Easy Populate 1.2.5.4 support

**awev** · 28 Jul 2007, 06:25 AM

Hello folks,
I will see about creating an EP FAQ in the future, but not now, I have to get my sites up and going first.

First, to answer a couple questions that keep popping up.

Q. What versions of Easy Populate (EP) are currently available?
A. The stable free version is 1.2.5.4, the buggy free version is 2.75, and the paid version is Easy Populate Advance (EPA) 3.03 - as of this writing on 7/28/07

Q. Can I have EP add product categories for me?
A. The non-commercial versions can, the paid version can not.

Q. Can EP upload special fields?
A. All three can, just that with EPs you have to edit the file, while it seems as if EPA has the support built in.

Q. I have uploaded 15 products, yet only 2 show up. The file looks something similar to this:

Why am I only seeing two items?
A. Each row must have a unique product model (i.e., item number), and the end of record EOREOR must be on the end of each row. If you change it from book to book_1, book_2, etc, then EP will insert the items. Failure to do so will have EP insert the first item, book, and then each additional occurrence of book updates the first, same thing with dvd in this example.

Q. After uploading I find only a few records uploaded correctly, and there are a few others with a number of records all in the last field. What happened?
A. Did you remember to place EOREOR on the end of each row/record?

Tip: You may want to turn off "Text delimited with quotes" in both your spreadsheet (i.e., Excel and Open Office Calc) and the database you are using. May I suggest the tide "~" symbol if you must use something as a text delimiter (i.e, you have a few commas , single or double quotes, in your description, and want to preserve them). The tide symbol can be stripped off and out as needed. If, for example, you import a great amount of data using the LOAD DATA INFILE command in MySQL you can use the option FIELDS OPTIONALLY ENCLOSED BY '~' to remove it.

Tip: See the above post for an updated sql script for installing on systems that use MySQL version 5.x

About me: I have used, and modified, version 2.75 in the past. I have downloaded, but not installed, version 1.2.5.4 If people are interested I can download a copy of 2.75 from my site (computer crashed so I don't have a local copy), and post it here. I have been playing with computers for over two decades. I understand some coding, and can do a bad, yet working, hack if I have to, just don't ask me to re-work Zen Cart for your needs

. I will take a fresh look at both EP versions and see what I can do to make them more user friendly, or at least create instructions on how you can do it yourself (a DIY guild if you will). Again, this may not be for a while as I have my daytime job and then my two web sites to worry about.