EasyPopulate 4.0 Support Thread

nick02895:

...I rem'd out both calls to mb_internal_encoding(). If I remember correctly I asked my host to change a setting on their server and they refused so I rem'd this as a work around......

Totally off topic (sorry folks): rem'd out reminds me of the language BASIC I used early in the 80's on a fleet of container ships to calculate stability :cool:

Please don't hook on to this, don't want to hijack this thread but could not help but noticing......

Cheers / Frank

FoodSourceDirect:

Hi MC. I downloaded IH4 and read its documentation. I like all the features. Just a little timid about the whole core file change thing. The same reason why I haven't as yet installed Numinix.

Re: Missing data for V_Product_Name and V_Description_1. I noticed that column field headers are case sensitive. once I changed to lower case, problem solved. I downloaded picaflor-azul's Newport Eco them. I have to figure out how to fix a couple of layout issues. I feel like I am in school again.

AJ

It was Chadd that expressed the suggestion of IH4, but something I was in agreement with. If you haven't made any changes to the files associated with IH4, then it will make the changes necessary upon install. If you have made changes, then incorporate them into the files that IH4 will load, and off it goes. Otherwise,it's probably one of the easier programs to install that makes modifications to the cart. Numinix programs are also pretty robust; however, after installation other install scripts may need a little work to cooperate.

Yes, you will find that case is important in almost everything related to operation. Variable names, fields, pictures, even the web address. Action often needs to be taken to ignore case. Regarding the fields in EP4, I think that case sensitivity should remain and it is yet another reason that it is suggested to export a file or two before attempting to import so that one can see how things should be entered prior to uploading. :) Be prepared to continue learning and try to help others where you can even if it's a gentle nudge to provide more information about a topic (posting guidelines for example.)

nick02895:

Great, thanks.

The error in the log is
[25-Jul-2014 16:43:43 America/New_York] PHP Fatal error: Call to undefined function mb_internal_encoding() in (omitted path)easypopulate_4.php on line 143

The EP upgrade was from
$Id: easypopulate_4.php, v4.0.21 06-01-2012 chadderuski $
to
$Id: easypopulate_4.php, v4.0.23 07-13-2014 mc12345678 $
ep reports 4.0.24 7/15/2014?

Zen from 1.51-1.53, auto installed.

Like Chad mentions later in this thread my zen-cart was automatically upgraded, thus ep stopped working. I upgraded ep after reading the thread and still didn't work. I removed the files and tried uploading again.

FIXED IT!
Looking at backup easypopulate_4.php, I rem'd out both calls to mb_internal_encoding(). If I remember correctly I asked my host to change a setting on their server and they refused so I rem'd this as a work around.

Thanks for your help
Nick

Great!

While commenting out (REMing) those two lines won't disable EP4, if I remember correctly incorporating mbstring into your php.ini will bring that function into the system load. If I also remember correctly, this all was added to force input/output to be converted to/from UTF-8 and unfortunately may disuade others from using this plugin. Perhaps we could incorporate a check and if the function is not reachable, provide some guidance on how to enable or perhaps some form of description as to the effect of not enabling that "feature".

retched:

I have a question regarding this module and the modules listed on the right hand side in the main page. Is there a list somewhere of where to find these? I do need something for my google feed for "Google Product Category" if possible.

I don't have the line numbers, but if you look in admin/easypopulate_4.php, there are some comments associated with each of the mods(code existing elsewhere in the store from which EP4 waas run). The associated field appears to be related to Google Merchant Center as of 2011. I personally can not account for it's continued need/use asi have not worked with that field/code to know of it's importance/usage.

Thank you for the feedback. In the time since my last post I have changed to responsive theme. I am still trying to figure out how to "personalize" it. And, finally, this morning I managed to successfully install IH4. It works!! Now I have got to figure out how to install Tabbed Pro without breaking the site.

FoodSourceDirect:

Thank you for the feedback. In the time since my last post I have changed to responsive theme. I am still trying to figure out how to "personalize" it. And, finally, this morning I managed to successfully install IH4. It works!! Now I have got to figure out how to install Tabbed Pro without breaking the site.

Good. I'm going to withhold further discussion to take place on appropriate threads, but if nothing else, hopefully these changes you're making are first on a backup of your site, and not initially on your live site. This way you can make a mistake without affecting current business or future business.

Oops. I did do the changes on the actual site. You make a good point. Ok, going to fix that.

nick02895:

FIXED IT!
Looking at backup easypopulate_4.php, I rem'd out both calls to mb_internal_encoding(). If I remember correctly I asked my host to change a setting on their server and they refused so I rem'd this as a work around.

Thanks for your help
Nick

Hi Nick,

Glad you got this working. Yes, those function calls are part of working with UTF-8 encoding for multi-byte (mb_) languages. Most english will encode in 1 byte, but some can take up to three if memory serves me correctly... Just be cautious with your string lengths as they may not get calculated correctly.

if that happens, and I'll use Manufacturer as the example, then you can end up with multiple truncated entries in the database:

So, Manufacturer's name exceeds database lenght:

"Hill Billy Manufacturing and Supplies Corp" is entered in your CSV file.

EP4 goes to add this to the database because it's new, but the string is truncated to the length in the database ( you'd see that in phpMyAdmin)

"Hill Billy Manufacturing and Supplies Corp" now becomes "Hill Billy Manufacturing an" in the database.

On the next line you have another item for this Manufacturer.... EP4 does a search on the manufacture's table and does not find a match, so it add that manufacturer AGAIN, and AGAIN it's truncated.... If you have 50 items with the same manufacturer, you end up with 50 entries in your manufacturer's table....

Not so damaging... BUT, this can also happen with Category Names! So please be careful to not exceed your database's field lengths.

chadderuski:

Hi Nick,

Glad you got this working. Yes, those function calls are part of working with UTF-8 encoding for multi-byte (mb_) languages. Most english will encode in 1 byte, but some can take up to three if memory serves me correctly... Just be cautious with your string lengths as they may not get calculated correctly.

if that happens, and I'll use Manufacturer as the example, then you can end up with multiple truncated entries in the database:

So, Manufacturer's name exceeds database lenght:

"Hill Billy Manufacturing and Supplies Corp" is entered in your CSV file.

EP4 goes to add this to the database because it's new, but the string is truncated to the length in the database ( you'd see that in phpMyAdmin)

"Hill Billy Manufacturing and Supplies Corp" now becomes "Hill Billy Manufacturing an" in the database.

On the next line you have another item for this Manufacturer.... EP4 does a search on the manufacture's table and does not find a match, so it add that manufacturer AGAIN, and AGAIN it's truncated.... If you have 50 items with the same manufacturer, you end up with 50 entries in your manufacturer's table....

Not so damaging... BUT, this can also happen with Category Names! So please be careful to not exceed your database's field lengths.

Chadd,

Good explanation. To confirm though, if mbstring is used as originally incorporated, could you elaborate how this all would happen? (I don't want to guess and cause confusion.)

Hello, I did a new install of Easy Populate 4.0 on a fresh install of Zen Cart 1.5.3. It installed correctly, shows up in Tools and also in Configure, but when I click on it to configure it, it can't find the page, it's a 404 error. It goes to mystore/myadmin/configuration.php?gID=53. Does this sound like a familiar problem that anyone else has had? Any ideas on how to fix it? Thanks!!

BlackOrchidCouture:

Hello, I did a new install of Easy Populate 4.0 on a fresh install of Zen Cart 1.5.3. It installed correctly, shows up in Tools and also in Configure, but when I click on it to configure it, it can't find the page, it's a 404 error. It goes to mystore/myadmin/configuration.php?gID=53. Does this sound like a familiar problem that anyone else has had? Any ideas on how to fix it? Thanks!!

While hopefully others will also respond, I did a similar action this last weekend, to both a 1.5.3 and 1.5.1 cart with no issues. Are you able to access the tools menu option, uninstall and then select the install option at the top again. Should be presented with an error about the existence (absence) of the temp directory, unless you have that directory in your store's path.

The gID=53 part of the path, merely indicates the number assigned to that menu option. Are you able to access other configuration settings? Ie under My Store or product Layout, for example?

Thanks for answering so quickly! Oh, interesting, I was able to access other configuration settings earlier, and just assumed that the only one I couldn't access was Easy Populate since that was the one I was trying to access, but just tried others and they all go to a 404 error as well. I fixed the error about the missing directory when I first installed Easy Populate, just created a temp folder (but called it the name it said that I was missing). I was able to get all the errors to go away. I can access it in Tools, so I'm going to try your uninstall/install suggestion....

Uninstalled and installed again successfully, but still can't access any configurations....

Yeah, you did all that before I could reply to indicate that since your other configuration options are not working is that somehow your store/admin/configuration.php file has something wrong (totally unrelated to EP4), either it isnot present or has been renamed or something. EP4 does not modify that file. It simply is used to access the various options thaat are set in the database (table configuration).

I checked both configure.php files and they are both there, and they both still have the last modified date as the same date I installed the new Zen Cart, so they haven't been modified. Whatever error happened came about after I installed Easy Populate...

BlackOrchidCouture:

I checked both configure.php files and they are both there, and they both still have the last modified date as the same date I installed the new Zen Cart, so they haven't been modified. Whatever error happened came about after I installed Easy Populate...

Please review what I typed and what you did. Notice the path I identified, it was not a mistake, also the filenames we are talkiing about are different. You mentioned configure.php, I stated configuration.php. There is only one of the file I mentioned. It is located in the root of the admin directory not in the includes directories.

You were right, the configuration.php file was gone! I restored it and now configure works for everything. I have no idea how that happened, all was well earlier. Anyway, thanks for recognizing the issue!!

BlackOrchidCouture:

You were right, the configuration.php file was gone! I restored it and now configure works for everything. I have no idea how that happened, all was well earlier. Anyway, thanks for recognizing the issue!!

Welcome, I would suggest though that you investigate a little to determine why/when/how that file was removed. Maybe it has been moved to a neighboring directory if say it was clicked and dragged during upload of the EP4 files if that was done relatively recently?

Will do, it shouldn't be too hard, I just installed the Zen Cart 4 days ago, then a bunch of plugins. I had tried to install FEC and it wasn't showing up in Admin, so I deleted all the files it may have happened then. Thanks again!