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

I am running zencart 1.3.9a. No mods or add ons installed.
Except for the 3rd party mod "Apsona"

Sounds like a question for them

NoobGal:

Hi I heard that you can use Apsona as a quick way of installing lots of products. I downloaded their software and installed as per the instructions into the Admin folder. I can now see the Apsona admin link on my admin menu but when I click on it it takes me back to my own admin logon page. If I enter my admin login details it just takes me back to my own admin page, it's a constant look. Have I missed something important? I am using zencart locally for the moment, don't have a hosting account setup yet, I am running zencart 1.3.9a. No mods or add ons installed. Has anyone experienced this problem? thanks.:huh:

I haven't seen this problem, but I'll gladly help resolve it. Please get in touch with me via our website or via email. I can set up a screen share session via gotomeeting and find a solution.

Best regards.

Apsona
http://apsona.com

Used some more this weekend, definitely a worthy tool once you get used to it.

Another question, but is there (apsona or any other add-on for that matter) a way to upload a batch of your category/subcategory set-up instead of setting up 1 by 1

Maybe something like
Category 1
Category 2
Category 3
Category 1 : Sub A
Category 2: Sub A
Category 3: Sub A
Category 1 : Sub B
Category 2: Sub B
Category 3: Sub B
Category 1 : Sub C
Category 2: Sub C
Category 3: Sub C

...
Maybe with adding an image type function similar to the product upload? Not sure if anything exists like this, but could save a ton of time not repeating the work to build out the hierarchy.

Throwdown:

Used some more this weekend, definitely a worthy tool once you get used to it.

Another question, but is there (apsona or any other add-on for that matter) a way to upload a batch of your category/subcategory set-up instead of setting up 1 by 1

Maybe something like
Category 1
Category 2
Category 3
Category 1 : Sub A
Category 2: Sub A
Category 3: Sub A
Category 1 : Sub B
Category 2: Sub B
Category 3: Sub B
Category 1 : Sub C
Category 2: Sub C
Category 3: Sub C

...
Maybe with adding an image type function similar to the product upload? Not sure if anything exists like this, but could save a ton of time not repeating the work to build out the hierarchy.

Yes, you can do precisely this with ShopAdmin, using pretty much the syntax you indicate above. There is documentation describing this on the Apsona website.

Regards,
Apsona
http://apsona.com

I downloaded Apsona yesterday to my test server to see how it works and I must say I am loving it so far. Apsona software is so user friendly. The install was so simple and I was so blown away of how simple the install was to do. Plus with all the great features that is offered with Apsona is a A+ in my book. Being able to import and export products as well as update them. Creating reports and being able to add customers I tell you this sofware is just what I was looking for. This sofware offers so many features and it saves me from having to install a few mods that I needed. I am looking forward to using the Apsona software. :clap:

I have just started using Apsona Shopadmin after failing to get easypopulate to work properly on my new site. Love it!!!

Just one issue - I have quite a long list of manufacturers (as I am using for Size/Type field instead) but when editing a product in Apsona, the drop down box is not showing the complete list. It is cutting it off somewhere so if it is a size that is nearer to the end of the list, I have to edit that part in the zencart admin instead.

any ideas on this?

I have a number of mods installed - can list if likely to be a conflict with one of them. Slightly modified version of classic template.

cheers
Leah

working on 1.3.9d upgrade but not live yet (getting very close)

aussiesapphire:

I have just started using Apsona Shopadmin after failing to get easypopulate to work properly on my new site. Love it!!!

Just one issue - I have quite a long list of manufacturers (as I am using for Size/Type field instead) but when editing a product in Apsona, the drop down box is not showing the complete list. It is cutting it off somewhere so if it is a size that is nearer to the end of the list, I have to edit that part in the zencart admin instead.

any ideas on this?

I have a number of mods installed - can list if likely to be a conflict with one of them. Slightly modified version of classic template.

cheers
Leah

working on 1.3.9d upgrade but not live yet (getting very close)

Not sure I understand what you mean. Can you share a screen shot of this? It's possible that there is some sort if UI bug in ShopAdmin, and if so, we'll gladly fix it.

Regards,
Apsona

apsona:

Not sure I understand what you mean. Can you share a screen shot of this? It's possible that there is some sort if UI bug in ShopAdmin, and if so, we'll gladly fix it.

Regards,
Apsona

Screen shot attached - I havent counted up the entries in the manufacturer list but it is truncating halfway through "P" - I have quite a few more after this in the list but cannot access them via Apsona - have to edit this part of the item in zencart admin.

All else seems to be working great - it is saving me a lot of time and allowing me to change product types which is critical for my upgrade to 1.3.9 as I couldnt get my old custom types to work properly (and since I dont need them, have decided to change back to product general).

cheers
Leah Lane

Man what impressive work with this addon for ZenCart.

I Was browsing alittle while ago as I was looking to add Easy Populate only to stumble across the ShopAdmin.

Must say it is very very easy to install and use. Only thing I really am upset about is the fact it is not workable at this time for IE as I use IE8 for the majority of my browsing, but I can and will adapt to FireFox or Chrome as I have them both as well.

Thank you for a great addon for ZenCart :yes:

Leah - Thanks for the bug report. There is a limit of 50 entries that was inadvertently put in. We'll fix it in the next update - due out in a week or so.

KeystoneAirsoft - thanks for the kind words - delighted to hear that you find it useful. Feedback, feature requests, criticisms all welcome.

Regards.
Apsona
http://apsona.com

thank you - great service. So much easier than the 2 -step preview/update in zencart admin for editing products.

havent tried out the upload/download feature too much yet - seems to be pretty straightforward.

It will help to have all my manufacturers - is a long list if the limit was at 50 but since I'm using for size, I need quite a few. Thanks for looking into it.

cheers
Leah

apsona:

Thank you. We can guarantee that no data ever leaves the Zen Cart server. We have no access to your data under any circumstance.
This is no different than any other hosted service.
For more information, please check out the following link:

http://apsona.com/pages/ec/howItWorks.html

We will be happy to discuss your security concerns and also provide a more detailed exposition of the Apsona hosted architecture. Please contact us directly from our website.

This looks a security concern for me. As I understood, the addon will try to connect to apsona server and download something, how can we trust those download codes?

fei2010 - I'm not sure I understand the security concern. Conceptually it is no different from any other automatically-updating software system. This architecture enables us to quickly make available bug fixes and feature updates to our software.

Moreover, the code is downloaded only into your browser, not into your Zen Cart server.

We do our best to ensure that our software is safe and error-free. With over 250 users now, I would say that if we make mistakes in the security area, we'd be hauled up very quickly.

Please feel free to follow up with specific concerns you might have, and we will gladly respond.

Hope this helps.
Apsona
http://apsona.com

Got to say, only just come accross this addon, and its absolutely fantastic, the kind of module/addon that Zen Users im sure have been crying out for.

I just cant get over how easy it is to create your own filters, like for example listing customers from certain countries, creating custom reports, its just amazed me so far, and seems too good to be true. Its the kind of big change I would expect in a Version 2 Zen Cart too be honest.

Amazing work, well done :clap:

Hi Sridhar,

Trust you are will.

Your probably aware that ZC have released a new update, 1.3.9e.

Before I go and do the update of the ZC files, Do you know if there are any issues that would prevent ShopAdmin from running..

I'm sure there wont be, but I guess it's better to ask prior than, than try to fix problems after.!

Thanks,
Mike

Mike_Dean - Thanks for asking, I'm doing well! :smile: The new ShopAdmin version is now available, and yes, it does work with Zen Cart 1.3.9e.

Regards.

Installed Apsona last week. Most excellent!

One thing I have noticed is that the description field sometimes does not properly propagate the data and shows as empty when in fact data is present in the database. If one enters this field through Apsona (make no changes) and then saves, the product is updated and the description field is emptied of data.

jetx:

One thing I have noticed is that the description field sometimes does not properly propagate the data and shows as empty when in fact data is present in the database. If one enters this field through Apsona (make no changes) and then saves, the product is updated and the description field is emptied of data.

That's very odd, I haven't been able to reproduce it. Can you give me some more information as to the exact circumstances under which this happens? I'm assuming you're talking about editing the description of an existing product?

I'm actually doing edits to the meta tag descriptions but noticed that on perhaps 5% of my products (all products) have no description showing, yet everyone of my products has a description. Also occurs on my testing server (another domain, same VPS). All descriptions are composed in similar format with first paragraph no <p> tags, second with; some also include photogaphs, eg <img src="/images/.. etc. However, testing shows this makes no difference. I can't see anything out of the ordinary between products which show descriptions and those that do not, seems quite random.

Apache 2.2.15, Php 5.3.2, zen 1.3.9e, mysql 5.1.4.8.