Apsona ShopAdmin - a free tool for import/mass update/reporting

Hello Everyone,

I've re-posted this here as recommended by some fellow Zen Cart users.

I'm getting some really odd behavior in the Zen Cart admin. I've uploaded a new set of products using Apsona with the spreadsheet created using Open Office in UTF8. When I the view the admin Categories / Product list the product names are there, if I click the "Edit" icon to view the product details the product name is not there it appears blank. If you then click cancel the product name still shows in the Categories / Product list but if you click "Update" without changing a thing the product name disappears. I've checked the database table zen_products_description and the product names are there.

Does anyone have an idea what might cause this?
Any help would be appreciated, Thanks!

Zen 1.50

When you imported the new set of products, your csv included columns for master_category and category with the same data in each?
You only use one language?

torvista:

When you imported the new set of products, your csv included columns for master_category and category with the same data in each?
You only use one language?

Hi Steve,

I'm away from my office at the moment but I believe I left master category blank, I'll confirm that tomorrow. We only use one language.

Thanks for the reply.

torvista:

When you imported the new set of products, your csv included columns for master_category and category with the same data in each?
You only use one language?

Hi Steve,

I did check the CSV file and the master category was blank.

I populated the master category with the same data that's in the category, this generated no products in admin but if you go to the product description table in the database the products do show.

Do I just have a corrupt CSV file?

Any thoughts are appreciated. Thanks.

I did check the CSV file and the master category was blank.
So you have imported=created products with no master category? I didn't think the Apsona import allowed that.
Look at the database, products tables to check this.

I populated the master category with the same data that's in the category, this generated no products in admin but if you go to the product description table in the database the products do show.
What do you mean? You restored the database to the state prior to the import and then tried the import again?
Or you manually added the master category into the products table?

Hi Steve,

torvista:

So you have imported=created products with no master category? I didn't think the Apsona import allowed that.
Look at the database, products tables to check this.
That's correct....that's how the first attempt was completed. The products showed in the admin categories/products list page but when you clicked on the edit icon for the product the oddness started.

torvista:

What do you mean? You restored the database to the state prior to the import and then tried the import again?
Or you manually added the master category into the products table?

I restored the database to the prior, copied the category titles to the master category in the csv file and then tried again.

Try not using "Master Category" at all. Just build your category structure (At Home: Small Appliances: Cookware) and put that into Category column and it should work just fine.

Hope that helps.

When importing, is Apsona mapping all the field names to the CVS column titles correctly?
Do all the categories pre-exist or are you creating them at the same time?

I've always had to do the following after an import from Apsona to get round the "categories showing but product names blank" issue.

I don't have this import problem...resetting the master categories on my shop would be a self-destruct button!
I do Update ALL Products Price Sorter but thats just because I can't be bothered to include that column in the CSV.

Since this seems not be be an isolated issue, if you (plural) want to pm me and send a copy of your csv I'll see if I get the same issue.

gxjenkins:

Try not using "Master Category" at all. Just build your category structure (At Home: Small Appliances: Cookware) and put that into Category column and it should work just fine.

Hope that helps.

Hi Gary,

I tried this but it didn't work for me....I still get the original issue. When I the view the admin Categories / Product list the product names are there, if I click the "Edit" icon to view the product details the product name is not there it appears blank. If you then click cancel the product name still shows in the Categories / Product list but if you click "Update" without changing a thing the product name disappears. I've checked the database table zen_products_description and the product names are there.

Thank you for the suggestion.

kelvyn:

I've always had to do the following after an import from Apsona to get round the "categories showing but product names blank" issue.

Before you do this: BACKUP THE DB! Also, we don't use any custom sort order on attributes etc so if this matters to you

TOOLS > STORE MANAGER (store_manager.php)

Click the following buttons in this order:

Update All Products' Attribute Sort Orders
Update ALL Products Price Sorter
Reset ALL Products Master Categories ID
and finally
Optimize Database

It might be co-incidence, but it also seems to speed up the store a fair bit by doing that.

Let me know if this works!

Hi Kelvin,

I'll give this a try.

After you upload do your product names show in the admin categories / product list but disappear when you click edit to view the product details?

Hi Folks,

I just came across Apsona ShopAdmin after struggling with Easy Populate. I have a few questions about it if anybody would care to help enlighten me?

1. Are Apsona still alive and supporting this product?
   I emailed them yesterday but have received no replies.

2. Can anyone explain their business model? How do they make money with free service and free support?

3. Can I import/alter product attributes with SA? (ie the tables: products_attributes, products_options_values and products_options)
   I price all of my products via Catalog -> Attributes Controller.

4. Can anyone tell me how much of my shop data would be passed through Apsona's server? I see that they effectively control the service but, as my shop is confidential (sales, finances, and especially customer data), I would need to know what data gets sent where and what control I have over that.

Any answers to these questions, or any other info/opinions on the product would be welcome, thankyou.

Gavin

1. Are Apsona still alive and supporting this product?
   I emailed them yesterday but have received no replies.
   Yes, I think so...but they are always very busy with paying customers.

2. Can anyone explain their business model? How do they make money with free service and free support?
   Custom work, I think.

3. Can I import/alter product attributes with SA? (ie the tables: products_attributes, products_options_values and products_options)
   I price all of my products via Catalog -> Attributes Controller.
   Yes - although I don't use it for that.

4. Can anyone tell me how much of my shop data would be passed through Apsona's server? I see that they effectively control the service but, as my shop is confidential (sales, finances, and especially customer data), I would need to know what data gets sent where and what control I have over that.
   http://www.zen-cart.com/showthread.php?153990-Apsona-ShopAdmin-a-free-tool-for-import-mass-update-reporting&p=878053#post878053

None is sent to their servers. The code is downloaded from their site each time you start it up and that's it.

I've been using it for ages and if one day they start to charge, I'll still use it. It works.

torvista:

I've been using it for ages and if one day they start to charge, I'll still use it. It works.

Same, works for me.. easy and quick.

Hi,

I am using version 1.5.1, https://www.fossilandrock.co.uk. I have just added the Product Cost Display add on (http://www.zen-cart.com/downloads.php?do=file&id=1444). It created a new table in my database and the site works fine. I have just tried to do an update with Apsona, changing Manufacturers and adding the cost. It hangs during updating, and I closed it. I then noticed in my site that the Manufacturers were updated, not the cost price.

Does this mean Apsona is not compatible with the module, what can I do to get it to work? When I download my products from the Apsona Panel from the Tools - Export option, it does show the option to select Cost to be included. Can someone help with this?

B

Hi I have just installed apsona shop admin to my zencart 1.51 on a local host machine for testing. It does not appear to have created the table in the database and when I try to run it from the admin menu it just goes to a blank page with the header showing. Any help on this would be fantastic. I have installed on zencart 1.39h on same localhost machine and that one works ok.

Blank page means an error is occurring. Read the logs for the error, and fix the error: http://www.zen-cart.com/content.php?124-blank-page

Firefox 23 blocks mixed content with no popup warning, just an easily-missed (by me anyway) icon in the address bar.
There is also no whitelist for this: on every page reload you have to manually permit it.:wacko:
https://blog.mozilla.org/tanvi/2013/04/10/mixed-content-blocking-enabled-in-firefox-23/

If your admin pages use ssl, when you use apsona this will attempt to load via https too which results in the apsona page not loading as the jquery and apsona code is blocked.

Solution, change the sources of the unencrypted content.

In apsona_config.php

change
$APSONA_BASE_URL = 'http://shopadmin-svc.apsona.com';
to
$APSONA_BASE_URL = 'https://service.apsona.com';

In apsona_index.php

change

to

For early adopters using php5.5 already, i.e. Xampp 1.83, mysql_connect is deprecated and the attendant error message triggering stops Apsona from loading:

Deprecated: mysql_connect(): The
mysql extension is deprecated and will be removed in the future: use mysqli
or PDO instead in D:\My Documents....\apsona_functions.php on line
176

Despite putting @ in front of it (as in Zen Carts query_factory which also uses mysql_connect) to supress the error, I still could not get it to work despite trying to turn off all error reporting.

Apsona is aware of the issue.

Same issue. I have updated to the new files recommened by Apsona and still a blank screen when trying to run this GREAT add-on. Good thing I am trying to migrate to the new version of ZenCart for all my sites and not having to run live, YET.