Re: Easy Populate support
Quote:
Originally Posted by
awhfy99
Sorry, this is not a reply to the above comment but I do need to ask a question on easy populate. I get no response (my browser times out when I insert anything this way). I downloaded a complete file and removed all but the 1st product and uploaded it. EP does not let me know anything has been done (it does work though). I have chmod all EP files to 777 and the temp dir the same way with no change in results and even tried the same on a test Zen site. I use EP on a osCommerce install and it works fine but both Zen sites act the same way. Is this normal or am I missing something?
This is an issue I experience on one my sites. I'm really not sure what causes it, probably some sort of configuration by the host, or some other thing, I never got an answer either. Something to do with php.ini files I think.
I should make clear that I only have this issue on a site that has been upgraded with each new ZC release. I don't have this issue with new ZC installations.
Even though the browser times out, easypopulate does what it's supposed to do, although of course, you don't get any notification of what it just did, but it works.
You shouldn't really chmod files to 777, it's not necessary to have any files set to 777.
Re: Easy Populate support
Quote:
Originally Posted by
tj1
=-=-=-= Snip, snip, snip =-=-=-=-=
Hopefully, awev will have some free time and release an updated version of EP with some more features. :)
Woops, I missed that one. I have one more week of vacation left this year that I am going to be taking soon. First on my list is getting my own stores looking and acting as I want them to. Then I can look at doing a re-write of EP. It would be a stripped down version to begin with, just to get something functional out there, then we can worry about adding "more features. :)"
Quote:
Originally Posted by
dclem
I'm helping a friend set up Zen Cart on his site and I'm tring to install Easy Populate. The problem I'm having is that all the links to download it that I've found on this thread are dead and there is nothing can be found doing a google search.
I'm very surprised at how very little documentation there is to Zen Cart and that this forum is meant as THE documentation on how to use Zen Cart, unless you are willing to pay for a $60 book. :shocking:
I think pointing people to a forum learn about how to use a product is a very bad idea as forums are best used when people can not figure out how to use a product and need help. If no documentation exists then EVERY task requires a post or searching the forum leading in order to get even the simplest thing done. With so many posts, it becomes even more difficult to find a solution as you have to read about many more other problems before you find anything about your own task, which may or may not help.
Even 'tutorials' found in the threads are nothing but FAQs. Why do I need to read a FAQ on how to solve problems that I might encounter while using the product if I don't even have information on how to use the product?
If I could find information using google searches, get a hold of a word or pdf doc, find a good website, or if I could actually find information on this forum there wouldn't be a problem. However they either do not exist or do not provide information that is needed.
I haven't used Zen Cart enough to know whether it is a good product, but not being able to find documentation to figure out how to use it tells me that it is likely only the most dedicated people have any possiblity of success with it and everyone else shouldn't have much hope.
DClem,
I will try to answer as best as I can.
1 - When I have tried to download modules in the past I have found that if I go to the next module that I am interested in, down load it, then go back to the first I usually can - it is most likely a server problem that works itself out.
2 - There is an incomplete Wiki - and I think it is mainly for developers. Zen Cart is a branch from osCommerce and so has fewer users, modules, and documentation. Things do seem to be a mess, and I have had trouble finding answers to my own questions. I think if you stick with it you will find that it offers a lot, just not as much as oSc, yet it has a better underlying foundation that is being built on. ZC is more modular/OO than oSc, so it is easier to expand, without having to modify as many modules, and keep up with the even more forums per module/add-on.
3 - Ok, very little in the form of a user's guild, and then more FAQs than how-tos. This is everyone's chance to take a fine product and help make it better. I mentioned near the top of this post that I will take a look at EP and see what I can do. The problem that I have is that I am a working stiff, with a life outside of computer world, and I can afford to take a year off and do everything I would like with this project (Zen Cart), and sub projects (EP being the one known to the people here on the forums, while I would like to rework a couple other areas for my own needs (data entry for customers, shipping, and shipping modules). I have a full plate yet I contribute as I can (girlfriend thinks she gets a small slice of the pie, yet she gets most of my evenings). Find something that you are interested about here at the world of Zen Cart, and help make it better - and that goes for everyone. Not everyone is a programmer nor document writer, yet we can all contribute something.
4 - Zen Cart is powerful, yet lacking in some areas, due to the smaller user base, and lack of documentation. See #2 above for more.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
awhfy99
Sorry, this is not a reply to the above comment but I do need to ask a question on easy populate. I get no response (my browser times out when I insert anything this way). I downloaded a complete file and removed all but the 1st product and uploaded it. EP does not let me know anything has been done (it does work though). I have chmod all EP files to 777 and the temp dir the same way with no change in results and even tried the same on a test Zen site. I use EP on a osCommerce install and it works fine but both Zen sites act the same way. Is this normal or am I missing something?
Over here in the Zen Cart world we use an older, more stable, version of EP than what you would find in osC. EP should report what it does with each item it reads in, such as insert, delete, or update, each on its own line. I cant even start to guess what is wrong, as I have used different servers configured differently, and get slightly different actions or work arounds.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
dclem
I didn't ask for technical support, I simply asked for documentation. Is it a sin to expect for software, even if it is open source, to have some documentation to it?
And if you read my post, you would of realized that that I have done quite a bit of searching on this forum and elsewhere for information. I managed to find 3 posts in this thread that tell me where to download easy support, but all three of them do not work. I haven't read all 900+ posts in this thread, but should I be expected to have to read that much before asking for help?
Hello again DClem,
How can we help you?
Re: Easy Populate support
TJ1,
I see we where responding at the same time, and you hit the post button before I did. <lol>
Nice to know that a fresh install works better than an upgrade/update does.
Re: Easy Populate support
Quote:
Originally Posted by
tj1
This is an issue I experience on one my sites. I'm really not sure what causes it, probably some sort of configuration by the host, or some other thing, I never got an answer either. Something to do with php.ini files I think.
I should make clear that I only have this issue on a site that has been upgraded with each new ZC release. I don't have this issue with new ZC installations.
Even though the browser times out, easypopulate does what it's supposed to do, although of course, you don't get any notification of what it just did, but it works.
You shouldn't really chmod files to 777, it's not necessary to have any files set to 777.
Thanks, found out that modhole site is working after my last post and the zip file contained a readme file that explained how to install it. Easy populate is now installed on my friends site. :smile:
I know I sounded cynical in my posts, but I never assume anything works untill I see it work. Although other people may have know about that the site is unreachable from time to time, how should I know whether a link is still good after getting a 404 error? :huh:
Re: Easy Populate support
Quote:
Originally Posted by
tj1
This is an issue I experience on one my sites. I'm really not sure what causes it, probably some sort of configuration by the host, or some other thing, I never got an answer either. Something to do with php.ini files I think.
I should make clear that I only have this issue on a site that has been upgraded with each new ZC release. I don't have this issue with new ZC installations.
Even though the browser times out, easypopulate does what it's supposed to do, although of course, you don't get any notification of what it just did, but it works.
You shouldn't really chmod files to 777, it's not necessary to have any files set to 777.
I didn't think that it was necessary for the the chmod, just covering all bases. Thanks for the response, both of my sites were installed late last year and I just recently started the changeover from osc. What I will do is to install a fresh one and wholesale move my override folders and my image directory to it and then give it another try.
Re: Easy Populate support
Without reading the insane number of messages here maybe someone can point me to the soluton of installing easypopulate as the search function did not give me the needed results.
I downloaded it, extracted an simply copied the contents in the directory where of my shop is. which means the temp folder is in the same subfolder than the admin. I guessed this would be right. I cannot see any install procedure anywhere as indicated in the install.txt that comes with the program.
Well, the result looks like this:
http://www.wabo.ro/download/zencart1.jpg
As you can see the menu on scroll down is somewhat strange at least and if you pick easypopulate anyway the screen looks like this with the above visible error message.
The uninstall and install procedure just leads to more error messages in the header, so I just went and deleted every file separately on the server.
Anyway I can export data, but import doesn´t seem to work.
I just copied some product lines and changed some data.
Upload shows success message, but no result when you open the shop.
Also by choosing: "Create Complete tab-delimited .txt file" I cannot find categories for the items to be described. I do use excel to see and work on the file.
Help? What did I do wrong?
Re: Easy Populate support
A few days ago I posted a question about how to add a new field to be included for uploading and downloading. After quite a bit of looking through the main file, testing and printing variables, I have been able to get my extra field added both to the download as well as uploading. I thought other might be interested in how I did this.
First a few caveats:
1) I was only concerned with the Complete upload/download (and only made mods to those parts of the file)
2) The field I needed to add is an added field to the products_descriptions table. If you need to add a field from another table, this might or might not help you.
3) Line numbers given are approximate (yours may differ slightly).
Line 360
Original:
$filelayout = array_merge($filelayout , array(
'v_products_name_' . $l_id => $iii++,
'v_products_description_' . $l_id => $iii++,
));
Changed to:
$filelayout = array_merge($filelayout , array(
'v_products_name_' . $l_id => $iii++,
'v_new_field_' . $l_id => $iii++,
'v_products_description_' . $l_id => $iii++,
));
Line 791
Original:
$row['v_products_name_' . $lid] = $row2['products_name'];
$row['v_products_description_' . $lid] = $row2['products_description'];
if ($ep_supported_mods['psd'] == true) {
$row['v_products_short_desc_' . $lid] = $row2['products_short_desc'];
}
Changed to:
$row['v_products_name_' . $lid] = $row2['products_name'];
$row['v_products_description_' . $lid] = $row2['products_description'];
$row['v_new_field_' . $lid] = $row2['new_field'];
if ($ep_supported_mods['psd'] == true) {
$row['v_products_short_desc_' . $lid] = $row2['products_short_desc'];
}
Line 1280
Original:
$default_these = array(
'v_products_image',
// redundant image mods removed
'v_categories_id',
[...]
'v_products_width',
'v_products_height'
);
Changed to:
$default_these = array(
'v_products_image',
// redundant image mods removed
'v_categories_id',
[...]
'v_products_width',
'v_products_height',
'v_new_field'
);
Line 1484
Original:
// Need to report from ......_name_1 not ..._name_0
$row['v_products_name_' . $lang['id']] = $row2['products_name'];// name assigned
$row['v_products_description_' . $lang['id']] = $row2['products_description'];// description assigned
Changed to:
// Need to report from ......_name_1 not ..._name_0
$row['v_products_name_' . $lang['id']] = $row2['products_name'];// name assigned
$row['v_products_description_' . $lang['id']] = $row2['products_description'];// description assigned
$row['v_new_field_' . $lang['id']] = $row2['new_field'];
Line 1660
Original:
foreach ($langcode as $lang){
$l_id = $lang['id'];
if (isset($filelayout['v_products_name_' . $l_id ])){ // do for each language in our upload file if exist
// we set dynamically the language vars
$v_products_name[$l_id] = smart_tags($items[$filelayout['v_products_name_' . $l_id]],$smart_tags,$cr_replace,false);
$v_products_description[$l_id] = smart_tags($items[$filelayout['v_products_description_' . $l_id ]],$smart_tags,$cr_replace,$strip_smart_tags);
Changed to:
foreach ($langcode as $lang){
$l_id = $lang['id'];
if (isset($filelayout['v_products_name_' . $l_id ])){ // do for each language in our upload file if exist
// we set dynamically the language vars
$v_products_name[$l_id] = smart_tags($items[$filelayout['v_products_name_' . $l_id]],$smart_tags,$cr_replace,false);
$v_new_field[$l_id] = smart_tags($items[$filelayout['v_new_field_' . $l_id]],$smart_tags,$cr_replace,false);
$v_products_description[$l_id] = smart_tags($items[$filelayout['v_products_description_' . $l_id ]],$smart_tags,$cr_replace,$strip_smart_tags);
Line 2005
Original:
$sql =
"INSERT INTO ".TABLE_PRODUCTS_DESCRIPTION."
(products_id,
language_id,
products_name,
products_description,";
Changed to:
$sql =
"INSERT INTO ".TABLE_PRODUCTS_DESCRIPTION."
(products_id,
language_id,
products_name,
new_field,
products_description,";
Line 2007
Original:
VALUES (
'" . $v_products_id . "',
" . $key . ",
'" . zen_db_input($name) . "',
'" . zen_db_input($v_products_description[$key]) . "',
";
Changed to:
VALUES (
'" . $v_products_id . "',
" . $key . ",
'" . zen_db_input($name) . "',
'" . zen_db_input($v_new_field$key]) . "',
'" . zen_db_input($v_products_description[$key]) . "',
";
On this last change, be careful of your punctuation - it's easy to miss a quote or a '.'
I hope this helps anyone else who is trying to do the same thing that I was.
Re: Easy Populate support
Quote:
Originally Posted by
earmsby
A few days ago I posted a question about how to add a new field to be included for uploading and downloading. After quite a bit of looking through the main file, testing and printing variables, I have been able to get my extra field added both to the download as well as uploading. I thought other might be interested in how I did this.
First a few caveats:
1) I was only concerned with the Complete upload/download (and only made mods to those parts of the file)
2) The field I needed to add is an added field to the products_descriptions table. If you need to add a field from another table, this might or might not help you.
3) Line numbers given are approximate (yours may differ slightly).
-==-=-=- Cut for length and readability -=-=-=-=-=-
Line 2007
Original:
VALUES (
'" . $v_products_id . "',
" . $key . ",
'" . zen_db_input($name) . "',
'" . zen_db_input($v_products_description[$key]) . "',
";
Changed to:
VALUES (
'" . $v_products_id . "',
" . $key . ",
'" . zen_db_input($name) . "',
'" . zen_db_input($v_new_field$key]) . "',
'" . zen_db_input($v_products_description[$key]) . "',
";
On this last change, be careful of your punctuation - it's easy to miss a quote or a '.'
I hope this helps anyone else who is trying to do the same thing that I was.
First, thanks Ellie for taking the time to document it, I have a few notes scattered about my copy, yet I never put it together in a neat package for display.
Second, as you noted, if you have to insert/update/delete from a second table it gets a bit more tricky, just not impossible. Where you mention line 2005, and show the snippet of code, is where the writing operations begins, the other parts formats, and reads, the info - whether from the file or the database, depending on the area, and may create a file for output. Use extra care when mucking around in this area, and double check the database tables to be effected.
I hope that in that last snippet of code the single error I saw just glancing at things is only on what is posted here.
'" . zen_db_input($v_new_field$key]) . "',
Looks as if an opening bracket, "[", is missing. It should be between the d in $v_new_field and the $ in $key, so it looks like:
'" . zen_db_input($v_new_field[$key]) . "',
I am glad you where able to modify things for your needs.
I use a number of different vendors, and each one supplies the info in a different format, with different field names, and with different amounts of info. One vendor does use osC for there demo site, and so uses EP, yet I still have to adjust things for my own site. I like having an UPC/ISBN number so if I list on Amazon/Google I don't have to do more research before listing. Because of this I am looking to create my own script/mod/program that will help in matching up the different headers to EP's, and that will form a basis for any re-write I do. The notes in the current EP files gives hints, and I have been giving myself a crash course in PHP and MySQL, and have my own ideas. I don't know if I will end up with something similar to EPA, yet I hope to dive in starting this weekend. It seems as adding fields tends to be the biggest thing here, then the attribute management. One hurdle at a time.
Re: Easy Populate + Image-Handler?
Hi,
I've tried using EP with a small number of products. I want to try with a larger number of products, and what I want to know is how to handle images with Easypopulate. I intend to store my images in images/cat_abc, images/cat_xyz.
1. I assume EP supports subdirectories, i.e. if I input cat_abc/imagea.jpg into the v_products_image field, this will be recognized. If the directory does not exist, EP will automatically create it. Are these correct assumptions?
2. I like I-H's ability to auto create multiple images in addition to the auto-resizing of small, medium, and large pictures. How can I utilize the features of Image-Handler 2 successfully with EP?
Re: Easy Populate + Image-Handler?
Hi Kai,
In answer to #1 - yes and no. Yes, EP supports sub-directories, and no, it will not create sub-directories - they, and the images, must exist before you upload (import) the information. If you upload the file before you have the images in place then EP will use ZC's default of no_image.gif, forcing you to go back and edit each item to add the photo to it.
As to #2, I am not sure, as I don't have or use IH2, so I can't say 100%, just a guess. My guess would be that IH2 should operate the same as before - consider EP to be something like a typist, entering the product info for you.
Hope this helps some.
