The Database I/O Manager (DbIO) enables you to input (or import) and output (or export) information to and from your database using a .csv file as the "transport method".

It seems like I spent a significant portion of time this year providing clients with "import/export" scripts and DbIo is the culmination of my effort to create an extendable I/O script. Yes, there are other I/O scripts (like EZ-Populate and Apsona) but I wanted a script that holds to these principles:
  1. Use Zen Cart's built-in processing, especially the database interfaces.
  2. Use a class-based approach, enabling a higher degree of code reuse.
  3. Let the database drive the data; use the database settings to guide "proper" input processing.
  4. Keep the data-pool consistent; broadly define the character-encoding of the .CSV repositories.
  5. Keep to, where possible, the EP-4 interface described in its wiki.
  6. Multi-language awareness.
  7. Be data-driven. If you've installed a plugin that simply adds a field to an existing table (like products or orders), that field is a candidate for any I/O operation on that database table without additional coding.

Like any process that changes information in your database: Make a backup of your database prior to performing a "full-import" (which actually changes your database)!

Check out the readme for operational details, but my goal is to make the on-screen instructions "good enough" for most users.

I'll post the plugin's download link once I receive it.