Google Base Feeder Support Thread [OLD]

There doesn't appear to be a designated support thread. The thread started by Woodyman which was more of a news alert became the official thread but has the wrong title.

Here is the original thread: http://www.zen-cart.com/forum/showthread.php?t=37317

I've made two minor contributions:

v1.3.4 (added to contributions; should be available soon) - added "mpn", removed "label", fixed "product_type"
v1.3.5 (currently testing before uploading to contributions; available for download from my website) - added special prices

The script was originally written by Andrew Berezin and he can be contacted through his Zen Cart account name: a_berezin
Please note that he is no longer providing support for this contribution and any problems with installation etc will have to be addressed by other members in the Zen Cart forum.

I know that v1.3.4 works as I've been using it for quite some time. There may be issues with v1.3.5 so if there are any bugs with the use of special prices specifically, then please post here.

Ideas for future updates:

- Google Base specific product types:

Currently product_type is the string of categories and subcategories that your product is included in on your site. This doesn't seem to be a problem and actually helps with Google Base search results as each category name in the product type becomes searchable. For example, if you sell a Samsung monitor located in Monitors -> LCD on your website, the product_type would be "Monitors, LCD". Both the word MONITORS and LCD are searchable. When Google becomes more picky about product_type, an admin customization for specifying a Google product type to each product will be necessary.

Some tips for best results with the Google Froogle Feeder:

-Change the length of your product titles in your SQL database from 64 to 75-80. Google Base allows up to 80 characters and this will greatly increase your products searchability. I find that more than 75 characters does not look good in the default Zen Cart however.

-Run a cron job for currency updates a few minutes before the google froogle feeder. This will ensure that your prices posted on Google are the same as your website if your default currency is not USD. As a Canadian seller, this was a personal issue for me.

-For your product's model number, use the specific MPN supplied by your manufacturer for best search results. Other model numbers can be placed in your products title.

v1.3.5 now available in the downloads section.

OK, a couple of questions...My items were just removed from search results b/c all products were labeled as product type "other". I guess I have to add the product type manually into the .txt file at this time?

Also, for each and every item, the quantity shows up as zero. I am running Zen 1.3.6 and just recently updated the Google Froogle feeder after not using it for a long time.

Thanks for any input!
Amy

Upgrade to the latest version will fix the product_type (after v1.3.3a all you need to do is overwrite the files, do not have to update SQL).

Put "display quantity" to false in the Google Froogle Configuration and it won't show quantities at all.

A current issue with the script which was a prominent concern from the previous thread is that if your store has a lot of products (i.e. 1000+), the script times out when pulling values from the database. A simple fix has been to lengthen the max execution time in your php.ini (if your host allows access), .htaccess, and also your zen cart admin configuration.

Here are the lines to add to php.ini and .htaccess:

Originally Posted by BlessIsaacola http://www.zen-cart.com/forum/images/ZCgreen/buttons/viewpost.gif
I was having issues with mine as well. I solved my googlefroogle timeout problem by making changes in my php.ini configuration file to the following:

max_execution_time = 300
max_input_time = 90
memory_limit = 32M

numinix:

Upgrade to the latest version will fix the product_type (after v1.3.3a all you need to do is overwrite the files, do not have to update SQL).

Put "display quantity" to false in the Google Froogle Configuration and it won't show quantities at all.

Thanks, that did it :) I am glad I didn't have to use the latest SQL. I got many errors with it and had to revert back to my previous download. But updating the files did the trick!
Amy

Has anyone been able to use this script with over 1000 products without editing the php.ini or .htaccess files?

Google Froogle Feeder has been found to be incompatible with Zen Manager. Zen Manager is a script for adding products to your store. Somehow, the manager stores products slightly differently and the Google Froogle Feeder is unable to pull these values. I verified this on a store that could only produce the first line of the feed (non database values). We created a product the regular way and the product was added to the feed without a problem. Thus, the feeder was not timing out at all.

However, there may still exist a timeout issue which a workaround, although not ideal, is being implemented for v1.3.6. I'll have it ready for testing tonight.

v 1.3.6 http://www.numinix.com/zen-cart/google_froogle_feeder_1.3.6.zip

View readme for updates. Will post to contribution after no errors other than known issues are reported.

v1.3.6 is now available in the downloads section

1. Updated the Google Base logo;
2. Added a counter to help combat timeouts and allow user to set maximum number of products to process;
3. Added tax region;
4. Removed product_type from the configuration;
5. Code optimization;

I've uploaded all contributions to my website as well and can be downloaded by visiting the Numinix Technology website.

Update:

Conflicts with Zen Manager have been resolved. If you use Zen Manager, please download the latest patches recently released by that author.

Hello numinix,

I've just install the v1.3.7 version of your Google Froogle Feeder on a new install of ZC v1.3.7. using MySQL 5. After installing the SQL file, I get this:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1064 You have an error in your SQL syntax; check the manual that corresponds to your MySQL server version for the right syntax to use near 'true', 'false'),'), (NULL, 'Default Currency', 'GOOGLE_FROOGLE_CURRENCY', 'USD',' at line 1
in:
[INSERT INTO configuration (configuration_id, configuration_title, configuration_key, configuration_value, configuration_description, configuration_group_id, sort_order, date_added, use_function, set_function) VALUES (NULL, 'Froogle Username', 'GOOGLE_FROOGLE_USERNAME', 'froogle_username', 'Enter your Froogle username', @configuration_group_id, 1, NOW(), NULL, NULL), (NULL, 'Google Base Password', 'GOOGLE_FROOGLE_PASSWORD', 'froogle_password', 'Enter your froogle password', @configuration_group_id, 2, NOW(), NULL, NULL), (NULL, 'Google Base Server', 'GOOGLE_FROOGLE_SERVER', 'uploads.google.com', 'Enter froogle server
default: hedwig.google.com', @configuration_group_id, 3, NOW(), NULL, NULL), (NULL, 'Show Default Currency', 'GOOGLE_FROOGLE_CURRENCY_DISPLAY', 'true', 'Display Currency', @configuration_group_id, 4, NOW(), NULL, 'zen_cfg_select_option(array('true', 'false'),'), (NULL, 'Default Currency', 'GOOGLE_FROOGLE_CURRENCY', 'USD', 'Select currency', @configuration_group_id, 5, NOW(), NULL, 'zen_cfg_pull_down_currencies('), (NULL, 'Show Offer ID', 'GOOGLE_FROOGLE_OFFER_ID', 'id', 'A unique alphanumeric identifier for the item - products_id code. ', @configuration_group_id, 6, NOW(), NULL, 'zen_cfg_select_option(array('id', 'model', 'false'),'), (NULL, 'Display quantity', 'GOOGLE_FROOGLE_IN_STOCK', 'false', 'Display products quantity?', @configuration_group_id, 7, NOW(), NULL, 'zen_cfg_select_option(array('true', 'false'),'), (NULL, 'The shipping options available for an item', 'GOOGLE_FROOGLE_SHIPPING', '', 'The shipping options available for an item', @configuration_group_id, 8, NOW(), NULL, NULL), (NULL, 'Condition', 'GOOGLE_FROOGLE_CONDITION', 'new', 'Choose your Product's Condition', @configuration_group_id, 12, NOW(), NULL, 'zen_cfg_select_option(array('new', 'used', 'refurbished'),'), (NULL, 'Show Feed Lanugage', 'GOOGLE_FROOGLE_LANGUAGE_DISPLAY', 'false', 'Display Feed Language', @configuration_group_id, 13, NOW(), NULL, 'zen_cfg_select_option(array('true', 'false'),'), (NULL, 'Feed Language', 'GOOGLE_FROOGLE_LANGUAGE', 'English', 'If Show Feed Language is True, what is your feed language?
default = en', @configuration_group_id, 14, NOW(), NULL, 'zen_cfg_pull_down_languages_list('), (NULL, 'Output File Name', 'GOOGLE_FROOGLE_OUTPUT_FILENAME', 'froogle.txt', 'Set the name of your froogle output file', @configuration_group_id, 19, NOW(), NULL, NULL), (NULL, 'Compress Feed File', 'GOOGLE_FROOGLE_COMPRESS', 'false', 'Compress Google froogle file', @configuration_group_id, 20, NOW(), NULL, 'zen_cfg_select_option(array('true', 'false'),'), (NULL, 'Uploaded date', 'GOOGLE_FROOGLE_UPLOADED_DATE', '', 'Date and time of the last upload', @configuration_group_id, 21, NOW(), NULL, NULL), (NULL, 'Output Directory', 'GOOGLE_FROOGLE_DIRECTORY', 'feed/', 'Set the name of your froogle output directory', @configuration_group_id, 20, NOW(), NULL, NULL), (NULL, 'Expiration Date Base', 'GOOGLE_FROOGLE_EXPIRATION_BASE', 'now', 'Expiration Date Base:
now - add Adjust to current date;
product - add Adjust to product date (max(date_added, last_modified, date_available))
', @configuration_group_id, 2, NOW(), NULL, 'zen_cfg_select_option(array('now', 'product'),'), (NULL, 'Expiration Date Adjust', 'GOOGLE_FROOGLE_EXPIRATION_DAYS', '365', 'Expiration Date Adjust in Days', @configuration_group_id, 2, NOW(), NULL, NULL), (NULL, 'Use cPath in url', 'GOOGLE_FROOGLE_USE_CPATH', 'false', 'Use cPath in product info url', @configuration_group_id, 20, NOW(), NULL, 'zen_cfg_select_option(array('true', 'false'),'), (NULL, 'Tax Region', 'GOOGLE_FROOGLE_TAX_REGION', 'Tax applicable regions', 'Enter the tax region', @configuration_group_id, 22, NOW(), NULL, NULL), (NULL, 'Show Tax Region', 'GOOGLE_FROOGLE_TAX_DISPLAY', 'false', 'Display Tax Region?', @configuration_group_id, 23, NOW(), NULL, 'zen_cfg_select_option(array('true', 'false'),'), (NULL, 'Max products', 'GOOGLE_FROOGLE_MAX_PRODUCTS', '0', 'Default = 0 for infinite # of products', @configuration_group_id, 24, NOW(), NULL, NULL);]
If you were entering information, press the BACK button in your browser and re-check the information you had entered to be sure you left no blank fields.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The page to configure your Google Base account is blank. Any suggestions?

I'm gettting the same error. No other mods installed except ImageHandler2. I did my best to remove an old version of Froogle Feed Generator.:lookaroun

It happens after I attempt to upload googlefroogle.sql

The Google Froogle Configuration page is blank.

Please help!

Hi guys,

All versions are for Zen Cart 1.3.7. The latest posted version is 1.3.6 (and 1.3.7 in a few minutes :) )

I just tested on a brand new installation without errors.

Do not upload the SQL file. Open the file and cut and paste all of the text into the SQL Query Executer.

Once you have it installed properly, please run the latest update which is for GFF 1.3.7 (do not be confused with the zen cart version number which is also 1.3.7).

My next post below will have the information to obtain v1.3.7

GOOGLE FROOGLE FEEDER v1.3.7 - RELEASED 19/06/2007

Notes:

• Removed shipping attribute;
• Added instock attribute based on quantity attribute;
• Code optimization for counter;

Google Base has notified users that they have deprecated the shipping attribute and are now making mpn and upc mandatory attributes. Fortunately, mpn was added in v1.3.6 of the GFF. GFF currently does not support UPC as this would require a newly defined attribute within all of Zen Cart's products. I will add this if absolutely necessary.

If the quantity attribute is activated within the configuration, this will also activate the instock attribute based on whether or not the product quantity is greater than 0.

The code optimization decreased the size of the GFF itself but most likely will not have an affect on the execution time of the feeder.

thanks numinix,
the cut and paste worked fine. haven't had a chance to upgrade to GFF v1.3.7 yet.

I would HIGHLY recommend that you never upload SQL files. Always cut and paste. That is something you'll learn very fast around here ;)

numinix:

Hi guys,

Do not upload the SQL file. Open the file and cut and paste all of the text into the SQL Query Executer.

Once you have it installed properly, please run the latest update which is for GFF 1.3.7

Thanks numinix, copy/paste worked (didn't know that was an issue--I've always done uploads in the past).

For the upgrade, do we just need to do a SQL update or do we need to replace files?

Upload and replace the files. No core files are edited in this contribution so upgrading can always just be an overwrite.

Hello Numinix,
Cool mods. Thanks.
I have install your latest version which is 1.3.7/
But
STEP 1: Click [HERE] to create / update your product feed.
after i click the [HERE] text , only a blank window opened.. There is no content..
What is happened??

Thanks