Easy Populate 1.2.5.4 support

elkbow:

Chadd,
Are you saying there is a mod called "Quick Updates"?

Thanks
John

Hi John,

Yes, a different product than EP.

For EP you can add fields with out too much trouble. This is all I've done. Do YOU have sort order in the complete download... I suppose I could have added that myself.

I added quantity_min and quantity_units to EP and Quick Updates cause that is how this company sells stuff, and these weren't in the official releases.

-chaddro

Noneya99:

Any help or info that anyone is willing to offer I'd greatly appreciate it.

Noneya,

Here is a post on adding sort order. I guess I did it without documenting it:

http://www.zen-cart.com/forum/showthread.php?p=309463&highlight=sort_order#post309463

Very easy to do! Just back you databases up first before any testing.

-chaddro

Mike123acc:

Hi all

Easy Populate looks like a great idea.......but I am really confused.

Mike,

Re-read the install instructions again carefully. Make sure ALL files have been uploaded to the server. You also must have permissions 777 to the temp directory that you will also have to create on the server.

No temp directory sounds like your problem.... note that this is off the ROOT of your site and must have write permissions to work ---> 777

Your test scheme is correct: add a couple products manually, then download them and check the file. You must give a product_model to every product or else EP will not work since this is the key used to identify products. They must also be unique --> this is NOT required by Zencart, but it is to use EP.

If you can download products and it look okay, but cannot upload, be sure to have EOREOR copied down. EP fails without this at the end of each line!!!

Hope this helps...

-chaddro

I'm using zen cart 1.3.7 and EP 1.2.5.4.

I click the "Download Complete tab-delimited .txt file to edit" and it downloads a text file with only these columns:

v_products_model v_specials_price v_specials_date_avail v_specials_expires_date v_products_price v_products_quantity EOREOR

The last column has "EOREOR" for every row. Is this a bug? I was hoping it would show the product id and name, because I have multiple products with the same v_products_model.

Also, the Froogle feed file is outdated and no longer works with Google. Most of the columns changed when Froogle changed to Google Products in early 2007. It actually has since changed again to Google Product Search or Google Shopping, while the backend where you upload products is now Google Base, although the format hasn't changed since the Google Products change in 2007.

Decoy,

Yes that is supposed to be there it tells the system that is the end of the line (or product info) you HAVE to have different model numbers I found that out the hard way once..lol..if nothing else add a 1,2,3,... or a,b,c.... to the end of the product numbers

Chad,

Oh you are a sweetheart !!! thank you so much I will try to modify the code using the link you gave and cross your fingers that it works.

I'll post back in a few mins and let you know if it did or not

Thxs,
Noneya

Noneya99:

Decoy,

Yes that is supposed to be there it tells the system that is the end of the line (or product info) you HAVE to have different model numbers I found that out the hard way once..lol..if nothing else add a 1,2,3,... or a,b,c.... to the end of the product numbers

Wouldn't it make more sense for the product id to be included, as it's the primary key for the products table anyway and could therefore be treated the same way in the exported/imported file? I think it would be easier if I tried modifying the code to add that column (I'd rather not go through hundreds of existing products in zencart to add suffixes to the model numbers), if the author of EP isn't able to.

fakeDecoy:

Wouldn't it make more sense for the product id to be included, as it's the primary key for the products table anyway and could therefore be treated the same way in the exported/imported file? I think it would be easier if I tried modifying the code to add that column (I'd rather not go through hundreds of existing products in zencart to add suffixes to the model numbers), if the author of EP isn't able to.

I guess in a way it would make it easier for those who have to have the same model number .. however .. what if you are ADDing new products using the EP how are you to know what the product ID is going to be i mean yeah you could log in and find the last one added but then that kind of defeats the whole purpose of using the mod to be faster when putting products in.. Just my thoughts on it I'm not a programmer so I don't complain about anything that is created as a mod that I might be able to use I am grateful to them all b/c without them I'm screwed and SOL..lol.. they make me look good to my clients..lol

fakeDecoy:

Wouldn't it make more sense for the product id to be included, as it's the primary key for the products table anyway and could therefore be treated the same way in the exported/imported file? I think it would be easier if I tried modifying the code to add that column (I'd rather not go through hundreds of existing products in zencart to add suffixes to the model numbers), if the author of EP isn't able to.

Oops I was actually looking at the wrong EP exported file. But anyway the complete one with the rest of the columns is missing the 'id' field too like we're talking about.

I actually wasn't aware that new products could be imported with this. That makes more sense then for the id to not be included.

fakeDecoy:

I actually wasn't aware that new products could be imported with this. That makes more sense then for the id to not be included.

Yeah I thought that was the whole purpose of the EP was to make putting in products faster and easier .. it does for me anyways were I was manually addeding thousands of products I can now add them all (plus maintain them when they need to be edited) .. now if you have more then i think the default is 300 lines you need to use the split feature .. but you can change that number in the EP under admin--> config.. I think i set mine to 500 and it works .. it also is great b/c after you upload the EP with either new products or modifing old ones .. it gives you a "print" out of what it uploaded and says things like "New Product added" or it will tell you one was skipped b/c something was wrong .. usually for me the model is too long..lol (b/c I duplicate the item name as the product with no spaces)

Ok, Have Easy Populate ver 1.2.5.4 installed. After upload in gives the upload report with all the New Products indicated. But when i go to the catagories and look for the products they are not there. If I reupload the same file it indicates Updated for all the same products and then they appear under all the catagories.

Any Ideas?
What happens if a catagorey is type wrong. what happens to that item?

Thanks Tim

fakeDecoy:

Wouldn't it make more sense for the product id to be included, as it's the primary key for the products table anyway and could therefore be treated the same way in the exported/imported file? I think it would be easier if I tried modifying the code to add that column (I'd rather not go through hundreds of existing products in zencart to add suffixes to the model numbers), if the author of EP isn't able to.

I won't argue with you there, but this IS how EP works. Langer made a EP Advanced that supports ID, but you'll have to buy that from his site... check page one and his post for EPA 3. He was doing a lot of work on it last summer but seems to have been swallowed up in a black hole and hasn't released an update.

I needed multi-column pricings. No luck!

-Chaddro.

Noneya99:

Chad,

Oh you are a sweetheart !!! thank you so much I will try to modify the code using the link you gave and cross your fingers that it works.

I'll post back in a few mins and let you know if it did or not

Thxs,
Noneya

LOL. Okay, ya have me blushing now! If you get stuck, PM me and I'll send ya the file I've edited.

I do have some ideas for a new release, but not any time soon. I'd like to add some selectors for products, like downloading only a single top level category, but all in good time (think late spring) as I have some freight modules to work on.

Never enough time in the day!

-Chaddro.

Vertcnc:

What happens if a catagorey is type wrong. what happens to that item?

If I remember correctly, you add the product as a linked product under a new category. Can make things messy!

Not sure about the other.

Vertcnc:

Ok, Have Easy Populate ver 1.2.5.4 installed. After upload in gives the upload report with all the New Products indicated. But when i go to the catagories and look for the products they are not there. If I reupload the same file it indicates Updated for all the same products and then they appear under all the catagories.
Any Ideas?

Have no clue on this one I've never had that happen that I am aware of I run the upload then go to the admin home and check my product count and they add up

Vertcnc:

What happens if a catagorey is type wrong. what happens to that item?

Thanks Tim

It's my understanding that if you type the category wrong as in misspell it .. it creates that new category and your product goes under there.

I haven't figured out an easy way to mass remove the categories yet i went and entered 5000 Products and then changed Some things and cleared out all of them and uploaded them all as new again in different categories .. and realized after the fact that I had 100+ categories still showing that now have no products in there .. so i just manually removed the empty categories .. I guess if you do that and catch it you can just manually "move" the product to a new category? but again back to the I'm not a programmer just a very grateful user of their hard work.

I think if i remember correctly on the modhole website that the advance has new features that are category specific related .. like adding a pic for the category.. that would be neat but I don't mind manually entering them in for this one site in particular i do want to buy the advanced but I think imma gonna wait til langer reappears so i know that the "year" of upgrades isn't wasted..LOL

Just to update I did modify the code to add sort order and it's working so far that I can tell I haven't re-uploaded the products yet .. but when i downloaded the full EP file the column is there and so are the numbers I manually entered before I downloaded.

If I have any problems I'll let you know

Thxs again Chad

Noneya99:

Have no clue on this one I've never had that happen that I am aware of I run the upload then go to the admin home and check my product count and they add up

It's my understanding that if you type the category wrong as in misspell it .. it creates that new category and your product goes under there.

I haven't figured out an easy way to mass remove the categories yet i went and entered 5000 Products and then changed Some things and cleared out all of them and uploaded them all as new again in different categories .. and realized after the fact that I had 100+ categories still showing that now have no products in there .. so i just manually removed the empty categories .. I guess if you do that and catch it you can just manually "move" the product to a new category? but again back to the I'm not a programmer just a very grateful user of their hard work.

I think if i remember correctly on the modhole website that the advance has new features that are category specific related .. like adding a pic for the category.. that would be neat but I don't mind manually entering them in for this one site in particular i do want to buy the advanced but I think imma gonna wait til langer reappears so i know that the "year" of upgrades isn't wasted..LOL

I tried this again today and after the new products are uploaded it created the new catagories, the total # of products in the Admin page increased by the proper # but the items are not found in any of the new catagories.

Strange one.

I know this covers two problems, but seem connected !!!

Easy Populate Version 1.2.5.4
And
MySql Backup.
Two Separate Stores Involved here.

Lunix Hosting Configuration 1
Runs php version 4.0.27
1. ****Allows the MySql back up to work under Admin/Tools.
2. ****Does NOT ALLOW Easy Populate to upload more than 1800 items
as it TIMES OUT. Ending with a blank page, but products are loaded up.
3. Found the best way to use EP was to go thru Create/Upload in temp/. 3259 in one shot.
4. Configuration 1 does NOT ALLOW access to php.ini. Max_execution = 60/30, Input_time = 60/60.
5. After months of trying, I found this: According to Dr Byte, the download of Attributes does not work.

Lunix Hosting Configuration 2 (disables “exe_cmd”)
Runs php version 4.3.11
1. ****Does NOT ALLOW MySql Backup to work under Admin/Tools.
2. ****Allows Easy Populate to upload as many products I can use.
3. ****Configuration 2 ALLOWS access to php.ini. Max_execution = 60/30, Input_time = 60/60.

So is “exe_cmd” involved in ZenCart 1.3.7?

Thanks, John

Hi All,
Found something else.

Everytime I up load my EP full, the date changes to Wednesday 31, December 1969...

Yet my EP full says "24-01-2008 6:23:00 PM".

I have checked all pages under Configuration to find out how to shut off the date added, and set all of those requests to 0 or left them blank yet the date still appears.

How do I shut off the date???
Do I eliminate the column completly in EP Full or ??

Thanks, John
archeryshop.com/zencart

Found it...

Catalog -> Product Types ->Edit Product Type (It's Edit Layout)