Items disappearing from categories

I have updated to the latest zen cart version: 1.3.9f and I am having problems with two things.

1. When linking a product to multiple categories sometimes the cart puts these items in the wrong categories. This has been happening for several weeeks (from time to time) and I am positive that the right boxes were checked during this step.

2. I just added 3 new items to my store. They showed and I was even able to link to multiple categories. I went to the front end to check on them and poof, they are gone. Went back into the store admin and they are gone as well.

Category items are disappearing and the multiple links manager is putting items in the wrong categories. Both of these problems are causing major concern as we have lots of inventory.

How can I track down these issues?

Go to your phpMyAdmin ...

Browse the table:
products

by the field:
products_date_added

Do you see the new Product just added?

Browse the table:
products_description

look for the:
products_name

that you just added ...

Do you see it?

Ajeh:

Go to your phpMyAdmin ...

Browse the table:
products

by the field:
products_date_added

Do you see the new Product just added?

Browse the table:
products_description

look for the:
products_name

that you just added ...

Do you see it?

No I do not see them in the tables?

Linda,

I should clarify I gave the wrong information in my first post.

These items are entered and the problems reported are from the store owner (I am the webmaster) and she swears this happened. She and a co-worker have both been complaining about the multiple links copy function putting items in the wrong categories for weeks.

So I do not know firsthand this is what I am told daily.

About the three items not being added: She just complained about this and we have never seen that happen before. So I don't know if it was a glitch or user error (I am not in the area when this happens).

I have not been able to repeat any problems with the Multiple Linked Categories ...

Have you an example of what they are trying to do when things go poof ...

Is this a Clean install or an upgrade?

Are products manually entered or imported?

This was a clean install with an imported database. All items are manually entered (after the database install).

I was able to re-enter those products and now they show. There are new problems.

I created 3 products (the same ones that disappeared) and linked them to multiple categories. All 3 of these items show just fine in all the cross categories. However the images from these 3 new products also attached to already established products (That already had their own images).

Please look at the three items here: http://www.lasilhouettelingerie.com/shop/products_new

Here are the problems:
The Jay Cris Pink Bed Jacket (second item down) the image here also went into another product here: http://www.lasilhouettelingerie.com/shop/jane-woolrich-c-72_143/jane-woolrich-iris-gown-p-967 (This product has it's own established image for some time now. This just automatically changed).

Next: The Jay Cris Ivory Bed Jacket (third item down) the image also overwrote this products image: http://www.lasilhouettelingerie.com/shop/jane-woolrich-c-72_143/jane-woolrich-iris-robe-p-968

Last: The Jay CrisPink Long Robe (first item) has an image that also overwrote this products image: http://www.lasilhouettelingerie.com/shop/jane-woolrich-c-72_143/jane-woolrich-platinum-robe-p-1324

You can see that the three items that I have added also took the image and forced the images into other products from another category. The new products were created in: shop by designer>Jay Cris. Then were then also linked to: Shop by price and Nightwear (the type of item). Somehow the images over-rode some of the products in: shop by designer>Jane Woolrich category.

The main thing that happens is that items are put into the wrong category after linking to duplicate categories (at random times throughout the week). You can see that each item is first created in: Shop by Designer>THE DESIGNER and then linked to: Shop by Price>THE PRICE, They type of clothing (i.e. bras, nightwear, etc.). I feel like I am in the Bermuda Triangle! :unsure:

https://www.zen-cart.com/tutorials/index.php?article=58

gilby:

https://www.zen-cart.com/tutorials/index.php?article=58

Gilby, I did not add (nor want or need to add) multiple images to a product. While entering one image into a new product the same image was copied into another established product and category (which then over-rode another established image without my prompting). This does not have to do with entering multiple images. This has to do with the program putting the image into another categories and products by itself. This post is about something that is causing bizarre re-atcions when adding products to the Zen Cart. This was and is not user error. We have been entering items regularly into this store for around 4 years now without any problems.

I have installed Zen cart on many websites now and have never had something like this happen. I am telling you that something in the database and/or script is causing strange results. Three of us call is: "Scrambled". Because when entering new products and cross linking, many times the products scramble into categories in which we did not link to, or according to the girls who enter the product, the wrong image displays.

I am trying to figure out if my imported database into the new zen cart 1.3.9f could cause something like this. Or if there is a bug in the new 1.3.9f or if the multiple links copy feature (which seems to be causing all issues) has a bug in it.
And how can I find out if this has a bug.

Either way, when we create a product and use the copy function to link to multiple categories, strange things happen (sometimes) and the products: "Scramble" as we call it. Because the products, images, or categories get jumbled from what we linked to. This so far has produced problems like: the copy product feature to be linked into categories in which we did not choose, the image being displayed into other categories, and the product just disappearing on one instance. All problems stem from using the copy feature and linking to multiple categories via the checkboxes (which is necessity for our store). And this only happens sometimes (not every time).

This is not a one time deal. These problems have been happening for weeks. We rely heavily on the copy and multiple link manager. And this is where all of our problems have been coming from.

sports guy:

Gilby, I did not add (nor want or need to add) multiple images to a product.

This may not your entire problem but from the sample you gave additional images appear to be turning up because of the "similar" naming of the images. The link explains a naming convention that will cause images to appear as "additional images" on "other" products.

Gilby,

Thank you that may one of our problems! I know that some of images have the same name.

For now I am going to enter product information myself until the errors occur. As soon as I get specific errors I will let you know. This is so that I can let you know exactly when and what happened to pinpoint the problem.

sports guy:

This was a clean install with an imported database. All items are manually entered (after the database install).

When you import all those Products ...

If you look in the products table via phpMyAdmin, are you missing the:
master_categories_id
products_price_sorter

Most importers have the master_categories_id set to 0 ...

This could be contributing to your problems ...

On the images ... if you look at the 3rd product down ... start with:
015

and end in:
.JPG

this means that this Product "owns" all images that start with:
015

and end in:
.JPG

so whether or not you mean for it to have multiple image, you have images that match this pattern ... so instead of seeing 1 image you see two:
/images/015%20(2).JPG
/images/015%20(4).JPG

NOTE: it would be a good idea not to use spaces, special characters etc. in the filenames ...

Ajeh,

In phpMyAdmin under the "products: table structure I do see:
master_categories_id
products_price_sorter

The default for master_categories_id is set to 0 and the default for products_price_sorter is set to: 0.0000.

Should I change the defaults to something else or leave them as is?

The image naming is a huge problem I can already see. That might be causing lots of these issues. I can see that their camera is using the same image names over and over. I will have to correct this soon. Thank you I think we are getting to the bottom of this now!

I am not asking about the table structure ...

I am asking about the data in the table for each Product that you see when you browse the table ...

Do you see the field:
master_categories_id

set to 0 on your Products if you browse the table?

NOTE: a quick way to do this is to Browse the table then click on the fieldname:
master_categories_id

so it sorts it for you and then you can see if there are master_categories_id set to 0 ...

Also check the products_price_sorter as this field should be the lowest Price available for your Products and not 0.00 ...

I hope I am doing this right.

In phpMyAdmin I clicked on the products field and then I was able to see many of my products. I scrolled over to the: master_categories_id and looked down the column. Every product had a number other than 0 (except for one product that had a 0). If I click on the master_categories_id it then organized all products according to this number. Only one product has a zero (all others have a number other than zero). It is this product: Pink with Gold Chains Silk Belt

Do I need to change this?

You should fix that one to have a valid master_categories_id ...

The master_categories_id is either the only Category that it is in or the "main" Category, if it belongs to more than 1 Category ...

Ok that was easy. Done!