Spanish Language Pack (complete and UTF8) for Zen Cart 1.39b

Torvista,

You will be pleased to hear that the simplest solution worked, and then a simpler solution magically appeared.

First, I found the link between categories and subcategories in the PHPMyAdmin categories table, which contains a categories_id plus a parent_id for the category.

Since all categories appeared in that table for Language 1 (English), no entry was needed for Language 2. Therefore, entering a category in the categories_description table was indeed all that was needed to correct the display in the Zen Cart second language category name that wouldn't previously save.

But before making all the additions, I purchased Easy Populate Advanced 3.03, which I read in another thread would upload second language files: zencartbuilder.com

Identifying the path for the uploads file was tricky (found in admin/includes/configure.php at DIR_FS_CATALOG), but after installing, and then downloading the example Easy Populate template and data files, my single main category and 50 sub-categories magically appeared in the Spanish display along with icons which had been missing. There was an incongruity in the top category's missing file name, a capitalization error.

When I had used Easy Populate 1.2.5.4 for my original upload, I had not originally created any of the categories by hand, because 1.2.5.4 usually creates the categories. I now believe that, had I added the Spanish category names by hand, either in PHPMyAdmin or through Admin, version 1.2.5.4 would have been sufficient for uploading products and categories.

In Post 66, I mentioned I had added language 2 capacity to the products_description table in PHPMyAdmin, and now it appears the Spanish category names are easily added to the categories_description table.

Once I had added the language pack and downloaded a sample template, the Spanish descriptions appeared in the downloaded sample file. But so far, the Spanish category name has not appeared in a template download in either version of Easy Populate.

The Advanced program states one must add a column to get the Spanish translation into the second language category name, so in that respect the Advanced version really isn't different from 1.2.5.4. That will take some research to accomplish.

The missing and unsavable Spanish categories seemed a difficult problem. The stunning performance of Easy Populate Advanced 3.03 is really something to shout about. But so is your and Dr. Byte's help which led to the manual solution of this problem and the propagation of other new ideas that have come my way since delving into the Spanish Language Pack. So I am in awe once again.

Notageek

great to see you fixed it, you'll need a new nickname now!

I have examined my data in more detail and it appears my guesses about how the language pack works with PHPMyAdmin are incorrect. Although I had the great results with my categories and images appearing in the cart, and although the Spanish descriptions are all filled in, I can't explain why.

I checked the products_name_2, products_description_2 and Products_url_2 fields I had manually placed into the products_description table and those are empty. I do not know where the Spanish product description is placing itself in the database.

Also, the Store download with Easy Populate Advanced 3.0.3 shows many entries that are missing the Spanish translation or an English product description in the Spanish box. Yet the product shows as expected with both translations in the cart. One example is the product FXMIC, which downloads no Spanish description but has one in the cart. This occurs with lots of hardware products (not all) but no software products.

I am thinking that 1.2.5.4 is still needed for stability of uploads and spreadsheet downloads. I have retained 1.2.5.4 on my WAMP server.

I would really like to know why the Spanish descriptions appear in the cart but are missing from many many hardware products in the download, and would also like to know where the descriptions appear in PHPMyAdmin.

Notageek

(As far as I know, Easypopulate Advanced has long been dormant and unsupported, despite being for sale. Simply from reading about complaints from long ago, I do not get the impression it is to be trusted 100%.
I recommend you try Apsona for an up-to-date import-export experience. They are very responsive in their support too.)

All product and descriptions are in the database, you should be able to search for a snippet of text in there?

I located the Spanish description in PHPMyAdmin. It appears in the same table as the English description, next to the Language 2 title. I can therefore safely delete the columns I added that were parallel to the Language 1 entry.

It pays to look at things afresh.

Notageek

Hi. I am experiencing problems with Notepad++ not correctly saving Spanish words with accents.

I had to go back to using MS Excel 2007 when I discovered Open Office does not do well with accents; I am reading that, with Open Office, you really have to type accented letters in one by one, and that is not feasible if one has many products.

I open my files in MS Excel using UTF-8; then save.

When I pull them up into Notepad++, the files saved with MS Excel (this also happened with Open Office) will be opened as ANSI files. This will happen whether or not I check to make sure Notepad still is set to default to UTF-8 without BOM.

I will then cut the file, change the Notepad++ to UTF-8 without BOM, and paste the file back into Notepad, and save as UTF-8 without BOM. It might look normal, or it might have all the accented characters missing from the file. Sometimes it is correct for a while, and sometimes it is missing the letters right away.

If I save and reopen the file saved with Notepad++ with UTF-8 without BOM, it definitely has all the accented characters deleted from the file.

However, if I open it in MS Excel again, I can see the accented characters in MS Excel.

Does anyone know what is happening? I have been correcting files for a few weeks now, and just lately returned to MS Excel. I was able to compensate for the missing letters with search and replace, for simpler files. But with more complicated descriptions, that is a losing battle.

Thanks for any comments.

Notageek

I assume these are CSV files generated by easypopulate advanced?
Have you tried these sort of manipulations using a CSV generated from another source, ie Apsona?

I must admit all my CSV import/export is for pricing and stock, I never touch the descriptions.

Torvista,

Thanks for responding. These are tab-delimited files generated by Open Office and MS Excel 2007.

I think this question is starting to go off topic from the Spanish Language Pack, in that it is more related to possible incompatibility of Notepad++ and MS Excel/Open Office.

Thank you for advising of Apsona. Perhaps I will try that once my site is up and running. I believe that, as Apsona is menu-driven, it won't advance my knowledge of Zen Cart, which is my current focus.

Notageek

Just to set the record straight on my Post #76, on going through the process described in Paragraphs 1-3, that process works and is correctly described. Excel files, even when opened in Excel with UTF-8, always save as ANSI and always need to be cut from Notepad++, and pasted after changing Notepad++ format to UTF-8 without BOM. Then the file will be compatible with a UTF-8 site.

I somehow must have deviated from that process to come up with my errors. Not to give Open Office a bad report, my problems there may have related to the unknown erroneous process, so my discouraging report on Open Office given above may be unreliable.

Notageek

antes que nada gracias por la traduccion, la he instalado en la version 1.3.9, pero he notado que cuando doy click en el menu check out me manda a una pagina en blanco, esto no sucede si tengo seleccionado el idioma ingles, solo cuando esta seleccionado el idioma español, la url es http:playerasbiker.motoclubsmexico.com, ojala puedas ayudarme con ese detalle, debo mencionar que recien estoy conociendo zencrat

saludos