Easy Populate image URL

I've just installed Zen Cart, Easy Populate and OpenOffice with which to manipulate & edit the CSV file.

My client has a spreadsheet (can be provided in any format I prefer) of about 3000 products. We'd like to use this spreadsheet to populate zen cart- even to the point where we could re-upload the spreadsheet daily if we so wished.

The images for each product already exist in an online folder. We have the URL of each product image within the spreadsheet.

So I downloaded the CSV file from Easy Populate, populated it with about 10 products from my client's spreadsheet for testing, then uploaded the CSV file into ZenCart, using Easy Populate.

However, when I upload the CSV, the images never show up. The URLs are correct... here is an example: http://www.garagebookcafe.com/media/SKU10001003.jpg

So what could be wrong? Is the URL too long? I noticed some of the product names gave errors (which will also have to be addressed later) about the name being too long... I was wondering if this was the same issue perhaps with the image URL.

Any help is appreciated.

Thanks,
Chad

Aren't images in the /images folder??

These aren't. These are currently located elsewhere. That's the reason for the whole URL.

That's the reason for the whole URL.
I think you need to view the code for images

Ahh, I see it has to be a relative URL... anybody know the reason it can't be an absolute URL?
Also, there was only 1 image column within the CSV file... and this image gets squished when displayed. So, if I need to supply both a thumbnail and large image (pain), under which column does each go within the supplied Easy Populate CSV file? Or, do I have to create a new column?

ep only takes the main image
Use FTP to upload large &/or medium images

Thanks for all your replies kobra, by the way.

EP didn't take any of my images, no matter what kind of URL I entered into the v_products_image column fields. I had to FTP the ones I currently see.

So you're saying, in essence, that EP really isn't all that helpful for managing 3000+ products and their associated images (thumb, medium & Large)? And by extension, zencart wouldn't be that easy to manage such a project of this magnitude either?

Ep get the information into the database and quickly versus manually entering them

To FTP 3,000 images is not all that complicated

So FTP images and upload your EP file and all should be correct

We've had zencarts with 5,000 or so products, although perhaps 3k now. I can tell you that the ONLY way we manage the products and images is with Easy Populate.

You didn't specifiy the Easy Populate version you're using. But we use Easy Populate 4 and an earlier version, sometimes simultaneously on the same site. (I believe that an earlier Easy Populate is now 1.5.x ready)

We also use Image Handler (the correct version for our zencart version) to manage images.

We have to FTP up the images to their proper folders.

Then we enter the image location in the Easy Populate sheet. Here is how we enter our main image location in the sheet on one of our sites, when located in images/11fall_alyce:

11fall_alyce/afterfive-4150.jpg

I can also tell you that although I've been interested in carts such as Prestashop and Opencart, perhaps the major reason why I have not taken one of these to a live domain/site is because their Export/Import functions look much more user UN-friendly than any Zencart Easy Populate. We've used about every Zencart Easy Populate over the years and they have all worked with their proper ZC version.

prommart.com
fashion-mart.biz

Kobra and SPH - thank you for attempting to help me. Folks like you make this forum successful.

I'm using the latest versions of everything... at the time of this writing, that would be ZC 1.5.1, Easy Populate For ZenCart v1.5, and finally, Image Handler 4.0.

Image Handler works good, bnd while EP is installed and I'm an Admin at Superuser level, I still don't see it in the TOOLS dropdown the way I do Image Handler... but no worries. It's still functional. At least I think it is... it seemed like when I first started testing it with my 10 test products, that I could download the EP CSV file, update it, upload it... and it would sometimes double my 10 test products? I'm going to run some more tests here in a minute to see if I screwed up. Probably did. I did download and install OpenOffice 3.4.1 for handling the EP CSV file, instead of using Excel.

My main question, SPH, once you install Image Handler, will the EP CSV file reflect the change to show a field / column for Image Handler?

Thanks,
Chad

ah- so, in the CSV file, the column "v_products_image", I name the file, plus its relative path? Like so: images/MY_FOLDER/IMAGE_NAME_.jpg

If this is correct, the only thing that doesn't make sense is that within Image Handler 4.0, I have manually changed all the images... and these images resided in certain image folders... my CSV file does not reflect their paths in the fields within the "v_products_image" column, only the image names.

What am I missing?

OK, please forgive my ignorance... to anyone else who is as dumb as me (lawd help you- ha):

"v_products_image" already points to the "images" folder. I put "images/book-covers/large/SKU10001043.jpg" when it should have been "book-covers/large/SKU10001043.jpg".

You would think after 20 years of web dev I woulda figured this out a long time ago... but my parents were related before they got married. :)

No, you're not dumb. I've been with zc for about 6 years now and sometimes still get messed-up.

Yes, with images and easy populate, all you really need is the folder and the image name with .jpg (or whatever you're using). If you images are simply in the images folder (no image subfolders) all you need is the image name.

Pretty neat, the way it all works.

You might also take a look at Easy Populate 4. We still use your version on some of our 1.3.9h carts, but I am finding that I like Easy Populate 4 a little better. Especially the way it handles the attributes, for us, Color and Size for our dresses. And one good thing about EP4: it can be installed simultanteously with another Easy Populate.

Here is it's support thread:

http://www.zen-cart.com/showthread.php?190417-EasyPopulate-4-0-Support-Thread

There will be a small difference in it's Categories column and how it handles subcategories, and its attribute sheets a are different, but after a slight learning curve I like it better as of now.

Thanks SPH. I will try EP 4.0... maybe I can get this one to show up in the TOOLS dropdown- ha ha.

Different question. I'm pretty decent with editing Php, database editing and CSS. I've also built tons of Wordpress sites in recent years... I haven't seen this covered yet (I bought the ZenCart ebook). In WordPress, it comes with a standard theme, like Zen Cart... however, before you edit templates in Wordpress , it is wise to make what's called a Child Theme (copy of the original theme) and modify those templates instead... the Child Theme takes precedence over the original theme AND, when there are updates, you don't have to worry about your precious template edits being overwritten.

I'm wondering if Zen Cart has a similar workflow? Do I need to worry about the few edits I've made to some tpl and other php pages?

I'm wondering if Zen Cart has a similar workflow?
http://www.zen-cart.com/content.php?228-understanding-the-override-system
http://www.zen-cart.com/content.php?180-how-do-i-create-a-new-custom-template
You can copy the "classic" template and edit the template_info.php file with a new name
Do I need to worry about the few edits I've made to some tpl and other php pages?
If you have copied them they will show up

Remember... easypopulate writes DATA to the database. In the case of the image info, it is simply the NAME (and possibly sub-folder location) of the image.

Because ZC uses <base href> in the header, the database reference does not need anything but the minimal "relative" path.

Secondly, the NAME of the main IMAGES folder is defined in the configure.php file - and this should not really be tampered with. It is called "images".

If you were to use Image Handler 4 (one of the few add-ons I strongly recommend), then you don't need LRG or MED images anymore. Just load a full-size image into the main "images" folder, and IH4 takes care of all the re-sampling and re-sizing for you.

Thanks guys- I'm installing IH 4 right now!

Hey Kobra- thanks for links for the override guide. That was extremely helpful.