EasyPopulate 4.0 Support Thread

I maybe missing something but I keep doing something wrong. Using Easy Populate 4.0.28 with v1.5.4.

Download my database - open in Open Office spreadsheet take a few products and alter them - save as a csv to the file name given on the download with just these products - upload - import. Either get errors or get new duplicated files.

The question is do I have to save the whole database again with the same file reference (eg: Full-EP2018Apr13-113512.csv) or do I rename it to something else to import either the complete file or the few amended ones. What format do you rename it to also?

Sorry to be vague but I have read through the instructions so many times and I still can't manage it.

stringplayer:

I maybe missing something but I keep doing something wrong. Using Easy Populate 4.0.28 with v1.5.4.

Download my database - open in Open Office spreadsheet take a few products and alter them - save as a csv to the file name given on the download with just these products - upload - import. Either get errors or get new duplicated files.

The question is do I have to save the whole database again with the same file reference (eg: Full-EP2018Apr13-113512.csv) or do I rename it to something else to import either the complete file or the few amended ones. What format do you rename it to also?

Sorry to be vague but I have read through the instructions so many times and I still can't manage it.

The "important" part of the filename is everything up to and including the letters EP. Anything after that is up to you. (extension needs to be .csv)

The first part of the filename let's EP4 know what types of fields to expect so that it can process properly.

Don't recall the full feature availability of 4.0.28 with the current version being 4.0.36, but the process is basically logic based. The field list basically needs a single anchor point (primary key) and one column of data to be modified. Every row of data is attempted to be processed from top to bottom.

Your edited data file should look very similar in format to the original saved file if you were to look at each with a plain text editor. Be sure to follow the Open Office or Libre instructions to save as/export the file in UTF8 csv format.

Hi again

Thanks very much. I am now getting the hang of it. Just a few more questions.
How do I mark a product on the spreadsheet to delete before importing.
How do I mark a product status to off on the spreadsheet before importing.
If I rearrange the lines of the spreadsheet order of the products does it make any difference when importing (keeping the product on the original lines).
When putting a new product onto the spreadsheet is there anything that has to be done such as the index number etc or does it make its own when imported.
I think that will be it once I have these answers. Much appreciated.

mc12345678:

The "important" part of the filename is everything up to and including the letters EP. Anything after that is up to you. (extension needs to be .csv)

The first part of the filename let's EP4 know what types of fields to expect so that it can process properly.

Don't recall the full feature availability of 4.0.28 with the current version being 4.0.36, but the process is basically logic based. The field list basically needs a single anchor point (primary key) and one column of data to be modified. Every row of data is attempted to be processed from top to bottom.

Your edited data file should look very similar in format to the original saved file if you were to look at each with a plain text editor. Be sure to follow the Open Office or Libre instructions to save as/export the file in UTF8 csv format.
Bolded text should answer the question about sequencing.

stringplayer:

Hi again

Thanks very much. I am now getting the hang of it. Just a few more questions.
How do I mark a product on the spreadsheet to delete before importing.
How do I mark a product status to off on the spreadsheet before importing.
If I rearrange the lines of the spreadsheet order of the products does it make any difference when importing (keeping the product on the original lines).
When putting a new product onto the spreadsheet is there anything that has to be done such as the index number etc or does it make its own when imported.
I think that will be it once I have these answers. Much appreciated.

May I suggest searching the readme.txt file for two different words: the first delete (identifies how to completely delete a product), the second disable (identifies how to disable a product though this also would be easier seen/understood if an export of the database was performed, a product disabled and the export again performed to see what changed and how.)

As adding a product, it still somewhat depends on whether you've upgraded or not, but the primary key (anchor field) basically determines what to do... the historical method of using EP was to use the model field. Each product to have its own model, no 2 products to have the same model. If two products have the same model, then when importing, they would both get updated which could/would cause some undesired issues depending on how much data (number of fields) was updated.

Now as far as deleting. Are you sure you really want to delete the product? Unless you are using the products_id as a primary key, then deleting the product followed by importing a new product (with the same information) will cause a new products_id to be created which is quite literally a new product even if it is called the same thing as before, weighs the same, is described the same, etc...

1.5.5f fresh install with Easy Populate 4.0.37.6 - 02-08-2017

The import button is showing import error instead of the import button.
What could be the cause and fix?

In the meantime I rolled back to an older Easy populate version and it works.

wtfbbq:

1.5.5f fresh install with Easy Populate 4.0.37.6 - 02-08-2017

The import button is showing import error instead of the import button.
What could be the cause and fix?

The reported/expected cause is that the delimiter between fields was either inconsistent or non-matching for the review of the file. There are/were some database updates incorporated into that version that would need to be executed (top right corner would have offered an update option from a previous version).

Would need to know that the database was updated and then would recommend presenting the first few lines of the csv file to further identify the issue.

Almost there. When I enter a jpg from images folder under v_products_image (such as e120.jpg) it does not show. What am I missing.
Thank very much.

stringplayer:

Almost there. When I enter a jpg from images folder under v_products_image (such as e120.jpg) it does not show. What am I missing.
Thank very much.

e120.jpg would need to exist in the 'IMAGES' directory at the base of the directory: images/e120.jpg. If it does not exist, then the image would not be displayed. Verify from the store front (when viewing the related product) about what the path to the image is and also verify within your ftp program that the image has been stored in the images directory not images/images or images/some-folder...

The information that is to go into the v_products_image field is related to the path of the image based on where it is stored in the images folder. Another idea, which is always helpful, is to export one or more products and then look at the format of the information captured in the file to reproduce it in your csv file.

Is there a newer version? I pulled the zip from the first post at github.
Database was updated. I compared a blank generated csv from the fresh install to another csv generated from another older cart version. Nothing was different on the columns.

mc12345678:

The reported/expected cause is that the delimiter between fields was either inconsistent or non-matching for the review of the file. There are/were some database updates incorporated into that version that would need to be executed (top right corner would have offered an update option from a previous version).

Would need to know that the database was updated and then would recommend presenting the first few lines of the csv file to further identify the issue.

wtfbbq:

Is there a newer version? I pulled the zip from the first post at github.
Database was updated. I compared a blank generated csv from the fresh install to another csv generated from another older cart version. Nothing was different on the columns.
There is one that is still in some development found at https://github.com/mc12345678/Easypopulate-4.0 that has added a few features including export of the file to exclude duplicate model numbers/product_id (won't export linked product), auto-detects the field delimiter in the import file, and a few other things.

Zen Cart Version: 1.5.5e
Easy Populate 4.0.36.ZC - 07-05-2016
PHP Version: 5.6.30 (Zend: 2.6.0)

When attempting to import products using an Excel CSV file, I get this error:
"ERROR: Import file does not exist:"
I can see the file in my temp folder, so I know it's there.
Any suggestions?

fcutler4:

Zen Cart Version: 1.5.5e
Easy Populate 4.0.36.ZC - 07-05-2016
PHP Version: 5.6.30 (Zend: 2.6.0)

When attempting to import products using an Excel CSV file, I get this error:
"ERROR: Import file does not exist:"
I can see the file in my temp folder, so I know it's there.
Any suggestions?

Couple of things, is this an upgraded version from a previous use? (if so was the update link on the right side of the screen used?)
When reviewing the configuration settings for Easy Populate V4, what are the settings for the folder location of the file(s)? (Ie. admin or catalog and then folder name?)
(If set for admin, then the file is sought: DIR_FS_ADMIN . $tempdir . $file['name']
if set for catalog, then here: DIR_FS_CATALOG . $tempdir . $file['name'];

Where $tempdir is EASYPOPULATE_4_CONFIG_TEMP_DIR (which is in the configuration section) and $file['name'] is the name of the file as it was posted (potentially sanitized) from the main page, so the filename could be/have been altered which would also result in the file "not being found". (ie. what is the filename?)

Thanks for the quick response. I really appreciate that!
In answer to the upgrade question, yes it was upgraded, along with an upgrade to the latest zen version, and we moved to a new URL, shop.killerbeehobby.com. This was done for me by someone else, so I don't know if they used the upgrade button.
The configuration setting is-- Upload Directory: admin/easypopulate4/
Where would I find the EP folder to examine the DIR_FS_ADMIN and DIR_FS_CATALOG? Looked around in C Panel and couldn't find them.

fcutler4:

Thanks for the quick response. I really appreciate that!
In answer to the upgrade question, yes it was upgraded, along with an upgrade to the latest zen version, and we moved to a new URL, shop.killerbeehobby.com. This was done for me by someone else, so I don't know if they used the upgrade button.
The configuration setting is-- Upload Directory: admin/easypopulate4/
Where would I find the EP folder to examine the DIR_FS_ADMIN and DIR_FS_CATALOG? Looked around in C Panel and couldn't find them.
So, DIR_FS_ADMIN and DIR_FS_CATALOG would be found in YOUR_ADMIN/includes/configure.php. The actual admin directory is no longer expected to remain in the EP4 configuration information. This was a change from earlier versions so that the admin directory would not be stored in the database (isn't in any default ZC install).

If your temp directory is actually in the admin directory, then in the configuration section, should see;
Uploads Directory Admin/Catalog: true
Uploads Directory: easypopulate4/

Or, when attempting to set the uploads directory again, if the prefix admin/ represents your actual admin directory's name, then it should get removed from the entry as part of the coding to save the path.

Thanks again for the quick response.
As for the configuration settings, I don't see the "Uploads Directory Admin/Catalog: true" anywhere.
Here are some screenshots:

Here is what I found in the configure.php:

/**

• NOTE about DIR_FS_ADMIN
• The value for DIR_FS_ADMIN is now auto-detected.
• In the very rare case where there is a need to override the autodetection, simply add your own definition for it below.
  */

AND

define('DIR_FS_CATALOG', '/home2/z8c4y4q3/shop.killerbeehobby.com/');

Where would I find EASYPOPULATE_4_CONFIG_TEMP_DIR?

Thanks again!

Suggestion would be to select the un-install EP4 link in the top right. This will clear the settings in the configuration menu for EP4, then select the install option that will appear and again set the temporary directory to easypopulate4/

It looks like somehow the upgrade operations were not executed to update the configuration menu which would have also placed EASYPOPULATE_4_CONFIG_TEMP_DIR in the database as one of the configuration options described.

fcutler4:

Thanks again for the quick response.
As for the configuration settings, I don't see the "Uploads Directory Admin/Catalog: true" anywhere.
Here are some screenshots:

Here is what I found in the configure.php:

/**

• NOTE about DIR_FS_ADMIN
• The value for DIR_FS_ADMIN is now auto-detected.
• In the very rare case where there is a need to override the autodetection, simply add your own definition for it below.
  */

AND

define('DIR_FS_CATALOG', '/home2/z8c4y4q3/shop.killerbeehobby.com/');

Where would I find EASYPOPULATE_4_CONFIG_TEMP_DIR?

Thanks again!

Ok, in the Configuration "Easy Populate 4"

Upload Directory should be "temp/"
Upload Directory Admin/Catalog should be set to "true"

Easy Populate Screen should say

Upload Directory: admin/temp/

mc12345678:

Suggestion would be to select the un-install EP4 link in the top right. This will clear the settings in the configuration menu for EP4, then select the install option that will appear and again set the temporary directory to easypopulate4/

It looks like somehow the upgrade operations were not executed to update the configuration menu which would have also placed EASYPOPULATE_4_CONFIG_TEMP_DIR in the database as one of the configuration options described.

The result of this should change the contents shown in the first image above to include Uploads Directory Admin/Catalog and options available of true or false.

If not, then the admin/includes/functions/extra_functions file from the fileset has not been updated to the version included in the fileset. At which point that file (and any others that were not updated/uploaded) would need to be uploaded and the un-install/install process performed again.

As wmorris pointed out, there are three pieces of information being looked at. 2 are to be found by navigating to the admin->configuration->Easy Populate V4 (first picture), the other 1 is found on the Easy Populate V4 menu screen found at admin->Tools->Easy Populate V4 right side of the screen (shown in second picture).

Thank you again mc12345678 and wmorris.
It appears you were correct in surmising that the EASYPOPULATE_4_CONFIG_TEMP_DIR is missing.
See the screenshots that I took after using the "un-install EP4" button:


I'll do as you suggest, add the file, and redo the un-install and re-install.
Where should the file be inserted, just to make sure I put it in the correct place?
Thanks again. I'm looking forward to using this great add-on once again. It's such an awesome tool!