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Easy Populate & Products Attributes


VJ

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Ive spend a good amount of time researching for a contribution that would assist me in managing a large product line (over million+ product inventory),

 

It seems that Easy Populate seems to come up quite often, if you have any other suggestions, please advise

 

However my reason being here is to inquire about the version that I should use. in regards to EP

 

Following things to consider

 

-Large product inventory

-Lots of changes throughout month (pricing,stock )

-Product description (updates/changes/pics) *

 

*in regards to that, that may be a seperate issue. I am not sure does EP do anything to modify the way products are displayed in the layout, or is there another hack/contribution that can accomplish this?

 

Thanks all for your time and help, appreciate it very much

 

Z

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For Surfalot (please don't kick me!!!)

 

(or anyone that has had this happened to them...)

 

ok as you know... because of your help the last time... I got everything to work and all was great in "updateland" but of course, being the person that I am... I am to go mess with it, right?

 

I needed to have dimensions in there too. So I went and added what was needed and everything seemed to be working perfectly fine. Until I noticed something was wrong. If I create a EP file that doesn't contain the description of the product, when I upload my updated my new EP file, my existing description in the product disappears. I also have info such as Kgs/lbs or in/cm in the page that gets lost as well.

 

Any thought as to why it's doing that? what I might have done to cause this?

 

I know the quick fix would be to set the description to true like the price and name but if I made a booboo, I want to correct it now to avoir IT causing me other issues down the road.

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For Surfalot (please don't kick me!!!)

 

(or anyone that has had this happened to them...)

 

ok as you know... because of your help the last time... I got everything to work and all was great in "updateland" but of course, being the person that I am... I am to go mess with it, right?

 

I needed to have dimensions in there too. So I went and added what was needed and everything seemed to be working perfectly fine. Until I noticed something was wrong. If I create a EP file that doesn't contain the description of the product, when I upload my updated my new EP file, my existing description in the product disappears. I also have info such as Kgs/lbs or in/cm in the page that gets lost as well.

 

Any thought as to why it's doing that? what I might have done to cause this?

 

I know the quick fix would be to set the description to true like the price and name but if I made a booboo, I want to correct it now to avoir IT causing me other issues down the road.

if you are using 2.76d, it's a known problem, please always include the product name, description and URL. If you never use the URL, it can be left out.

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Ive spend a good amount of time researching for a contribution that would assist me in managing a large product line (over million+ product inventory),

 

It seems that Easy Populate seems to come up quite often, if you have any other suggestions, please advise

 

However my reason being here is to inquire about the version that I should use. in regards to EP

 

Following things to consider

 

-Large product inventory

-Lots of changes throughout month (pricing,stock )

-Product description (updates/changes/pics) *

 

*in regards to that, that may be a seperate issue. I am not sure does EP do anything to modify the way products are displayed in the layout, or is there another hack/contribution that can accomplish this?

 

Thanks all for your time and help, appreciate it very much

 

Z

the only version I know of that does anything to address large inventories is 2.76d.

avoid using attributes until it is addressed in a new version.

EP does nothing to alter the appearance of the product. the appearance is changed only through the osC shop code.

you may have serious problems with a mil+ product catalog. This code will load the entire product catalog before building output or accepting input. The original code is quite poor and built with very little forethought for large catalogs or future expansion. (it's a nice effort that works in many instances, but we must face the facts on that).

there are some commercial efforts out there you may want to look at that may have been coded with the forethought I mentioned.

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Hi guys, i'm quite sure this problem has been covered before (i know of at least 2 other post i myself have made) but i am being driven insane

by EP

 

i have installed various version and found 2.76d to be stable (once i patched it with jb's fix)

 

my problem is that when i upload to the database i get a message saying the file was uploaded

but the file size remains blank and i get no other output

and nothing goes into the database.

 

If any has seen this before and knows a fix PLEASE put me out of my misery.

 

thx (in advance). :'(

can't help if you aren't offering any details about your environment, example of your import file, example of your output screen. there is simply nothing here to go on. >_<

good luck

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the only version I know of that does anything to address large inventories is 2.76d.

avoid using attributes until it is addressed in a new version.

EP does nothing to alter the appearance of the product. the appearance is changed only through the osC shop code.

you may have serious problems with a mil+ product catalog. This code will load the entire product catalog before building output or accepting input. The original code is quite poor and built with very little forethought for large catalogs or future expansion. (it's a nice effort that works in many instances, but we must face the facts on that).

there are some commercial efforts out there you may want to look at that may have been coded with the forethought I mentioned.

 

hi Surfalot, thanks for your response. I understand what you are saying, for now.. I will test out will lower amount of inventory

 

Another question, I have is in regards to inventory management

 

It is my understanding that EP only "imports" (adds) , but Im assuming it doesnt remove or change the database on the fly. I cant just download the .csv and remove products, and upload to process the change right?

 

In other words, the only way I can do this on a monthly basis, would be to complete erase all values in the catalog (db), and upload using EP each time to ensure that all products are updated at that time . Thats my thinking, to kind of start "fresh" on each upload.

 

Hope I didnt confuse you ..

 

thanks again for your help

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hi Surfalot, thanks for your response. I understand what you are saying, for now.. I will test out will lower amount of inventory

 

Another question, I have is in regards to inventory management

 

It is my understanding that EP only "imports" (adds) , but Im assuming it doesnt remove or change the database on the fly. I cant just download the .csv and remove products, and upload to process the change right?

 

In other words, the only way I can do this on a monthly basis, would be to complete erase all values in the catalog (db), and upload using EP each time to ensure that all products are updated at that time . Thats my thinking, to kind of start "fresh" on each upload.

 

Hope I didnt confuse you ..

 

thanks again for your help

EP will export and import the catalog, insert and update products based on an unique Product Model number. No delete is available in v2.76d. I think remember someone has posted a patch to do deletes, but you need to do some searching for it.

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I am try to download filenames from excell csv and past to DB (products_attributes_download).

 

My excell file like this:

 

v_products_model v_filename v_products_image v_products_largeimage v_products_name_1 v_products_description_1

 

I insert one column: v_filename

Add code to easypopulate.php file

Line: 265

 

#'MY CODE!!!',

'v_filename',
'v_products_attributes_id'

#'MY CODE!!!',

 

Line: 534

 

//!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! MY CODE

	if (isset($filelayout['v_filename'])){
		if ($row['v_products_attributes_id'] != ''){
			$sql2 = "SELECT products_attributes_filename
				FROM ".TABLE_PRODUCTS_ATTRIBUTES_DOWNLOAD."
				WHERE
				products_attributes_id = " . $row['v_products_attributes_id']
		;
			$result2 = tep_db_query($sql2);
			$row2 =  tep_db_fetch_array($result2);
			$row['v_filename'] = $row2['products_attributes_filename'];
		}
	}

	//!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! MY CODE

 

Line: 1049

 

 //!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! MY CODE 

	   $cells[0][] = array('text' => '<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td class="smallText">' . tep_draw_checkbox_field('epcust_filename', 'show', (!empty($HTTP_GET_VARS['epcust_filename'])?true:false)) . '</td><td class="smallText"> filename' . '</td></tr></table>');

//!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! MY CODE

 

Line: 1339

 

//!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! MY CODE !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

	$header_array['v_filename'] = $iii++;
	$filelayout = array_merge($filelayout, $header_array);

//!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! MY CODE !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Line: 1497

 

//!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! MY CODE
	if (!empty($HTTP_GET_VARS['epcust_filename'])) {
	  $filelayout  = array_merge($filelayout , array( 'v_filename' => $iii++ ));
	}
//!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! MY CODE

 

Line: 1597

 

# !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!MY CODE

		'v_filename'		=> $iii++,

# !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!MY CODE

 

To insert into DB (products_attributes_download) I need to do this:

INSERT INTO `products_attributes_download` ( `products_attributes_id` , `products_attributes_filename` , `products_attributes_maxdays` , `products_attributes_maxcount` ) 
VALUES ('41380', 'unreal.zip', '2', '3');

How can I insert to my DB this column with filename?

 

Thank you for the help...

 

Did you ever get an answer to using the TABLE Products_attributes_download with EP. I am looking for the same thing.

Mike

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if you are using 2.76d, it's a known problem, please always include the product name, description and URL. If you never use the URL, it can be left out.

 

so I need to always include name + description+url and price? or was it my warped brain that included the price at all times instead of the description?

 

thank you once again :thumbsup:

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so I need to always include name + description+url and price? or was it my warped brain that included the price at all times instead of the description?

 

thank you once again :thumbsup:

since I can't see the code you added, I don't know why the dementions would get cleared on an import. But if you specify one of either name, description, or url, then you must inlcude all three. if none of those three are specified, all three can be left out.

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Hi,

I've a quick question. I've had easy Populate installed for a few months.. its been fine.

Recently, i went to edit my site so that when an item became sold out the item would remain active, i thought that if i changed the setting below to false

 

$zero_qty_inactive = false

 

that that would work, but everything something becomes sold out, it becomes inactive.

 

Have i misunderstood the setting or is there something else i need to do?

 

Thanks,

Mike

this is the first report of that malfunctioning. I've used it successfully with both settings. if it equals false then is should not inactivate the product if it's quantity is zero.

 

Understand that this setting only works while you are processing an import.

 

Also be aware of this fix, but I don't think this affects what you are reporting

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Curious if I can get some help on this: I have a large amount of products with massive attributes so I split my EP file. However, when I try to upload the split file this is what I get:

File uploaded.

Temporary filename: /tmp/phpHUIEpD

User filename: EP_Split1.txt

Size: 1214371

 

No products added. I've opened up the file in xl and it looks ok to me. I'm using EPv2.4 because I have Ultrapics installed and it's got support for that contrib. Any idea as to why this is happening and what I can do about it?

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Curious if I can get some help on this: I have a large amount of products with massive attributes so I split my EP file. However, when I try to upload the split file this is what I get:

File uploaded.

Temporary filename: /tmp/phpHUIEpD

User filename: EP_Split1.txt

Size: 1214371

 

No products added. I've opened up the file in xl and it looks ok to me. I'm using EPv2.4 because I have Ultrapics installed and it's got support for that contrib. Any idea as to why this is happening and what I can do about it?

PHP vers? PHP globals on/off? MySQL vers? Windows/Linux? (aways important when asking for help) :thumbsup:

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Hi Guys, sorry if these questions have come up earlier in the thread..

 

How hard would it be to modify this to,

 

A) Remove all products not found in the uploaded CSV

B) ONLY update price/stock/availability on products found

 

Thanks.

might want to search for it. enter delete products into the lower left search for this topic. 7 posts down.

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Hi,

 

I have tried using numerous versions of easy populate and turning on SPPC support , however regardless of what version i use none of the downloaded complete tab files contain the fields i need for SPPC.

 

I am currently only using Retail and Wholesale, hence i uncommented the lines in the easypopulate.php file v_customer_price_1 and _2 , however these fields are still not being exported when i do a complete dump.

 

in my product_groups table, my the fields i have are customer_group_price_1 etc: not customer_price_1 like it is in the easy populate.php file, i wasnt sure whether this would be because i am using a different version of SPPC where the field names were different and this is why the fields arent being exported correctly.

 

If anybody has had similar issues and been able to fix any help would be muchly appreciated ( i have been searching support forums all day and have not found anything to help sad.gif sad.gif )

 

cheers

 

dlyxzen

the SPPC support only works in the Price/Quantity download. At worst case, you have to keep 2 files. You may be able to combine the P/Q and the Complete in excel by copying columns for the import.

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I have installed Easy Populate but when I click on the link I get:

 

http://localhost/catalog/admin/FILENAME_IMP_EXP_CATALOG

 

Object not found!

The requested URL was not found on this server. The link on the referring page seems to be wrong or outdated. Please inform the author of that page about the error.

 

If you think this is a server error, please contact the webmaster.

 

Error 404

localhost

05/25/07 08:33:28

Apache/2.2.4 (Win32) DAV/2 mod_ssl/2.2.4 OpenSSL/0.9.8e mod_autoindex_color PHP/5.2.1

 

Can anyone please help?

 

Thanks

 

-AL

You missed something on the install. Run though the admin install again.

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Sorry for the triple post, but I thought some additional info might be helpful.

 

PHP Version 5.1.6

Apache/1.3.37 (Unix)

 

I can downgrade to PHP v 4 if it would help the problem.

I think you are right, the fix isn't complete. I still haven't seen a complete fix for that. ask your host if you can turn on the PHP globals using a local php.ini file. Some host just have it off by default.

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1. v_status column : I can download the FULL catalog tab-delimited text file of the existing products (Easy Populate) , convert it Excel and can see the columns including one called v_status which for all items has an entry of ACTIVE. The question is, do I need to leave products that are now obsolete in the Excel file and somehow label them "INACTIVE" or can I just delete the row for that product in which case I would wonder why the column exists. Will deleting the row delete them from the osC cart ?

deletes doen't work, see an earier post about delete code help. You can leave them in with inactive status, or just import once as inactive then you can remove from your excel file and it stays inactive.

 

2. colors / sizes : Each row (product) contains many many columns including colors/sizes/etc that may not be available for that product. When I add new products do I need to copy/paste all those columns ? Do I need to include those columns at all in the Excel file since this is an existing cart ?

if you don't need to change any attributes, you can simply not include the columns for an import. Attributes are currently an all-or-nothing thing. If you include any, you must include all. Its the safest way.

 

3. delete second language : My employee spoke Spanish (I don't really speak it well) so he included Spanish as a second language and I see Spanish entries for everything. The question is can I just use the Admin feature to remove the Spanish language ? Should I then download the tab-delimited file and start from there ?

I can't advise you on how to delete the other language, since no matter how you do it, some portions will remain scattered in the database (depending on the number of mods you have installed. But that shouldn't cause a problem moving forward and may simplify some issues.

 

4. categories / subcategories : I produce 2-4 different catalogs (print) per year and my employee had set up each (seasonal) catalog as a category at the root level, as I click down into the seasonal catalog I get another list of categories for the different products. Does this seem like a good way to do it ? It seems that in the Excel (EP) file some products are listed more than once (multiple rows same product) as they are sold in mulitiple seasonal catalogs. The only difference is the categories_name_1 (or 2, etc.). Should I continue this practice.

yes if you want the catelog to remain as it is. remember you must update each in the speadsheet when making updates. If your products have been copied to all secondary categories using the "link" method or by duplicating the product lines using EP as the original creator, you may reduce the update speadsheet to one entry per product for updating simplicity.

 

5. product database : So it looks to me like in order to add products I do the following : (please confirm)

a. add new lines in the Excel (EP) file that reference JPEG photos and contain code numbers, prices, categories (seasonal and product type)

b. generate the JPEG photos and upload to the images directory

c. upload the Excel (EP) file - not sure how yet but I assume it's easy

sounds about right. duplicate the product lines in excel and change the category to add it to multiple cats.

 

6. product attributes : For each product it looks to me like I need to use the Admin function one at a time to add the specific attributes (size, color) that apply to that product. Is that right ? Is there a way to specify these applicable attributes in the Excel (EP) file ? It appears that each product has columns representing all possible attributes in the existing EP file.

the easiest way to add attributes is to use the admin then download. I do want to simplify that, but nothing in the works yet.

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Hi all

 

Wonder if you cna help me - im tearing my hair out -

 

http://www.oscommerce.com/forums/index.php?sho...=258638&hl=

 

I have read this thread where someone has the same problem as me using easypopulate, however I have it after using excel import (which is easypopulates grandfather).

 

I have two languages, and admin accesses, updates and displays the fields for both languages fine, but the site simply says there arent any products when you select german. English displays everything perfectly. KonnexStore

 

Is there a screwed up link to the language ID anywhere? I deleted spanish (via amin only), was wondering if language ~ID is out somewhere in the PHP files or something? If anyone at all can help me it'd awesome.

 

cheers

 

Jon

Edited by Pensive
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Hi,

 

This is my first time at both subs and also with easypopulate.

please forgive me if I am asking something that is quite simple...

the company hosting my site has blocked 'raw sql commands via http post commands'

 

Question which version of easy populate should I use ?

 

My EP version I tried was..

I was using version

// Current EP Version

$curver = '2.78-MS2';

 

/*

$Id: easypopulate.php,v 2.74 2004/05/03 VJ Exp $

*/

 

The hosting companies reply was...

 

'The problem is that easypopulate.php sends raw sql commands via http post commands. We block these on the server as they are usually only used by hackers to try to insert data into mysql databases. No web application should ever allow raw sql commands to be sent.

 

<IfModule mod_security.c>

SecFilterEngine Off

SecFilterScanPOST Off

</IfModule>

 

to the .htaccess file it is trying to turn off the checks we do on the http post commands.'

 

---------------------------------------------------

 

Regards

 

Matt

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PHP vers? PHP globals on/off? MySQL vers? Windows/Linux? (aways important when asking for help) :thumbsup:

php 4.4.7

globals on

mysql client api version 5

Linux server

 

I had EP version 2.6 installed and then I replaced the easypopulate.php file with the v2.4 instead. Could that be part of the problem? I would be so happy for some insight to this. :-"

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Thank you Surfalot, I will check it out to find something that can delete/remove products on a batch level.

 

However , I have a bigger issue that was wondering if you guys can assist.

 

the situation is as follows (an example) . We want to have two ways for a customer to find a product through the category table menu We figure the first way is by Manufacturer / Type of Acessory, and then through phone model. The second way, would be Manufacturer / Phone Model / Type of Accessory , so visuall it would be like this...

 

 

Product : Motorola Battery OEM Model 7118

 

This battery is going to be listed under category (by manufacter/ type of accessory/ phone model)

 

Motorola > Battery > Motorola Razr V3 > Mot Battery OEM Model 7118

 

 

 

However, on the site we also want to do category by Phone Model, so it would be like this

 

Motorola > Motorola Razr V3 > Battery > Mot Battery OEM Model 7118

 

 

Our dilemna is, we understand that OSC can do "copy to" link function (which allows to put one product under multiple categories, but how can we utilized Easy Populate to upload the products while maintaining this?

 

Is it possible?

 

This is also complicated because we have at least over 12,000 products so something we can do on a "batch" level is preferred, but we understand if not possible.

 

We tested it out using up to Level 3 categories, but theres no way to do create a seperate category during the process. So my other question is, is this more of a category "hack" rather than an issue with easy populate?

 

 

Thanks for your help, this is a tough one but any advice, suggestions is much appreciated.

thank you all, have a great weekend

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Thank you Surfalot, I will check it out to find something that can delete/remove products on a batch level.

 

However , I have a bigger issue that was wondering if you guys can assist.

 

the situation is as follows (an example) . We want to have two ways for a customer to find a product through the category table menu We figure the first way is by Manufacturer / Type of Acessory, and then through phone model. The second way, would be Manufacturer / Phone Model / Type of Accessory , so visuall it would be like this...

Product : Motorola Battery OEM Model 7118

 

This battery is going to be listed under category (by manufacter/ type of accessory/ phone model)

 

Motorola > Battery > Motorola Razr V3 > Mot Battery OEM Model 7118

However, on the site we also want to do category by Phone Model, so it would be like this

 

Motorola > Motorola Razr V3 > Battery > Mot Battery OEM Model 7118

Our dilemna is, we understand that OSC can do "copy to" link function (which allows to put one product under multiple categories, but how can we utilized Easy Populate to upload the products while maintaining this?

 

Is it possible?

 

This is also complicated because we have at least over 12,000 products so something we can do on a "batch" level is preferred, but we understand if not possible.

 

We tested it out using up to Level 3 categories, but theres no way to do create a seperate category during the process. So my other question is, is this more of a category "hack" rather than an issue with easy populate?

Thanks for your help, this is a tough one but any advice, suggestions is much appreciated.

thank you all, have a great weekend

 

List manually a product in sevral categories in yoru back end using the link function (or duplicate your choice)

do an download in EP to see what it create, and just mimic this when you create your flat file before you upload it

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A smarter way to deal with this woudl be to create a second and third "manufacturer" that would be accessory type and phone model and have 3 dropdowns

 

look how www.thefrenchybee.com deals with the products scents (on the left navigation)

 

After that you will have to alter the EP file to add a second and third manufacturer.

 

more work, but easier when it comes to navigation for the customer

Edited by pixclinic
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