EasyPopulate 4.0 Support Thread

[SPH]

I went to your site and looked at the first product in the first category. I right-clicked on the red X to see the image properties/url, and this is what I got:

http://www.sultryseductions.com.au/i...009_108_previe

I don't like how you are doing your images and it looks like the problem.

First, the image does not have a .jpg or whatever at the end, so it isn't even reading as an image. This is probably our most common mistake with the sheets, forgetting the .jpg on the image.

Second, I don't like your folder structure under images folder. We use subfolders under images, mostly after our designers, such as: images/mori-lee and we will put all Mori Lee images there. But your folder structure not only looks complicated, it also looks like an error.

What exactly is your images folder structure? images/????? Note that you can just dump all images into the images folder without subfolders. What are you trying to do in that regard?

Also, I think it would be better to use a hyphen - in place of the underscore _ everywhere but the end, when you name any additional images.

So in general, this is how our images might be named:

flaunt-91101.jpg
flaunt-91101_1.jpg (our first additional image)
flaunt-91101_5.jpg (I usually use a 5 for back shots of the dress)

I also often use _01, _02 to name additional images, with a zero.

I'd get rid of all underscores _ except for the end, if naming any ADDITIONAL IMAGES. Otherwise, zencart might try to read the underscores as additional images and cause problems, as you currently have. We've had no problem using hypens - in our image names.

Try to go in to your admin and take a product and attach it's image to it via the admin, without the EP. Once you get that you'll see how to do your EP sheet.

Also, I BACKUP the DB before every EP upload. DrByte's DB backup plugin works great, quick and easy right from the admin.

Can't you delete the prior sheets from your EP admin?

[DrByte]

I'd get rid of all underscores _ except for the end, if naming any ADDITIONAL IMAGES. Otherwise, zencart might try to read the underscores as additional images and cause problems, as you currently have. We've had no problem using hypens - in our image names.

While my comment is way off-topic for an EP discussion, I want to add clarity to SPH's post by just pointing out that Zen Cart doesn't look for underscores or hyphens to determine whether any image is "additional" or not. It does its matching strictly on the root name of the primary image. Any filenames matching that pattern with any subsequent characters in their name will then be automagically considered "additional". It's not based on underscores or hyphens or anything else.
However, that's not to say that you shouldn't set up and follow your own 'standard' convention for naming your images.

[SPH]

Thanks, DrByte. I guess I just learned something, as I always thought it our underscore that made the additional images.

Also off topic for EP but to Viper: I was going to mention Easy Populate and if you're going to use it for image management, instead of making three sets of images. But I see a product now that appears to be using the Image Handler zoom on small image, so looks like you have that covered.

[viperofthepitstorm]

My main problem it seems is that I can`t delete the csv to start over again it just keeps reappearing and I have tried deleting it from the temp file in the cpanel as well to no avail. The images problem is secondary until I can remove the old csv that seems to overide the new one.

[viperofthepitstorm]

Bump any ideas.

[chadderuski]

My main problem it seems is that I can`t delete the csv to start over again it just keeps reappearing and I have tried deleting it from the temp file in the cpanel as well to no avail. The images problem is secondary until I can remove the old csv that seems to overide the new one.

SPH: Thanks for stepping in and trying to help. You've given Viper some very good information... and I agree that his images folder is FUBAR'ed.

Viper: Use your FTP program to manually delete the file from the server. If your website was moved from another server, you may not have file permissions to delete. You can also log into your cpanel (or equivalent) and delete files from your server that way. If all else fails, call your host and have them delete it!

Secondly. Follow EP4's file naming conventions, and do not use spaces in your file names.

Third: Create a DIFFERENT temporary directory on your server, and change EP4 to this directory through the admin. There is NO WAY that EP4 will read from your old directory.

And Finally: In order for EP4 to properly link your images, you have to includes the path to the file UNDER the images folder.

If you want your image to appear on your server under: /images/all/fubared/up/my-picture.jpg

Then your entry in EP4 under the image column is: /all/fubared/up/my-picture.jpg <<== FILE EXTENTIONS ARE A MUST!

This would be obvious if you followed my earlier instructions and manually edited and linked an image through the admin, then exported that product.

I have a serious concern with your use of ".au" in the file path. A preceding "dot" in a file/folder name on linux makes it hidden. I have never tested EP4 with hidden file structures. This is absolutely unnecessary if you secure your server properly.

-chadd

[viperofthepitstorm]

I have a serious concern with your use of ".au" in the file path. A preceding "dot" in a file/folder name on linux makes it hidden. I have never tested EP4 with hidden file structures. This is absolutely unnecessary if you secure your server properly.

-chadd[/QUOTE]

I had a developer create the store not me so what your saying is new about the hidden files. I will contact my host provider and get them to delete the csv since Ive tried doing it via cpanel and ftp to no avail. Thanks for the help this is all new and some very interesting info.

[easy3dsource]

First off, thanks for updating easypopulate to work with ZC 1.5!

I recently had to do some manual database troubleshooting and as part of the process I ended up installing this version of easypopulate. Prior to that I was using 1.2.5.4 on a ZC 1.5 installation. (With this version I couldn't access easypopulate through the admin menu, but could access it if I added "easypopulate.php" after the admin URL.)

So my problem: I run a shop that sells only downloadable products. I always used easypopulate to upload all products, then in order to keep the downloadable files properly attributed to the products I would manually update the zen_products_attributes and zen_products_attributes_downloads tables of the database by using excel, then uploading via phpmyadmin.

For the sake of my sanity, I always made sure that the last 3 digits of the model number for each product (used in the easypopulate spreadsheet) matched the last 3 numbers of the product_id in the database. This always worked fine, up until recently;

We had to delete some products through the admin (not using easypopulate), in order to keep our model numbers serialized, we adjusted our spreadsheets so that the next new products added just took the place (by way of model number, and product_id) of the deleted products.

Once we uploaded our new spreadsheets, we noticed that easypopulate is skipping product id's; We currently have 238 products, if we upload a new product, we'd like the product id to be 239, but it's currently jumping to 270. After doing a number of tests, I noticed a couple things:

-let's say I upload a test product via easypopulate, and it got assigned the product_id 270
-if i manually delete traces of this product via phpmyadmin then re-upload the spreadsheet it takes the same product_id as before
-if I delete the product through the ADMIN, then re-upload the spreadsheet, it gets assigned the NEXT product_id, in this case, 271.

So what I'm wondering is if zen cart somehow stores the product_id's of deleted products, making them unassignable to new products? This is causing a problem because I'd rather not have a gap in the product ID's (it helps me and my partner maintain the inventory easier).

Once again; what I'm trying to solve here is how to make sure when I upload new products via easypopulate, there isn't a jump in the product_id.... anyone have any thoughts / suggestions on how to make this happen?

Thanks in advance!

[serviscl]

Hello.
I have got a problem with categories name.
My categories include ", " and I can not import via EP4, because character "," always divide :-( it would use a semicolon instead of a comma? Thanks :-)

Excuse My English.

[chadderuski]

First off, thanks for updating easypopulate to work with ZC 1.5!

I recently had to do some manual database troubleshooting and as part of the process I ended up installing this version of easypopulate. Prior to that I was using 1.2.5.4 on a ZC 1.5 installation. (With this version I couldn't access easypopulate through the admin menu, but could access it if I added "easypopulate.php" after the admin URL.)

So my problem: I run a shop that sells only downloadable products. I always used easypopulate to upload all products, then in order to keep the downloadable files properly attributed to the products I would manually update the zen_products_attributes and zen_products_attributes_downloads tables of the database by using excel, then uploading via phpmyadmin.

For the sake of my sanity, I always made sure that the last 3 digits of the model number for each product (used in the easypopulate spreadsheet) matched the last 3 numbers of the product_id in the database. This always worked fine, up until recently;

We had to delete some products through the admin (not using easypopulate), in order to keep our model numbers serialized, we adjusted our spreadsheets so that the next new products added just took the place (by way of model number, and product_id) of the deleted products.

Once we uploaded our new spreadsheets, we noticed that easypopulate is skipping product id's; We currently have 238 products, if we upload a new product, we'd like the product id to be 239, but it's currently jumping to 270. After doing a number of tests, I noticed a couple things:

-let's say I upload a test product via easypopulate, and it got assigned the product_id 270
-if i manually delete traces of this product via phpmyadmin then re-upload the spreadsheet it takes the same product_id as before
-if I delete the product through the ADMIN, then re-upload the spreadsheet, it gets assigned the NEXT product_id, in this case, 271.

So what I'm wondering is if zen cart somehow stores the product_id's of deleted products, making them unassignable to new products? This is causing a problem because I'd rather not have a gap in the product ID's (it helps me and my partner maintain the inventory easier).

Once again; what I'm trying to solve here is how to make sure when I upload new products via easypopulate, there isn't a jump in the product_id.... anyone have any thoughts / suggestions on how to make this happen?

Thanks in advance!

If I understand WHAT you are doing, then I can only suggest trying this:

Deleted your items from withing the admin normally, then go to the store manager and "optimize" your databases. Now try to import your data with EP4.

If memory serves me right, MySQL doesn't actually delete record entries when you select "delete". It marks the record location as deleted and you you no longer see the deleted record from within phpMyAdmin. When you optimize the database, it compresses the database and removes all deleted entries.

So it appears there is a slight difference in the way that zencart finds the next available record number and the way EP4 does it.

Hope this helps.
-chadd