EasyPopulate 4.0 Support Thread

[Hasher]

Hey Chadderuski

Been using EP4 to export data very successfully and this weekend I started a script to convert data into CSV's . Now I have some questions about the upload process . I am trying to upload a Attrib-Detailed-EP.csv and reading the thread I notice that I need to upload a Attrib-Basic-EP.csv first .

So I am just guessing that EP4 uses the v_products_model field as a unique identifier to update the fields of the product. Also that all three CSV files need to be uploaded Attrib-Detailed-EP.csv , Attrib-Basic-EP.csv and Full-EP.csv to get all product details and attributes.

Also looking at a the Admin/Tools/Easy populate 4 . There is a report to download : "Complete Products (with Metatags)" . But on opening it there is no metaTags included in it . Is there a way of uploading metatags with the CSV files and if so what are the column header names ?

Also with v_products_attributes_id and v_products_id in the Attrib-Detailed-EP.csv file . Are these auto number generated in ZC and I leave out those columns . Or do I need to provide some input ? I noticed on my site that there is a split in numbers between each column.

Thanks for a great product and hope you can help with the questions above

Paul

[chadderuski]

Hey Chadderuski

Been using EP4 to export data very successfully and this weekend I started a script to convert data into CSV's . Now I have some questions about the upload process . I am trying to upload a Attrib-Detailed-EP.csv and reading the thread I notice that I need to upload a Attrib-Basic-EP.csv first .

So I am just guessing that EP4 uses the v_products_model field as a unique identifier to update the fields of the product. Also that all three CSV files need to be uploaded Attrib-Detailed-EP.csv , Attrib-Basic-EP.csv and Full-EP.csv to get all product details and attributes.

Also looking at a the Admin/Tools/Easy populate 4 . There is a report to download : "Complete Products (with Metatags)" . But on opening it there is no metaTags included in it . Is there a way of uploading metatags with the CSV files and if so what are the column header names ?

Also with v_products_attributes_id and v_products_id in the Attrib-Detailed-EP.csv file . Are these auto number generated in ZC and I leave out those columns . Or do I need to provide some input ? I noticed on my site that there is a split in numbers between each column.

Thanks for a great product and hope you can help with the questions above

Paul

Hey Paul,

Carefully read through the docs, I think it will answer some of these questions. Also, if you read back a few pages, I covered this again. Please read these and I'll clear up any questions. But real quick, the BASIC import is for CREATING your attribute names/values and assigning to a product id, the DETAILED is a 1-to-1 UPDATE for EXISTING attributes. You first upload the BASIC, then download the DETAILED (edit to your liking, but do not modify the first several columns), and then upload the DETAILED to set values on existing.

Start with only 1 product with 1 attribute option name/values. Import the basic, download the detailed and this should make sense.

Note that you cannot use the DETAILED attribute file to CREATE attributes. This is only done at the BASIC stage. Oh, yes, you first need to import your FULL csv to create the actual products.

If you are not getting the Meta-tags, go to Configuration -> Easy Populate 4 and there should be an option to enable them. Not everyone needs them and it simplifies the file.

[Brian Anderson]

I am trying to modify the Categories MetaTags using ZC 1.50 and EP4.0.19 - Beta 1-28-2012. I downloaded the file, CategoryMeta-EP2013Jan28-114334.csv, sorted it, and then added in MetaTags and uploaded and imported back in and got all my categories and subcategories recreated at a top level. No tags were entered. So if I had originally:

Category A
---->Brand A
--------->Model A
--------->Model C
---->Brand B
--------->Model B

I ended up with the following structure:

Brand A
Brand B
Category A
---->Brand A
--------->Model A
--------->Model C
---->Brand B
--------->Model B
Model A
Model B
Model C

I ended up having to go in a deleting these new "extra" categories (which were empty). Any idea what I might have done wrong? I uploaded the same file name as I downloaded, as I know this is important to getting it to work properly. I recall getting this to work at one point and the regular product upload function works flawlessly.

Thanks!
Brian

[chadderuski]

I am trying to modify the Categories MetaTags using ZC 1.50 and EP4.0.19 - Beta 1-28-2012. I downloaded the file, CategoryMeta-EP2013Jan28-114334.csv, sorted it, and then added in MetaTags and uploaded and imported back in and got all my categories and subcategories recreated at a top level. No tags were entered. So if I had originally:

I ended up having to go in a deleting these new "extra" categories (which were empty). Any idea what I might have done wrong? I uploaded the same file name as I downloaded, as I know this is important to getting it to work properly. I recall getting this to work at one point and the regular product upload function works flawlessly.

Thanks!
Brian

Brian,

Did you modify any categories after you download the catetories meta file? This should have only worked on the v_categories_id and sort order should not have mattered, but I'll have to look at the code (it's been ages since I've looked at this section).

I recommend that you install Dr. Byte's MySQL backup tool ... ALWAYS do a backup before running imports. It makes fixing these issues easy.

Also, under Store Manager you should optimize your data bases. Just deleting a category doesn't remove it from the database.

-chadd

[seattleannie]

I installed EasyPopulate 4.0 Beta to Zen Cart 1.5.0. When I try to download a file I exported, a "Authentication Required" box comes up. I assume this has something to do with permissions of the temp folder I created (which, as suggested in the readme, I renamed "merges")? Or, is that supposed to happen? If so, what user name and password should I use? The cPanel ones? or, the site admin ones?

Here is what the module shows on the Configuration Settings on the right:

Configuration Settings
Upload Directory: merges/
Verbose Feedback: TRUE
Split Records: 2000
Execution Time: 60
Convert Curly Quotes: No Change
Convert Char 0x92: Basic
Enable Products Metatags: 1
Enable Products Music: 0

[chadderuski]

I installed EasyPopulate 4.0 Beta to Zen Cart 1.5.0. When I try to download a file I exported, a "Authentication Required" box comes up. I assume this has something to do with permissions of the temp folder I created (which, as suggested in the readme, I renamed "merges")? Or, is that supposed to happen? If so, what user name and password should I use? The cPanel ones? or, the site admin ones?

Here is what the module shows on the Configuration Settings on the right:

Configuration Settings
Upload Directory: merges/
Verbose Feedback: TRUE
Split Records: 2000
Execution Time: 60
Convert Curly Quotes: No Change
Convert Char 0x92: Basic
Enable Products Metatags: 1
Enable Products Music: 0

Hi Annie,

Well, are you sure you have my version? I don't think I ever said to rename the temp folder to merges...

What is the title of the page when you go to Tools -> Easy Populate 4? My version is only on github.com at this time:

https://github.com/chaddro/EasyPopulate-4.0

[chadderuski]

Brian,
Do you think you could zip and then attach your csv? I was looking at the code for the categories meta-tags and it SHOULD NOT be importing anything new. The code IS in there with the note that it should never get called. What this make me think is that your categories_id is somehow getting misinterpreted.

Here is one test for your. Export your categories csv, then (without downloading/editing/modifying) import it. There should be no changes...

-chadd

[seattleannie]

Hi Annie,

Well, are you sure you have my version? I don't think I ever said to rename the temp folder to merges...

What is the title of the page when you go to Tools -> Easy Populate 4? My version is only on github.com at this time:

https://github.com/chaddro/EasyPopulate-4.0

Sorry if I wasn't clear. I thought the readme recommended renaming the temp folder. Not to "merges" specifically - that was *my* idea. Anyway, yes. I am, using your version, Chadderuski. But would naming the folder cause this authorization verification issue?

~anne

[chadderuski]

Brian,
Do you think you could zip and then attach your csv? I was looking at the code for the categories meta-tags and it SHOULD NOT be importing anything new. The code IS in there with the note that it should never get called. What this make me think is that your categories_id is somehow getting misinterpreted.

Here is one test for your. Export your categories csv, then (without downloading/editing/modifying) import it. There should be no changes...

-chadd

Nope. On further investigation, there is no provision for adding a new category_id... specifically, it displays an error if it doesn't find that particular category_id...

Now i'm really puzzled!

[seattleannie]

It is in your install.txt file:

Now go to Configuration -> Easy Populate 4 and edit the Uploads Directory. The default directory is "temp/"
This assumes you have a directory "temp" in the root of your website. I highly recommend that you
move your temp directory into your admin, or change the name to something that is obscure for security reasons.