Easy Populate 1.2.5.4 support

[ray-the-otter]

see below+-

[ray-the-otter]

Can anyone please offer some insight.

I'm still having the same problem and really could use a little (or a lot) of help.

dont use excel. Try using open office.
and dont bother uploading to the /temp folder. Just upload directly from your PC via the ZC admin backend part of EP. Make sure you save it as a .txt too

I had lots of problems with EP when I started. its a massive lerning curve. Oh and check it is installed right. Download a fresh copy and the copy on your server and winmerge. Check the db too.,

[Serious]

Shoe-string budget Ray. Limited to what I have on hand right now.

[DivaVocals]

Shoe-string budget Ray. Limited to what I have on hand right now.

Open Office is a FREE open source software package.

[schoolboy]

Earlier on this thread I suggested a neat trick that seems to assist with the tendency of both Excel AND Openoffice, to write formatting into the eventual TXT file that EP needs to be so squeaky clean.

This is what I do now...

If I have a LARGE number of products (over 1000), I split the spreadsheet into manageable "chunks", of say 300 - 400 products per sheet.

Then I work methodically through each sheet to make sure that the actual data in the sheet is not formatted in any way, other than the standard HTML tags that I manually insert into the text (typically in the product description text, where I may want a bulleted list to render on the browser page.

I look for instances where - for example - spreadsheet-formatted "line breaks" appear in the text. These are often obvious... look at the data in a cell, and if it appears to be in paragraphs, then you can be sure there is a formatted line break there. This must be removed, and in its place a <br /> tag inserted.

SO... a product description that looks like THIS in my spreadsheet...

This is a great product.


It has the following features:-

• It is compact
• It weighs only 1kg
• I comes in various sizes

There are many advantages to using this product as it can do A B and C all at once. Make sure you look at product XYZ as well

Will have ALL the embedded formatting removed, and replaced with...

<b>This is a great product.<b><br /><br />It has the following features:-<ul><li>It is compact</li>It weighs only 1kg</li>I comes in various sizes</li></ul><br /><br />There are many advantages to using this product as it can do A B and C all at once. <em>Make sure you look at product XYZ as well.</em>

Then... when I am SURE that all my data is clean and free of hidden formatting, I open EMERALD EDITOR...

I then go back to Excel (or OpenOffice) and highlight the sheet and <ctrl + c> (copy it).

I then go to Emerald Editor and <ctrl + v> (paste it).

I now have a perfect tab-delimited TXT file...

[Serious]

Open Office is a FREE open source software package.

So how much different is it. I'm barely literate on Excel and switching to another program is going to be a drag at best.

[Serious]

And I suppose I should ask....

WHY use Open Office instead of Excel.

I downloaded a copy and it looks a lot like Excel.

And while I'm asking questions, try this one;

I purchased a copy of Ceon Advanced Shipper to allow me to set multiple shipping rates. I've gone through the documentation and it seems fairly straight forwrd, but I still need a way to place a shipping code (Single Character) on either an Excel or O.O tab delimited spreadsheet to be loaded into Easy Populate.

This shipping code is part of my product spread sheets from my vendor. The code designates the shipping cost.

Anyone have any flashes of brilliance?

[misty]

Easy Populate works easily with Open Office but not excel..

I purchased a copy of Ceon Advanced Shipper

Need to contact developer, Conor, for that..commercial scripts not supported in zencart forums

[Serious]

My question has to do with EP.

but I still need a way to place a shipping code (Single Character) on either an Excel or O.O tab delimited spreadsheet to be loaded into Easy Populate.

[dutchy]

My question has to do with EP.

I believe it is to do with the way Microsoft products (office, notepad etc) format data. I believe Excel adds additional hidden formatting/stuff which messes things up. (I could be wrong).
There is a way to add additional fields to EP. I have added 'sort odder' to my EP. If you search for my posts within this thread I believe i have linked to the resource which shows you how to do this. But i have a feeling what you are asking for is not accommodated, you may need to beg/pay for this bespoke request.

Wish I could help more, but my php skill set does not appear to be that much higher than yours. I can 'scrape by' on most things already created (simply modifications) but I have to outsource all bespoke work.