Easy Populate 1.2.5.4 support

TJR Stores:

OK folks.

I have installed the mod.

Now my question is this..

will this upload an XML feed file and will it automatically upload the items to my site?

It will not work with XML (RSS) file, yet you can get around that. Just open the file in OpenOffice/OfficeStar or micro$oft office. Follow the directions for creating a couple items manually in your store and download the file from EP, and open that.

The XML file will look a lot like HTML code, with tag pairs. EP will look like a spreadsheet with with column headings.

The XML file may look like:```
<record_1>
<item_number>001</item_number>
<item_name>name_1</item_name>
</record_1>

<record_2>
<item_number>002</item_number>
<item_name>name_2</item_name>
<record_2>
While the EP file will look like:
v_item_number | v_item_name | eoreor
001 | name_1 | eoreor
002 | name_2 | eoreor

> **dynamica:**
>
> I cleared the cache and still no products show up, but I think I am on a shared server. The catalog file has about 2000 products on it, am I going to be able to implement this many products on a shared server?

Sorry, it has been a long day, so I will provide a more detailed answer in the near future.  Just one question - are the items disabled? Did you have a 0 or 9 set in your EP file where you should of had an 1 instead?

If you have EP up and running, then 2000 items should not be a problem, while 200K+ may be, if you don't have the disk space for all of the photos, and if the database space counts against you.

IS there any way to include the product URL when you want to have a link to another page at the bottom of your item in the database? What would be the heading?

Heres my EP file, I don't think anything is disabled, but I'm not sure if the format I'm using is creating a problem (I've left out a lot of columns and put them in different order)...

http://www.doctorsmedicalsupplies.com/catalog/temp/DMS_Products_20071009%20modified.txt

Peaches:

IS there any way to include the product URL when you want to have a link to another page at the bottom of your item in the database? What would be the heading?
If you are looking to insert a link, and have it retrieve the product info, then Zen Cart, and hence EP, can't do it. You can stick a link into the bottom of a product description if you want, or place the link under the column heading of v_products_url_1.

dynamica:

Heres my EP file, I don't think anything is disabled, but I'm not sure if the format I'm using is creating a problem (I've left out a lot of columns and put them in different order)...

http://www.doctorsmedicalsupplies.com/catalog/temp/DMS_Products_20071009%20modified.txt
I haven't seen anything where the column order has been customized so much. I believe in the last 10 posts or so someone has mentioned that the product number has to come first, and I would not be surprised by that.

The other thing is you need EOREOR (End Of Row/End Of Record) at the end of each product/item. Because a product description could be up to 64K in size (or larger with things set correctly), not that I would suggest including a whole book in the description, EP looks for the EOREOR on the end of a record/row. Adding EOREOR would be the first thing to try. It is kind of like a run-on sentence/paragraph, without the proper indication you don't know when to breath. It helps let the program know when to stop with one item and begin with another.

awhfy99:

Far be it from me to deny someone an opportunity to make a buck, but I thought the whole idea behind open source was to keep it free. Why is EPA even mentioned on this forum??? It is not open source as the person who modified the original script decided to charge for his work. If I were the among the "powers that be", I would remove every post that hinted at or mentioned EPA and I would also ban the writer from posting on this site.***** Call me a hard case if you will, but open source means just that!

Why give free advertising to this "Not So Community Minded Individual"?

***** Unless, of course, he is one of those powers. If so, then I am probably in deep dodo for posting this reply. :yuck:

The distribution kit for EPA comes with a GPL license. I believe what you are asked to pay for is support. However, for reasons unknown, support does not seem currently available by any means provided by the author to paying customers. I hope this is not due to some mis-fortune or illness on the authors part.

kiddo:

The distribution kit for EPA comes with a GPL license. I believe what you are asked to pay for is support. However, for reasons unknown, support does not seem currently available by any means provided by the author to paying customers. I hope this is not due to some mis-fortune or illness on the authors part.

I did not know that EPA came under the GPL licensing scheme. It seems as if Nicklaus took the original code and reworked it so much that in it's current form it doesn't resemble the original. Because of that he is byte-encoding it, doing something similar to how java is encoded for speed, and it makes it hard to decode (it is still possible to decode, and reverse engineer, just something the average person is not able to do). The byte encoding is a copy protection scheme for php, if you will, in addition to a speed boost. And to get the byte code for downloading you have to pay for it. If it is still under the GPL license then the source code should be available for review, yet I have not seen it.

EPA has a limited audience, being those who use osC or derivatives, and not all computer users employ it like a word processor or spreadsheet. Even if he is a programmer by profession, and has his own business, we would represent small beans compared to a major contract. On the osC side of things EP is well into version 3, and has different branches based on what you need it to be compatible with. OsC does have a larger user database, and so more people are working on supporting it.

Take the above with a bag of salt. Most of what I state I have concluded based on what I have seen, what little I know about php, and a few other things. I hope what I have posted is correct, as I don't like making mistakes, nor be misinterpreted as slanderous. If there is hard and fast info, and not something inferred from the internet, then please share. I don't mind being corrected.

I haven't seen any encoded script (but I haven't looked at all of it). My employer purchased it for a client and sent it to me to install. When I unpacked it, it includes a GPL license file, and the parts I did look at contain a GPL notice at the top of the code.

Perhaps there may be some code among the files that is not GPL. But I would suspect if that was the case, it would somehow indicate that at the beginning.

Either way, it does seem to be a well written and fairly comprehensive mod. I am not sure if I am using the very latest release. 3.something... I simply try to point out to poster, that just because it is GPL, doesn't mean it HAS to be handed out for free.

First, let me thank the authors of Easy Populate, this is an invaluable tool.

My question is about quantity discounts.

In my source database I have a database field that shows 3 quantity discount prices.

example:

1 or more = .76
3 or more = .46
6 or more = .34

the data entry in my source file for this example appears like this:

0.76:1:0.46:3:0.34:6

I have over 5,000 of these, how do I get them into the SQL database using Easy Populate?

Hello WebGuyGary,
If that is a discount that applies to all items, regardless to the group or person ordering it, then you should be able to set the discounts globally, and just upload the standard pricing.

If you set the discounts differently based on the item then you most likely need a special pricing mod, and find out what fields needs to be updated. Once you have gathered the needed info you can then refer to the links below, in my signature, for more detailed info on how to modify EP for your needs.

If the pricing changes based on the group, i.e., regular shopper, university, large corporation, etc, then you would set everything by the special pricing module you have chosen.

Sorry if I am not able to be very helpful at this time, it depends a lot on what you have installed, and how the programs/modules expect the data, and where and it is stored.

Hi guys.

I have a problem on a new site when using EP v1.2.5.4 [zen-cart 1.3.7.1 and PHP v 5.2.4].

I have manually added a few products, and then downloaded an EP file so that I can add more products to the existing category structure.

When I upload the modified EP file all appears to upload successfully, but no new products appear in the catalogue. If I look in admin>catalogue>products>category the product quantity appears to have increased but if I drill down to the level where I would expect to be able to edit the new products, only the original products are there.

Any suggestions greatly appreciated.

awev:

If that is a discount that applies to all items, regardless to the group or person ordering it, then you should be able to set the discounts globally, and just upload the standard pricing.

the discounts are always 1, 3, and 6 or more, but the prices are different per item. does that mean that you say I can do this?

example:

1 or more = .76
3 or more = .46
6 or more = .34

the data entry in my source file for this example appears like this:

0.76:1:0.46:3:0.34:6

HELP!

I am new to Zen Cart, and find it an amazing, comprehensive tool. I am having the following problem:

I'm using a WinXP machine (testing for now):
ZC 1.3.7.1
PHP 5
MySQL 5.0
Apache 2.2.6

I have installed Easy Populate 1.2.5.5 per the install.txt file. I copied all files into their respective folders. When I click Tools>Easy Populate I get the Easy Populate 1.2.5.5 page. However, on top of the page is a pink line that reads "Easy Populate Configuration Missing. Please install your configuration by clicking here". When I click on the "here" link I get a message saying - 1366 Incorrect integer value: '' for column 'configuration_group_id' at row 1 in:
[INSERT INTO configuration_group VALUES ('', 'Easy Populate', 'Config options for Easy Populate', '1', '1')].

I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong, but if somebody can tell me what to do I would really appreciate it.

P.S.
I have been reading the posts in this forum for about 6 hours now and can't find an answer (also searched the posts for the error and google).

Murphy's Law at Work !!!

Regarding Error Message:

1366 Incorrect integer value: '' for column 'configuration_group_id' at row 1 in:
[INSERT INTO configuration_group VALUES ('', 'Easy Populate', 'Config options for Easy Populate', '1', '1')]

I found an OScommerce forum that suggested disabling Strict Mode in MySQL 5.

I did this using the MySQL Administrator under:
Startup Variables>Advanced>SQL Mode (uncheck this box)

Now, on to figuring out how it works.

Thanks for having such a great tool.

WebGuyGary,
I do believe your figures will work. If I purchase one item that normally retails for $10 I get for $7.60, and if I purchase another item that is regularly priced at $15 then you would only charge $11.40. If I was to order 3 of the first then the price would drop to $4.60 each, for a total of $13.80. And for 6 of the $15 item I would be looking at $5.10 per item for a total of $30.60

tcarney.,
Sorry you had to spend 6 hours to find your solution. Yes, right now you need to do somethings slightly different if you are using MySQL 5.0 or later. You seem to have a good setup, using version 5 of PHP and MySQL. With PHP discontinuing support for version 4 by the end of the year most hosting companies will be upgrading from version 4 to 5. Some hosting companies still use the first version of Apache. Since you got EP to work with MySQL 5.x you are good to go for years to come.

will easy populate work with the MAP module? everything for both modules is installed and working. but, when i create the ezpopulate text file, the MAP pricing is not there.

any advice?

thanks.

I have read through all the posts and have not found my problem mentioned. EasyPopulate works fine if I have the complete category hierarchy in the DB. If I don't, it hangs. I would really like to solve this problem to be able to start with a clean database and populate it iwth the proper products and category hierarchy.

Any idea why easypopulate hangs when the categories do not already exist in the DB?

rge:

I have read through all the posts and have not found my problem mentioned. EasyPopulate works fine if I have the complete category hierarchy in the DB. If I don't, it hangs. I would really like to solve this problem to be able to start with a clean database and populate it iwth the proper products and category hierarchy.

Any idea why easypopulate hangs when the categories do not already exist in the DB?

I had a slightly different problem, and upon review, I came to the conclusion that the best practice is to manually create the catagory structure before adding any products. I bit of a pain if you have a lot of catagories, but important to avoid troubles.

Hi, I'm sorry if this is a VERY stupid question but I am lost and having a REALLY bad day! :lamo: I have ep installed and configured, it has automatically created a file in temp. Here's where I am lost, what do I do now??? I am trying to copy one of my categories to another category. Oh and the category I am copying has LOTS of attributes, so how do I do that too!
Thanks for all of your help!!

I have installed EP in my new Zencart, which I switched to from OSC. I get the following message on the EP screen:

Warning: dir(/home/myacct/public_html/zencart/temp/) [function.dir]: failed to open dir: No such file or directory in /home/myacct/public_html/zencart/admin/easypopulate.php on line 994

However I have installed all the files in the DL. What am I missing?

TIA

awev:

WebGuyGary,
I do believe your figures will work. If I purchase one item that normally retails for $10 I get for $7.60, and if I purchase another item that is regularly priced at $15 then you would only charge $11.40. If I was to order 3 of the first then the price would drop to $4.60 each, for a total of $13.80. And for 6 of the $15 item I would be looking at $5.10 per item for a total of $30.60

I'm not sure how that solves my problem, could you be so kind as to elaborate in greater detail?
thanks.