Products injected to SQL database not appearing.

I just added ~115 new products to the zen_products tbale through PHPMyAdmin but none of them are actually appearing in Zen Cart. I've checked to make sure that they all have product types, and that their date_available has been set properly. However, the products are not appearing on the Zen Cart site or on the website itself. Any ideas?

can you find the 115 new products in the backend admin ?
at the catalog--categories/products , you can find all products

No. They're in the database, but they're not appearing in the backend. Zen Cart just refuses to acknowledge that they're there.

Unless you are TOTALLY familiar with the way the database's tables relate, and how ID's are assigned, you should not go near phpMyAdmin to add products.

SEVERAL tables are involved in product data storage.

If you want to mass-upload, you should use Easy Populate (V4 is now ready for use with ZC1.5).

It will probably be difficult now to restore your dbase to what is was before you took a chainsaw to it, so you may need to start from scratch - unless of course you have a backup of the dbase before you tried your upload...

Exactly.
Product details are stored in SEVERAL tables, not just the table named "products". And all those tables have carefully connected relationships which must be kept in sync. If those relationships aren't intact then the data will not be displayed, and you will end up with problems when adding other products to the database even when using the built-in admin control panel.
For the benefit of scalability and speed and performance and proper design practice, Zen Cart uses a more advanced and expandable database architecture. It's not a rudimentary flat-text-file architecture that can only handle a few products.

schoolboy:

It will probably be difficult now to restore your dbase to what is was before you took a chainsaw to it, so you may need to start from scratch - unless of course you have a backup of the dbase before you tried your upload...

Or, you know, just drop those entries from the table with a single query.

I'll try getting it set up in Easy Populate instead but I'd appreciate it if you didn't talk down to me like I was a 5 year-old.

Okay, so I've installed Easy Populate v4 according to the instructions and it's not there in my tools like it's supposed to be. I've checked and double-checked that all the files were uploaded to the right place.

Is there an alternative bulk-upload addon for 1.5? Or does someone know the different database tables that the product data is stored in?

People also use Apsona Shopadmin. I have no idea if it is compatible with v1.5.0; check in the forum or with them to find out.
Since EP4 was specifically upgraded and vetted for v1.5.0, you must have made some error in installation, so you might try starting again with it. Check in its support thread.

StevenMagnet:

Or, you know, just drop those entries from the table with a single query.

You will have have affected the auto-increment on the ID's. Dropping (deleting actually) does not necessarily re-set the ID to its base value.

StevenMagnet:

Is there an alternative bulk-upload addon for 1.5? Or does someone know the different database tables that the product data is stored in?

We are historical advocates of Easy Populate, and it is actually very easy to install, but as Glenn says, Apsona is a good alternative (and in some respects a better alternative). We use Apsona on ALL sites where there are lots of products and complex product arrangements.

We are quite "experienced" in the essential structure of the dbase, but would not ever consider loading product data via phpMyAdmin, because of the complexities of the relationships. ID's are auto-generated and assigned in MANY places, and as the ID is a crucial part of establishing the relationships, being even one digit "out-of-sync" will cause untold grief. This is just the normal nature of relational databases. It's just too risky to use phpMyAdmin to insert this data. A simple error will just compound the problems.