EasyPopulate 4.0 Support Thread

Jenovee:

Well, I just restored my database to how it was before I decided to mess with attribute pricing. Comparing the exported file to what was in my catalog, I can see that it's changing values. I have products with size/color attributes, but no prices attached to them. I can see a blank field for attrib price when in admin panel, and it has the "+" prefix. On export, that plus gets changed to zero. I manually changed one of the changed zeros back to "+" and exported again. It changed back to zero on export. It's changing values rather than ignoring.

Are you using the detailed products attributes to export your data? I get plusses exported from a ZC 1.5.3 site. Or a blank entry (if no symbol is entered). And then where I have a sample product that uses multiplication I have my x there. If not using the detailed attributes, please clarify which method so that one can be fixed...

mc12345678:

Are you using the detailed products attributes to export your data? I get plusses exported from a ZC 1.5.3 site. Or a blank entry (if no symbol is entered). And then where I have a sample product that uses multiplication I have my x there. If not using the detailed attributes, please clarify which method so that one can be fixed...

Yes, I am using the detailed products attributes to export.

I am comparing more in depth now. This may sound strange, but this is what is happening on one specific item in the catalog:

From attributes controller, I can see all the attributes. I have eight total attributes on this one product. Four have no prefix. Four have "+" prefix. The four with no prefix show as blank on export. The four with "+" prefix all get converted to zero on export.

I don't have a single "+" prefix on my exported file at all.

Jenovee:

Yes, I am using the detailed products attributes to export.

I am comparing more in depth now. This may sound strange, but this is what is happening on one specific item in the catalog:

From attributes controller, I can see all the attributes. I have eight total attributes on this one product. Four have no prefix. Four have "+" prefix. The four with no prefix show as blank on export. The four with "+" prefix all get converted to zero on export.

I don't have a single "+" prefix on my exported file at all.

Yeah does sound strange seeing as not able to reproduce the issue.
What is being used to view the result? Does a zero show up when looking at the csv file with a plain text editor?

mc12345678:

Yeah does sound strange seeing as not able to reproduce the issue.
What is being used to view the result? Does a zero show up when looking at the csv file with a plain text editor?

Everything is being done with Open Office. I no longer use Excel since coming to this forum. :laugh:

I opened it in Note Pad ++. What a mess to look at. But it shows the same basic result. The blanks are "" and the zeros are "0".

mc12345678:

Anyways, to fix, from within your editor (ideally Open Office) simply change and save that column with either blank if nothing is to prefix the display or the appropriate symbol to display (+, -, etc...)

Should fix your issue, then could export again to see if it remains as input.

Sorry it took a while. I just tried your suggestion. Changing the values back to "+" can't be done. Are you able to edit that field with whatever you like and save???

I entered "+" into one field. I am now stuck in that field. I cannot get out! When I click on another box, the original box that I am stuck inside will change to "+xx", with the "xx being the new cell/box I am in.

So with this new info, could my issue be with Open Office, rather than EP? Then again, my NotePad++ view shows it seperate from Open Office. ..........

Try pressing the enter key after changing the "value" to a plus. By clicking outside of the cell after entering a plus, OO is trying to add the cell that is next clicked. :)

As for the output, EP4 is pulling the information from the database and storing it.. There are no inline conversions performed (ie, no assignment to a string or an integer.). The only other things I wonder about is 1) what's stored in the database when a plus is used within ZC (for your site), what data type it is, and what charset is involved...

As for putting "anything" in the cell, default ZC behavior at least for adding and subtracting of attribute prices is: if a negative, subtract the price, anything else add it...

The product thing I was talking about above is some extra code that I have written where - subtracts; x, X, or * multiplies; and everything else adds... But yes can put "whatever" desired.

Oh brother. LOL! You can tell I don't use the "+" key much in spreadsheets. :laugh:

Anyways, I looked at the actual database. The prefix value is stored properly with the "+" before export. The type is "char(1)".

I didn't pay attention before this because I had no need. But the products_attributes_weight_prefix is also changing to zero along with the price prefix. It may not be connected at all, but these are the only two things using the "char(1)" type in the database.

Okay, I'm brand new to Zen Cart, and wanted to post a thank you to everyone that has contributed to this plugin because it worked perfectly for me!!

I installed Zen Cart(1.5.1) on Host Gator shared hosting using the script that they provided, so it's the only site on my server at this point.

I had tried a different version of EP that claimed to offer csv support, as well as another one that claimed to work with native Excel files. Neither worked out for me.

I found that with this plugin, I did end up using Open Office (and was surprised to find it's not Apache Open Office) to edit the files as suggested.

Again, thank you, and good luck to anyone else struggling with this plugin - it's worth it!

Clayo84:

Okay, I'm brand new to Zen Cart, and wanted to post a thank you to everyone that has contributed to this plugin because it worked perfectly for me!!

I installed Zen Cart(1.5.1) on Host Gator shared hosting using the script that they provided, so it's the only site on my server at this point.

I had tried a different version of EP that claimed to offer csv support, as well as another one that claimed to work with native Excel files. Neither worked out for me.

I found that with this plugin, I did end up using Open Office (and was surprised to find it's not Apache Open Office) to edit the files as suggested.

Again, thank you, and good luck to anyone else struggling with this plugin - it's worth it!

Welcome to ZC, glad to hear that you've gotten this far, though using the install script, you've missed out on a lot of the learning opportunities of managing ZC. Hopefully, you'll take the time in the near future to manually upgrade to the latest ZC version, which can be done while your current store remains functional/operational. But I digress.

For some reason, cause yet to be determined the export of a char(1) value of a plus, is being translated to a 0 on export. We haven't discussed versions of software yet, the identification of the various charsets (includes/configure.php, admin/includes/configure.php, database tables and one other place I can't remember), nor the status of internal character encoding (top right in the Easy Populate 4 screen).

Anyways, the majority of the issues are in the usage of the plugin, not the plugin itself, although this current issue appears to be a bit of an anamoly to the local setup, not so much the program itself.

Thinking of beginning a new thread with the details of the code compressed down to the applicable actions, when I create it, I'll post the link here. Jenovee, if you wouldn't mind following and subscribing to it, maybe this can be resolved.

Hi, I have installed Ep4 v4.0.28 on a local machine test site with zc1.5.4 and SBA 1.5.4. Everything seems to be working so far. I have a couple of problems/questions though. Do I need to add the custom id field in the EP4 configuration options? If I upload the file with this field empty I get an error (check for tabs in fields) and if there is data in this field it all works fine. It is showing in the downloaded files without being added in the configuration. Secondly my product display is now showing the custom id in the quantity box. Any ideas as to how to stop this from showing.

propster:

Hi, I have installed Ep4 v4.0.28 on a local machine test site with zc1.5.4 and SBA 1.5.4. Everything seems to be working so far. I have a couple of problems/questions though. Do I need to add the custom id field in the EP4 configuration options? If I upload the file with this field empty I get an error (check for tabs in fields) and if there is data in this field it all works fine. It is showing in the downloaded files without being added in the configuration. Secondly my product display is now showing the custom id in the quantity box. Any ideas as to how to stop this from showing.

Still a few "variables" in the mix... Although the few branches that are off of the potteryhouse revised version of SBA would not impact the functionality/interaction of EP4 with SBA, the version does modify how the information is displayed.

To bring things home a little, the customid that is a part of the potteryhouse version of SBA should not need to be added to the configuration->EP4->custom fields menu option and in fact would not provide anything of benefit because custom fields area is a products table field not associated with other tables. SBA creates a products_with_attributes_stock table. In that table is customid. When using the detailed SBA export/import (sba-detailed-ep is the filename prefix), effectively this additional feature expects that the SBA variants (row of data) already exist and that only the products_id, stock_attributes, quantity, sort, and in this case the customid (as customid is included with SBA 1.5.4) fields are updated... This additional feature remains limited and follows the development of SBA, meaning that some of the additionally desired actions must wait a little to ensure that the feature in SBA is to remain and/or how it is to be used moving forwards.

Then there is the sba-stock-ep prefix named file, which is only for stock tracking purposes. So, the current detailed SBA attributes (described in the README.txt of the download) is basically a stock tracking tool at this time, with the expectation that the SBA product variants would be setup through the database. (Of course EP4 could be used to create many of the aspects of the products, with going into the admin control panel to generate the variants, and then EP4 could be used to manage the quantities of the existing variants.)

I'm not sure about the issue of the customid showing in the quantities box, again there are a few variables at play. What does your actual import file look like? (A few lines of it anyways) What did the same line(s) (of model number data) look like before modification? What is the file name(s) involved? (at least the prefix, as these files are processed based on the beginning of the filename... There's only so much that can be done to help based on the information provided above in the original post, so please help identify all the details associated. The version numbers were a good start, but there is far more involved than versions.

mc12345678:

Thinking of beginning a new thread with the details of the code compressed down to the applicable actions, when I create it, I'll post the link here. Jenovee, if you wouldn't mind following and subscribing to it, maybe this can be resolved.

Yes, I'll help in any way I can. I'm really curious as to what's causing this. Especially since, so far, it seems like I'm the only one with this issue. And also the only one with the item name being deleted.

Jenovee:

Yes, I'll help in any way I can. I'm really curious as to what's causing this. Especially since, so far, it seems like I'm the only one with this issue. And also the only one with the item name being deleted.

Well there was one other that was experiencing a loss of names issue when the names column was removed from the import. So that aspect was similar but different.

Ok Thanks for the quick reply. I am downloading SBA-Detailed-EP2015xxx. I try to re-import the file without opening it and get the following message. An SQL error has occurred. Please check input data for tabs within fields and delete these. If this error continues please forwrd your error log to the Easy Populate maintainer. I have attached the error log and a screen shot of my admin area.
I have solved the problem of the quantities box. It was a configuration option which needed to be edited.

Issue is that the code is/was written thinking that the customid was going to be a unique number... However, it is a string, so working on a change to accommodate in addition to a few other minor changes...

mc12345678:

Issue is that the code is/was written thinking that the customid was going to be a unique number... However, it is a string, so working on a change to accommodate in addition to a few other minor changes...

Doesn't fix Jenovee's issue(s), but 4.0.29 has been pushed to: https://github.com/mc12345678/EasyPopulate-4.0

If I get a few to validate the new operation, then perhaps it can be merged into the main version.

Changes:
-Added support for products_map modification (Manufacturer's Advertised Price)
-Added MSRP export to areas where previously begun but not fully incorporated.
-Modified import of customid for SBA-detailed-attributes to treat as a string.
-Began incorporating language overrides, specifically with German as the first alternate language.
-Added support for the plugin dual pricing.

No changes were made to the configuration menu in this version. Upgrade from 4.0.28 should be by replacement of the files only.

mc12345678:

Doesn't fix Jenovee's issue(s), but 4.0.29 has been pushed to: https://github.com/mc12345678/EasyPopulate-4.0

If I get a few to validate the new operation, then perhaps it can be merged into the main version.

Changes:
-Added support for products_map modification (Manufacturer's Advertised Price)
-Added MSRP export to areas where previously begun but not fully incorporated.
-Modified import of customid for SBA-detailed-attributes to treat as a string.
-Began incorporating language overrides, specifically with German as the first alternate language.
-Added support for the plugin dual pricing.

No changes were made to the configuration menu in this version. Upgrade from 4.0.28 should be by replacement of the files only.
Thanks again for a very quick response. This is now working how I want. I have managed to download the SBA-Detailed file and re-import without errors. I have also changed quantities and re-imported without any problem. Thanks again for all your work.

propster:

Thanks again for a very quick response. This is now working how I want. I have managed to download the SBA-Detailed file and re-import without errors. I have also changed quantities and re-imported without any problem. Thanks again for all your work.

Glad to know that fix was successful, the stock tracking/updating aspect already properly treated the model# as a string. Next validation? :P

Hi all,

We have just had our site upgraded to version 1.5.4 and have Easy Populate 4.0.28 - Beta 01-03-2015 which are testing at present before we go live. Here is some server info:
PHP Version: 5.3.28 (Zend: 2.3.0) PHP Memory Limit: 128M
Server OS: Linux 3.18.5-x86_64-linode52

The EP4 version seems to work ok apart from one thing when I add a new product in csv file it loads it to the site but does not load into the fields. Below is information regarding the upload.
UPDATED! - Model: A16783 | 1 | Product im | Genuine Ro | | | | | | 22.55 | A16783 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | New | none | | | 0 | | | | | 0.2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | | 2015-02-16 | 0 | Rover | Lawn Mower | Taxable Go | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | | | |
UPDATED! - Model: 732-04839 | 1 | Product im | Genuine Ro | | | | | | 2.68 | A16800, 73 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | New | none | | | 0 | | | | | 0.2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | | 2015-02-16 | 0 | Rover | Lawn Mower | Taxable Go | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | | | |
UPDATED! - Model: 787-01951 | 1 | Product im | Genuine Ro | | | | | | 2.5 | A16801, 78 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | New | none | | | 0 | | | | | 0.2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | | 2015-02-16 | 0 | Rover | Lawn Mower | Taxable Go | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | | | |
UPDATED! - Model: A318228 | 1 | Product im | Genuine Ro | | | | | | 0.91 | A318228 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | New | none | | | 0 | | | | | 0.2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | | 2015-02-17 | 0 | Rover | Lawn Mower | Taxable Go | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | | | |
No model field in record. This line was not imported1 | Product im | Genuine Ro | | | | | | 0 | | 0 | | | | 0 | 0 | | none | | | 0 | | | | | 0.2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0001-01-01 | 2015-02-17 | 0 | Rover | Lawn Mower | Taxable Go | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | | | |
UPDATED! - Model: A123456 | 1 | Product im | Genuine Ro | | | | | | 1 | A123456 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | New | none | | | 0 | | | 0.5 | | 0.2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0001-01-01 | 2015-02-17 | 0 | Rover | Lawn Mower | Taxable Go | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | | | |

Once done I go to the product A123456 that has not added the information to the required fields within it (not that this is only with new product). If I change information on product that are already on the site they are changed using the EP4 module correctly.

Am I doing something wrong when I add new product in the csv file. I have tried copying a line of information already in the file and changed part number and price but still fields are left blank.

Any help would be appreciated as I really like the module and want to sort out if it is the person (ME) on the keyboard not doing correctly.

Sorry to see that you are having difficulty. From the above data though, the item with model# A123456 is not a new item but an update of an existing item indicating that there already exists an item with that model#.

If that is so, then when going back to look at the "desired" new item, what is happening is that another has been updated.

To confirm this situation, if you export the complete product list, you can then sort on model # and look for duplicates. Starting specifically with that model#.

Otherwise it may help to identify the process of which report method is chosen to export the file, then what filename the changes are saved as for upload. More questions may follow, but that is a start.