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

I'm using on php 7.1.9 no problems (with my code).

Good, he just informed me that it is only one site - he has multiples that are essentially identical on the same hosting so shall look further.

starting to use zencart again after several years (v1.5.5f)
Adding Apsona SHop Admin - I thought this was free???? But when I go to the site to get ID it is now chargeable?

Looks like they have finally taken down the page for the sign-up.
Apsona stopped supporting/developing Shop Admin a long time ago to concentrate on Salesforce, but left the Shopadmin code on their server. The code still works/is still on their server but evidently they are not interested in new users.

If you have your old Apsona id, you can set it up using my files on Github, but really you should invest your time in DBIO for imports/exports:
https://www.zen-cart.com/showthread.php?220569-Database-I-O-Manager-%28DbIo%29-Support-Thread

Thanks Torvista - I really dislike EP so this might be a good alternative.

For apsona you only need an id, any id - whatever records they kept it was the id that kept things working. At some point we found the mod to be totally not working if you tried to import. If apsona is still working completely I will be glad to give up id numbers but I need reassurances that it does work first. Since they have backed off the signups, I assume it will quit working though. Time to switch! I hate it cause I did like apsona the best.

delia:

Thanks Torvista - I really dislike EP so this might be a good alternative.
Might want to clarify why as DBIO claims that it is based on the principles of EP.

Definitely don't know if Torvista's is any better. I downloaded it and am looking into it. Apsona was just the best thing for my clients - unfortunately the code that made it work was never accessible; otherwise, we would have picked it up and gone forward. Partly the interface though and the control it gave the site owner - which could be disastrous as well if not used correctly. Sorry, have always hated EP. Most clients never had the patience to use it correctly and make it work for them. This is something that needs to be built into zen cart in the future.

Definitely don't know if Torvista's is any better.
The functionality of Apsona is based on the javascript that is downloaded from their server every time you start the Apsona page.
My code is the supporting php that you need on your server, it has only been modified so it can continue to work with php7 and current Zen Cart.

unfortunately the code that made it work was never accessible
Not true. Since the browser downloads it, it can be saved and unminified.
With a few modifications here and there it CAN work entirely with all code as local files, but I decided that it was flogging a dead horse and it was time to move on.

DBIO and EP are based on the same concept of using a csv to import data.
EP has a long and checkered history of development and "developers", but now is well-supported I believe. I don't use it.
DBIO is a relatively recent plugin, written by a top developer here from the ground up using modern methods. I use this.

Symptom: for a price update of 1.234, Apsona was inserting 1234, ignoring the decimal point.

I found that the issue was with Chrome (windows). Firefox and Edge were ok.

If in the Chrome language-content settings, spanish was set as the first content language, the problem occurred.

I think it is something to do with the handling of locales in the Apsona javascript that decides the decimal point is actually a thousands delimiter and so ignores/removes it.
Since this bit of the code is in the always-downloaded javascript, it cannot really be investigated/fixed without doing a few hacks to make it all work locally.

Although in truth Apsona has been so long unsupported, no-one should really be using it anymore.

In my opinion, if Apsona still offers anything that cannot be done in a supported plugin like DBIO
https://www.zen-cart.com/showthread.php?220569-Database-I-O-Manager-%28DbIo%29-Plugin-Support-Thread,
you should ask nicely for it!