EasyPopulate 4.0 Support Thread

Fyi, the patch identified at http://www.zen-cart.com/showthread.php?190417-EasyPopulate-4-0-Support-Thread&p=1236718#post1236718 is no longer required. Github has been updated with the patch.

This is applicable to the version forked from chadderruski. When he posts the new version he's been working on, the expectation is that features added will get incorporated through our joint effort. (Ie he may incorporate them,, I will or perhaps a third party. Goal is to continue to have a continuously functional product that has the features and capability desired/possible.)

I'm working on creating a CSV file to import into my new Zencart shop. I'm importing a little over 1K products so I need to make sure I automate as much as possible to save time on error debugging.

• I cannot find which version of EasyPopulate my web designer installed -- it is not on the Tools->Easy Populate page
  I have also read the wiki, dated 2007 and cannot find my answers there

I'd like to know how important the time stamp is within the v_date_added field. I would like to retain my product by date order. My old ecommerce platform did not use a time stamp, only the date.
e.g. 1/12/2012

It looks like EasyPopulate wants something more akin to this:
1/12/2012 15:48

My question is can I leave off the time stamp? Will EasyPopulate be able to handle this? Or do I need to insert a time stamp into each entry.

• Second question is about single and double quotes. I've read that EasyPopulate is not happy with quotes. I currently have quote-less titles but my descriptions do have quotes, both single and double as well as a smattering of other special characters like accented chars and various forms of punctuation like commas, semicolons, etc. Does the quote-less restriction apply to the v_products_description_1 field too? What about commas and other forms of punctuation? If there are issues, is there an escape character (like \ in regex) that will work? Otherwise any advice on this?

I've got, as I've said, over 1K products and most of the descriptions are unique.

Thanks in advance.

linniedarling:

I'm working on creating a CSV file to import into my new Zencart shop. I'm importing a little over 1K products so I need to make sure I automate as much as possible to save time on error debugging.

• I cannot find which version of EasyPopulate my web designer installed -- it is not on the Tools->Easy Populate page

I have also read the wiki, dated 2007 and cannot find my answers there

I'd like to know how important the time stamp is within the v_date_added field. I would like to retain my product by date order. My old ecommerce platform did not use a time stamp, only the date.
e.g. 1/12/2012

It looks like EasyPopulate wants something more akin to this:
1/12/2012 15:48

My question is can I leave off the time stamp? Will EasyPopulate be able to handle this? Or do I need to insert a time stamp into each entry.

• Second question is about single and double quotes. I've read that EasyPopulate is not happy with quotes. I currently have quote-less titles but my descriptions do have quotes, both single and double as well as a smattering of other special characters like accented chars and various forms of punctuation like commas, semicolons, etc. Does the quote-less restriction apply to the v_products_description_1 field too? What about commas and other forms of punctuation? If there are issues, is there an escape character (like \ in regex) that will work? Otherwise any advice on this?

I've got, as I've said, over 1K products and most of the descriptions are unique.

Thanks in advance.

The absence of the easy populate option from your tools menu option is probably related to your "upgrade" process. Older versions were installed differently than those in ZC 1.5.x. More than likely there is a file named easy_populate or similar in your admin directory, looking at the contents (header area) you should be able to identify the version number.if not, please address in a new thread.

Regarding EP4, if you omit the column for date_added, EP4 will populate the column with the current time at least for new products. If it is included then it will use the provided date/time.

2. EP4 has a few configure settings to address handling characters such as qus, single quotes, etc and will run addslashes (php command) that will modify the "input" to address the concerns some/many of the concerns expressed. (Btw, the escape code is typically a backslash () before the character that would cause the problem; however, EP4 doesn't extra backslash, so if you wanted to import: my "name" is short, you wouldn't want to have it listed as my "name" is short in your description because the result would maintain the backslashes in the description that the customer would see.

Does EP4 handle quantity discounts?
Does EP4 handle custom product fields? I have Numinix Product Fields installed and need to be able to update this info via EP4.

k1ra:

Does EP4 handle quantity discounts?
Does EP4 handle custom product fields? I have Numinix Product Fields installed and need to be able to update this info via EP4.

Not sure what you mean by questioning if EP4 handles quantity discounts. Discounts are not applied to the product table, but a different table in general. What table or operation applies quantity discounts? Off the top of my head, there is nothing that is in the products table or attributes tables that apply that. So, if the product(s) can be setup (placed in a category or a designated manufacturer or something similar) then the answer would be yes as long as the discount is/can be applied to that designated group. Otherwise, would need more information.

Regarding custom product fields, yes, there is the ability to incorporate custom fields that are a part of the products table. These are entered into the configuration area of EP4 as the name of the field separated by commas for each additional field. Do not prepend a v_, just the field's name as it is provided/added to the product table.

mc12345678:

Not sure what you mean by questioning if EP4 handles quantity discounts. Discounts are not applied to the product table, but a different table in general. What table or operation applies quantity discounts? Off the top of my head, there is nothing that is in the products table or attributes tables that apply that. So, if the product(s) can be setup (placed in a category or a designated manufacturer or something similar) then the answer would be yes as long as the discount is/can be applied to that designated group. Otherwise, would need more information.

Regarding custom product fields, yes, there is the ability to incorporate custom fields that are a part of the products table. These are entered into the configuration area of EP4 as the name of the field separated by commas for each additional field. Do not prepend a v_, just the field's name as it is provided/added to the product table.

I have a client whose products are available in quantities of 100,250,500,1000,2500 each at different prices. Currently these are setup with the Pricing Manager in Admin. I'm not sure that their current setup is the best way, but I kinda got dumped in the middle of what another person was working on.

Thank you for explaining the custom fields. That sounds easy enough to figure out.

k1ra:

I have a client whose products are available in quantities of 100,250,500,1000,2500 each at different prices. Currently these are setup with the Pricing Manager in Admin. I'm not sure that their current setup is the best way, but I kinda got dumped in the middle of what another person was working on.

Thank you for explaining the custom fields. That sounds easy enough to figure out.

Well, I just applied a qty discount to an item on a local store, and well, it seems to me that that option is not a bad way to go.
I haven't gone to look at the fields associated with quantity discounts and what is exported using EP4, but if it isn't already, the products_discount_type field could be included in the export/import, which would allow manual revision of the type of discount to be applied; however, the actual product discount "multiplier" is in the products_discount_quantity table. Export/import of that would require additional coding; however, if a product already existed, updates of that product would be applied using the "rules" of the qty discount, so, if the discount is percentage off or money off, etc., then whatever new price is entered will have the same modification then as it did before.

In that regards EP4 does "handle" quantity discounts, at least not have a problem because they are applied, but it doesn't currently apply changes to or modify quantity discount quantities.

Well I feel dumb.:blush: Apparently the 'Model/Price/Breaks' import/export option was exactly what I was after! :frusty:

It seems that the csv file for easy populate doesn't allow for importing the sort order of products, or am I missing something? Thanks for your imput.

It's been my experience a product sort order was not exported in my template.
In my original spread sheet I ordered my 750 products in ascending order and assigned Model numbers in an ascending order.
Now when I export all products it groups them by Category.

Jim Stone:

It seems that the csv file for easy populate doesn't allow for importing the sort order of products, or am I missing something? Thanks for your imput.

Not allowed and not included as a default in this case are two different things. It seems that sort order was not one of the fields that made it to the must have list; however, any field that is in the product table can be included for both import and export if added to the list of manual fields. (Somehwat discussed over past couple of pages). That said: if you know the title of the field as it is entered in the SQL database for products, then it can be entered on the admin page. Do not include a v_ that is seen in the export files.

linuxguy2:

It's been my experience a product sort order was not exported in my template.
In my original spread sheet I ordered my 750 products in ascending order and assigned Model numbers in an ascending order.
Now when I export all products it groups them by Category.

Perhaps see the previous post? May that help a little?

k1ra:

Well I feel dumb.:blush: Apparently the 'Model/Price/Breaks' import/export option was exactly what I was after! :frusty:

Perhaps that makes two of us! :)

I can't say that I have dug into what that functionality offered. Glad that the neededresults were found and available.

hi

i have a bit problem whith easypopulate4

if a modified a products (model12345) in admin at new import/update zencart create a new product with another product id and with the same products_model, then I find in these cases with two products with the same products_model

how can I fix?
you can indicate whether this forum has already dealt with the problem?

thanks

send a screenshot del db , please note the record with red point....

tanks

salvo72:

hi

i have a bit problem whith easypopulate4

if a modified a products (model12345) in admin at new import/update zencart create a new product with another product id and with the same products_model, then I find in these cases with two products with the same products_model

how can I fix?
you can indicate whether this forum has already dealt with the problem?

thanks

I think I understand the problem; however, it is difficult to understand all that was written. The obvious fix is to restore the backup made before updating the database with EP4. The next thing: I am not sure how many data entries are involved. If one/two, then easy either go into the admin panel and delete the one that is extra, or set it's status to zero and modify the model# to something different.

If multiple products have the same model# or there are multiple "pairs" of products with the same model#, then one method to "repair" them is to delete all of the products with the duplicate model#, then change the model# in the upload file as necessary to have unique product model#s and upload them.

If the issue is that the same product description was uploaded for a different model# (model# changed), then I would suggest deleting the newer uploaded entry.

A few words of warning: deleting products from the database may affect other reports and relationships in ZC, especially if they are dependent on the products_id field in the products table.

EP4 can delete a product by model# by changing the status of the model# for the product to 9 instead of 0 or 1 when importing the data file.

Looking at the picture provided, I see two red dots, the the information on the two rows is not the same: different model#, different image, etc... But now that I have looked again, I see that the red dots are two products that have the same information as the two products at the top of the list.

So, there's the short-cut way identified above, of deleting all cases, then uploading the expected product, but realize short-cuts tend to lead to problems. And then there is a way that would preserve your existing relational data. This method would use SQL statements or mySQLAdmin as well as EP4 or at least EP4 data and is more along the way I would try to recover if a backup had not been made.

Identify all duplicate model#s,
Identify the products_id,
Using the above information, modify the model#s for the newest product to be "removed" to a unique model# possibly the next product to be added and change the status to 0.
When the new product is added, change all relevant information to the new product and update the status to 1.
I may do more than that depending on a review of the purchase history of the product being modified, but that's basically what I think I would do in that situation.

Basically, the only fix when using EP4 by itself, without editing the product, is to delete all cases of the model# (status 9) and then upload only the one entry desired. There is no "rename" option in EP4. Otherwise there are other tools that can help.

Hello,

I am new to the ZC Forum and have never posted before. Hoping this is the correct place and method.

Using EP4 and ZC 1.5.1. I loaded 1700 products simultaneously with success, (updated existing and added new), except for the length of the "v_products_name_1" field was too short for some of the products names. The field length is set at 128 according to the "warning" I received on the products "with issues" and the settings shown on the upper right hand part of the EP4 page. I need about 135 in length.

I have looked everywhere for a solution on the Forum. Closest suggestion found in the Forum was to go to phpMyAdmin in cPanel, then go to "products_description" and "change products_name" there to length of 135. Also go to orders_products and change products_names to 135. I did both and it made no difference. I don't see a name for "products_name_v1" - only for "products_name".

Can you please tell me exactly where to adjust this setting? I am not a developer and am without anyone right now to help me but can follow explicit instructions. I hope you can help me.

Thank you.

pdevo:

Hello,

I am new to the ZC Forum and have never posted before. Hoping this is the correct place and method.

Using EP4 and ZC 1.5.1. I loaded 1700 products simultaneously with success, (updated existing and added new), except for the length of the "v_products_name_1" field was too short for some of the products names. The field length is set at 128 according to the "warning" I received on the products "with issues" and the settings shown on the upper right hand part of the EP4 page. I need about 135 in length.

I have looked everywhere for a solution on the Forum. Closest suggestion found in the Forum was to go to phpMyAdmin in cPanel, then go to "products_description" and "change products_name" there to length of 135. Also go to orders_products and change products_names to 135. I did both and it made no difference. I don't see a name for "products_name_v1" - only for "products_name".

Can you please tell me exactly where to adjust this setting? I am not a developer and am without anyone right now to help me but can follow explicit instructions. I hope you can help me.

Thank you.

You came to the right area for this question (I think), good first post, keep up that type of description in future posts.

Either I or someone that already know the answer for the first part will get back to you with how to change the size/length of the field, but there is a part of your post that I don't fully understand, but may make an assumption.

When you say there is no product_name_v1, do you mean that when you look in mysqladmin at the table in question, all you see is product_name and you don't see product_name_1?

The extra _1 is a language "switch". The value of _1 means to assign the product_name to language1 (whatever thatmay be ie. English) a product_2 would be to assign the text to the second language. This way an update can be made to a product in multiple languages. If that has given you enough to make the desired change(s), then good.

Now as for the fulllength needed, should be able to use the spreadsheet program to identify the maximum length of your current products. Add a new column that calculates the length of the cell that has the name, then using a different cell, find the maximum in that column. After you have figured that out, if the new data is on the same spreadsheet as all of your other data, I recommend deleting it before saving/exporting to prepare for upload to urstore. Otherwise do the calculations on a different sheet, and don't have to worry about deleting it. Probably want to add a few characters to the total length so that don't have to increase again any time soon.

Didn't check the above, but hopefully my spacebar worked enough times to not be confusing. :) (cell phone used to type this.)

Hello and thank you so much for taking time to reply with your cell phone. :) I can read your post just fine.

You asked, "When you say there is no product_name_v1, do you mean that when you look in mysqladmin at the table in question, all you see is product_name and you don't see product_name_1?"

Yes, and sorry for the typo adding the "v" in front of the "1". There is no "product_name_1" I can find in the phpMyAdmin table. I learned through other posts about the "1" being a designator for language and did not know that until today. Thank you for explaining it is a "switch" and why it's there as I did not know that. I always just followed the example I had for the column heading and didn't question it. Now it makes sense.

I look forward to someone telling me how to change the length of the field with the "_1" at the end of products_name since what I did does not seem to have fixed it. There are several column headings on my EP4 template for updating and loading new products which have the "_1" suffix on them. So I don't know if there is something special I have to do with regard to making this change or if it should have worked the way I did it. Obviously, I am missing something.

Thank you for the suggestion of running a formula for length of cell. Very helpful and I should have thought of that. :) Much easier.

Thank you for your time.

pdevo:

Hello and thank you so much for taking time to reply with your cell phone. :) I can read your post just fine.

You asked, "When you say there is no product_name_v1, do you mean that when you look in mysqladmin at the table in question, all you see is product_name and you don't see product_name_1?"

Yes, and sorry for the typo adding the "v" in front of the "1". There is no "product_name_1" I can find in the phpMyAdmin table. I learned through other posts about the "1" being a designator for language and did not know that until today. Thank you for explaining it is a "switch" and why it's there as I did not know that. I always just followed the example I had for the column heading and didn't question it. Now it makes sense.

I look forward to someone telling me how to change the length of the field with the "_1" at the end of products_name since what I did does not seem to have fixed it. There are several column headings on my EP4 template for updating and loading new products which have the "_1" suffix on them. So I don't know if there is something special I have to do with regard to making this change or if it should have worked the way I did it. Obviously, I am missing something.

Thank you for the suggestion of running a formula for length of cell. Very helpful and I should have thought of that. :) Much easier.

Thank you for your time.

Okay, so another confusing statement, but no matter... :)

So, each field that has an underscore followed by a number (ie. _1) is a field that can be found in the (prefix)products_description table. And again, the number corresponds to an installed language. No two stores are guaranteed to have the same sequence of languages. (Meaning a random selection of websites that have multiple languages may put Spanish 2nd, 1st, 6th, etc... Assuming that another language was applied/installed at some point before...

So, regarding the field length... That is controlled within your mySQLadmin editor...
If you open the mySQLAdmin editor (most likely through your cPanel), then open your store's database, then open the table (prefix)products_description, then while on the Structure tab, select the products_name field and edit it.

The next window should show the various information related to the field. For example the Length/Values... Update though for this type of data to have the maximum that you want to be able to enter.

Hope that helps.