Changing Category_ID to VARCHAR

The inventory spreadsheet a client gave me has variable characters for category codes instead of integers, i.e. AC=Accessories

These are the changes I made to each of the following tables:

Categories
categories_id varchar(11) AC
parent_id varchar(11) AC

Categories_Description
categories_id varchar(11) AC

Products
master_categories_id varchar(11) AC

Products-to-Categories
categories_id varchar(11) AC

The categories are listed correctly in the categories box on the site. The products show in the different product areas such as new products. But, If i click on the Accessories category link, none of the products for the category show.

Also on the admin dashboard it's showing the 1303 product count, but no categories or products show in the admin catalog area.

What have I missed or is this even a viable way to be able to import inventory without having to set up some extreme excel mapping formulas crap??

Any category-handling code in Zen Cart will be set up to work with integer ids, and non-integer content may cause malfunctions in numerous places - impossible to say where without a thorough review of the code. I don't think it is feasible to convert everything to use your external ids; you will need to do some mapping.

Glenn is correct. You will have massive problems if you try to change the ID handling.

Thanks for the reply gjh42. I felt that would be the answer, but you never know unless you ask. Do you happen to know of a handy open-source excel mapping tool or something of the like? I'm excel tarded :blink:

Sorry, I haven't used Excel myself.