EasyPopulate 4.0 Support Thread

ValleyJim:

I figured it out and I feel like a blooming idiot.....

I changed "v_categories_names_1" to "v_categories_name_1" and it works now.

Thank you mc12345678 for giving me a hand!

Jim

It happens. Glad I could help to some extent. Sorry I wasn't in a position sooner to possibly point that out. But you did find the mistake on your own, so good work. :)

Feznizzle:

Hi!

I am encountering a very frustrating problem, maybe somebody can help me sort it out?

I have a pretty big product catalog db, the 'FULL' export file can be well in excess of 10mb. Dealing with a file that big, for some reason OpenOffice gets wonky on me. So I like to delete all columns I don't plan to make changes to. As soon as I delete Product_Desc, my file becomes super manageable. However, when I go to upload my changes, EP4 decides that the missing columns should be interpreted as a desire to delete any information that might have existed.

For instance, if I upload a file that has only v_products_model and v_products_image (because I am only changing images), EP4 will go thru and delete information associated with that product (description, etc).

What gives?! Is there a way around this?

Thanks,
Mike

BTW: My site is ZC151 and using EP4.0.22 - Beta 6-10-2012
Well, I haven't used it yet, and I may have it wrong, but I was thinking that if you reduced your split number perhaps on export fewer rows per file will be provided?!

The alternative is a bit more intrusive, but to rewrite some of the code to recognize that a column (ie, description) has not been imported and to not adjust the database as a result.

It was my understanding that generall speaking that was how other fields worked (ie in full attributes, to only upload/update the desired columns); however, it would be my guess that in design/further development it was considered that the product description would always be attached to the product/most likely the field to be updated and therefore not setup to be bypassed when empty.

I can see why the ability exists to make the field go blank when the field header is imported, but I think this scenario was not necessarily an expected situation.

Been reading for hours and trying to catch up. Hate asking questions which have been answered. I have 1.5.1 store and installed 1.2.5.7d, which I guess isn't even this product. I also have no luck with sql statement but was able to load basics, just don't have the config menu items yet. Basic question, should I get on 1.2.5.7 some other support link, or should I download 4.0 on Gitwhatever? Can someone send advice, and the proper link if I should go with 4.0?

I have downloaded the empty database file, and could not download my products yet. Should I go, 4.0?

Just so nobody needs to do a long post about it, I deleted 1.2.5.7, and came onboard this thread. Installed the program, no sql, and worked immediately. I downloaded a copy of my database, and while it may be right, it is not particularly pretty, especially in excel, and I have downloaded OO for use Why no pictures, or do you only get the .jpg information? Much other stuff is there as well. Why so many 1s and 0s?

v_products_model,v_products_type,v_products_image,v_products_name_1,v_products_description_1,v_products_url_1,v_specials_price,v_specials_date_avail,v_specials_expires_date,v_products_price,v_products_weight,v_product_is_call,v_products_sort_order,v_products_quantity_order_min,v_products_quantity_order_units,v_products_priced_by_attribute,v_product_is_always_free_shipping,v_date_avail,v_date_added,v_products_quantity,v_manufacturers_name,v_categories_name_1,v_tax_class_title,v_status,v_metatags_products_name_status,v_metatags_title_status,v_metatags_model_status,v_metatags_price_status,v_metatags_title_tagline_status,v_metatags_title_1,v_metatags_keywords_1,v_metatags_description_1

RR01-0104,"1","castturnbuckle.png","""Classic"" Cast Turnbuckle","<b>Our extremely Sail-Friendly 316 Stainless Steel Closed Turnbuckle design</b> promises full weather and salt protection in a fully rounded near-mirror finish. Our Classic Model"" features a hand-polished silky smooth shell, and we carry it in many sizes, through relatively massive proportion. <p>You may choose from 4 1/2"" on our smallest units to over 38"" on the largest. Our <b>Classic Turnbuckles</b>, like all of our stainless products, are covered by our 10-Year Guarantee, that they will always look and perform to your <em>total satisfaction</em>.","","","","","0","0.45","0","1","1","1","1","0","","2013-08-07 01:28:51","1000","Reasonable Rigging","Turnbuckles","Taxable Goods 00000","1","0","0","0","0","0","","",""
RR01-B0106,"1","4wayturnbuckle.png","4 Way Forever"" Turnbuckle","The 4 Way Forever"" Turnbuckle allows your rigging to flex and adjust in all 4 directions. Though standing rigging does not require excessive movement, this design insures minimum stress to your fittings and cable, and insures the longest possible life for your investment. <p>These pieces are <b>an elegant and heavy duty design</b>. We can custom order them dramatically bigger in size than we have posted, so if you have a 130 footer, and really want to get your groove on, <b>we can hook you up!</b> </p><p>We believe this is one of the finest and cleanest turnbuckles on the market, and have trouble telling you low points on either this or the A0106 unit, so please review both. </p><p>If we were to characterize them for your comparison, the B0106 model is slightly slimmer and slightly less stylized than the A0106, which is slightly heavier duty, and a tad more stylish. </p><p>We realize this is not how rigging is often characterized, but the personalization of the products is important to allow you to make not only a raw strength statement, but to accurately capture the style sense of your new rigging.</p>","","","","","0","0","0","3","1","1","1","0","","2013-08-09 10:46:40","975","Reasonable Rigging","Turnbuckles","Taxable Goods 00000","1","0","0","0","0","0","","",""
RR02-0105,"1","danforthssanc.png","Danforth SS Anchor","<b>The Danforth SS Anchor</b> is a classic model, upgraded to the maximum look possible for boaters with a strongly developed sense of personal or boating style! <p>We offer these anchors often at <em>hundreds less than our competitors</em>. <p><b>You'll Love our Rigging for as Long as you Love your Boat!</b>","","","","","0","32","0","5","1","1","1","0","","2013-08-11 14:40:51","100","","Anchors^Stainless Steel Anchors","Taxable Goods 00000","1","0","0","0","0","0","","",""

Trademagic:

Been reading for hours and trying to catch up. Hate asking questions which have been answered. I have 1.5.1 store and installed 1.2.5.7d, which I guess isn't even this product. I also have no luck with sql statement but was able to load basics, just don't have the config menu items yet. Basic question, should I get on 1.2.5.7 some other support link, or should I download 4.0 on Gitwhatever? Can someone send advice, and the proper link if I should go with 4.0?

I have downloaded the empty database file, and could not download my products yet. Should I go, 4.0?
Trademagic:

Just so nobody needs to do a long post about it, I deleted 1.2.5.7, and came onboard this thread. Installed the program, no sql, and worked immediately. I downloaded a copy of my database, and while it may be right, it is not particularly pretty, especially in excel, and I have downloaded OO for use Why no pictures, or do you only get the .jpg information? Much other stuff is there as well. Why so many 1s and 0s?

So, you are correct 1.2.5.7 is a different product having it's own forum in which to ask questions (which I suggest if you are going to continue using that product). This particular version, while quoted as version 4, is not a linear upgrade from 1.2.5.7, but a variation of EP. That said there are probably differences in the way the data is populated/managed between the two "versions". EP4 requires each product to have a unique model number designation. As for the difficulty of running the SQL statements, what do your various error logs say?
I thought there were a few suggestions posted in this forum related to the SQL, but it's been a long time since I have installed it. To that end, the download location is provided in post 1 of this forum (select arrow at top or bottom of page that says "first" and will be taken straight there), until an official ZC version is provided.
Was there uninstall SQL to 1.2.5.7? Could it be interfering with installation of this version?

So related to your other questions and I know that you are still learning about some of the details of ZC, what you are seeing/working with is the raw data that is used to present information in the store. So, showing things like pictures and sometimes the word true instead of 1 are all things handled by ZC code based on the data provided. So a majority of the ones and zeros in the column. Are because they relate to statements such as, is on sale or display or don't display meta tags, etc.

Be sure that you make a backup of everthing before you use this, I know that you wouldn't want to have to rebuild either the code of the store or the database again.

I think it is working. I got the file, and it looked actually fine in my post above, except I question why the 1st example had so many quotes around the word Classic first few words. Is this because I used quotes in the actual filename? That could be dangerous, I guess, and I will change this to avoid confusion. What about the pictures? Does the file only need the image location, or am I looking for pictures here in the file. Also, if I use IH4, should I upload all pictures separately, or does the program do this in an integrated way?

To learn this best way possible, what should I read, the wiki?

Finally, do I import the OO file in the spreadsheet to change, or do I export the comma delimited quote enclosed text file itself? Thank you all for your knowledge and application of it to help others.
Marc

Trademagic:

I think it is working. I got the file, and it looked actually fine in my post above, except I question why the 1st example had so many quotes around the word Classic first few words. Is this because I used quotes in the actual filename? That could be dangerous, I guess, and I will change this to avoid confusion. What about the pictures? Does the file only need the image location, or am I looking for pictures here in the file. Also, if I use IH4, should I upload all pictures separately, or does the program do this in an integrated way?

To learn this best way possible, what should I read, the wiki?

Finally, do I import the OO file in the spreadsheet to change, or do I export the comma delimited quote enclosed text file itself? Thank you all for your knowledge and application of it to help others.
Marc

So, the double quotes are needed as part of importing/exporting the data to provide the final result of a single set of quotes around the word. There is no reason to avoid that if the desire is to have the word(s) in quotes when viewing a product on your website. It's just part of the process of converting what is stored to what is seen and vice versa.

As for the pictures, and just about everything associated with EP4, this plugin (and I have somewhat said this before) interfaces directly with the data that is presented in the store, so yes things can go wrong and negatively effect what is shown/done on the store. (Backup before making change, review/become familiar with affects of action taken.) Unfortunately there is little documentation associated with this plugin at this time, but the author has been working on that and it is why this is not yet an official zen cart plugin. To that end, the issue with/question about the pictures is related to how Zen Cart (and other plugins such as Image Handler) deals with pictures. Zen Cart requires a base picture name and picture file(s) associated with that name. The name is the path to where the picture(s). Are stored, and the base name for all pictures associated with that product. So to learn more about the picture part, there are wiki related entries to how to have more than one picture associated with a product. At the same time, if that knowledge is not learned, then it is possible to inadvertently have more pictures shown than expected.

So yes, you will need to also upload/verify uploaded the pictures that will be displayed. My recommendation would be to first upload the file(s) then to use EP4 to have them displayed (prevents any customer from not seeing a picture when the EP4 entry is uploaded.) The entry made in EP4 should reflect the base name (path included) when uploading.

As for the question of chicken and egg, I'm not sure I understand, but the process is this for a "first" time action: backup your database; download the EP4 data as a CSV; open the file using a program that can manage a CSV file (Open Office is recommended because out of the box it can be setup to export a CSV that will be properly interpreted upon upload), make the desired changes, additions, modifications desired; export the data from the editor (recommend a filename that ends differently than before); import/upload the file to EP4; maybe backup your database again in case changes made would be overwritten if the database was restored from the last backup; and then import the new CSV file from within EP4 and check the results. If the results are good, keep doing what you're doing, if not, then restore from your most recent backup.

So hopefully that answers that last question.

Ok... I finally need some help myself. I got everything setup. I built my CSV table. Imported... worked fine. Go to my site and all shows up. Click on ANY product and I get 404 Page Not Found from my site.

Have a look if you like... www.obesupply.com">https://www.obesupply.com

Anyone have an explanation or solution?

Thanks.

dgantonacci:

Ok... I finally need some help myself. I got everything setup. I built my CSV table. Imported... worked fine. Go to my site and all shows up. Click on ANY product and I get 404 Page Not Found from my site.

Have a look if you like... www.obesupply.com">https://www.obesupply.com

Anyone have an explanation or solution?

Thanks.

Can't specifically identify why this has happened to you. It does seem that product numbers have gotten modified in some way. I randoml attempted a product numberafter observing what you described as a 404 page not found. The page not found was assumed to be your entire site, not the Zen Cart page not found error that exists. In the main body area of the site. So, I found that: http://www.obesupply.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=18190 provided a product description, but I couldn't tell you if that product id is the one that you expected it to be and if it was at all involved with the file upload you provided.

So there is more that you could describe to try to narrow down what happened: what editor did you use, using a file compare programn how does the downloaded CSV file compare to the uploaded CSV file? What error log messages do you have if any? Did you install this app in parallel with a similar one instead of uninstalling all parts of the previous? When did this start happening (first upload?) Did the upload include all items from your store? If not, do those that were not affected work as expected? What changes were you trying to make(ie what did you change in the file before uploading)? If you downloaded a new CSV file now and did a comparison of the uploaded and newly downloaded, what's different?

Something in there should help either answer your question(s) or help us help you. :)

I write for first time on this forum

hello to all

I wonder if with the plugin easypopulate 4 I import products of more 'than 2 levels of categories.?

thanks

maybe I'm wrong, and I'm glad to be wrong! in the short guide of the plugin there is textually

*"Categories are handled differently from other versions of EP. You can now import multilingual categories (Like Products Names, descriptions, etc.).
To achieve this, each v_categories_names_1, v_categories_names_2, etc. correspond to a language installed in your system, and individual category
names are separated by the Carat "^" symbol. For Example: Bar Supplies^Glass Washers^Brushes

"Bar Supplies" will be your Top level Category, with "Glass Washers" as a sub-directory, and "Brushes" as a sub-directory of "Glass Washers"."*

in this case seems to support 3 levels of product categories.............

favjola:

maybe I'm wrong, and I'm glad to be wrong! in the short guide of the plugin there is textually

*"Categories are handled differently from other versions of EP. You can now import multilingual categories (Like Products Names, descriptions, etc.).
To achieve this, each v_categories_names_1, v_categories_names_2, etc. correspond to a language installed in your system, and individual category
names are separated by the Carat "^" symbol. For Example: Bar Supplies^Glass Washers^Brushes

"Bar Supplies" will be your Top level Category, with "Glass Washers" as a sub-directory, and "Brushes" as a sub-directory of "Glass Washers"."*

in this case seems to support 3 levels of product categories.............

Hopefully I understood correctly, you want to know if a single product can be uploaded to an area of your site that is for example in a sub-sub-sub-etc Category of a category. For example: The "product" (Dog named Fluffy to be located in the category path of Animal->Mammal->Canine->Small Breed->Chihuahua.

Yes, it will place the "product" Fluffy in the sub category Animal^Mammal^Canine^Small Breed^Chihuahua when uploaded with that information.
Off the top of my head, I thought that it would create those categories if they did not exist automatically when uploading the product; however, I know that there is at least one file format that processes the entry to create the new category(ies) if they don't exist. The existence of the category is dependent on Capitalization as well. As you may have read, Chihuahua and chihuahua are two different categories when processed by the plugin, so a "new" category would be created if it didn't exist at the point the record was imported.

1. Does that help and 2) did I understand your question correctly?

I am wondering if someone can please tell if this mod support product deletion. What I want is to use this mod (if possible to delete all products from our server that are no longer available). In the other Easy Populate, changing the status to 99 deletes the product from the server but I don't know how to accomplish the same goal in this mod. Thanks!

BlessIsaacola:

I am wondering if someone can please tell if this mod support product deletion. What I want is to use this mod (if possible to delete all products from our server that are no longer available). In the other Easy Populate, changing the status to 99 deletes the product from the server but I don't know how to accomplish the same goal in this mod. Thanks!

Don't hold me to it, but I thought I ran across something that said a status of 9 would delete it (or something). Otherwise hiding the product would make it unavailable to customers (status of 0 I thought).

Sorry, I'm mobile and don't have a good link to the code to be able to find out if the above is 100% accuratei do know that the "alternate" status was 9, but not sure what exactly it deletes.

mc12345678:

Don't hold me to it, but I thought I ran across something that said a status of 9 would delete it (or something). Otherwise hiding the product would make it unavailable to customers (status of 0 I thought).

Sorry, I'm mobile and don't have a good link to the code to be able to find out if the above is 100% accuratei do know that the "alternate" status was 9, but not sure what exactly it deletes.
Thank you so much for your prompt response. Status of 9 did the trick. Thanks!

Sorry I'm new here and not sure how to post a new thread. I'm also a newbie using Zen Cart and I'm currently using EP4. The problem I'm having is that when I upload my attributes to the site the items are then listed with the following *Mixed ON. I didn't have this problem when using EasyPopulate and I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong. I am having to manually change all the items on the admin console through the price manager. I'm not sure where the problem is as when I upload the full ep products are uploading to the site fine but when I upload the attributes file that's when it happens. I'm using the Basic attributes file. The Qty Min/Unit Mix:is switched to 'no' so I'm having to edit every item to switch it to yes. Any help greatly appreciated.

cherylc:

Sorry I'm new here and not sure how to post a new thread. I'm also a newbie using Zen Cart and I'm currently using EP4. The problem I'm having is that when I upload my attributes to the site the items are then listed with the following *Mixed ON. I didn't have this problem when using EasyPopulate and I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong. I am having to manually change all the items on the admin console through the price manager. I'm not sure where the problem is as when I upload the full ep products are uploading to the site fine but when I upload the attributes file that's when it happens. I'm using the Basic attributes file. The Qty Min/Unit Mix:is switched to 'no' so I'm having to edit every item to switch it to yes. Any help greatly appreciated.

Welcome to the forums!
I would say that your post is good, it defines your problem, identifies how you have basically repeated it. Perhaps there could be more about the version(s) of things you have installed; however, I would say that there is sufficient information to start problem solving the situation.

You said you are using the basic attributes file to upload your data, have you gone back after a basic upload and done a detailed attributes upload? Or an update of the all products? (I am not sure where the mixed attribute field is brought out of ZC via EP4 to be able to describe in what file to set the value and then upload into ZC/EP4.) In the mean time, it may be necessary to run a SQL statement to toggle the Mixed attribute on (which would be faster than digging into each product).

Hi. thanks for your reply. No I haven't done a detailed attributes upload as I'm not sure how to do this. I was getting along with EasyPopulate fine then it just stopped working. Apparently there is some kind of bug? I've really struggled with EP4 - I'm OK with the full EP just the attributes files. I know I sound hopeless but I'm not sure how to run a SQL statement. Like I said I'm a total newbie to all this and am learning as I go along. I managed to find where the problem lies in the admin console but just can't figure out what it is on my files which is causing this to switch to 'no'. Also, the admin console runs really slow on my pc so yesterday it took me over 2 hours to edit 111 items. By the way I'm using Excel - don't know if this makes a difference. I'm also using version 1.5.1 of Zen Cart

cherylc:

Hi. thanks for your reply. No I haven't done a detailed attributes upload as I'm not sure how to do this. I was getting along with EasyPopulate fine then it just stopped working. Apparently there is some kind of bug? I've really struggled with EP4 - I'm OK with the full EP just the attributes files. I know I sound hopeless but I'm not sure how to run a SQL statement. Like I said I'm a total newbie to all this and am learning as I go along. I managed to find where the problem lies in the admin console but just can't figure out what it is on my files which is causing this to switch to 'no'. Also, the admin console runs really slow on my pc so yesterday it took me over 2 hours to edit 111 items. By the way I'm using Excel - don't know if this makes a difference. I'm also using version 1.5.1 of Zen Cart

Generally speaking, using Excel with EP4 could cause problems if additional actions are not taken with the CSV file that is produced from it or from within Excel to ensure that the CSV file is properly formatted.
Examples identified here have been, the change of date format (Excel default (01/02/2013 versus 2013-02-01)), not all strings get captured in quotes, and a few other things that are "unexpected" when exporting a document as a CSV.

So a detailed attributes file is a lot like the basic attributes file. The easiest way "to do that" is to export a detailed file and take a look through it. From there you can make changes (suggest saving as a different name so that you don't lose the previous download), and then upload the changed document. The suggested editor when using EP4 is Open Office (OO) as it can be configured to address all of the "other" issues not addressed by Excel. That said, I do not think that Excel specifically is the reason you're seeing what you are seeing.

If you look in the file admin\includes\functions\extra_functions\easypopulate_4_functions.php search for "function ep_4_set_filelayout" then find "$filelayout[] = 'v_products_quantity_order_units';" just below that and add:

$filelayout[] = 'v_products_quantity_mixed';

and then a little below there, look for:
"p.products_quantity_order_units as v_products_quantity_order_units,"
and just after that add:

p.products_quantity_mixed 		as v_products_quantity_mixed,

save the file back to it's location, and then your import and export of the full product list should include the information related to the mixed attribute.

Regarding why you have to "change" that value, for products that have already had that set as on (value of 1) this should not change; however, the typical default setting of ZC is to create the product with the attribute set to off (value of 0).

My recommendation would be this: Upload new product(s), add attribute(s), then upload the product list again with the value of v_products_quantity_mixed updated to show 1 for those products that are to have mixed value(s).
(Knowing the version of ZC in this regards, does help at least a little. It confirms that this product is compatible and not a reason for the "error".)

Help? (BTW, don't have a problem providing more information as requested, I understand that you are new to all things Zen, but also don't want to talk down to you and go through some long description that you already know how to do or understand. :) )

Hi. Thanks very much and believe me you can talk down to me....the simpler the better for me!! I will try what you suggest and hope this works. I don't have an EP to upload at the moment as I am still working on the next category product. I've found it easier to do all my categories as a separate file then upload individually. As the website is now live I am basically just adding more stock as we get it. So just to make clear...I make the changes you suggest on the admin console, then I download a new EP file, save it to my computer, add products then upload and import? Can I still use the basic attributes file? Also, I added our website to the 'Showcase' list but it hasn't appeared and there was no option to add a photo. Does the site need to be verified first? Many thanks for taking the time to reply. It is much appreciated!