Ceon URI Mapping v4.x

[luckystu]

Hi there,

We've been using ZC 1.51 with Ceon URI Mapping 4.4.1 for several years, has worked perfectly for us. We wanted to add a new category with new products and decided to "recycle" an existing category on our site that is no longer needed. So we just re-named the old category with the new category name - and then followed suit with product names in that category. We've actually done this before and worked fine.

This time however, looks like the old, original URLs (before being recycled) have memory - so even though we update to a new URL for a new product, there are appended characters like "?cpath=100" at the end of the new URL. Since there's no reason for this to be there, looks like the URL is retaining something from its past even after being recycled.

We ended up deleting the new products and the new category created - and just build the new category and products fresh without recycling. But now, it won't give us the new category name we originally wanted - even though that category and products were deleted. An error message states the category already exists and there's a mapping conflict - despite category and products already deleted.

After going through sections of this thread and no clear solution, decided to try finding the category name in the database, to delete, so we can use it and just add the new category and new products, but the category name is nowhere to be found in the Ceon URI section of the db. In fact, the db doesn't show any recent activity of URLs being created.

Would be grateful if anyone has a solution to this problem, many thanks!

[mc12345678]

The links are stored in the table DB_PREFIX. ceon_uri_mappings. Searching the uri field should identify the presence of the existing mappings.

As to the issue seen, yes, there is such a "memory" it is one of the strengths of this uri mapping. There is no need to populate an htaccess file with redirects to the items in the store as the software makes every previously existing link one hop to the current and all current links are directly used. The presence of the cPath information which is discussed in the instruction indicates that the product is located outside of its master category and is appended to maintain the canonical link.

Generally speaking a link should point to one location and one location only, which is why the "conflict" is being seen when trying to again add a "new" category/product with the same name as has been stored in the database. A site that has been in operation with that link for a period of time would want users to be able to get to that location again (rather than receiving a broken link notification). However, in this situation where it has been generated but not really existed for long, there is less of an issue as it is less likely to have been indexed or otherwise stored "yet".

[luckystu]

The links are stored in the table DB_PREFIX. ceon_uri_mappings. Searching the uri field should identify the presence of the existing mappings.

mc12345678, I truly appreciate your expertise and the helpful information you've provided. I've been looking for the table DB_PREFIX ceon_uri_mappings - I'm assuming this should be located in the database? Many thanks again!

[mc12345678]

mc12345678, I truly appreciate your expertise and the helpful information you've provided. I've been looking for the table DB_PREFIX ceon_uri_mappings - I'm assuming this should be located in the database? Many thanks again!

DB_PREFIX is a constant that is assigned in both the includes/configure.php and YOUR_ADMIN/includes/configure.php. It should be the same in both files.

Whatever the value is ('bob_', 'cart_', 'green_', or even ''), should be prepended to ceon_uri_mappings ('bob_ceon_uri_mappings', 'cart_ceon_uri_mappings', 'green_ceon_uri_mappings', or 'ceon_uri_mappings') to identify the database table that should contain the uris in question.

[luckystu]

Whatever the value is ('bob_', 'cart_', 'green_', or even ''), should be prepended to ceon_uri_mappings ('bob_ceon_uri_mappings', 'cart_ceon_uri_mappings', 'green_ceon_uri_mappings', or 'ceon_uri_mappings') to identify the database table that should contain the uris in question.

Our problem remains unsolved, was able to find the proper table in the database and deleted all URLs containing the category name we want to use again. Even took it a step further and deleted the original, previous URLs that we "recycled." After deleting, we attempted to start fresh and create the URL we want to use (again) but it continues to give an error message indicating a mapping conflict. Went over everything with a fine tooth comb and deleted each value necessary. Is there a time factor involved, meaning does it take a certain amount of time for deletions to clear out of the system? I assume they take effect immediately. Is there a location other than the database where the URLs in question are existing? Many thanks for any advice you have!

[mc12345678]

Our problem remains unsolved, was able to find the proper table in the database and deleted all URLs containing the category name we want to use again. Even took it a step further and deleted the original, previous URLs that we "recycled." After deleting, we attempted to start fresh and create the URL we want to use (again) but it continues to give an error message indicating a mapping conflict. Went over everything with a fine tooth comb and deleted each value necessary. Is there a time factor involved, meaning does it take a certain amount of time for deletions to clear out of the system? I assume they take effect immediately. Is there a location other than the database where the URLs in question are existing? Many thanks for any advice you have!

No, there is no timer involved. When the software is trying to create a new uri for a product it attempts to verify it's existence first. If it exists there is a conflict and that means that the occurrences have not been deleted. Don't forget about the "additional" uris such as those about reviews, etc...

A query to identify duplicate results would include a search of the uri field using the LIKE option, percent symbols at the front and back of the search term and the resulting term for the product. So the query for a product that was referenced as 'blue hat' in the original name my be found with the following query:

SELECT uri FROM ceon_uri_mappings WHERE uri like '%blue%';

Now this query will return every row that has the word blue in it, which could include a category name, manufacturer, etc... the records also would include those that are current and not, but the goal is to narrow down the query to be able to delete just the ones that are causing the mapping clash.

[luckystu]

Now this query will return every row that has the word blue in it, which could include a category name, manufacturer, etc... the records also would include those that are current and not, but the goal is to narrow down the query to be able to delete just the ones that are causing the mapping clash.

Thanks, mc, ran the query and looked for the results in the database but they're not there so I assume we're not looking in the right place - where would the results be located? Many thanks.

[mc12345678]

Thanks, mc, ran the query and looked for the results in the database but they're not there so I assume we're not looking in the right place - where would the results be located? Many thanks.

I've obviously not doing something right in trying to help. So let's take this one step at a time with known information.

First of all to answer the above question, running the query in tools->install sql patches will not display the results for security reasons. The query needs to be executed in a tool such as phpmyadmin in the cPanel of your site. There are other similar tools.

So, to be sure to offer a query that is likely to target just the desired product uri, please identify the vaUe of DB_PREFIX identified in YOUR_ADMIN/includes/configure.php where YOUR_ADMIN is the renamed admin directory used to access the admin side.

Then what is the product uri that is being attempted and rejected as being a duplicate. Include the -, _ or other separator that is used when generating uris.

[luckystu]

The query needs to be executed in a tool such as phpmyadmin in the cPanel of your site. There are other similar tools.

So, to be sure to offer a query that is likely to target just the desired product uri, please identify the vaUe of DB_PREFIX identified in YOUR_ADMIN/includes/configure.php where YOUR_ADMIN is the renamed admin directory used to access the admin side.

We ran the query from phpmyadmin and it says it was successful, however we still can't find the results. Talked with our hosting tech support and they said the results should display right after the query is run but they do not. We used your code from above, mc, inserting the proper DB_PREFIX identified in both configure.php files. So as a hypothetical example, if we want to use "flowers" as a category name, which had been previously created and then deleted but is still not being "released" due to a mapping conflict, this is the query executed:

SELECT uri FROM (our DB_PREFIX)_ceon_uri_mappings WHERE uri like '%flowers%';

Is this correct and where would the query results be located? Sorry this is taking much longer than expected, really appreciate your help!

[mc12345678]

We ran the query from phpmyadmin and it says it was successful, however we still can't find the results. Talked with our hosting tech support and they said the results should display right after the query is run but they do not. We used your code from above, mc, inserting the proper DB_PREFIX identified in both configure.php files. So as a hypothetical example, if we want to use "flowers" as a category name, which had been previously created and then deleted but is still not being "released" due to a mapping conflict, this is the query executed:

SELECT uri FROM (our DB_PREFIX)_ceon_uri_mappings WHERE uri like '%flowers%';

Is this correct and where would the query results be located? Sorry this is taking much longer than expected, really appreciate your help!

If you have accessed phpmyadmin, on the left side have selected not only the database associated with this site, but also the table (DB_PREFIX)ceon_uri_mappings and then on the right side selected the button/option along the top to run a sql query and entered into the query (let's assume the prefix is 'fun'):

SELECT uri FROM funceon_uri_mappings WHERE uri LIKE '%flowers%';

and then executed the query.

Then I too would expect the results to be provided below the representation of the query. Those results may be a statement of 0 results returned (or something similar) or 1 or more results in a column with the heading of the column being uri and each row showing the full content of the field returned.

If, in this case, the database being viewed is the active database that is reporting the attempt to duplicate mapping, then there should be at least one result that comes back.

Note the minor difference in how I represented the DB_PREFIX being used compared to how it was previously represented. ((DB_PREFIX)ceon_uri_mappings as compared to (DB_PREFIX)_ceon_uri_mappings) While this may not seem to make a difference between you and me, it is important for others that may try to follow this. ZC does not add the underscore between the prefix and the table name. If one is to use a prefix, adding the underscore (_) at the end makes it easier for other database manipulations at some point in the future, but there is no requirement for there to be one. Nor is there a requirement to have/use a value in the DB_PREFIX.