Will there also be a new version of the product fields mod? Isn't that where the new required Google Product Category information would need to be pulled from? Or, can that be coded directly in to the Merchant Center Feed?
Printable View
I'm definitely not in the know here. I had written Jeff about what was intended because of the need for the product category fields and he just let me know that he's releasing something this week.
Another question occured to me, and this is probably a simple one for those with more experience. I use calculated shipping, connecting to both USPS and UPS. I've never been able to figure out which shipping method to select in the feed configuration to get this to work correctly. Some options cause it to show up as free shipping, some as no shipping.
I can use the shipping options directly in Google, but they don't offer First Class and many of the items I sell are lightweight. This makes the items show in the results with a total cost that is much higher than reality.
Does anybody know how to set this up correctly in the feed?
Because I saw that there were some mandatory changes I upgraded my Google Base mod to the newest version.
However I see on this thread there is yet to be an even newer version to be released.
What I have encountered is this...
With a little modification ( instock col deleted ) (Adding a Google Products Category) to name a few. I was able to make a new feed with no errors or warnings.
However, the XML feed says:
I always submit both... Maybe they wont let me do that anymore anyway...Quote:
XML formatting error - Error
Our system encountered an error when processing your data feed. Learn more.
Examples:
Line Nr. Column Nr.
6 28
1.10.2 is released.
http://www.numinix.com/google-merchant-center-feeder
Will do the update today and see if it fixes the errors on the google, and comply to the new requirement.
The change log says:
Notes:
This version only partially satisfies the new requirements set out by Google which will come into effect on September 22nd, 2011. In particular, all of the variant attributes for apparel are not yet supported. To prepare for the next update, begin making "read-only" attributes in your Zen Cart admin and set the option name to the name of the variant attribute (i.e. Age Group, Material, Size, Color, Pattern, Gender, etc). The final version of our module will require Stock by Attributes (SBA) to be installed and stock IDs to be created for each of the product variations that you offer. A bug in SBA prevents us from moving forward with this plan due to the fact that read-only attributes cannot be used with SBA. We are working on our own version of SBA which we will continue to support through the Numinix.com website as soon as it is ready, The Google Merchant Center Feeder will automatically begin using these attributes.
However, if you set up these attributes to NOT be read-only and create stock IDs for all of your combinations including these attributes, GMCF will automatically begin using them in version 1.10.2.
Modified
/docs/google_merchant_center/readme.html
/googlefroogle.php
/includes/classes/google_base.php
/install.sql
/module_version/google_merchant_center_feeder.txt
Added
/update_1_10_2.sql
My most problematic feed definitely improved with the new version. He rewrote the sanitizer function and it cleaned up the product descriptions better.
Adding support for a stock with attributes contribution is a major step and writing his own version of that mod is a great thing! Can't wait for that. I actually stopped recommending using that mod due to some problems with the way that is written.
So what he's done is added a google product category field to use as the only category. For folks who have apparel or media sites who have to have this, this resolves this problem for the immediate future. If you want to be able to use different google categories on different products, you can't with this mod. As I said before there is one sold that does this. That firm is not so responsive though. I'm not fond of them but am using that product with one website now.
Looks like he also added/improved support for additional images, availability and product variants.
So I believe he's taken care of all of the upcoming requirement changes at this point. The only thing that may be lacking is the requirement for apparel variants of ###### and age group. If you have those variants for your products now, they may be available in the feed and satisfy that requirement but I don't have anyone that I'm working with who has apparel so really don't know.
So once again, thanks to Jeff at numinix.com, we are still in the game!
I have uploaded this latest version to the contributions section here on zen cart. Should be available soon.
>>>>> Anyone posting for information in this thread should be using 1.10.2 from now on. If you are not, do not expect an answer to your question. <<<<<<<