Easy Populate 1.2.5.4 support

If you use Quantity Price Discounts (or Price Breaks based on purchased Quantity) on your store, I have a working solution using EP to download, upload and update price breaks. Yes, this did require me to code it and create a new file type: Model/Price/Breaks "PriceBreaks-...".

Langer never got around to adding this, nor was it ever in EP-advanced last we spoke well over a year ago. It seems he's dropped off the map... I hope he's well.

I think a few people may have done their own coding to achieve this but to my knowledge no one has posted their work. I had intended to do this myself a long time ago, but you know how it is! The other issue is when you upload an update to something like EP you sort of take it on and that can be chore in itself!

It turns out this was not really that complicated, at least not for my needs. Took about two work days to figure out. I've tested this with data from our catalog: about 3500 product with a mix of no price breaks and items that break on up to three quantities. I have not tested the other breaking scheme (like percentage). These will have different quantity_price_discount codes.

A couple things to keep in mind: This is ALPHA code at best! The attached easypopulate.zip ONLY contains the easypopulate.php file. I have made numerous modifications (and deletions) to this file to suit my needs so please only use this for a reference on how to do your own quantity breaks. Some things are rather 'hard-coded' and not pretty.

SERIOUSLY! EP code is a mess :p to start with and a big bloated mess at that! No wonder no one has done a full rewrite!

To my knowledge the "froogle" stuff is dead. Also, the whole Attributes feature never worked properly either (please correct me if I'm wrong on that!).

Oh, I have not come up with a solution to remove unused breaks... meaning if you uploaded a product that had 4 price breaks, and then later change to 3 price breaks, you will have to set the 4th price break to 0 so it don't show (or go into the file via phpMyAdmin and delete it).

This is really for people with at least some coding experience, knowledge of MySQL and using phpMyAdmin. BACK UP YOUR STORE if you play with the code, USE AT YOUR OWN RISK yada yada yada not-so-legal disclaimer verbage. I will not be held responsible for you killing your store!

chadderuski:

If you use Quantity Price Discounts (or Price Breaks based on purchased Quantity) on your store, I have a working solution using EP to download, upload and update price breaks. Yes, this did require me to code it and create a new file type: Model/Price/Breaks "PriceBreaks-...".

Hi Chadderruski,

Is your update an update of the easypopulate.php file packaged in EP v. 1.2.5.5 (version available in ZC downloads area - "Admin Tools" category)?

http://www.zen-cart.com/index.php?main_page=product_contrib_info&cPath=40_41&products_id=395

And does your update support ZC 1.38a?

Regarding creating a "new file type", what is meant by that?

Thanks,
Woody

Woodymon:

Hi Chadderruski,

Is your update an update of the easypopulate.php file packaged in EP v. 1.2.5.5 (version available in ZC downloads area - "Admin Tools" category)?

http://www.zen-cart.com/index.php?main_page=product_contrib_info&cPath=40_41&products_id=395

And does your update support ZC 1.38a?

Regarding creating a "new file type", what is meant by that?

Woody

Hi Woody,

The above attached file is rather an example of how to do quantity discounts and not meant to be a full update to EP v1.2.5.5. That would require more time and testing in addition to making modifications to the admin selectable options.

I have added my own fields for download and also recently even added fields to my products database (products_price_UOM for example so I can list my prices as ea cs bx, etcetera). Extending this functionality to be broadly compatible for all users is again time consuming and would require further testing.

What I meant by "new file type" is that I made a new download type for products/price/and quantity breaks. Again, I've since changed this to include my own products_price_UOM but left that out of the above file since a user would need to modify their database and other core files...

I have also added fields for v_product_is_call v_products_sort_order v_products_quantity_order_min v_products_quantity_order_units because these are relevant to our business. All of these are rather easy to add since they are stored in the products database.

IF IF IF I can get the time AND figure out the attributes features I may do a full update to EP Free. The attributes look like a pain in the arse... more difficult than quantity breaks which turned out to be quite simple. At the same time I'd rather do a "configurable" download that would let you select the fields you need from the products database and download just those. This would be more useful in the long run and "hopefully" eliminate the need to modify the code manually.

So I posted this code for the more gear minded users to ponder and give feed back on, and for those that have been desperate for a quantity breaks update feature that has been sorely lacking to date.

I am using 1.38a but this should also work with 1.37 provided you check your database for added fields.

-cj

I would be extremely interested in this.

I'm leary to buy ep pro since the author doesn't seem to check his own forums and the non-profit would not want to waste it's money if it doesn't work. We'd be soley buying it so that we ep attributes as well as items categories etc.

Also incase people are interested, i have been able to add new fields to Easy Populate so that you can add new fields as well. The only file you need to edit is easypopulate.php and below is a link to the one that i made, it allows you to upload 5 new fields called; "Materials, Finish, Height, Width, Length".

You can use this a a guide and make it to however you want.

http://www.agelessartifacts.com/private/easypopulate.rar

Delights:

http://www.agelessartifacts.com/private/easypopulate.rar

Would it be possible for you to package this up as a ZIP rather than RAR. Most novices can't unpack RAR as it requires a specific unpacker, but can unpack ZIP.

schoolboy:

Would it be possible for you to package this up as a ZIP rather than RAR. Most novices can't unpack RAR as it requires a specific unpacker, but can unpack ZIP.

http://www.agelessartifacts.com/private/easypopulate.zip

:D

Thanks! :clap:

schoolboy:

Thanks! :clap:

NP. it was really easy to do as well, the way that everyone was going on, i thought it would be alot harder.

Hi,
Sorry for this so very basic post but I cant even get EP started.
I may have it in the wrong place and I may have done a few other things wrong.
There's a few things I don't understand.
I have no idea what I'm doin lol.

Anyway what I have done so far is.....
Downloaded EP, unzipped it (that I understand).
The install says rename the admin file to suit my zencart installation.
The version says it is "Zen Cart 1.3.7". So I have renamed the admin file "v1.3.7", not sure if this is right, but that's what I've done.

The install text says "The temp folder is configured to reside in your store directory".
The temp folder along with "v1.3.7" folder, the "easypopulate.php" file and the "install_sql" file are all here /public_html/.
This is also where all the folders start for zencart, so I'm assuming this is the root directory and where all the files for EP go.

In the admin area, Easy Populate appears at the bottom of the list and when clicked on opens the editing page which can be edited, e.g "Upload File Date Format" etc.

Easy Populate doesn't appear in the admin> tools dropdown list.

I also have the "temp" folder chmod to 700.

I have tried "/easypopulate.php?langer=install" after the website URL shopinoz.com.au/admin/ .
Only to get the message "Fatal error: Call to undefined function ep_chmod_check() in /home/xxxx/public_html/admin/easypopulate.php on line 217"

Can anybody steer me in the right direction of placement of the folders and files or what I need to rename the admin folder, or anything else I may be doing wrong.

I did search this thread but there's 200 pages and I couldn't find something as basic as the info I need.

Sorry to be so unknowing of the EP, it sounds so easy.

Thanks for any help,
Chris.

Anyway what I have done so far is.....
Downloaded EP, unzipped it (that I understand).
The install says rename the admin file to suit my zencart installation.
The version says it is "Zen Cart 1.3.7". So I have renamed the admin file "v1.3.7", not sure if this is right, but that's what I've done.

You put upload the admin fold to the store, for example mine is https://www.agelessartifacts.com/store, so in this case i would upload the folder to that.

The install text says "The temp folder is configured to reside in your store directory".
The temp folder along with "v1.3.7" folder, the "easypopulate.php" file and the "install_sql" file are all here /public_html/.
This is also where all the folders start for zencart, so I'm assuming this is the root directory and where all the files for EP go

The TEMP folder i always make it 777.

I made the temp folder 777 and the folders all seem to be where my store is.
I have to change the admin folder name as there is an admin folder already where I have uploaded EP.

Apart from what you have suggested nothing has changed, still no Easy Populate in the admin> tools> dropdown list.

So I still need a little help :smile:
Thanks for helping.
Chris.

I'm confused by all this discussion on EP.
All I want is a way to populate the store with products created in a database. Don't need options, specials, discounts, etc. What version do I need and where is the download? I really did try to follow the discourse, but over 200 pages is a bit overwhelming.

tiz:

I'm confused by all this discussion on EP.
All I want is a way to populate the store with products created in a database. Don't need options, specials, discounts, etc. What version do I need and where is the download? I really did try to follow the discourse, but over 200 pages is a bit overwhelming.

Tiz, Chris & Delights:

You can download 1.2.5.4 from (IGNORE THE OTHER VERSION AS IT'S VERY BUGGY):

http://www.modhole.com/modhole/index.php?module=documents&JAS_DocumentManager_op=viewDocument&JAS_Document_id=2

For Instructions on how to use EP Free (standard) I HIGHLY recommend SchoolBoy's wiki entry here:

http://www.zen-cart.com/wiki/index.php/Easy_Populate

If you were able to install your zencart store correctly, you should be able to understand the basic instructions in the zip file on how to proceed.

All the ep files go INTO the ADMIN folder following the file structure there. Example:

https://www.example.com ---> your domain name

https://www.example.com/store ----> this is where you installed your "store" but note that you may have also installed it in the root...

https://www.example.com/store/admin ----> this is where you go when you log in to your stores control panel

so, for easypopulate.php ... it goes here:

https://www.example.com/store/admin/easypopulate.php

Then all the includes folder files go here ...

https://www.example.com/store/admin/includes/ ... (to many to list, but you should get the idea)

A good ftp client will upload your "admin" directory off your local machine and update the remote site adding your new files and folders automatically.

After loading all your files, you would go to your store's admin page and under Tools > Install SQL Patches and PASTE the code from install_sql (just open it with notepad hi-light it all and copy it) don't upload the file as this doesn't always work correctly.

I hope this helps get you guys off on the right foot... 1.2.5.4 works fine for the basics, but I'm pretty sure ATTRIBUTES don't work...

Schoolboy, you still around? Can you verify this?

Good Luck!

chris21:

I made the temp folder 777 and the folders all seem to be where my store is.
I have to change the admin folder name as there is an admin folder already where I have uploaded EP.

Apart from what you have suggested nothing has changed, still no Easy Populate in the admin> tools> dropdown list.

So I still need a little help :smile:
Thanks for helping.
Chris.

I would suggest re-downloading and uploading the new files again, it must be a file upload error.

Thanks for those links. I had downloaded the newest EP from the Add Ons section and worked through the old osc guides to add ep to my menu basically got everything right and was still having some screwed up issues I worked on it for probably 3 hours + :censored: not writing to the db. I downloaded the old file from your link and had it working in 5 minutes with new products. :clap:

Delights:

I would suggest re-downloading and uploading the new files again, it must be a file upload error.

Did anybody notice that Chris21 changed his admin folder name to his ZenCart Version Name.---

elkbow:

Did anybody notice that Chris21 changed his admin folder name to his ZenCart Version Name.---

Hiya Elkbow!

Yes, I did notice but I hoped my explanation would cover it!

Did you take a look at the quantity discounts (a page or two back) download/upload I figured out?

-cj

Need help,

Just installed, everything seemed fine then got this:

Upload Results

File uploaded.
Temporary filename: /tmp/phpFTGBrd
User filename: fulllist-07-11-08.XLS
Size: 4468736

Upload Complete

Seemed ok, but on the store i have no catergories, items....or anything just a plain install.

What did i o wrong? I installed everything correctly then uploaded my excel doc.

Thanks

Chris

Just to add, i see the file i uploaded in the temp folder