Items disappearing from categories

[sports guy]

I have updated to the latest zen cart version: 1.3.9f and I am having problems with two things.

1. When linking a product to multiple categories sometimes the cart puts these items in the wrong categories. This has been happening for several weeeks (from time to time) and I am positive that the right boxes were checked during this step.

2. I just added 3 new items to my store. They showed and I was even able to link to multiple categories. I went to the front end to check on them and poof, they are gone. Went back into the store admin and they are gone as well.

Category items are disappearing and the multiple links manager is putting items in the wrong categories. Both of these problems are causing major concern as we have lots of inventory.

How can I track down these issues?

[Ajeh]

Go to your phpMyAdmin ...

Browse the table:
products

by the field:
products_date_added

Do you see the new Product just added?

Browse the table:
products_description

look for the:
products_name

that you just added ...

Do you see it?

[sports guy]

Go to your phpMyAdmin ...

Browse the table:
products

by the field:
products_date_added

Do you see the new Product just added?

Browse the table:
products_description

look for the:
products_name

that you just added ...

Do you see it?

No I do not see them in the tables?

[sports guy]

Linda,

I should clarify I gave the wrong information in my first post.

These items are entered and the problems reported are from the store owner (I am the webmaster) and she swears this happened. She and a co-worker have both been complaining about the multiple links copy function putting items in the wrong categories for weeks.

So I do not know firsthand this is what I am told daily.

About the three items not being added: She just complained about this and we have never seen that happen before. So I don't know if it was a glitch or user error (I am not in the area when this happens).

[Ajeh]

I have not been able to repeat any problems with the Multiple Linked Categories ...

Have you an example of what they are trying to do when things go *poof* ...

Is this a Clean install or an upgrade?

Are products manually entered or imported?

[sports guy]

This was a clean install with an imported database. All items are manually entered (after the database install).

I was able to re-enter those products and now they show. There are new problems.

I created 3 products (the same ones that disappeared) and linked them to multiple categories. All 3 of these items show just fine in all the cross categories. However the images from these 3 new products also attached to already established products (That already had their own images).

Please look at the three items here: http://www.lasilhouettelingerie.com/shop/products_new

Here are the problems:
The Jay Cris Pink Bed Jacket (second item down) the image here also went into another product here: http://www.lasilhouettelingerie.com/...ris-gown-p-967 (This product has it's own established image for some time now. This just automatically changed).

Next: The Jay Cris Ivory Bed Jacket (third item down) the image also overwrote this products image: http://www.lasilhouettelingerie.com/...ris-robe-p-968

Last: The Jay CrisPink Long Robe (first item) has an image that also overwrote this products image: http://www.lasilhouettelingerie.com/...um-robe-p-1324

You can see that the three items that I have added also took the image and forced the images into other products from another category. The new products were created in: shop by designer>Jay Cris. Then were then also linked to: Shop by price and Nightwear (the type of item). Somehow the images over-rode some of the products in: shop by designer>Jane Woolrich category.

The main thing that happens is that items are put into the wrong category after linking to duplicate categories (at random times throughout the week). You can see that each item is first created in: Shop by Designer>THE DESIGNER and then linked to: Shop by Price>THE PRICE, They type of clothing (i.e. bras, nightwear, etc.). I feel like I am in the Bermuda Triangle!

[gilby]

https://www.zen-cart.com/tutorials/index.php?article=58

[sports guy]

https://www.zen-cart.com/tutorials/index.php?article=58

Gilby, I did not add (nor want or need to add) multiple images to a product. While entering one image into a new product the same image was copied into another established product and category (which then over-rode another established image without my prompting). This does not have to do with entering multiple images. This has to do with the program putting the image into another categories and products by itself. This post is about something that is causing bizarre re-atcions when adding products to the Zen Cart. This was and is not user error. We have been entering items regularly into this store for around 4 years now without any problems.

I have installed Zen cart on many websites now and have never had something like this happen. I am telling you that something in the database and/or script is causing strange results. Three of us call is: "Scrambled". Because when entering new products and cross linking, many times the products scramble into categories in which we did not link to, or according to the girls who enter the product, the wrong image displays.

I am trying to figure out if my imported database into the new zen cart 1.3.9f could cause something like this. Or if there is a bug in the new 1.3.9f or if the multiple links copy feature (which seems to be causing all issues) has a bug in it.
And how can I find out if this has a bug.

Either way, when we create a product and use the copy function to link to multiple categories, strange things happen (sometimes) and the products: "Scramble" as we call it. Because the products, images, or categories get jumbled from what we linked to. This so far has produced problems like: the copy product feature to be linked into categories in which we did not choose, the image being displayed into other categories, and the product just disappearing on one instance. All problems stem from using the copy feature and linking to multiple categories via the checkboxes (which is necessity for our store). And this only happens sometimes (not every time).

This is not a one time deal. These problems have been happening for weeks. We rely heavily on the copy and multiple link manager. And this is where all of our problems have been coming from.

[gilby]

Gilby, I did not add (nor want or need to add) multiple images to a product.

This may not your entire problem but from the sample you gave additional images appear to be turning up because of the "similar" naming of the images. The link explains a naming convention that will cause images to appear as "additional images" on "other" products.

[sports guy]

Gilby,

Thank you that may one of our problems! I know that some of images have the same name.

For now I am going to enter product information myself until the errors occur. As soon as I get specific errors I will let you know. This is so that I can let you know exactly when and what happened to pinpoint the problem.