Easy Populate 1.2.5.4 support

[tj1]

I've just started using Zen Cart and have installed Easy Populate to migrate 400 or so products from my existing shop to the Zen one I am building.

The products have all moved over and Easy Populate has dumped them all into a category called 'New'

I have downloaded the EP text file and gone through it changing all the product categories so that they are all correct. I have then uploaded the file (splitting it first of course!) and it seems to have uploaded fine.

However, the products have all moved into categories that I put in the spreadsheet, however most are still in the 'New' category that it originally created.

I didn't create any categories within Zen for it to upload to, I believed Easy Populate would do that for me.

Now it seem though that while all the products are in their main categories they are linked from the ones originally put into the 'New category'. So, if I make 'New' inactive (as I don't want it to show up with all 400 products in) it means that the links are inactive and I end up with no products in any other categories.

How can I fix this? Other than to manually move each product from within Admin?

Would it be better to just start over, delete all products and create the categories again? Then upload everything with Easy Populate? (If so, how can I do this?)

Please can you help me?

You cannot move products from one category to another using EasyPopulate standard.

If you already have products in certain category and then you upload a new file with EasyPopulate specifying different categories, what will happen is that EP will create linked products in the new categories.

I've been there before, I'm sure many more have also been in the same situation.

I think it's just best to start over.

In the ZC admin section, go to Tool>Install SQL Patches and run the following line

DELETE FROM products;

This partially deletes all products. Then go to Tools>EasyPopulate
You will see some message telling you that there are products that were not deleted completely and says to click to fix that. Click it to have it fixed.

Then you can reupload the EP file with all the products in the correct categories this time.


Hopefully, awev will have some free time and release an updated version of EP with some more features. :)

[earmsby]

This may have been covered somewhere in this thread but I could not find it using several different searches so, here goes...

Has anyone been able to add an additional field to either or both the file that gets downloaded as well the upload/updating function? The additional field already exists in the database so I'm not asking about how to add an additional product field in general - just how to add the field to EP.

I'm wending my way through the main file and it seems that it should be possible with some editing, but a clue as to where to look for this would save me some time.

Thanks!

[tj1]

earmsby, I think awev sort of explains how modify EP to do this in post 879 of this thread.

[awev]

This may have been covered somewhere in this thread but I could not find it using several different searches so, here goes...

Has anyone been able to add an additional field to either or both the file that gets downloaded as well the upload/updating function? The additional field already exists in the database so I'm not asking about how to add an additional product field in general - just how to add the field to EP.

I'm wending my way through the main file and it seems that it should be possible with some editing, but a clue as to where to look for this would save me some time.

Thanks!

earmsby, I think awev sort of explains how modify EP to do this in post 879 of this thread.

The link to the post is http://www.zen-cart.com/forum/showpo...&postcount=879

Good luck with the mods

[earmsby]

Thanks for the link. Somehow this particular post didn't come up in any of my searches. I'll give it a try!

[dclem]

I'm helping a friend set up Zen Cart on his site and I'm tring to install Easy Populate. The problem I'm having is that all the links to download it that I've found on this thread are dead and there is nothing can be found doing a google search.

I'm very surprised at how very little documentation there is to Zen Cart and that this forum is meant as THE documentation on how to use Zen Cart, unless you are willing to pay for a $60 book.

I think pointing people to a forum learn about how to use a product is a very bad idea as forums are best used when people can not figure out how to use a product and need help. If no documentation exists then EVERY task requires a post or searching the forum leading in order to get even the simplest thing done. With so many posts, it becomes even more difficult to find a solution as you have to read about many more other problems before you find anything about your own task, which may or may not help.

Even 'tutorials' found in the threads are nothing but FAQs. Why do I need to read a FAQ on how to solve problems that I might encounter while using the product if I don't even have information on how to use the product?

If I could find information using google searches, get a hold of a word or pdf doc, find a good website, or if I could actually find information on this forum there wouldn't be a problem. However they either do not exist or do not provide information that is needed.

I haven't used Zen Cart enough to know whether it is a good product, but not being able to find documentation to figure out how to use it tells me that it is likely only the most dedicated people have any possiblity of success with it and everyone else shouldn't have much hope.

[awhfy99]

Sorry, this is not a reply to the above comment but I do need to ask a question on easy populate. I get no response (my browser times out when I insert anything this way). I downloaded a complete file and removed all but the 1st product and uploaded it. EP does not let me know anything has been done (it does work though). I have chmod all EP files to 777 and the temp dir the same way with no change in results and even tried the same on a test Zen site. I use EP on a osCommerce install and it works fine but both Zen sites act the same way. Is this normal or am I missing something?

[earmsby]

dclem,

Welcome to the world open source! Zen cart isn't really a "product." The forum is actually an extremely rich source of knowledge if you take good advantage. Many people here share their experience and knowledge for free. Just have a little patience - search for what your issue is - probably someone else had the same question. If not, ask your question, probably someone knows the answer.

If you're looking for a "product" with technical support, get ready to shell out some money. Meanwhile Zen Cart is a great resource that can do pretty much anything you want it to if you are willing to spend a little time to understand how it works.

peace,

[dclem]

dclem,

Welcome to the world open source! Zen cart isn't really a "product." The forum is actually an extremely rich source of knowledge if you take good advantage. Many people here share their experience and knowledge for free. Just have a little patience - search for what your issue is - probably someone else had the same question. If not, ask your question, probably someone knows the answer.

If you're looking for a "product" with technical support, get ready to shell out some money. Meanwhile Zen Cart is a great resource that can do pretty much anything you want it to if you are willing to spend a little time to understand how it works.

peace,

I didn't ask for technical support, I simply asked for documentation. Is it a sin to expect for software, even if it is open source, to have some documentation to it?

And if you read my post, you would of realized that that I have done quite a bit of searching on this forum and elsewhere for information. I managed to find 3 posts in this thread that tell me where to download easy support, but all three of them do not work. I haven't read all 900+ posts in this thread, but should I be expected to have to read that much before asking for help?

[tj1]

I'm helping a friend set up Zen Cart on his site and I'm tring to install Easy Populate. The problem I'm having is that all the links to download it that I've found on this thread are dead and there is nothing can be found doing a google search.

I'm very surprised at how very little documentation there is to Zen Cart and that this forum is meant as THE documentation on how to use Zen Cart, unless you are willing to pay for a $60 book.

I think pointing people to a forum learn about how to use a product is a very bad idea as forums are best used when people can not figure out how to use a product and need help. If no documentation exists then EVERY task requires a post or searching the forum leading in order to get even the simplest thing done. With so many posts, it becomes even more difficult to find a solution as you have to read about many more other problems before you find anything about your own task, which may or may not help.

Even 'tutorials' found in the threads are nothing but FAQs. Why do I need to read a FAQ on how to solve problems that I might encounter while using the product if I don't even have information on how to use the product?

If I could find information using google searches, get a hold of a word or pdf doc, find a good website, or if I could actually find information on this forum there wouldn't be a problem. However they either do not exist or do not provide information that is needed.

I haven't used Zen Cart enough to know whether it is a good product, but not being able to find documentation to figure out how to use it tells me that it is likely only the most dedicated people have any possiblity of success with it and everyone else shouldn't have much hope.

Direct links to download EasyPopulate, this was posted a couple of pages back, not sure why it didn't work for you, just tested and it's working:
http://modhole.com/modhole/index.php...JAS_File_id=60

or

http://www.zen-cart.com/archived_con...p_v1.2.5.4.zip

I'm not really sure why easypopulate is not included in the current downloads section, but just try one of the links above.

As for the rest of your post, there's plenty of documentation on pretty much everything, the problem is that it's scattered all over the place. This thread deals specifically with a community contributed module. For help with any other features of ZenCart, please post or look in the appropriate section.
ZenCart is overall the best free open source shopping cart available. I've tried a few other and they're either too difficult to use or lack many features.

Basic documentation for EasyPopulate is included with the download. ZenCart documentation is included in the docs folder when you download it.