Apsona ShopAdmin - a free tool for import/mass update/reporting

The website is at apsona.com. Seems to be a store manager mod. Curious to know who might have experience with it.

Apsona now offers Apsona ShopAdmin for Zen Cart. ShopAdmin is a free tool for importing, exporting, updates, reports and business analysis for your e-commerce site.


If you have not yet signed up to use Apsona ShopAdmin for your Zen Cart application, please visit http://apsona.com and click the on “Sign up” link.

Best regards.
The Apsona team
http://apsona.com

A brief read of the 'How it works' indicates that two tables are added to the database.

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Additionally, it will create two database tables with names apsona_report and apsona_filter in your database.

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Just checking. You didn't mention that you did that part.

We are going to be talking to the developer since they have said that they have it working on our servers,

Need to see what they are doing different.

It calls it from the apsona server through some crafty redirecting. But if your server can't connect to the apsona server, then none of it is going to work.

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Originally Posted by DrByte

It calls it from the apsona server through some crafty redirecting. But if your server can't connect to the apsona server, then none of it is going to work.

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And that has made me think twice about using this. It seems like you are giving access to your admin to this remote server and who knows what they are doing with that data access. I have looked at the install files and there isn't much there which leads me to believe that most of the scripts are on the apsona server so you never know what they could be doing behind the scenes....

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Originally Posted by lankeeyankee

And that has made me think twice about using this. It seems like you are giving access to your admin to this remote server and who knows what they are doing with that data access. I have looked at the install files and there isn't much there which leads me to believe that most of the scripts are on the apsona server so you never know what they could be doing behind the scenes....

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Thank you. We can guarantee that no data ever leaves the Zen Cart server. We have no access to your data under any circumstance.
This is no different than any other hosted service.
For more information, please check out the following link:

http://apsona.com/pages/ec/howItWorks.html

We will be happy to discuss your security concerns and also provide a more detailed exposition of the Apsona hosted architecture. Please contact us directly from our website.

It's really looking good so far.

Hello All,

Just wondering if anyone has used something called Apsona ShopAdmin?

Available from apsona.com this software seems to be much more capable than EasyPopulate, with a better user interface and the ability fully customise how you want to update, import, export or lookup products.

The BIG problem I have with EasyPopulate is that it keeps overwriting product descriptions when I update existing products, unless I mess around in excel copying, pasting and removing columns.

I'm hoping Apsona is the answer to my prayers....has anyone got any words of advice on this?

Thanks.

Perhaps check the support thread?

http://www.zen-cart.com/forum/showthread.php?t=145840

Thanks, Kim, was just wondering about who was using it and their reactions. I haven't had a chance to look at it closely since I do more installing than using everything! But I did just use it to find out which images were bmp on one website. Incredible! (both that someone is using bmp and that it was so easy to do the search.)

After a bit of research, and a lot of struggling with Easy Populate, I decided to install Apsona lastnight.

My verdict:

Easy to install, easy to work with, many decent features that make adding or updating a breeze. No problems so far. Best of all...unless you tell it to, it won't overwrite any existing product descriptions when you update a product's price or stock quantity.

Not with their Terms of Service.

dw08gm - May I ask what it is about the terms of service that you find unacceptable? We do want our product to be useful, and we'll do what it takes toward that goal.

I'd greatly appreciate your opinion.

Thanks.
Apsona
http://apsona.com

Their address is also a lawyers den.

The plot thickens.

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Originally Posted by apsona

dw08gm - May I ask what it is about the terms of service that you find unacceptable? We do want our product to be useful, and we'll do what it takes toward that goal.

I'd greatly appreciate your opinion.

Thanks.
Apsona
http://apsona.com

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I will tell you for AUS$1,000,000.

What in the world are you talking about? If you have no constructive or intelligible answer here, please refrain.

If paid, I will donate half of this amount to the zencart team.

Perhaps you are referring to the fact that our physical address houses some legal offices. Our office building is a four-story structure with many offices, and we are a small company, so we need just a small space. That's why you might be seeing legal offices at the same address.

Best regards,
Apsona
http://apsona.com

Who is your company and who are your lawyers.

dw if you dont have anything constructive to add to this conversation will you just lay off

I’ve just installed the Apsona ShopAdmin module on a test site on a local server using WAMP 2.0

I’m using ZC 1.3.8a and I have patched my database to use PHP 5.3

I am getting the following errors when navigating to Admin>Tools>Apsona ShopAdmin

When I click on that link, a second browser opens and the following is all that is on the page.

Deprecated: Function ereg() is deprecated in C:\wamp\www\ZenCart\includes\classes\db\mysql\query_factory.php on line 177

Deprecated: Function ereg() is deprecated in C:\wamp\www\ZenCart\includes\classes\db\mysql\query_factory.php on line 177

I checked the db and the two additional files were written to it..

Would it be that the addon is not yet PHP 5.3 compliant, or is there another issue/easy fix..

Mike_Dean - I doubt that this is a ShopAdmin issue. This looks like the issue that has been discussed in this thread: http://www.zen-cart.com/forum/showthread.php?t=147583

Please let me know if you find out otherwise, however.

Regards,
Apsona
http://apsona.com

htm2112 - To make doubly sure, I tested ShopAdmin on a GoDaddy installation, and it seems to work. I appreciate your choice of going with another hosting company, but I'm saying this simply because I don't want to leave people with the impression that GoDaddy is to blame entirely for this problem. I'm guessing that it was some sort of transient issue that you ran into, and I'm very glad it is resolved.

Regards,
Apsona
http://apsona.com

Can I just say that we have installed Apsona on our website, and apart from a few teething troubles, I think it is a really good program.
The people at Apsona have been very good in helping us overcome some problems. Requests for support have been answered quickly and efficiently.

I see nothing suspicious about this program.

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Originally Posted by Shaunus

Can I just say that we have installed Apsona on our website, and apart from a few teething troubles, I think it is a really good program.
The people at Apsona have been very good in helping us overcome some problems. Requests for support have been answered quickly and efficiently.

I see nothing suspicious about this program.

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I looked around as well. And nothing took me by surprise. I didn't find anything in their terms and restrictions that was out of the ordinary although I guess as an open source hacker I would like to have a little more control over the source code but that's their prerogative.

It actually seems like a cool program that is working as well if not a lot better then the mess easy populate is. As soon as we hire someone to keep all of our products updated I'm going to look into it so they can utilize it.

Not sure what dw08gm's problem is.. and I'm certainly not going to pay to find out ;)

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Originally Posted by Mike_Dean

I’ve just installed the Apsona ShopAdmin module on a test site on a local server using WAMP 2.0

I’m using ZC 1.3.8a and I have patched my database to use PHP 5.3

I am getting the following errors when navigating to Admin>Tools>Apsona ShopAdmin

When I click on that link, a second browser opens and the following is all that is on the page.

Deprecated: Function ereg() is deprecated in C:\wamp\www\ZenCart\includes\classes\db\mysql\query_factory.php on line 177

Deprecated: Function ereg() is deprecated in C:\wamp\www\ZenCart\includes\classes\db\mysql\query_factory.php on line 177

I checked the db and the two additional files were written to it..

Would it be that the addon is not yet PHP 5.3 compliant, or is there another issue/easy fix..

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Maybe I am misunderstanding you, but your problem is right there if you are running PHP 5.3x. ereg is a deprecated function in 5.3x which means it is no longer supported in php. The query_factory.php is a core Zen-Cart file. Change the

Code:

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!ereg

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to

Code:

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!preg_match

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through out the file and see if that solves your problem. It is in that file 6 times.

Better yet, if you're using PHP 5.3, then it's time for you to upgrade to ZC v1.3.9 which has already been written to be compatible with PHP 5.3.
Don't bother messing with core files ... it's a much better investment of your time to upgrade to code that's already been fixed for you.

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Originally Posted by DrByte

Better yet, if you're using PHP 5.3, then it's time for you to upgrade to ZC v1.3.9 which has already been written to be compatible with PHP 5.3.
Don't bother messing with core files ... it's a much better investment of your time to upgrade to code that's already been fixed for you.

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Thanks,

I have done that, tried the add-on on a completely clean 1.3.9b and PHP5.3 but it still did not work.

If I used PHP 5.2.11 on ZC 1.3.9b, the add-on worked.

So I can only conclude (probably wrong tho..!) that whilst the mod will work on ZC 1.3.9b, it will not work on PHP 5.3.

What errors did you get in 139?

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Originally Posted by DrByte

What errors did you get in 139?

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In admin, click on Tools>Apsona ShopAdmin

It opens a new browser as it should, but I get a blank page with a image of a circular timer, going round and around..!

I don’t get any errors on the screen, just the blank page as described above.

Nothing else happens, it just sits there with the timer going round and round....

Mike_Dean - I am unable to reproduce this problem. With a clean brand new install of EasyPHP 5.3.2i (the latest) on my Windows 7 box, and a clean fresh install of ZenCart 1.3.9b on top, I see ShopAdmin working fine.

In any case, I will send you a PM with some alternatives to try.

Thanks.

Apsona
http://apsona.com

All I needed to see to know this is worth my time investigating is here:

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Customer testimonials

"All in all an excellent offering. I really like it, and I think it could be quite useful to Zen Cart vendors." – Scott Wilson, That Software Guy


"I am very impressed with ShopAdmin. As a developer, I wish it came with Zen Cart because it would make my job so much easier! Comparing it to Easypopulate? No contest, this wins hands down. I will be glad to recommend it to customers."
— Delia Lunsford, Web Consultant, Delia Wilson Design

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That plus the constructive comments (vague unsupported comments do not help the community) I've seen posted in this thread are good enough for me to investigate and test this app out for myself.. I only have one question for the community:
Is any one using this with one of the working SEO mods (Ceon's URI or SSU)

it can be used with anything I think as it doesn't touch the core files at all.

I don't know about using it with mods that change the default database tables like products, etc.

I had a chance to work with apsona myself this past week and it's definitely easier to use than easy populate as it looked at my first glance.

One of the best things is that the Apsona team is interested in improving it - so any suggestions one makes to them is listened to. They are eager to please and have the facility to do it. They didn't just do something for free and throw it out there like most modules. (I speak from personal experience - it's really difficult for me to make changes to mods I've done unless someone volunteers for the development time.)

And this is what I need to know.. I asked not from the perspective of it (Apsona) touching core files but the fact that it updates product tables, etc. It is my understanding that EZ Populate messes up (removes) the stored URIs generated by the Ceon URI module. (This is and other issues with EP is why I've stayed FAR away from EP)

I'm happy to test this myself (and I will do just that). I just wanted to know if the community had any experience with this app and SEO mods..

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Originally Posted by delia

it can be used with anything I think as it doesn't touch the core files at all.

I don't know about using it with mods that change the default database tables like products, etc.

I had a chance to work with apsona myself this past week and it's definitely easier to use than easy populate as it looked at my first glance.

One of the best things is that the Apsona team is interested in improving it - so any suggestions one makes to them is listened to. They are eager to please and have the facility to do it. They didn't just do something for free and throw it out there like most modules. (I speak from personal experience - it's really difficult for me to make changes to mods I've done unless someone volunteers for the development time.)

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I just used the ceon mod recently - does it store the uri's in the product tables? I dont' recall.....

A further update...

We've had Apsona installed for a couple of weeks now.

It's been great for updating existing products, but we've still not got it to import new products properly.

Main issues:

There seems to be a number of required fields for a new product, which I can't really see the relevance of. These aren't required when updating existing products.

I can't upload a a new product unless I leave the Product Type field blank. Entering 'Product - General' will not work.

The 'date available' needs to be set to yesterday's date else any products added only appear in the 'Products Expected' area.

The supporting documentation is a bit vague. For example in the sample csv file it shows the 'Enabled' column as having data values of either '1' or '0'. I found out that it won't work unless you enter 'yes' or 'no'.

Any products uploaded using Apsona cannot be edited or deleted in Zen Admin. This has stopped us for the time being because we use FCK Editor for our tabbed product descriptions, but anything new cannot be edited!

All in all, there's the bones of a really good programme here, but it still needs refinement, it kinda 80% does what we need it to.

My suggestions:

From the fields currently setup in Apsona, allow users a setting to customise what the required fields are for new uploads and updates. That way each business can use Apsona how they want to and not have to bother with fields irrelevant to them. For example, we only want to upload Model, Name, Manufacturer Name, Price, Quantity, Enabled, Date available, as this is what we get on our supplier sheets.

Possibly include some kind of CK Editor within Apsona, making it a true one-stop interface for product uploading and editing...this would really speed things up!

Lastly, allow Apsona to recognise Manufacturer Name for new products. Having to type in the manufacturer ID makes it difficult because it means more manual input onto a supplier sheet. The supplier will always provide the manufacturer name, so Apsona really should recognise it in an upload, without the user having to add a column to their csv file then lookup all the manufacturer IDs.


Apsona have responded well to my e-mail queries, and they have received feedback well. I just hope they can develop Apsona some more and make it a 100% useful program.

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Originally Posted by delia

I just used the ceon mod recently - does it store the uri's in the product tables? I dont' recall.....

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I believe it does.. From what I understand EZ Populate doesn't play nice with this.. As I said, i will test all this myself this weekend.. Just wanted to get some feedback from the community.. :smile:

good points and good information!

Hello folks,

Just a couple of points to add to Shaunus:

• For the "required" fields, generally we have tried to conform to the "non-null" field specifications in the Zen Cart database. We will re-examine these and fix as needed.
• If you don't specify a product type when importing, or leave it blank, it will leave the product type field empty in the database. So there will not be a type handler PHP page within Zen Cart for that product. Net effect, the product cannot be edited nor deleted from within Zen Admin. I do believe that ShopAdmin checks that any value specified matches an existing picklist value for product type, but I will verify that.
• The manufacturer name lookup is to be done. The problem is that the manufacturer name does not uniquely identify the manufacturer, so ShopAdmin insists on the manufacturer id instead. And that is perhaps not the best thing from a usability perspective. ShopAdmin definitely needs work here.
• The 'Enabled' column should allow either '1' or 'yes' or 'y'. But again I will verify that.

Having said all that: Apsona ShopAdmin is still a work in progress, and we're delighted to get the amount of positive feedback we have been getting. Please continue to let us know any issues you find, and we will gladly fix them.

Thanks for letting us be a part of this wonderful community.

Apsona
http://apsona.com

Having read the last post by Apsona, I can now see why I can't delete or edit newly added products within the Zen Admin area...basically because I'm leaving the 'Product Type' field blank.

If I enter ' Product - General' in the appropriate field in my csv file, the upload fails - with an error being flagged up for the 'Product Type' column. If I put in 'Product - Free Shipping' it WILL allow the upload, but then it includes an image next to all our products saying 'Free Shipping' - which I don't want.

All our products are 'Product - General'. And we do offer free shipping, but we set this in Zen Admin on the edit product pages, where we can set 'Always Free Shipping' to 'Yes'.

I really can't work out why Apsona won't accept 'Product - General' from our csv files?

Shaunus - ShopAdmin does not have any hard-coded product types in it. (It can't have, because every cart database can potentially have its own types.) Instead, ShopAdmin extracts the list of available product types from your Zen Cart database, and when you are importing products, it matches the values you specify against that list. It then rejects the ones that don't match. (The matching is case-independent.)

And in your case I'm guessing that the matching is working correctly, since it allows 'Product - Free shipping'. I'm guessing that the reason it is rejecting 'Product - General' is because you perhaps put in an extra space in the product type column in the CSV file.

Here's a suggestion. Simply import your products with 'products - free shipping' as their type, since that seems to work. Then you can mass-update the product types of all the newly-imported products using ShopAdmin's bulk update feature, as follows. Use the 'More options' button under 'Search' to locate just those products, e.g., by specifying that they have a created time of today. Then click 'Tools - Update all'. In the resulting popup, when you choose the product type field on the left, it will show you (on the right side) a picklist containing the allowed choices for product type according to your database. So there, you can choose the correct product type and click 'Update' and you're done. (There are videos on our website showing how to use the bulk update feature.)

Please get in touch with us directly if we can help further.

Best regards,
Apsona
http://apsona.com

Please share I have the same problem too.

kevy - FYI, we have recently had to deal with another GoDaddy customer whose Zen Cart seems misconfigured. Specifically, if a URL looks like mypath/myfile.php, it works fine, but if it looks like mypath/myfile.php/myarg1/myarg2 (with the intent that myfile.php will handle that URL), the server returns a "No input file specified" error. This causes the Apsona ShopAdmin software to fail to load.

We resolved this problem for this customer by adding rewrite rules into the Apache .htaccess file. But there may be other situations where server configuration problems can manifest as a ShopAdmin malfunction. Please get in touch with us via our website, or directly by email, and we will gladly help get you set up with ShopAdmin.

On a related note, a question for the PHP gurus in this forum: Can someone explain exactly why the above error occurs? Some googling suggests that it might be because the server does not set the SCRIPT_FILENAME environment variable in some cases, but I have not been able to reliably replicate this error in any of my test environments so that I can fix it. As luck would have it, the error only seems to crop up in customer environments :frusty: I'd greatly appreciate someone explaining this one to me.

Thanks and regards.

Apsona
http://apsona.com

:clap:I been stuck for the past few days using Easy Populate, so I started searching online for a better program when I came across Apsona.com. I must say this program is great everything is well organized very detail is very very user friendly even for someone new like myself, I was able to figure out how to use it very quickly . But besides the program been really good, their customer service is out of this world. I got stuck when uploading my cvs files but not because theirs anything wrong with apsona is just that I never done this before,so I email their support staff and he literally responded within minutes. I thought to myself his probably going to send me to their site to read how to use their program, but to my surprise he ask me for my phone number and gave me a call right away and he even set up an online meeting so he can see my computer so he can guide me through the whole process he spend over an hour on the meeting and on the phone guiding me through every little detail until I got it right he even went out of his way and ask me to send him the files that I had so he can align them correctly because thats what was giving me problems he was very concern throughout the whole time even a day later he email to make sure everything is fine and if i get stuck again to give him a call, and by the way this whole thing happen within hours it dint take them days to help me it was all doned the same day i email them. I would recommend this program to anyone and if you are new please please do not hesitate to email them they will do anything to help you learn how to use the program and guide you through the whole process.Give this program a chance its great and their customer service is even greater. I was so happy with the results that i felt compelled to come here and tell everyone about my experience.:clap:

I think that Apsona is the best thing since sliced bread. The mod really does make things much more easier and manageable. The Support is awesome, Apsona helps with on hands support when ever you need it and keeps adding more options like UPC in the future which will make Amazon a breeze. I definitely recommend this app.

Im using this great app Apsona. The mod really does make things much more easier and manageable. The Support is awesome, Apsona helps with on hands support when ever you need it and keeps adding more options like UPC in the future which will make Amazon a breeze. I definitely recommend using Apsona - it doesnt touch any core files nor do you need to inject sql changing tables and works great.

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Originally Posted by rxalex

I think that Apsona is the best thing since sliced bread. The mod really does make things much more easier and manageable. The Support is awesome, Apsona helps with on hands support when ever you need it and keeps adding more options like UPC in the future which will make Amazon a breeze. I definitely recommend this app.

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Yes the support is excellent as is the application...

Sridhar setup a GoTo Net Meeting to try an resolve my issues.

Unfortunately we weren't able to reolve the issue, and I'm no closer to using Apsona on a local test site using WAMP, PHP 5.3 and ZC 1.3.9c (Tho I can get it running on PHP5.2.11).

I switch from EZ Populate to (Apsona) and it works great.. 3 weeks of fighting with ez populate switching to apsona has saved me a lot of headaches. Had one issue but their programmer was excellent and fast to fix the problem Thanks m.a. Your wonderful... I would recommend this program 100% Apsona



Program is easier to use and very professional looking with layout on dash board that help you narrate through program faster.

I briefly looked at it and might be using it shortly. Does anyone know if you can put special pricing on items? I know with easy populate I'm able to load a lot of items with the retail price and then a discounted or MAP pricing as well.

Throwdown - Yes, all of these fields are supported within ShopAdmin. You can even import product records and then update their prices later.

Apsona
http://apsona.com

If I came across your website by chance I wouldn't immediately know what the program was for. Can I suggest you make it abundantly clear that "Apsona ShopAdmin is an add on for ZenCart and osCommerce" somewhere right at the top of the page?

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Originally Posted by apsona

Throwdown - Yes, all of these fields are supported within ShopAdmin. You can even import product records and then update their prices later.

Apsona
http://apsona.com

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Cool, I installed it. Only difference is when i go into ShopAdmin it says welcome with my name and company, etc. but thats it. The rest of the page is blank. Something I need to turn on?

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Originally Posted by Throwdown

Cool, I installed it. Only difference is when i go into ShopAdmin it says welcome with my name and company, etc. but thats it. The rest of the page is blank. Something I need to turn on?

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Big thanks to them, I received an email in the middle of the night with a response and I didn't even write to them (assuming the wrote based on this post).

For future users, you need to run firefox, chrome, etc. My version (one of the latest) of IE didn't work. Still playing around with it though as far as function but does look nice.

Awesome product, I used it a little bit more yesterday - works great. I was able to export and import changes within minutes. Support is also excellent. Makes zencart updating product information a breeze.

I have a bunch of files showing in the un-zipped folder.

What goes where ans which sql file(s) do I run?

BigAl

Hey BigAl, I know its a bit confusing after unzipping. (maybe Apsona should have a folder set Youradmin/includes etc.) But to answer your question everything goes into admin and corresponding folder includes, Hope that helps. just copy the sql files to the directory - do not install the sql files!

Please copy all the files in the package into the admin folder, preserving folder structure. There will be seven or so files added into the admin folder, and one file added to includes/boxes/extra_boxes. All the file names begin with apsona_.

ShopAdmin will automatically detect the SQL files and run them if necessary. So the only thing you need to do is copy the files into the admin folder.

Hope this helps.

Apsona
http://apsona.com

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Mike_Dean

Yes the support is excellent as is the application...

Sridhar setup a GoTo Net Meeting to try an resolve my issues.

Unfortunately we weren't able to resolve the issue, and I'm no closer to using Apsona on a local test site using WAMP, PHP 5.3 and ZC 1.3.9c (Tho I can get it running on PHP5.2.11).

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I am pleased to report that, although I could not get Apsona to run on PH5.3.0 on a local sever, I have got it running on my hosts server on a test site that is running 5.3.2. :clap: :clap:

So all good, and it's very useful..

Hi I heard that you can use Apsona as a quick way of installing lots of products. I downloaded their software and installed as per the instructions into the Admin folder. I can now see the Apsona admin link on my admin menu but when I click on it it takes me back to my own admin logon page. If I enter my admin login details it just takes me back to my own admin page, it's a constant look. Have I missed something important? I am using zencart locally for the moment, don't have a hosting account setup yet, I am running zencart 1.3.9a. No mods or add ons installed. Has anyone experienced this problem? thanks.:huh:

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I am running zencart 1.3.9a. No mods or add ons installed.

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Except for the 3rd party mod "Apsona"

Sounds like a question for them

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Originally Posted by NoobGal

Hi I heard that you can use Apsona as a quick way of installing lots of products. I downloaded their software and installed as per the instructions into the Admin folder. I can now see the Apsona admin link on my admin menu but when I click on it it takes me back to my own admin logon page. If I enter my admin login details it just takes me back to my own admin page, it's a constant look. Have I missed something important? I am using zencart locally for the moment, don't have a hosting account setup yet, I am running zencart 1.3.9a. No mods or add ons installed. Has anyone experienced this problem? thanks.:huh:

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I haven't seen this problem, but I'll gladly help resolve it. Please get in touch with me via our website or via email. I can set up a screen share session via gotomeeting and find a solution.

Best regards.

Apsona
http://apsona.com

Used some more this weekend, definitely a worthy tool once you get used to it.

Another question, but is there (apsona or any other add-on for that matter) a way to upload a batch of your category/subcategory set-up instead of setting up 1 by 1

Maybe something like
Category 1
Category 2
Category 3
Category 1 : Sub A
Category 2: Sub A
Category 3: Sub A
Category 1 : Sub B
Category 2: Sub B
Category 3: Sub B
Category 1 : Sub C
Category 2: Sub C
Category 3: Sub C

...
Maybe with adding an image type function similar to the product upload? Not sure if anything exists like this, but could save a ton of time not repeating the work to build out the hierarchy.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Throwdown

Used some more this weekend, definitely a worthy tool once you get used to it.

Another question, but is there (apsona or any other add-on for that matter) a way to upload a batch of your category/subcategory set-up instead of setting up 1 by 1

Maybe something like
Category 1
Category 2
Category 3
Category 1 : Sub A
Category 2: Sub A
Category 3: Sub A
Category 1 : Sub B
Category 2: Sub B
Category 3: Sub B
Category 1 : Sub C
Category 2: Sub C
Category 3: Sub C

...
Maybe with adding an image type function similar to the product upload? Not sure if anything exists like this, but could save a ton of time not repeating the work to build out the hierarchy.

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Yes, you can do precisely this with ShopAdmin, using pretty much the syntax you indicate above. There is documentation describing this on the Apsona website.

Regards,
Apsona
http://apsona.com

I downloaded Apsona yesterday to my test server to see how it works and I must say I am loving it so far. Apsona software is so user friendly. The install was so simple and I was so blown away of how simple the install was to do. Plus with all the great features that is offered with Apsona is a A+ in my book. Being able to import and export products as well as update them. Creating reports and being able to add customers I tell you this sofware is just what I was looking for. This sofware offers so many features and it saves me from having to install a few mods that I needed. I am looking forward to using the Apsona software. :clap:

I have just started using Apsona Shopadmin after failing to get easypopulate to work properly on my new site. Love it!!!

Just one issue - I have quite a long list of manufacturers (as I am using for Size/Type field instead) but when editing a product in Apsona, the drop down box is not showing the complete list. It is cutting it off somewhere so if it is a size that is nearer to the end of the list, I have to edit that part in the zencart admin instead.

any ideas on this?

I have a number of mods installed - can list if likely to be a conflict with one of them. Slightly modified version of classic template.

cheers
Leah

working on 1.3.9d upgrade but not live yet (getting very close)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by aussiesapphire

I have just started using Apsona Shopadmin after failing to get easypopulate to work properly on my new site. Love it!!!

Just one issue - I have quite a long list of manufacturers (as I am using for Size/Type field instead) but when editing a product in Apsona, the drop down box is not showing the complete list. It is cutting it off somewhere so if it is a size that is nearer to the end of the list, I have to edit that part in the zencart admin instead.

any ideas on this?

I have a number of mods installed - can list if likely to be a conflict with one of them. Slightly modified version of classic template.

cheers
Leah

working on 1.3.9d upgrade but not live yet (getting very close)

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Not sure I understand what you mean. Can you share a screen shot of this? It's possible that there is some sort if UI bug in ShopAdmin, and if so, we'll gladly fix it.

Regards,
Apsona

Quote:

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Originally Posted by apsona

Not sure I understand what you mean. Can you share a screen shot of this? It's possible that there is some sort if UI bug in ShopAdmin, and if so, we'll gladly fix it.

Regards,
Apsona

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Screen shot attached - I havent counted up the entries in the manufacturer list but it is truncating halfway through "P" - I have quite a few more after this in the list but cannot access them via Apsona - have to edit this part of the item in zencart admin.

All else seems to be working great - it is saving me a lot of time and allowing me to change product types which is critical for my upgrade to 1.3.9 as I couldnt get my old custom types to work properly (and since I dont need them, have decided to change back to product general).

cheers
Leah Lane

Man what impressive work with this addon for ZenCart.

I Was browsing alittle while ago as I was looking to add Easy Populate only to stumble across the ShopAdmin.

Must say it is very very easy to install and use. Only thing I really am upset about is the fact it is not workable at this time for IE as I use IE8 for the majority of my browsing, but I can and will adapt to FireFox or Chrome as I have them both as well.

Thank you for a great addon for ZenCart :yes:

Leah - Thanks for the bug report. There is a limit of 50 entries that was inadvertently put in. We'll fix it in the next update - due out in a week or so.

KeystoneAirsoft - thanks for the kind words - delighted to hear that you find it useful. Feedback, feature requests, criticisms all welcome.

Regards.
Apsona
http://apsona.com

thank you - great service. So much easier than the 2 -step preview/update in zencart admin for editing products.

havent tried out the upload/download feature too much yet - seems to be pretty straightforward.

It will help to have all my manufacturers - is a long list if the limit was at 50 but since I'm using for size, I need quite a few. Thanks for looking into it.

cheers
Leah

Quote:

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Originally Posted by apsona

Thank you. We can guarantee that no data ever leaves the Zen Cart server. We have no access to your data under any circumstance.
This is no different than any other hosted service.
For more information, please check out the following link:

http://apsona.com/pages/ec/howItWorks.html

We will be happy to discuss your security concerns and also provide a more detailed exposition of the Apsona hosted architecture. Please contact us directly from our website.

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This looks a security concern for me. As I understood, the addon will try to connect to apsona server and download something, how can we trust those download codes?

fei2010 - I'm not sure I understand the security concern. Conceptually it is no different from any other automatically-updating software system. This architecture enables us to quickly make available bug fixes and feature updates to our software.

Moreover, the code is downloaded only into your browser, not into your Zen Cart server.

We do our best to ensure that our software is safe and error-free. With over 250 users now, I would say that if we make mistakes in the security area, we'd be hauled up very quickly.

Please feel free to follow up with specific concerns you might have, and we will gladly respond.

Hope this helps.
Apsona
http://apsona.com

Got to say, only just come accross this addon, and its absolutely fantastic, the kind of module/addon that Zen Users im sure have been crying out for.

I just cant get over how easy it is to create your own filters, like for example listing customers from certain countries, creating custom reports, its just amazed me so far, and seems too good to be true. Its the kind of big change I would expect in a Version 2 Zen Cart too be honest.

Amazing work, well done :clap:

Hi Sridhar,

Trust you are will.

Your probably aware that ZC have released a new update, 1.3.9e.

Before I go and do the update of the ZC files, Do you know if there are any issues that would prevent ShopAdmin from running..

I'm sure there wont be, but I guess it's better to ask prior than, than try to fix problems after.!

Thanks,
Mike

Mike_Dean - Thanks for asking, I'm doing well! :smile: The new ShopAdmin version is now available, and yes, it does work with Zen Cart 1.3.9e.

Regards.

Installed Apsona last week. Most excellent!

One thing I have noticed is that the description field sometimes does not properly propagate the data and shows as empty when in fact data is present in the database. If one enters this field through Apsona (make no changes) and then saves, the product is updated and the description field is emptied of data.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by jetx

One thing I have noticed is that the description field sometimes does not properly propagate the data and shows as empty when in fact data is present in the database. If one enters this field through Apsona (make no changes) and then saves, the product is updated and the description field is emptied of data.

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That's very odd, I haven't been able to reproduce it. Can you give me some more information as to the exact circumstances under which this happens? I'm assuming you're talking about editing the description of an existing product?

I'm actually doing edits to the meta tag descriptions but noticed that on perhaps 5% of my products (all products) have no description showing, yet everyone of my products has a description. Also occurs on my testing server (another domain, same VPS). All descriptions are composed in similar format with first paragraph no <p> tags, second with; some also include photogaphs, eg <img src="/images/.. etc. However, testing shows this makes no difference. I can't see anything out of the ordinary between products which show descriptions and those that do not, seems quite random.

Apache 2.2.15, Php 5.3.2, zen 1.3.9e, mysql 5.1.4.8.

Very puzzling. Can you identify the ones that ShopAdmin thinks have empty descriptions? (Via search - more options, and choosing Description is empty.) Then, you could compare their descriptions in both ShopAdmin and Zen. Could you share some screen shots of the two?

You can also send us email directly, if you prefer. I'd love to get to the bottom of this and isolate the problem.

Thanks,
Apsona

A search for Description "is empty" generates No data records (which is correct). I'll send you screen shots via email. Thanks.

Update: In any descriptions which contained non-printable characters the JSON encoding function in PHP 5.3 would throw up an error.

This has been fixed by Apsona by implementing a version of that function in apsona_functions.php.

Hi,

I have just noticed that when I select the Apsona Admin from the drop down menu in my Zen Cart Admin, it actually creates another Zen Cart Admin login, and after that I can select Apsona and the ShopAdmin will load ??

Also, is there anyway of being able to edit what product a customer has ordered ?

I know there are other add-ons that will do this, but was hoping to do it via Apsona

Thanks,
Mike

I'm having a small problem with importing data. As follows: import category records (update existing) by either csv or pasted data. Data is validated during step 2, step 3 (import) the system progress bar shows timer, however (after 30 minutes) nothing actually gets imported. No error is reported.

Went back to using phpmyadmin to import for now but would like to find out what might be causing this.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by jetx

I'm having a small problem with importing data. As follows: import category records (update existing) by either csv or pasted data. Data is validated during step 2, step 3 (import) the system progress bar shows timer, however (after 30 minutes) nothing actually gets imported. No error is reported.

Went back to using phpmyadmin to import for now but would like to find out what might be causing this.

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We just got another bug report about this same issue. We have isolated the problem, and a fix should be out within the next day or so.

Apsona

It's working now. Thanks.

Apsona ShopAdmin for Zen Cart

M.A. Sridhar of Apsona ShopAdmin for Zen Cart has asked me to write an assessment of the import process in Apsona ShopAdmin. I am happy to oblige as without his kind assistance it would have taken many more weeks for me to get my new store online. (http://webbermusic.net/newstore/). My store sells music and I am a composer and music publisher. I've recently upgraded from selling only virtual downloads (pdf music scores and mp3 audio files) to including printed music. This means that from a store with about 220 products (titles) I now have a store with over 1800 titles (220 titles plus orchestral material and parts for each title.

The problem was to update the mysql dbase by adding instrumental parts - up to 35 for each title/product. I have tried alternatives and found them far from easy and so was resigned to several weeks of adding products in zen admin.

Apsona ShopAdmin is a free zen cart add on available from:

http://apsona.com/

One has to sign up to get it tho - don't just click the download link on the home page, it took me a while to figure out why it would not install, only by signing up and getting a link do you get all of the files needed.

At this point I discovered Apsona ShopAdmin. Altho far from perfect (understandable, it's only been available a few months and is still being developed) it has not only great potential but has superb support and is free. This sounds just too good to be true and I suspect that it will become a commercial product at some point. But in the mean time it is already a useable and reliable tool for doing mass updates to a zen mysql dbase.

My dbase was updated on a MacBook Pro with the help of Filemaker 9. I have to admit that most of the problems were my own fault in that I am hopelessly ignorant of good database design. In this apsona is quite stringent, it has to know the Model (best if unique), the Name and the Product Type for every product imported. Once the initial import was accomplished (and this was my biggest headache - ensuring every item had a unique Model entry) updting was quite easy and quick. I would make changes in Filemaker, export as a .mer file (for the header) and copy and past into apsona. From exporting from FMaker to finished zen import - maybe a minute.

Preparing the import file:

This is probably the most important step. In apsonaAdmin click on the 'Settings' tab to see the available tables. I have no idea what 'Allowed combinations are' but the others are pretty much self explanatory. Click on whatever table (in the 'Label' column) you wish to import.

A text file may be created in the Downloads folder by clicking on 'CSV'. This file will list the fields and field types (text, number, date, etc.) but not whether a field is required (useful????)

Make a note of all the fields. These fields need not have an entry for every record - so you can update/import for some records and not for others.
Make an note of required fields. These fields must have an entry for every record.
Some fields have to be unique - usually Model (sometimes Name?) and, obviously, any Id field.

If the column headers in the import file are the same as in the Settings tab then apsona will 'Set up fields' (below, import procedure 2.) for you. It's not a big deal to do it yourself tho.

Here is the import procedure:

1. Provide Data
1a. prepare a csv or tab (suffix is irrelevant - I usually use .txt) file.
1b. In apsonaAdmin click on the appropriate tab for whatever you want to import (Orders, Customers, Products, etc.) go to Tools -> Import/update, copy/paste the csv or tab file into the box.
1c. Click on 'Import new records'.
1d. Products and Manufacturers only: From the Duplicates drop menu choose either 'Reject' or 'Add (no checking)'.
1e. Tell apsona what the field serator in the file is: comma tab, or semicolon.
1f. Find out whether you are in the US or India (it would seem that India formats the date as we do in Britain).
1g. Products only: If there are no categories defined in zen admin click 'Create missing categories'.
1h. Click 'Next'.

2. Set up fields
2a. If the headers match apsona's headers (pretty much the same as zen's) then the drop menus will be set, otherwise set the drop menus to the correct fields.
2b. Choose from the 'On data errors' drop menu either 'Stop and show errors' or 'Omit erroneous records'. Common errors are a duplicate model or an empty required field (every record must have a Model, Name and Product Type).
2c. Click 'Next'

3. Finish import
3a. If 'Stop and show errors' was chosen above (2b.) then you will be presented either with a list of errors (cf. 2b) in a pop up window (which can be exported to a text file) or a button to Import. Pressing the 'Import' button commits you.
3b. Press done.

Now go back to whatever tab you started from (Orders, Customers, Products, etc.) and 'Refresh' and the imports should appear.

The only fields I imported (and updated) were: Manufacurers, Products and Product attributes. All successfully. I could not figure out how to import categories separately (ie other than when importing products) and had to create links in zen admin. I understand this is a Mac problem which is being worked on.

My import order was: Manufacturers -> Products -> Attributes. This seems the logical way to do it and I suspect it might be more difficult to import Manufacturers after importing products. I think this is one of those relational dbase issues that sends my head spinning.

Summa summarum:

Both MA Sridhar and Apsona shopAdmin have been extremely helpful to me. There are many cosmetic enhancements that would make it easier to use and the documentation also leaves much to be desired. I could not have successfully imported over 1800 records without (almost daily) emails and screen sharings. Based on my personal interactions with MA Sridhar I believe him to be seiously dedicated to this project and I believe that in time the documentation and user interface will make this an invaluable tool. I wish him the best of luck and hope this will prove helpful to whoever reads it

John Webber
Composer Publisher
http://webbermusic.net/newstore/

I would first of all like to say well done to Apsona for creating such a great tool.
I have been using other carts and in order to import large numbers of product to a new site i would have to create multiple table files and then process them with a excel macro then a sql converter in order to import them using phpmyadmin. Still quicker than manually entering 13,000 or so products (which is one of my smaller sites).
I am now migrating most of my sites to zen cart so I can use Apsona on them.
I do however have a couple of questions and suggestions to make regarding this add on to zen cart.
Before I import my csv file I have to make an extra column in it for product type and this has to be filled with "products - free shipping". Why can't Apsona pick up the product types already specified other than this one? Secondly on this issue if I edit the product type in Zen Cart to reflect what I'm selling, ie. fragrances, candles, etc., then I still can't update to change from product type "products - free shipping" as it still says invalid product type. I can work around this but really this should be a fully functioning feature.
Another issue I have is with the categories, Apsona needs to have a subcategory feature. I know creating sub-categories in Zen Cart is a bit of a di(K around, ie you have to create a category then move it under a parent category. Apsona, being an awesome shop administration tool, should be able to simplify this. It's another thing I can work around but also this should be something that can be handled by this add on. It feels like I'm doing things twice when I have to make the child category the primary category when I import then have to go into zen cart to create the parent category and move the child category into it.
Well enough of the bit(hing I think that Apsona has great potential and although I've only been using it (and zen cart) for a about 6 hours, it has already saved me days of tiresome table creation and conversion.
Keep up the great work Apsona and I assure you I will probably have more questions/issues to come!:clap::clap::clap:

Apsona please feel free to email me directly to discuss any or all of the above.

Cheers
Steve

stevenator - thanks for the comments. I thought it best to follow up on the forum here so that other folks can also provide input.

About product types: Ideally ShopAdmin would automatically supply (if necessary) an extra field value for Product type when importing new products. The problem is that, as far as I know, there is no notion of "default product type" in the Zen Cart database - I can't, for example, read a configuration somewhere to figure out what the default is. The only way the default seems to be enforced is via the select box in Zen Cart's admin page, and that's not something ShopAdmin can autodetect. The difficulty is compounded because Zen Cart lets you change the names of product types, and also because cart owners have varying preferences - some want "Product - General" as default, and others want "Product - free shipping" as default. I am definitely open to suggestions on how to handle this.

Also (perhaps you did not see this) - when the import wizard complains (in step 2) that something is an "invalid product type", you can simply click the offending data value and you will see a dropdown list containing all the valid data values as set by your cart. You can then edit the value right there. You can in fact edit most data in place in step 2.

I'm not sure understood the issue about sub-categories. If you ShopAdmin does indeed support sub-categories. If you want to place a product in the "Gloves" subcategory of the "Accessories" category, you simply use "Accessories: Gloves" as the value in the category cell when importing.

But I might be missing something. Can you please explain further?

And of course please feel free to send us email, as well. We are delighted to get user feedback, and we'll do everything we can to make ShopAdmin more useful.

Thanks again for the feedback.

Apsona

The more I work with Apsona the more I am loving it! Took me a while to wrap my head around it - but it is making sense now!

I do have a question on the export feature.....I have a client that needs a very specific file that includes ALL of the information for an order - basically it needs to look like this...where it is showing each specific option chosen, name, email etc...

Can this be done? I see you can export for various areas - but is there an option to export ALL details of an order? Thanks!

62,16142,"SKU1112345514840","SunCover 4000 10-0 Projection","Width Feet: 11, Fabric: Silverstone Spruce 71757, Frame Color: White, Hood: No, Operation: Manual Crank, Drive Side: Left, Mounting Method: Wall, Valance Style: Wave, Valance Braid: Best Match, Crank: 5-11 for over 8 feet high","1538.000",1,"theodorouconstruction","1538.000","0.000",,"0.000",0,,,"0.00 0","0.000","10-08-2009 09:39:15","C","Credit Card (AuthorizeNet: AIM)","N",,"Larry from DIY setting this up for Mike","--- Advanced info --- Reason: Approved: Approval Code: 094133; Transaction ID: 2555574988 AVS info: Address (Street) and 5 digit ZIP match CVV info: Match",,"Mr.","Mike","Construction","Theodorou Construction",,"Mike","Construction","19 Locust Ave",,"Westmont","NJ","US",08108,"Mr.","Mike","Construction","19 Locust Ave",,"Westmont","NJ","US",08108,"609.458.0235",,,"theodorouconstruction######## ##############"

jill8026 - glad you like it. We appreciate the feedback.

If you wish to export data records whose fields are all drawn from the Orders table, you can simply export from the Orders tab, via Tools - Export.

But it sounds like you want to create an export that contains some fields from the Orders table, some from the Customers table and some from the Ordered products table. If that's your goal, you can create a report in the Orders tab that contains the fields you want, run it, and export the results. Our website's support area contains examples of how to do this.

Please get in touch with us via email if you want more details.

Regards.
Apsona

I just installed Apsona and I had to write and say THANK YOU! I'm using it with ZC 1.3.9f without issue(so far). I'm hosted with GoDaddy, which I mention because someone posted that they had problems that they thought were GoDaddy issues. I was stupid and tried IE first, but switching to Firefox worked like a charm. You saved me an hour just tonight as I wanted to reprice a bunch of commonly priced products which was sheer torture in the ZenCart admin, but a piece of cake in Apsona.

Thanks again for a great app.

Bill

Thank YOU for making this amazing product!
We have an inventory of 45k + items, and have for weeks now been trying to build an import script or use another pre built method to do the work.
Within 6 hours of signing up, and using the product, I was able to get the job done AND prepped for repeat processes.
This was NO small feat for us.
The UI is intuitive, easy to follow. As well are you instructions on how to use it. The directions for each applicable use of the application are veritably flawless.
You guys have done an amazing job! Thank you sooooo much!!

Billy R Baldwin
ZC version 1.3.9e
Senior Developer
Johnsen's Wholesale Florist
http://johnsenflorist.com
:clap::bigups:

Lately (last 3 or 4 days) 4 separate sites when in the Apsona admin frequently (about every minute) display a popup message advising "The server is not responding. Please check your network connection. Status:timeout".

jetx - thanks for this note. This is because we had put in a per-request server timeout of 30 seconds, because we had observed some odd anomalies with imports. But I guess some hosts take even longer than that to respond. We've changed the limit to 2 minutes now. Hopefully that will mitigate the problem.

Thanks again. Please do keep us posted if you run into any glitches.

Regards.
Apsona

Great! Thanks for the adjustment, appears to work fine now.

We were in the same boat as numpy, a huge inventory 50k + parts and were really dreading adding them in through other channels.

Lucky for me, I found this wonderful piece of software. Not only does it handle products, but categories as well, and when you have as many of those as we do, it's a real time saver.

Best of all, it's really intuitive and easy to use.

Would definitely recommend anybody that hasn't given this software a try, to do so, I can't imagine how you would be displeased with it.

I have exported products and product attributers from one aspona zencart site and i'm trying to import them into another zencart site which also has aspona installed.

My problem is that i can't work out how to create new entries in the database table.

On all the attributes i am trying to import i get the following error as an example:

"select size does not match any existing values in the products_options_values table."

How do i allow it to import and create the new attribute value?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by DVDTitan

I have exported products and product attributers from one aspona zencart site and i'm trying to import them into another zencart site which also has aspona installed.

My problem is that i can't work out how to create new entries in the database table.

On all the attributes i am trying to import i get the following error as an example:

"select size does not match any existing values in the products_options_values table."

How do i allow it to import and create the new attribute value?

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It seems as if you haven't set up the products_options_values table - you will need that before you can import product attributes. One possibility is to export the product options and product option values tables using ShopAdmin and import them into your new cart. After doing this, you should be able to import your product attributes into your new cart.

Hope this helps.
Apsona