS-3830046993670.pdf""><img src=""/store/images/ek_prod_spec.gif""></a><br /><a target=""_blank"" href=""http://www.ekwaterblocks.com/shop/catalogsearch/result/?q=3830046993670""><font face=""MS Reference Sans Serif"" size=""2"" color=""#f88c18""><strong>Search EKWB shop for 3830046993670</strong></font></a></p></div>",www.ekwb.com/shop/alu-fc4870-kit-v2.html, 6.7270 ,2013-01-01,2020-02-02,14.1363,0,0,1,1,0,0,,2009-12-02,4 ,EK Water Blocks,Water Cooling^Blocks^VGA-Full Cover,GST,1

---

I am using Excel and encoding in UTF-8 via Notepad++ to ensure the descriptions are not compromised and many other similar records with specials in the original file are being processed as expected. I just can't see a pattern or work out why it is falling over on these. :frusty: I've been testing this extensively before posting.

Would appreciate any assistance.

Cheers
GAM

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by GAM

Anyone able to shed some light on this... EP4 reporting the following even though 'specials price' is LOWER than 'normal price'.

(my debugging info preceding the standard error message is included in sample output below, e.g., s_price: 6.7270 p_price: 14.1363, where s_price = 'specials_price' and p_price = 'products_price')

Code:

---

s_price: 6.7270 p_price: 14.1363SKIPPED! - Model: EKFBASUSCH3AN - specials price higher than normal price...
s_price: 90.0000 p_price: 115.5000SKIPPED! - Model: EKFBASUSCH3WAN - specials price higher than normal price...
s_price: 90.0000 p_price: 127.9545SKIPPED! - Model: EKFBKITGAX58UD7AN - specials price higher than normal price...
s_price: 90.0000 p_price: 139.1363SKIPPED! - Model: EKFC260275285GTXGWN - specials price higher than normal price...
s_price: 80.0000 p_price: 109.8181SKIPPED! - Model: EKFC285GTXA - specials price higher than normal price...
s_price: 77.3520 p_price: 104.7272SKIPPED! - Model: EKFC295GTX1PCBBackAN - specials price higher than normal price...
s_price: 50.0000 p_price: 123.0454SKIPPED! - Model: EKFC4890CFAN - specials price higher than normal price...
s_price: 80.0000 p_price: 117.4545SKIPPED! - Model: EKFC4890SAPPHIREPCBAN - specials price higher than normal price...
s_price: 80.0000 p_price: 107.6818SKIPPED! - Model: EKFC5870V2AN - specials price higher than normal price...
s_price: 90.0000 p_price: 108.1363SKIPPED! - Model: EKFC9800GX2SLIN - specials price higher than normal price...
s_price: 80.0000 p_price: 163.1818SKIPPED! - Model: EKFCR600CFA - specials price higher than normal price...
s_price: 35.3180 p_price: 143.4545SKIPPED! - Model: EKFCR600CFXA - specials price higher than normal price...
s_price: 40.3520 p_price: 163.8636SKIPPED! - Model: EKMMSUPHFINTELN - specials price higher than normal price...
s_price: 8.5000 p_price: 10.3181SKIPPED! - Model: EKMOS680i1 - specials price higher than normal price...
s_price: 9.0910 p_price: 36.3636SKIPPED! - Model: EKMOS680i2 - specials price higher than normal price...
s_price: 9.0910 p_price: 36.3636SKIPPED! - Model: EKMOS680i2A - specials price higher than normal price...
s_price: 9.0910 p_price: 36.3636SKIPPED! - Model: EKFBKITGAP67AUD7AN - specials price higher than normal price...
s_price: 90.0000 p_price: 155.0909SKIPPED! - Model: EKFC5850AEN - specials price higher than normal price...
s_price: 99.9000 p_price: 112.6818SKIPPED! - Model: EKFC5870AEN - specials price higher than normal price...
s_price: 99.9410 p_price: 124.5454SKIPPED! - Model: EKFC5870PEN - specials price higher than normal price...
s_price: 95.8500 p_price: 108.1363SKIPPED! - Model: EKSUPHFFEN - specials price higher than normal price...
s_price: 79.1270 p_price: 104.5000SKIPPED! - Model: EKFC570GTXSEPEN - specials price higher than normal price...

---

I've tried numerous things but just cannot understand why this is occurring for the handful of products above out of a few hundred in the original upload file.

Example of header and first data record in the file (only records that error are included in the current test file):

Code:

---

v_products_model,v_products_type,v_products_image,v_products_name_1,v_products_description_1,v_products_url_1,v_specials_price,v_specials_date_avail,v_specials_expires_date,v_products_price,v_product_is_call,v_products_sort_order,v_products_quantity_order_min,v_products_quantity_order_units,v_products_priced_by_attribute,v_product_is_always_free_shipping,v_date_avail,v_date_added,v_products_quantity,v_manufacturers_name,v_categories_name_1,v_tax_class_title,v_status
EKALUFC4870KITV2,1,ek/EKALUFC4870KITV2.jpg,ALU - FC4870 KIT V2,"<p class=""prodname"">EK-ALU-4870 Kit V2</p><br /><p class=""prodname2"">ALU replacement part for EK-FC4850/4870 water blocks</p><br /><p class=""proddesc"">With the ALU replacement part you can make all your EK-FC4850/4870 compatible with (Club 3D) non-reference Radeon HD 4870 graphic cards</p><br /><p class=""prodinc""><b>Enclosed:</b><br>- ALU Part<br>- Mounting screws<br>- Thermal pad</p><p class=""prodname2"">EKWB EAN: 3830046993670</p><div><p align=""center""><a title=""Check Compatibility list for this product"" target=""_blank"" href=""http://www.coolingconfigurator.com/waterblock/3830046993670""><img src=""/store/images/ek_compat.gif"">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</a><a target=""_blank"" href=""http://www.ekwaterblocks.com/shop/EK-IM/EK-IM-3830046993670.pdf""><img src=""/store/images/ek_install_man.gif"">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</a><a target=""_blank"" href=""http://www.ekwaterblocks.com/shop/EK-PSS/EK-PSS-3830046993670.pdf""><img src=""/store/images/ek_prod_spec.gif""></a><br /><a target=""_blank"" href=""http://www.ekwaterblocks.com/shop/catalogsearch/result/?q=3830046993670""><font face=""MS Reference Sans Serif"" size=""2"" color=""#f88c18""><strong>Search EKWB shop for 3830046993670</strong></font></a></p></div>",www.ekwb.com/shop/alu-fc4870-kit-v2.html, 6.7270 ,2013-01-01,2020-02-02,14.1363,0,0,1,1,0,0,,2009-12-02,4 ,EK Water Blocks,Water Cooling^Blocks^VGA-Full Cover,GST,1

---

I am using Excel and encoding in UTF-8 via Notepad++ to ensure the descriptions are not compromised and many other similar records with specials in the original file are being processed as expected. I just can't see a pattern or work out why it is falling over on these. :frusty: I've been testing this extensively before posting.

Would appreciate any assistance.

Cheers
GAM

---

Maybe "backwards" or otherwise odd, but you said you're using Excel. I'm not sure how much of the above explanation shows data copied over to show us what is expected and how much is provided by EP4 (like the actual values of s_price and v_price), also, the file snippet shown does not appear to follow the formatting expected by EP4 (quotes around every field separated by a comma).

Wondering also if there is a currency conversion or something else odd going on that is preventing the import. Are you able to apply the desired special from within ZC admin for these products without issue? Is there a possible duplicate model name such that the new special price is greater than the existing product price or is the current product price less than the special price and the new product price is different?

Might have other ideas later, but that's what I have at the moment.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by mc12345678

Maybe "backwards" or otherwise odd, but you said you're using Excel. I'm not sure how much of the above explanation shows data copied over to show us what is expected and how much is provided by EP4 (like the actual values of s_price and v_price), also, the file snippet shown does not appear to follow the formatting expected by EP4 (quotes around every field separated by a comma).

Wondering also if there is a currency conversion or something else odd going on that is preventing the import. Are you able to apply the desired special from within ZC admin for these products without issue? Is there a possible duplicate model name such that the new special price is greater than the existing product price or is the current product price less than the special price and the new product price is different?

Might have other ideas later, but that's what I have at the moment.

---

Hi MC

Thanks for taking the time to look into this and respond. After several more tests I believe I have discovered the problem... spaces before and/or after commas around those values i.e.:
, xx.xxxx ,

Example in bold:
v_products_model,v_products_type,v_products_image,v_products_name_1,v_products_d escription_1,v_products_url_1,v_specials_price,v_specials_date_avail,v_specials_ expires_date,v_products_price,v_product_is_call,v_products_sort_order,v_products _quantity_order_min,v_products_quantity_order_units,v_products_priced_by_attribu te,v_product_is_always_free_shipping,v_date_avail,v_date_added,v_products_quanti ty,v_manufacturers_name,v_categories_name_1,v_tax_class_title,v_status
EKALUFC4870KITV2,1,ek/EKALUFC4870KITV2.jpg,ALU - FC4870 KIT V2,"<p class=""prodname"">EK-ALU-4870 Kit V2</p><br /><p class=""prodname2"">ALU replacement part for EK-FC4850/4870 water blocks</p><br /><p class=""proddesc"">With the ALU replacement part you can make all your EK-FC4850/4870 compatible with (Club 3D) non-reference Radeon HD 4870 graphic cards</p><br /><p class=""prodinc""><b>Enclosed:</b><br>- ALU Part<br>- Mounting screws<br>- Thermal pad</p><p class=""prodname2"">EKWB EAN: 3830046993670</p><div><p align=""center""><a title=""Check Compatibility list for this product"" target=""_blank"" href=""http://www.coolingconfigurator.com/waterblock/3830046993670""><img src=""/store/images/ek_compat.gif"">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</a><a target=""_blank"" href=""http://www.ekwaterblocks.com/shop/EK-IM/EK-IM-3830046993670.pdf""><img src=""/store/images/ek_install_man.gif"">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</a><a target=""_blank"" href=""http://www.ekwaterblocks.com/shop/EK-PSS/EK-PSS-3830046993670.pdf""><img src=""/store/images/ek_prod_spec.gif""></a><br /><a target=""_blank"" href=""http://www.ekwaterblocks.com/shop/catalogsearch/result/?q=3830046993670""><font face=""MS Reference Sans Serif"" size=""2"" color=""#f88c18""><strong>Search EKWB shop for 3830046993670</strong></font></a></p></div>",www.ekwb.com/shop/alu-fc4870-kit-v2.html, 6.7270 ,2013-01-01,2020-02-02,14.1363,0,0,1,1,0,0,,2009-12-02,4 ,EK Water Blocks,Water Cooling^Blocks^VGA-Full Cover,GST,1

Despite the other field delimiter formatting mentioned, everything works fine and has worked for the several hundred other records in the file originally imported.

Now to identify why the additional spacing is occuring in my Excel file(s) and rectify. :blink:

Cheers
GAM

For anyone else that might experience similar circumstances with unusual spacing/formatting around numeric values in your Excel file, as per above posts that caused the specials price to be seen as greater than the product price due to a 'space' either side of the value in the field, check your column formatting. In my case above, somehow some unusual custom formatting slipped into a previously functional Excel/EP4 upload source file.

Cheers
GAM

For those that cannot or wish not to stop using Excel and have experienced formatting, character encoding and field delimiter problems with save as 'CSV' from Excel, check out this link to a VBA macro that just might solve your issues and/or make existing frequent conversion to UTF-8 tasks a lot more efficient and reliable...

http://vba-corner.livejournal.com/5733.html


I've trialled this a little today and it seems to work exactly as expected. It converts the fields in each record to that expected by EP4 (comma separated, quote enclosed) and appears to retain the UTF-8 encoding (not tested with foreign characters, only 'special' characters).


For reference and background, I previously had Excel output and import via EP4 working fine but I had to open and 'convert to utf-8' via Notepad++ before uploading to ensure I didn't lose formatting/special characters in my 'descriptions'. Although the file wasn't delimited correctly for EP4, i.e., no quotes around values, it did still work.

Hoping this might others.

Cheers
GAM

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by GAM

For those that cannot or wish not to stop using Excel and have experienced formatting, character encoding and field delimiter problems with save as 'CSV' from Excel, check out this link to a VBA macro that just might solve your issues and/or make existing frequent conversion to UTF-8 tasks a lot more efficient and reliable...

http://vba-corner.livejournal.com/5733.html


I've trialled this a little today and it seems to work exactly as expected. It converts the fields in each record to that expected by EP4 (comma separated, quote enclosed) and appears to retain the UTF-8 encoding (not tested with foreign characters, only 'special' characters).


For reference and background, I previously had Excel output and import via EP4 working fine but I had to open and 'convert to utf-8' via Notepad++ before uploading to ensure I didn't lose formatting/special characters in my 'descriptions'. Although the file wasn't delimited correctly for EP4, i.e., no quotes around values, it did still work.

Hoping this might others.

Cheers
GAM

---

STOP! BEWARE!
I've realised that the above solution for me is not quite so perfect after all... there is a flaw.

Date formats are changed to dd/mm/yyyy, which is not good at all. :(


I'll post back if I find a solution to the date issue.

Cheers
GAM

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by GAM

STOP! BEWARE!
I've realised that the above solution for me is not quite so perfect after all... there is a flaw.

Date formats are changed to dd/mm/yyyy, which is not good at all. :(


I'll post back if I find a solution to the date issue.

Cheers
GAM

---

I was using the same example for Excel; however, hadn't tried to upload the file yet. Glad you pointed that out. The "program" doesn't modify the data presented specifically for dates. Therefore, it would seem that you would need to apply a custom date format to the excel cell to force a YYYY-MM-DD and appropriate time format as part of the text export. Might be possible to do a test of the cell and if it is a date and time format to then translate to the correct format; however, wonder what other "numbers" could be turned into a date time based on what is input.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by mc12345678

I was using the same example for Excel; however, hadn't tried to upload the file yet. Glad you pointed that out. The "program" doesn't modify the data presented specifically for dates. Therefore, it would seem that you would need to apply a custom date format to the excel cell to force a YYYY-MM-DD and appropriate time format as part of the text export. Might be possible to do a test of the cell and if it is a date and time format to then translate to the correct format; however, wonder what other "numbers" could be turned into a date time based on what is input.

---

Hi MC
Yeah, I looked into the code and can't see anywhere that is playing with the dates so it must be one of those Excel side-effects ;) My 'good' method for using Excel is:
1. Ensure all fields/columns are formatted correctly e.g., YYYY-MM-DD for dates, decimal places for monetary values, etc.
2. Save As .csv
3. Delete surrounding cells (Excel likes to put in trailing records)
4. Open .csv in Notepad++
5. 'Convert to UTF-8'
6. Save or Save As xxx_.csv
7. Upload
8. Import ...and notice everything in order and as expected i.e., correct dates, correct values, special characters intact and displayed as expected, etc.

This process seems flawless apart from remembering the open/convert step in Notepad++, which is a pain in the rear... especially if I forget. ;)

Although the macro does not appear to change the dates, it does seem to be allowing Excel to do its usual thing of being 'clever' for us... and changing the dates to system defaults.

On a side note, although I didn't notice any issues with special characters when I was testing the macro with one particular file, I have since seen character errors in my full products download that I hadn't noticed before, so I'm not sure if the macro/EP4 combo had other flaws or if these character issues are from a previous upload/testing task.

For the time being I'm sticking with the trusty Excel .csv/Notepad++ method.

Cheers
GAM

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by GAM

Hi MC
Yeah, I looked into the code and can't see anywhere that is playing with the dates so it must be one of those Excel side-effects ;) My 'good' method for using Excel is:
1. Ensure all fields/columns are formatted correctly e.g., YYYY-MM-DD for dates, decimal places for monetary values, etc.
2. Save As .csv
3. Delete surrounding cells (Excel likes to put in trailing records)
4. Open .csv in Notepad++
5. 'Convert to UTF-8'
6. Save or Save As xxx_.csv
7. Upload
8. Import ...and notice everything in order and as expected i.e., correct dates, correct values, special characters intact and displayed as expected, etc.

This process seems flawless apart from remembering the open/convert step in Notepad++, which is a pain in the rear... especially if I forget. ;)

Although the macro does not appear to change the dates, it does seem to be allowing Excel to do its usual thing of being 'clever' for us... and changing the dates to system defaults.

On a side note, although I didn't notice any issues with special characters when I was testing the macro with one particular file, I have since seen character errors in my full products download that I hadn't noticed before, so I'm not sure if the macro/EP4 combo had other flaws or if these character issues are from a previous upload/testing task.

For the time being I'm sticking with the trusty Excel .csv/Notepad++ method.

Cheers
GAM

---

Hey GAM,

You know though that if you are able to use the recommended Open Office that you won't have to think, remember, worry about those things. Supposedly it is able to save as UTF-8 and well, it saves the CSV files correctly. Seems that if you are able/allowed to install notepad++ then you should be able to install OO.

Hey MC, appreciate the suggestion but just not feasible (desirable) for me as I know Excel like the back of my hand and already have 10's to 100's of spreadsheets that I use to manage and manipulate my products and use extensively to import/export/update between MYOB and my Zen-Cart store as well as reporting and analysis.

FWIW, the older I get, the more I loath to upgrade/install/learn new software :wink: It's been bad enough adapting my processes and related files to work with EP4 from EP 2.5.4.WhateverItWas and Zen-Cart 1.3.7. Loads of new features on my store/back-office now with Zen 5.1 and new add-ons, which are great, but often frustrating when you're under the pump trying to keep on top of other day-to-day tasks. :wacko:

Again, appreciate the assistance and suggestions MC. I'll report back when/as I discover new things and/or have something else to report. :smile:

Cheers
GAM

Okay, I need help with two issues I am experiencing. One is easier to explain and the other I will explain and if you need more clarification to make sense of it please ask questions.

1. The first issue is with upc field. We have some products with upc code starting with zeros. Something like, 000768251143. When I generate an export file. The csv file that is generated drops the leading zeros in the upc column. 000768251143 becomes 768251143. Is there a way to protect this field during file generation to treat it as a text field so the numbers are not messed up? I did not have this issue with previous easy populate that uses text file instead of csv file. I will greatly appreciate any help in solving this issue as this is a show stopper.

2. The second problem is when I export a file, some of the description fields are empty even though they have content. There's nothing unique about the products that are missing descriptions so I am not sure how tell you how to duplicate this problem. However, it seems that the seem products that are dropping description fields on export remains the same (which makes me think there's something common between them even if I can see it).

I will appreciate any help to get to the bottom of these two issues.

Thanks!

1. I'm not sure what program you're using for your source data but assuming something like Excel, try specifying 'custom' field/column formatting in your spreadsheet program e.g., "000000000000#", to force display of leading zeros.
2. Open your CSV file in something like Notepad (or something better like Notepad++ [free]) and check those descriptions closely. You might have field and/or value delimiters that are either missing or being misinterpreted. Quite likely something in those descriptions is being interpreted as a delimiter and omitting everything thereafter... or something like that.

Best of luck.

Cheers
GAM

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by BlessIsaacola

Okay, I need help with two issues I am experiencing. One is easier to explain and the other I will explain and if you need more clarification to make sense of it please ask questions.

1. The first issue is with upc field. We have some products with upc code starting with zeros. Something like, 000768251143. When I generate an export file. The csv file that is generated drops the leading zeros in the upc column. 000768251143 becomes 768251143. Is there a way to protect this field during file generation to treat it as a text field so the numbers are not messed up? I did not have this issue with previous easy populate that uses text file instead of csv file. I will greatly appreciate any help in solving this issue as this is a show stopper.

2. The second problem is when I export a file, some of the description fields are empty even though they have content. There's nothing unique about the products that are missing descriptions so I am not sure how tell you how to duplicate this problem. However, it seems that the seem products that are dropping description fields on export remains the same (which makes me think there's something common between them even if I can see it).

I will appreciate any help to get to the bottom of these two issues.

Thanks!

---

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by GAM

1. I'm not sure what program you're using for your source data but assuming something like Excel, try specifying 'custom' field/column formatting in your spreadsheet program e.g., "000000000000#", to force display of leading zeros.
2. Open your CSV file in something like Notepad (or something better like Notepad++ [free]) and check those descriptions closely. You might have field and/or value delimiters that are either missing or being misinterpreted. Quite likely something in those descriptions is being interpreted as a delimiter and omitting everything thereafter... or something like that.

Best of luck.

Cheers
GAM

---

Totally agree with 1. That's a relatively quick fix and should be available in any spreadsheet program. (Haven't tried the recommended Open Office yet)
2. Deals with export of the file and while there might be an interprelation problem from the text file to the spreadsheet program as suggested, more information is definitely needed.

So assuming that there are three products and four fields of concern, does the folloing "table" represent a possible scenario?

"Field1","Field2","Field3","Field4"
"Data11","Data12",,"Data14"
"Data21","Data22","Data23",
"Data31","Data32","Data33","Data34"

Where DataXY represents the data for item X in column (field) Y or is a complete field not shown?
As far as us duplicating the problem there's a number of ways I can think of but would involve either exporting/downloading your database (or portions of) or providing access to areas of your store. Please do not publicly state your admin directory location/path. Or could do as GAM suggested and evaluate the output of EP before it is "processed" any further. I've seen where a field would have some sort of obnoxious character and cause errors in ZC, so I wouldn't be surprised if there is some errant "special" character(s) in your fields causing the problem.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by GAM

1. I'm not sure what program you're using for your source data but assuming something like Excel, try specifying 'custom' field/column formatting in your spreadsheet program e.g., "000000000000#", to force display of leading zeros.
2. Open your CSV file in something like Notepad (or something better like Notepad++ [free]) and check those descriptions closely. You might have field and/or value delimiters that are either missing or being misinterpreted. Quite likely something in those descriptions is being interpreted as a delimiter and omitting everything thereafter... or something like that.

Best of luck.

Cheers
GAM

---

I am not sure I explained myself well (even with the first part). The file that's generated from Easy Populate excludes the leading zeros in the csv file. In other words, the leading zeros are gone before I even open the file in Open Office. I know I can add the leading zero's back but that defeats the purpose because it will require me to go through 1,000s of record and add the leading zeros back. Some upc have 1 leading zero, others two leading zero and some three leading zeros. It's not even as simple as just formatting the cell to add leading zeros (because they are different). What I am asking is if it's possible to protect the source data when exporting from our site so Easy Populate does not remove the leading zero upon export?

Thanks!

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by BlessIsaacola

Okay, I need help with two issues I am experiencing. One is easier to explain and the other I will explain and if you need more clarification to make sense of it please ask questions.

1. The first issue is with upc field. We have some products with upc code starting with zeros. Something like, 000768251143. When I generate an export file. The csv file that is generated drops the leading zeros in the upc column. 000768251143 becomes 768251143. Is there a way to protect this field during file generation to treat it as a text field so the numbers are not messed up? I did not have this issue with previous easy populate that uses text file instead of csv file. I will greatly appreciate any help in solving this issue as this is a show stopper.

2. The second problem is when I export a file, some of the description fields are empty even though they have content. There's nothing unique about the products that are missing descriptions so I am not sure how tell you how to duplicate this problem. However, it seems that the seem products that are dropping description fields on export remains the same (which makes me think there's something common between them even if I can see it).

I will appreciate any help to get to the bottom of these two issues.

Thanks!

---

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by GAM

1. I'm not sure what program you're using for your source data but assuming something like Excel, try specifying 'custom' field/column formatting in your spreadsheet program e.g., "000000000000#", to force display of leading zeros.
2. Open your CSV file in something like Notepad (or something better like Notepad++ [free]) and check those descriptions closely. You might have field and/or value delimiters that are either missing or being misinterpreted. Quite likely something in those descriptions is being interpreted as a delimiter and omitting everything thereafter... or something like that.

Best of luck.

Cheers
GAM

---

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by BlessIsaacola

I am not sure I explained myself well (even with the first part). The file that's generated from Easy Populate excludes the leading zeros in the csv file. In other words, the leading zeros are gone before I even open the file in Open Office. I know I can add the leading zero's back but that defeats the purpose because it will require me to go through 1,000s of record and add the leading zeros back. Some upc have 1 leading zero, others two leading zero and some three leading zeros. It's not even as simple as just formatting the cell to add leading zeros (because they are different). What I am asking is if it's possible to protect the source data when exporting from our site so Easy Populate does not remove the leading zero upon export?

Thanks!

---

I think you missed the point, though I say that before knowing the following detail. Before you open the csv file in the spreadsheet application of choice, when you open the csv file in a text editor, are the zero's there in the quoted text?

The description of forcing the zero's above is one that indicates that the spreadsheet removes the zero's on "import" and that the command would force zero's to be placed not requiring you to find and type them.

If the zero's are in the csv file, EP4 is not the case of them disappearing later, but instead the spreadsheet/import process to the spreadsheet. (In some spreadsheet apps, it is possible to identify a column to be imported as a text field that would keep the zero's in place.)

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by BlessIsaacola

Okay, I need help with two issues I am experiencing. One is easier to explain and the other I will explain and if you need more clarification to make sense of it please ask questions.

1. The first issue is with upc field. We have some products with upc code starting with zeros. Something like, 000768251143. When I generate an export file. The csv file that is generated drops the leading zeros in the upc column. 000768251143 becomes 768251143. Is there a way to protect this field during file generation to treat it as a text field so the numbers are not messed up? I did not have this issue with previous easy populate that uses text file instead of csv file. I will greatly appreciate any help in solving this issue as this is a show stopper.

2. The second problem is when I export a file, some of the description fields are empty even though they have content. There's nothing unique about the products that are missing descriptions so I am not sure how tell you how to duplicate this problem. However, it seems that the seem products that are dropping description fields on export remains the same (which makes me think there's something common between them even if I can see it).

I will appreciate any help to get to the bottom of these two issues.

Thanks!

---

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by GAM

1. I'm not sure what program you're using for your source data but assuming something like Excel, try specifying 'custom' field/column formatting in your spreadsheet program e.g., "000000000000#", to force display of leading zeros.
2. Open your CSV file in something like Notepad (or something better like Notepad++ [free]) and check those descriptions closely. You might have field and/or value delimiters that are either missing or being misinterpreted. Quite likely something in those descriptions is being interpreted as a delimiter and omitting everything thereafter... or something like that.

Best of luck.

Cheers
GAM

---

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by mc12345678

I think you missed the point, though I say that before knowing the following detail. Before you open the csv file in the spreadsheet application of choice, when you open the csv file in a text editor, are the zero's there in the quoted text?

The description of forcing the zero's above is one that indicates that the spreadsheet removes the zero's on "import" and that the command would force zero's to be placed not requiring you to find and type them.

If the zero's are in the csv file, EP4 is not the case of them disappearing later, but instead the spreadsheet/import process to the spreadsheet. (In some spreadsheet apps, it is possible to identify a column to be imported as a text field that would keep the zero's in place.)

---

Ugh, my apologies. Now that I have reread your response for like the third time, I realize my response would not fix your problem.

Sorry.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by mc12345678

I think you missed the point, though I say that before knowing the following detail. Before you open the csv file in the spreadsheet application of choice, when you open the csv file in a text editor, are the zero's there in the quoted text?

The description of forcing the zero's above is one that indicates that the spreadsheet removes the zero's on "import" and that the command would force zero's to be placed not requiring you to find and type them.

If the zero's are in the csv file, EP4 is not the case of them disappearing later, but instead the spreadsheet/import process to the spreadsheet. (In some spreadsheet apps, it is possible to identify a column to be imported as a text field that would keep the zero's in place.)

---

Thank you so much for the clarification. As suggested, I tested the downloaded file in my text editor and everything looks as expected. This is good and it means there's no problem with Easy Populate with regards to the file that's generated. As you rightly suggested, I noticed that Open Office have a function to indicate the column type and once I changed it to text for the upc column everything worked as expected with the leading zeros preserved. This means that issue is resolved with regards to the leading zeros. Thank you so much for your time and troubleshooting with me.

With regards to the description field, I am going to play with it a bit and report back my findings. The strange thing is even though when I open the file in Open Office, some product description are missing in the field, if I close the file and open it in the text editor, the descriptions are there just not showing when I open it Open Office. Strange I know (unless there's a maximum length for a cell in Open Office). I will play around and see what I find out.

Thanks!

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by BlessIsaacola

Okay, I need help with two issues I am experiencing. One is easier to explain and the other I will explain and if you need more clarification to make sense of it please ask questions.

1. The first issue is with upc field. We have some products with upc code starting with zeros. Something like, 000768251143. When I generate an export file. The csv file that is generated drops the leading zeros in the upc column. 000768251143 becomes 768251143. Is there a way to protect this field during file generation to treat it as a text field so the numbers are not messed up? I did not have this issue with previous easy populate that uses text file instead of csv file. I will greatly appreciate any help in solving this issue as this is a show stopper.

2. The second problem is when I export a file, some of the description fields are empty even though they have content. There's nothing unique about the products that are missing descriptions so I am not sure how tell you how to duplicate this problem. However, it seems that the seem products that are dropping description fields on export remains the same (which makes me think there's something common between them even if I can see it).

I will appreciate any help to get to the bottom of these two issues.

Thanks!

---

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by BlessIsaacola

Thank you so much for the clarification. As suggested, I tested the downloaded file in my text editor and everything looks as expected. This is good and it means there's no problem with Easy Populate with regards to the file that's generated. As you rightly suggested, I noticed that Open Office have a function to indicate the column type and once I changed it to text for the upc column everything worked as expected with the leading zeros preserved. This means that issue is resolved with regards to the leading zeros. Thank you so much for your time and troubleshooting with me.

With regards to the description field, I am going to play with it a bit and report back my findings. The strange thing is even though when I open the file in Open Office, some product description are missing in the field, if I close the file and open it in the text editor, the descriptions are there just not showing when I open it Open Office. Strange I know (unless there's a maximum length for a cell in Open Office). I will play around and see what I find out.

Thanks!

---

So for clarification, the remaining problem is that when opening your CSV with open office, the description field does not contain all the information that is expected, though it always had some amount of information when looking in OO. (Ie, no description fields that have information on ZC are totally blank in OO.) The next thing (which was under investigation) was to determine if the truncated fields are of a consistent length. I might suggest an equation applied to each row to gather the length of the cell(s) in question and then perform a max at the bottom of that column to determine if there is a max that means anything. In light of an unusual max like 3965 (not a multiple of 2^x or (2^x)-1) I would think that the issue is related to a character or sequence of characters that OO is acting on. If so (OO acting on) then would need to identify the offending character(s) using a standard text editor, change, delete, replace, the character(s) and then try to open the file in OO again.

With the above hopefully correctly summarized current condition, maybe someone else has some "words of wisdom". There maybe issues related with character conversion (ie was the current database updated to where it is now UTF-8 from a previous version, was something like Microsoft Access used at one point to populate the database, etc...) Your assistance would help identify how to proceed and what caused the problem you are experiencing.

How do I uninstall Easy Populate?

I got an error when trying to run the install.sql in Admin

Code:

---

'WARNING: An Error occurred, please refresh the page and try again.'

---

In phpMyAdmin the error says

Code:

---

SQL query:

INSERT INTO admin_pages
VALUES (
'easyPopulate', 'BOX_TOOLS_EASY_POPULATE', 'FILENAME_EASYPOPULATE', '', 'tools', 'Y', @configuration_group_id
);

MySQL said: Documentation
#1062 - Duplicate entry 'easyPopulate' for key 'page_key'

---

and thus I have no Admin->Configuration->Easy Populate menu item.

The Admin->Tools->Easy Populate required me changing all the php [<? ] tags in the tempEP/fileList.php, since I cannot for some reasons get shortcodes enabled on my localhost.

When I upload a file with two sample items, I get an error 1054

Code:

---

MySQL error 1054: Unknown column 'EASYPOPULATE_CONFIG_CUSTOM_FIELDS' in 'field list'
When executing:
INSERT INTO products SET
                                                products_model                                        =        'P1010669' ,
                                                products_price                                        =        '15.9' ,
                                                products_image                                        =        'P1010669.jpg' ,
                                                products_weight                                        =        '0' ,
                                                products_tax_class_id                        =        '' ,
                                                products_date_available                        =        '' ,
                                                products_date_added                                =        CURRENT_TIMESTAMP ,
                                                products_last_modified                        =        CURRENT_TIMESTAMP ,
                                                products_quantity                                =        '3' ,
                                                master_categories_id                        =        '9' ,
                                                manufacturers_id                                =        '1',
                                                products_status                                        =        '1',
                                                metatags_title_status                        =        '',
                                                metatags_products_name_status        =        '',
                                                metatags_model_status                        =        '',
                                                metatags_price_status                        =        '',
                                                metatags_title_tagline_status        =        '' , EASYPOPULATE_CONFIG_CUSTOM_FIELDS=''
MySQL error 1054: Unknown column 'EASYPOPULATE_CONFIG_CUSTOM_FIELDS' in 'field list'
When executing:
INSERT INTO products SET
                                                products_model                                        =        'J17960B' ,
                                                products_price                                        =        '15' ,
                                                products_image                                        =        'P1010328.jpg' ,
                                                products_weight                                        =        '0.5' ,
                                                products_tax_class_id                        =        '' ,
                                                products_date_available                        =        '' ,
                                                products_date_added                                =        CURRENT_TIMESTAMP ,
                                                products_last_modified                        =        CURRENT_TIMESTAMP ,
                                                products_quantity                                =        '2' ,
                                                master_categories_id                        =        '9' ,
                                                manufacturers_id                                =        '1',
                                                products_status                                        =        '1',
                                                metatags_title_status                        =        '',
                                                metatags_products_name_status        =        '',
                                                metatags_model_status                        =        '',
                                                metatags_price_status                        =        '',
                                                metatags_title_tagline_status        =        '' , EASYPOPULATE_CONFIG_CUSTOM_FIELDS=''

---

I can only gather this is stemming from whatever options should be showing in Admin->Configuration->Easy Populate.

So...how do I a)get the configuration menu item to show OR b)uninstall this thing and try again?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by k1ra

How do I uninstall Easy Populate?

I got an error when trying to run the install.sql in Admin

Code:

---

'WARNING: An Error occurred, please refresh the page and try again.'

---

In phpMyAdmin the error says

Code:

---

SQL query:

INSERT INTO admin_pages
VALUES (
'easyPopulate', 'BOX_TOOLS_EASY_POPULATE', 'FILENAME_EASYPOPULATE', '', 'tools', 'Y', @configuration_group_id
);

MySQL said: Documentation
#1062 - Duplicate entry 'easyPopulate' for key 'page_key'

---

and thus I have no Admin->Configuration->Easy Populate menu item.

The Admin->Tools->Easy Populate required me changing all the php [<? ] tags in the tempEP/fileList.php, since I cannot for some reasons get shortcodes enabled on my localhost.

When I upload a file with two sample items, I get an error 1054

Code:

---

MySQL error 1054: Unknown column 'EASYPOPULATE_CONFIG_CUSTOM_FIELDS' in 'field list'
When executing:
INSERT INTO products SET
                                                products_model                                        =        'P1010669' ,
                                                products_price                                        =        '15.9' ,
                                                products_image                                        =        'P1010669.jpg' ,
                                                products_weight                                        =        '0' ,
                                                products_tax_class_id                        =        '' ,
                                                products_date_available                        =        '' ,
                                                products_date_added                                =        CURRENT_TIMESTAMP ,
                                                products_last_modified                        =        CURRENT_TIMESTAMP ,
                                                products_quantity                                =        '3' ,
                                                master_categories_id                        =        '9' ,
                                                manufacturers_id                                =        '1',
                                                products_status                                        =        '1',
                                                metatags_title_status                        =        '',
                                                metatags_products_name_status        =        '',
                                                metatags_model_status                        =        '',
                                                metatags_price_status                        =        '',
                                                metatags_title_tagline_status        =        '' , EASYPOPULATE_CONFIG_CUSTOM_FIELDS=''
MySQL error 1054: Unknown column 'EASYPOPULATE_CONFIG_CUSTOM_FIELDS' in 'field list'
When executing:
INSERT INTO products SET
                                                products_model                                        =        'J17960B' ,
                                                products_price                                        =        '15' ,
                                                products_image                                        =        'P1010328.jpg' ,
                                                products_weight                                        =        '0.5' ,
                                                products_tax_class_id                        =        '' ,
                                                products_date_available                        =        '' ,
                                                products_date_added                                =        CURRENT_TIMESTAMP ,
                                                products_last_modified                        =        CURRENT_TIMESTAMP ,
                                                products_quantity                                =        '2' ,
                                                master_categories_id                        =        '9' ,
                                                manufacturers_id                                =        '1',
                                                products_status                                        =        '1',
                                                metatags_title_status                        =        '',
                                                metatags_products_name_status        =        '',
                                                metatags_model_status                        =        '',
                                                metatags_price_status                        =        '',
                                                metatags_title_tagline_status        =        '' , EASYPOPULATE_CONFIG_CUSTOM_FIELDS=''

---

I can only gather this is stemming from whatever options should be showing in Admin->Configuration->Easy Populate.

So...how do I a)get the configuration menu item to show OR b)uninstall this thing and try again?

---

Unfortunately I don't know the answer about uninstalling, but it looks like you may be missing a language file which would seem to explain the error message text.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by mc12345678

Unfortunately I don't know the answer about uninstalling, but it looks like you may be missing a language file which would seem to explain the error message text.

---

Okay, although I didn't have a chance to find exactly where that variable is, (ie if in admin panel or not), but I didn't find it in a code search. So my guess is that I was wrong above.

My suggestion might be to reinstall the files. Something doesn't seem right to me about sending a variable to the SQL statement rather than the value being substituted for the variable.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by k1ra

How do I uninstall Easy Populate?

I got an error when trying to run the install.sql in Admin

Code:

---

'WARNING: An Error occurred, please refresh the page and try again.'

---

In phpMyAdmin the error says

Code:

---

SQL query:

INSERT INTO admin_pages
VALUES (
'easyPopulate', 'BOX_TOOLS_EASY_POPULATE', 'FILENAME_EASYPOPULATE', '', 'tools', 'Y', @configuration_group_id
);

MySQL said: Documentation
#1062 - Duplicate entry 'easyPopulate' for key 'page_key'

---

and thus I have no Admin->Configuration->Easy Populate menu item.

The Admin->Tools->Easy Populate required me changing all the php [<? ] tags in the tempEP/fileList.php, since I cannot for some reasons get shortcodes enabled on my localhost.

When I upload a file with two sample items, I get an error 1054

Code:

---

MySQL error 1054: Unknown column 'EASYPOPULATE_CONFIG_CUSTOM_FIELDS' in 'field list'
When executing:
INSERT INTO products SET
                                                products_model                                        =        'P1010669' ,
                                                products_price                                        =        '15.9' ,
                                                products_image                                        =        'P1010669.jpg' ,
                                                products_weight                                        =        '0' ,
                                                products_tax_class_id                        =        '' ,
                                                products_date_available                        =        '' ,
                                                products_date_added                                =        CURRENT_TIMESTAMP ,
                                                products_last_modified                        =        CURRENT_TIMESTAMP ,
                                                products_quantity                                =        '3' ,
                                                master_categories_id                        =        '9' ,
                                                manufacturers_id                                =        '1',
                                                products_status                                        =        '1',
                                                metatags_title_status                        =        '',
                                                metatags_products_name_status        =        '',
                                                metatags_model_status                        =        '',
                                                metatags_price_status                        =        '',
                                                metatags_title_tagline_status        =        '' , EASYPOPULATE_CONFIG_CUSTOM_FIELDS=''
MySQL error 1054: Unknown column 'EASYPOPULATE_CONFIG_CUSTOM_FIELDS' in 'field list'
When executing:
INSERT INTO products SET
                                                products_model                                        =        'J17960B' ,
                                                products_price                                        =        '15' ,
                                                products_image                                        =        'P1010328.jpg' ,
                                                products_weight                                        =        '0.5' ,
                                                products_tax_class_id                        =        '' ,
                                                products_date_available                        =        '' ,
                                                products_date_added                                =        CURRENT_TIMESTAMP ,
                                                products_last_modified                        =        CURRENT_TIMESTAMP ,
                                                products_quantity                                =        '2' ,
                                                master_categories_id                        =        '9' ,
                                                manufacturers_id                                =        '1',
                                                products_status                                        =        '1',
                                                metatags_title_status                        =        '',
                                                metatags_products_name_status        =        '',
                                                metatags_model_status                        =        '',
                                                metatags_price_status                        =        '',
                                                metatags_title_tagline_status        =        '' , EASYPOPULATE_CONFIG_CUSTOM_FIELDS=''

---

I can only gather this is stemming from whatever options should be showing in Admin->Configuration->Easy Populate.

So...how do I a)get the configuration menu item to show OR b)uninstall this thing and try again?

---

So, I've reread your original statement above. I don't currently have access to a computer to review the code and identify which value is supposed to be the pagekey, but if you identify which of the values of the errant SQL is the page key, then, go into mySQLadmin and identify the duplicate entry to possibly delete it and rerun the SQL statement(s) that provide the menu option(s) that you are missing possibly to rename/renumber the page key so that you are then able to successfully use EP4.

As to short tags, that would be in your php.ini and may require resetting cache/sessions after change, or waiting if your host/the version of PHP allows.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by mc12345678

So, I've reread your original statement above. I don't currently have access to a computer to review the code and identify which value is supposed to be the pagekey, but if you identify which of the values of the errant SQL is the page key, then, go into mySQLadmin and identify the duplicate entry to possibly delete it and rerun the SQL statement(s) that provide the menu option(s) that you are missing possibly to rename/renumber the page key so that you are then able to successfully use EP4.

As to short tags, that would be in your php.ini and may require resetting cache/sessions after change, or waiting if your host/the version of PHP allows.

---

Finally got around to this again...and THANK YOU for giving me an idea of where to go..

I ended up going into phpMyAdmin, navigating to the admin_pages table, and deleting the BOX_TOOLS_EASY_POPULATE value. I re-ran the install.sql, which ran correctly this time and viola! Menu item for Easy Populate now appears under Admin->Configuration. :D

One step forward...still another to figure out :smile: I am still getting the MySQL error 1054: Unknown column 'EASYPOPULATE_CONFIG_CUSTOM_FIELDS' in 'field list'...when trying to import 2 test products.

It has got me stumped.

I should add that exporting a csv of the two products [different from the 2 being imported] that already exist on my site, EP does not download any data.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by k1ra

One step forward...still another to figure out :smile: I am still getting the MySQL error 1054: Unknown column 'EASYPOPULATE_CONFIG_CUSTOM_FIELDS' in 'field list'...when trying to import 2 test products.

It has got me stumped.

I should add that exporting a csv of the two products [different from the 2 being imported] that already exist on my site, EP does not download any data.

---

Referencing my ever knowing resource, it looks like you may still have some remnants of another version of easy populate installed. Although this is called EP version 4, it is not a "one-for-one" upgrade, but a unique product of it's own. So there may be some mixing and matching of code between this and your site. Have you tried using the tools-developers tool kit to search through all files catalog and admin, of file type php for the term described above?

I am using easy populate to populate the data from different manufactures on my site, I currently load every product into my all products category and have been manually linking them to there respected categories from within the admin panel, this take a ridiculous amount of time to accomplish when it was only 100-200 products it was not that big of a deal, however I am no loading thousands at a time, I am wondering is there any way to tell easy populate to "link" the product not "duplicate" the product into multiple categories/sub categories, I read through the wiki page, and have searched all over the forum and have not been able to find the answer or if I did maybe I did not understand what it was I was looking at.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks
J

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by jwaynehinkle

I am using easy populate to populate the data from different manufactures on my site, I currently load every product into my all products category and have been manually linking them to there respected categories from within the admin panel, this take a ridiculous amount of time to accomplish when it was only 100-200 products it was not that big of a deal, however I am no loading thousands at a time, I am wondering is there any way to tell easy populate to "link" the product not "duplicate" the product into multiple categories/sub categories, I read through the wiki page, and have searched all over the forum and have not been able to find the answer or if I did maybe I did not understand what it was I was looking at.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks
J

---

When you say that you are using easy populate, are you referring to this version of it, or another?
With regards to this version of easy populate, the readme states:

Quote:

---

2) You MUST use products_models to distinguish your products for import. Any record with a blank v_products_model entry will be skipped.
Also note that is you enter the same products_model twice, the latest record entry will over-write any previous entries. The exception
here is if you enter a different category; this will result in a linked product. "Duplicate" products with the same products_model number
is not supported. If you have these entries in your database, you may get unpredictable results.

---

So, it would seem that this will create two linked products if you change only the category for the product(s).

As for the way that new information has been updated, that does sound labor intensive, to import under a general group then to use the database to move it around, especially if you already know where it is going to end up. Why not just start with the desired location and bypass all the extra effort?

There are multiple ways to import information, each has it's own filename prefix, and each performs a slightly different action applicable to the data that you get when you export that type of file. It is rather easy, but unfortunately the documentation is currently limited. May have to review the code to figure out exactly how to get in what you are expecting. I can say this, if you export a file, then only rename the date portion of it at the end, it will upload the same data exported. Have to also watch what type of editor(s) used.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by mc12345678

When you say that you are using easy populate, are you referring to this version of it, or another?
With regards to this version of easy populate, the readme states:

So, it would seem that this will create two linked products if you change only the category for the product(s).

As for the way that new information has been updated, that does sound labor intensive, to import under a general group then to use the database to move it around, especially if you already know where it is going to end up. Why not just start with the desired location and bypass all the extra effort?

There are multiple ways to import information, each has it's own filename prefix, and each performs a slightly different action applicable to the data that you get when you export that type of file. It is rather easy, but unfortunately the documentation is currently limited. May have to review the code to figure out exactly how to get in what you are expecting. I can say this, if you export a file, then only rename the date portion of it at the end, it will upload the same data exported. Have to also watch what type of editor(s) used.

---

yes I am using this version :) been using it a little bit, the reason for uploading a bunch of products into one category and then linking them to other categories is say I have a manufacturer that has 5000+ parts for the different applications that they carry I want to be able to upload them all to one master category so that the different feeds I have out there pick them up and send people to that part, or if someone lands on my page that I do not directly market to they can enter the part number and check out. Where I would want to be duplicating them to is the categories that are live on my side bar for the people that I directly market to that regularly visit my page, sooner or later I will figure out a way to do my categories without cluttering everything but until then this is the best way I have found to do it, I have 4-5 markets I am active in and known in and get referrals from (95%) of my business and then the sub categories under those all published in a side box on every page so those that spend the most can easily find what they are looking for and browse with ease. Now down the road I plan on having some feature that would allow for say 100 categories that can easily be accessed, the problem is figuring out how to do it lol. This is a project for another day though.

Now back to the original discussion going back and reading the wiki again I do see what you are referring to I must have skipped over that or not read it in full the first time. Now can I upload 1 sheet with say 1000 items all to a category "all products" for example and then go back and say out of those 1000 products there are 150 that I want linked in different categories could I copy the csv file to a new file the products I do not plan linking to a different category, and then just change the category and leave the rest of the info the same and it will link it for me?

For example this would be a line from the first file I upload

v_products_model v_products_name_1 v_products_description_1 v_products_price
test1 example no discription available 1.00


v_manufacturers_name v_categories_name_1
ABC ALL PRODUCTS

And this would be that same line in a new file used to link the product.

v_products_model v_products_name_1 v_products_description_1 v_products_price
test1 example no discription available 1.00


v_manufacturers_name v_categories_name_1 v_categories_name_2
ABC Shoes flat bottoms

If I read what you posted above that sounds to me like this above is all there is to it if this is the case my life just became A LOT easier :) If not let me know and I will try to get my head wrapped around what it is you are saying.

Thanks
J

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by jwaynehinkle

yes I am using this version :) been using it a little bit, the reason for uploading a bunch of products into one category and then linking them to other categories is say I have a manufacturer that has 5000+ parts for the different applications that they carry I want to be able to upload them all to one master category so that the different feeds I have out there pick them up and send people to that part, or if someone lands on my page that I do not directly market to they can enter the part number and check out. Where I would want to be duplicating them to is the categories that are live on my side bar for the people that I directly market to that regularly visit my page, sooner or later I will figure out a way to do my categories without cluttering everything but until then this is the best way I have found to do it, I have 4-5 markets I am active in and known in and get referrals from (95%) of my business and then the sub categories under those all published in a side box on every page so those that spend the most can easily find what they are looking for and browse with ease. Now down the road I plan on having some feature that would allow for say 100 categories that can easily be accessed, the problem is figuring out how to do it lol. This is a project for another day though.

Now back to the original discussion going back and reading the wiki again I do see what you are referring to I must have skipped over that or not read it in full the first time. Now can I upload 1 sheet with say 1000 items all to a category "all products" for example and then go back and say out of those 1000 products there are 150 that I want linked in different categories could I copy the csv file to a new file the products I do not plan linking to a different category, and then just change the category and leave the rest of the info the same and it will link it for me?

For example this would be a line from the first file I upload

v_products_model v_products_name_1 v_products_description_1 v_products_price
test1 example no discription available 1.00


v_manufacturers_name v_categories_name_1
ABC ALL PRODUCTS

And this would be that same line in a new file used to link the product.

v_products_model v_products_name_1 v_products_description_1 v_products_price
test1 example no discription available 1.00


v_manufacturers_name v_categories_name_1 v_categories_name_2
ABC Shoes flat bottoms

If I read what you posted above that sounds to me like this above is all there is to it if this is the case my life just became A LOT easier :) If not let me know and I will try to get my head wrapped around what it is you are saying.

Thanks
J

---

Per instruction your "second" listing is close but not quite right, v_categories_name_2 actually is for the language designated with a value of 2 so it would be like saying that Shoes are flat bottoms and vice versa. Instead, you would only have the one v_categories_name_1 with a value of "Shoes^flat bottoms". Ideally the names of the categories are capitalized as shown here.
I haven't purposefully tried to link products, but I know that recently someone had accidentally done so thinking this plugin would move not link the products. In fact Aug 30 at 03:49 PM there was a post where some did nearly exactly what you described, but expecting different results. As always, suggest testing one step at a time, try uploading just a single new category for a single product. If it doesn't behave as expected, a lot easier to correct, and hopefully not as noticeable to customers if testing on a live site.:)

Awesome! I will check this out and see what I can come up with, if I get it nailed down to do exactly what I have described I will report back with a step by step!

Thanks
J

Is there an easy way to copy all the options value to a new options name?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by ideasgirl

Is there an easy way to copy all the options value to a new options name?

---

Could you explain a little more about what you are wanting? Is this a rename process, transferring to another database or the same? Are you simply wanting to have a situation like currently have the length of the left shoe lace from 12 to 18 inches, but only have a 15 inch right shoe lace and you want to copy the values from the left shoe to the right shoe? If that's the case, that's easy.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by ideasgirl

Is there an easy way to copy all the options value to a new options name?

---

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by mc12345678

Could you explain a little more about what you are wanting? Is this a rename process, transferring to another database or the same? Are you simply wanting to have a situation like currently have the length of the left shoe lace from 12 to 18 inches, but only have a 15 inch right shoe lace and you want to copy the values from the left shoe to the right shoe? If that's the case, that's easy.

---

Upon rerereread of the original question, not knowing the experience level of the OP with this plugin and to answer what is assumed to be the question, this plugin will facilitate "easy" copy of values to option names. Export of the basic products attributes would more than likely be the way to export, modify, and then import to duplicate the values to a new name. It will not "move" the attributes, but rather copy them to the edited name. The next export would show the previously existing data and the newly created value/name items.

Please remember to consider the tool(s) used to make the edits. The suggested editor is Open Office and more information about that can be found in this thread. Also, realize that this plug-in is written from the perspective that all items in the cart have a unique model number. If that does not exist, additional effort will be needed either by modifying the programming slightly to insert one, or by editing the data associated with each item in your own way: mySQLAdmin, admin panel of ZC, etc...

This method won't also duplicate the details of the values, but that is what the detailed attributes file is for. So may have to basically perform the same action in the detailed file (export, modify, import). Not sure, but may also be able to perform all of this in just the detailed attribute file. Either way, once opened, perform a search and replace of the old name with the new name, upload and import. If have already done a basic and then doing a detailed: export, delete rows of new name (assuming one for one), search and replace old name with new name, import.

Quote:

---

Could you explain a little more about what you are wanting? Is this a rename process, transferring to another database or the same? Are you simply wanting to have a situation like currently have the length of the left shoe lace from 12 to 18 inches, but only have a 15 inch right shoe lace and you want to copy the values from the left shoe to the right shoe? If that's the case, that's easy.

---

I have experience with Zen Cart and the module and yes, I use Open Office to work with EP, I know all the facts and tools to work with it.

What I want to accomplish:
Let's say I have the Option Name "Color" and I have around 3 dozens of color values for that. Now I want to do some "combination" or "matches" of some items; so I created a new option name called "Shoe Color", but I don't want to enter all the colors again one by one (I don't want yet to create the items with the attributes, I just want to copy all the options of one attribute to another.

Do you understand what I want to do?

I downloaded all the sheets for attributes, and I don't see how can I do this in an easy and quick way.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by ideasgirl

Is there an easy way to copy all the options value to a new options name?

---

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by mc12345678

Could you explain a little more about what you are wanting? Is this a rename process, transferring to another database or the same? Are you simply wanting to have a situation like currently have the length of the left shoe lace from 12 to 18 inches, but only have a 15 inch right shoe lace and you want to copy the values from the left shoe to the right shoe? If that's the case, that's easy.

---

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by ideasgirl

I have experience with Zen Cart and the module and yes, I use Open Office to work with EP, I know all the facts and tools to work with it.

What I want to accomplish:
Let's say I have the Option Name "Color" and I have around 3 dozens of color values for that. Now I want to do some "combination" or "matches" of some items; so I created a new option name called "Shoe Color", but I don't want to enter all the colors again one by one (I don't want yet to create the items with the attributes, I just want to copy all the options of one attribute to another.

Do you understand what I want to do?

I downloaded all the sheets for attributes, and I don't see how can I do this in an easy and quick way.

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So, I think the method I suggested would be the easiest/quickest. If you use the basic attributes file to perform the "work" then you can do a search and replace on the attribute names (color for shoe color), delete the shoe color options you don't want to offer and then import the basic attributes file. This will add the values to the named items that currently don't have values, or replace the values present. Sure it's a comma delimited list of values, but should be faster than adding each in the admin panel.

Yes, I could do that. The problem is, I don't want to add the products quite yet. I just want to do the attributes value copy from one option to the other, I don't want to do the product attributes yet.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ideasgirl

Is there an easy way to copy all the options value to a new options name?

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Quote:

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Originally Posted by mc12345678

Could you explain a little more about what you are wanting? Is this a rename process, transferring to another database or the same? Are you simply wanting to have a situation like currently have the length of the left shoe lace from 12 to 18 inches, but only have a 15 inch right shoe lace and you want to copy the values from the left shoe to the right shoe? If that's the case, that's easy.

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Quote:

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Originally Posted by ideasgirl

Yes, I could do that. The problem is, I don't want to add the products quite yet. I just want to do the attributes value copy from one option to the other, I don't want to do the product attributes yet.

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I'm not at a computer at the moment to look at the code, but I think if you delete the model number column it will still update with just the info you are looking to include. I thought basic was model independent, but if that seems to be the sticking point, then I am wrong.

If deleting the model column doesn't "allow" import, then would need to modify the code a lil to support just option name and option value assignment, though I thought that the standard ZC process was to add item, add option name to item, add/activate option value(s) to item. If EP4 doesn't require the model number in order to do any attribute related work, then I think the above would work. If it does require a model# my thought is that it would need a change, because it is possible in the admin panel to add values to names before a name is associated with a product.

Quote:

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though I thought that the standard ZC process was to add item, add option name to item, add/activate option value(s) to item.

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Well, in a sense it is; but before doing that you have to create those names and values. I understand that this is usually not the case of usual zen admins, and since is a bit unusual, that's why I asked. Usually you don't set same option values to different option names, but even different industries I can see that it could be the case.

Zen Cart even have an option to copy/delete options from an item to another (which I've never understood, and don't know even if it works), I do believe they should have done a copy all the values of one option to another...

I will try your suggestion and report.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ideasgirl

Well, in a sense it is; but before doing that you have to create those names and values. I understand that this is usually not the case of usual zen admins, and since is a bit unusual, that's why I asked. Usually you don't set same option values to different option names, but even different industries I can see that it could be the case.

Zen Cart even have an option to copy/delete options from an item to another (which I've never understood, and don't know even if it works), I do believe they should have done a copy all the values of one option to another...

I will try your suggestion and report.

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Unfortunately. I just looked at the code, and it is setup to require a model number in order to step through the procedure to do an import for the basic attributes. As far as standard and such, well ideally the name of the option would be generic enough that it could be appplied to anyy product, but at the same time, the price difference for a gold looking ring compared to a silver one is likely to be far different than those of a gold picture frame compared to a silver one, so yes color availability may be the same, but prices would be different. This all of course would be made easier if a product existed to which the attributes could be applied even if the product was disabled.

It does point out also though that EP4 isn't quite as expansive as being able to handle attribute modification without associating with a product. Again, ideally one attribute name would be applicable to any product, and once associated (or in the spreadsheet) all details could be addressed applicable to that product.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by mc12345678

Unfortunately. I just looked at the code, and it is setup to require a model number in order to step through the procedure to do an import for the basic attributes. As far as standard and such, well ideally the name of the option would be generic enough that it could be appplied to anyy product, but at the same time, the price difference for a gold looking ring compared to a silver one is likely to be far different than those of a gold picture frame compared to a silver one, so yes color availability may be the same, but prices would be different. This all of course would be made easier if a product existed to which the attributes could be applied even if the product was disabled.

It does point out also though that EP4 isn't quite as expansive as being able to handle attribute modification without associating with a product. Again, ideally one attribute name would be applicable to any product, and once associated (or in the spreadsheet) all details could be addressed applicable to that product.

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BTW, I do believe all of the mechanics are present to support what you are wanting to do, but the haven't been organized to directly accomplish it. The export of what you are doing is available, so making mods to do what you want without creating a "dummy" product shouldn't really be too difficult.

I am having a problem getting some products. It keeps saying that the category is not supplied.

I created this file using OOo and checked the delimiters and they are correct.

Here are the first few lines of me csv file, copied directly from OOo, if you would like to see a text version let me know.

Code:

---

v_products_model        v_categories_names_1        v_products_name_1        v_products_description_1        v_products_price        v_products_image        v_status                                                                                       
A4500HO        Amulets        Honesty                                                            A pewter pocket stone bearing the word Honesty engraved in its face.  Pewter. 1/2" x 1"        3.79        AM/A4500HO.JPG                                      1                                                                               
A4500OP        Amulets        Opportunity                                                        A pewter pocket stone bearing the word Opportunity  engraved in its face. Pewter. 1/2" x 1"        3.79        AM/A4500OP.JPG                                      1                                                                               
A4500PAT        Amulets        Patience                                                            A pewter pocket stone bearing the word Patience engraved in its face. Pewter. 1/2" x 1"        3.79        AM/A4500PAT.JPG                                    1                                                                               
A4500PRO        Amulets        Protection                                                          A pewter pocket stone bearing the word Protection engraved in its face. Pewter. 1/2" x 1"        3.79        AM/A4500PRO.JPG                                    1                                                                               
A4502A        Amulets        Angel                                                              Sculpted of pewter, this small stone is inscribed with an Angel and is quite useful in meditation and prayer.  Pewter. 1" x 5/8"        2.29        AM/A4502A.JPG                                      1                                                                               
A4502B        Amulets        Buddha                                                              This pewter pocket stone bears the image of the Buddha. This is intended to remind you to seek inner peace and the middle way in all things. Pewter. 3/4"        2.29        AM/A4502B.JPG                                      1                                                                       
A4502C        Amulets        Clover                                                              A favorite token of good luck, the four leaf clover, has been engraved in this pocket stone. Carry it with you for good luck. Pewter. 5/8" x 1"        2.29        AM/A4502C.JPG                                      1                                                                               
A4502CR        Amulets        Cross                                                              The cross pocket stone features the cut out of a cross within a pewter stoned. Pewter. 1" x 5/8"        2.29        AM/A4502CR.JPG                                      1                                                                               
A4502GO        Amulets        Goddess                                                            The Goddess Pocket stone is a great focus to help you stay in tune with the divine feminine or help guide you through your meditations.  Pewter. 1" x 5/8"        2.29        AM/A4502GO.JPG                                      1

---

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ValleyJim

I am having a problem getting some products. It keeps saying that the category is not supplied.

I created this file using OOo and checked the delimiters and they are correct.

Here are the first few lines of me csv file, copied directly from OOo, if you would like to see a text version let me know.

Code:

---

v_products_model        v_categories_names_1        v_products_name_1        v_products_description_1        v_products_price        v_products_image        v_status                                                                                       
A4500HO        Amulets        Honesty                                                            A pewter pocket stone bearing the word Honesty engraved in its face.  Pewter. 1/2" x 1"        3.79        AM/A4500HO.JPG                                      1                                                                               
A4500OP        Amulets        Opportunity                                                        A pewter pocket stone bearing the word Opportunity  engraved in its face. Pewter. 1/2" x 1"        3.79        AM/A4500OP.JPG                                      1                                                                               
A4500PAT        Amulets        Patience                                                            A pewter pocket stone bearing the word Patience engraved in its face. Pewter. 1/2" x 1"        3.79        AM/A4500PAT.JPG                                    1                                                                               
A4500PRO        Amulets        Protection                                                          A pewter pocket stone bearing the word Protection engraved in its face. Pewter. 1/2" x 1"        3.79        AM/A4500PRO.JPG                                    1                                                                               
A4502A        Amulets        Angel                                                              Sculpted of pewter, this small stone is inscribed with an Angel and is quite useful in meditation and prayer.  Pewter. 1" x 5/8"        2.29        AM/A4502A.JPG                                      1                                                                               
A4502B        Amulets        Buddha                                                              This pewter pocket stone bears the image of the Buddha. This is intended to remind you to seek inner peace and the middle way in all things. Pewter. 3/4"        2.29        AM/A4502B.JPG                                      1                                                                       
A4502C        Amulets        Clover                                                              A favorite token of good luck, the four leaf clover, has been engraved in this pocket stone. Carry it with you for good luck. Pewter. 5/8" x 1"        2.29        AM/A4502C.JPG                                      1                                                                               
A4502CR        Amulets        Cross                                                              The cross pocket stone features the cut out of a cross within a pewter stoned. Pewter. 1" x 5/8"        2.29        AM/A4502CR.JPG                                      1                                                                               
A4502GO        Amulets        Goddess                                                            The Goddess Pocket stone is a great focus to help you stay in tune with the divine feminine or help guide you through your meditations.  Pewter. 1" x 5/8"        2.29        AM/A4502GO.JPG                                      1

---

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I am not familiar yet with the details of OO, but looking at the above file, it appears to be missing all formatting that would be expected to identify which piece of information is associated with which header. (Ie, no commas between each entity also no quotes around the data of each.) I'm pretty sure if a human can't determine which piece of data is which that a computer is about the same.

The delimiter does not HAVE to be a comma, but that is the typical delimiter and certainl helps when reading through the data.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by ValleyJim

I am having a problem getting some products. It keeps saying that the category is not supplied.

I created this file using OOo and checked the delimiters and they are correct.

Here are the first few lines of me csv file, copied directly from OOo, if you would like to see a text version let me know.

Code:

---

v_products_model        v_categories_names_1        v_products_name_1        v_products_description_1        v_products_price        v_products_image        v_status                                                                                       
A4500HO        Amulets        Honesty                                                            A pewter pocket stone bearing the word Honesty engraved in its face.  Pewter. 1/2" x 1"        3.79        AM/A4500HO.JPG                                      1                                                                               
A4500OP        Amulets        Opportunity                                                        A pewter pocket stone bearing the word Opportunity  engraved in its face. Pewter. 1/2" x 1"        3.79        AM/A4500OP.JPG                                      1                                                                               
A4500PAT        Amulets        Patience                                                            A pewter pocket stone bearing the word Patience engraved in its face. Pewter. 1/2" x 1"        3.79        AM/A4500PAT.JPG                                    1                                                                               
A4500PRO        Amulets        Protection                                                          A pewter pocket stone bearing the word Protection engraved in its face. Pewter. 1/2" x 1"        3.79        AM/A4500PRO.JPG                                    1                                                                               
A4502A        Amulets        Angel                                                              Sculpted of pewter, this small stone is inscribed with an Angel and is quite useful in meditation and prayer.  Pewter. 1" x 5/8"        2.29        AM/A4502A.JPG                                      1                                                                               
A4502B        Amulets        Buddha                                                              This pewter pocket stone bears the image of the Buddha. This is intended to remind you to seek inner peace and the middle way in all things. Pewter. 3/4"        2.29        AM/A4502B.JPG                                      1                                                                       
A4502C        Amulets        Clover                                                              A favorite token of good luck, the four leaf clover, has been engraved in this pocket stone. Carry it with you for good luck. Pewter. 5/8" x 1"        2.29        AM/A4502C.JPG                                      1                                                                               
A4502CR        Amulets        Cross                                                              The cross pocket stone features the cut out of a cross within a pewter stoned. Pewter. 1" x 5/8"        2.29        AM/A4502CR.JPG                                      1                                                                               
A4502GO        Amulets        Goddess                                                            The Goddess Pocket stone is a great focus to help you stay in tune with the divine feminine or help guide you through your meditations.  Pewter. 1" x 5/8"        2.29        AM/A4502GO.JPG                                      1

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Quote:

---

Originally Posted by mc12345678

I am not familiar yet with the details of OO, but looking at the above file, it appears to be missing all formatting that would be expected to identify which piece of information is associated with which header. (Ie, no commas between each entity also no quotes around the data of each.) I'm pretty sure if a human can't determine which piece of data is which that a computer is about the same.

The delimiter does not HAVE to be a comma, but that is the typical delimiter and certainl helps when reading through the data.

---

Okay, so once again I have reread the first message and understand that the data provided is copied and pasted from what is seen on the screen. This may look all well and good, but it is the data file that is created when saving it that is used by EP4. Please provide an example of the first few lines from it, also there seems to be some more information needed, but haven't put my finger on it yet.

Here are the first few entries when I open them in wordpad....

"v_products_model","v_categories_names_1","v_products_name_1","v_products_descri ption_1","v_products_price","v_products_image","v_status"
"A4500HO","Amulets","Honesty ","A pewter pocket stone bearing the word Honesty engraved in its face. Pewter. 1/2"" x 1""",3.79,"AM/A4500HO.JPG ",1
"A4500OP","Amulets","Opportunity ","A pewter pocket stone bearing the word Opportunity engraved in its face. Pewter. 1/2"" x 1""",3.79,"AM/A4500OP.JPG ",1
"A4500PAT","Amulets","Patience ","A pewter pocket stone bearing the word Patience engraved in its face. Pewter. 1/2"" x 1""",3.79,"AM/A4500PAT.JPG ",1
"A4500PRO","Amulets","Protection ","A pewter pocket stone bearing the word Protection engraved in its face. Pewter. 1/2"" x 1""",3.79,"AM/A4500PRO.JPG ",1
"A4502A","Amulets","Angel ","Sculpted of pewter, this small stone is inscribed with an Angel and is quite useful in meditation and prayer. Pewter. 1"" x 5/8""",2.29,"AM/A4502A.JPG ",1
"A4502B","Amulets","Buddha ","This pewter pocket stone bears the image of the Buddha. This is intended to remind you to seek inner peace and the middle way in all things. Pewter. 3/4""",2.29,"AM/A4502B.JPG ",1

One thing I noticed was where there was an " in place of 'inch' I wound up with "" in several places. So I wasn't sure if that was causing a problem, so I changed the " to 'inch' in the hopes that would help, but I am getting the same issue that it still says there is no category for each of the products.....

I figured it out and I feel like a blooming idiot.....

I changed "v_categories_names_1" to "v_categories_name_1" and it works now.

Thank you mc12345678 for giving me a hand!

Jim

Hi!

I am encountering a very frustrating problem, maybe somebody can help me sort it out?

I have a pretty big product catalog db, the 'FULL' export file can be well in excess of 10mb. Dealing with a file that big, for some reason OpenOffice gets wonky on me. So I like to delete all columns I don't plan to make changes to. As soon as I delete Product_Desc, my file becomes super manageable. However, when I go to upload my changes, EP4 decides that the missing columns should be interpreted as a desire to delete any information that might have existed.

For instance, if I upload a file that has only v_products_model and v_products_image (because I am only changing images), EP4 will go thru and delete information associated with that product (description, etc).

What gives?! Is there a way around this?

Thanks,
Mike

BTW: My site is ZC151 and using EP4.0.22 - Beta 6-10-2012