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EasyPopulate 2.4, now with Froogle support!


wasson65

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If you know how, yes! Easy Populate takes the info and uploads it to msql in a format that is compatible for those of us that are database challenged :)

 

Debbie

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I am just starting to get into my OSC setup and made an attempt at using EP. I was able to add the link to the admin section N/P, but when I try to access the EP page, I get an error:

Fatal error: Cannot redeclare tep_get_tax_class_title() in home??admin/easypopulate_functions.php on line 34

 

Has anyone else seen this. I tried searching the forums, but was unable to find it...

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I am just starting to get into my OSC setup and made an attempt at using EP. I was able to add the link to the admin section N/P, but when I try to access the EP page, I get an error:  

Fatal error: Cannot redeclare tep_get_tax_class_title() in home??admin/easypopulate_functions.php on line 34  

 

Has anyone else seen this. I tried searching the forums, but was unable to find it...

 

Hi Again,

 

I answered this in an email, but for everyone's edification, go into easypopulate_functions, and comment out that entire offending function. I put it in there because some snapshots didn't have it. But if your snapshot does have it, then it will cause that "cannot redeclare" error.

 

Tim

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I think I may have found a problem.  

 

catagories are in reverse order

 

It's not a bug, but it's not a feature either. It was a shortcut - it was easier to program it that way. I've got a version of EP that changes this to the top-down order, and also adds product_url. It's getting beta tested now, and will get released soon. The reverse-ish ordering is discussed in the docs, but it's been a thorn in my side since day one, and pretty soon it won't be a thorn any more!

 

Tim

 

Tim: Did you ever release a version that has the categories in proper order? And if not, what would you think about posting that part of the code or at least pointing me in right direction? Thanks for all your work.

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I think I may have found a problem.  

 

catagories are in reverse order

 

It's not a bug, but it's not a feature either. It was a shortcut - it was easier to program it that way. I've got a version of EP that changes this to the top-down order, and also adds product_url. It's getting beta tested now, and will get released soon. The reverse-ish ordering is discussed in the docs, but it's been a thorn in my side since day one, and pretty soon it won't be a thorn any more!

 

Tim

 

Tim: Did you ever release a version that has the categories in proper order? And if not, what would you think about posting that part of the code or at least pointing me in right direction? Thanks for all your work.

 

Sorry for the delay, been busy busy busy. Anyway, I'm scheduled to spend some time on EP this week, hopefully with a release of whatever I'm able to get pulled together. It will include the "category in the right order" fix as well as additional fields for up and download.

 

Tim

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Hi! - looks like a great contribution, thank you!

 

I'm trying to use EasyPopulate (2.4b7) to upload products into osCommerce.

 

The thing is that my data source is delivered as a whole bunch of seperate TAB delimted text files (ie pricing in a seperate file to product details etc.).

 

When uploading a text file using EasyPopulate, does the file you are trying to import have to have ALL fields present (even if they are blank) ?

 

What I'm hoping is that I could do something like this:

 

Modify the product details text file, and include blank columns for fields which are located in another file (eg. pricing), then upload that file. Then, modify the pricing file, and include columns for each field (empty) which are in the other file, then upload THAT file.

 

Is this a valid way of working, or do I have to somehow merge the individual files such that ALL the info for each product is populated in the one TAB delimited text file?

 

Thanks for any help in advance...

Cheers

 

Robert

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It has to have a way for the database to know where the information belongs, so it needs to have the product Model number which is a unique identifier. You should them be able to upload the individual files. I would be inclined to cut and paste the columns into a master file according to the EP template though.

 

Debbie

[no external urls in signatures please, kthanks]

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Thanks for the reply Deborah!

 

So, what you're saying is that as long as I have the v_products_model field defined in each file, I could upload each file individually? Does this mean that I still have to have blank columns for other fields as defined in the template, or could I have say a TAB delimted file with just v_products_model and v_products_price in it ?

 

Also, I now have a master file with about 15000 records in it, when I try to upload, it just jumps straight to a standard browser "Page Not Found" error.

 

Any idea what causes this? (ie it doesnt seem to be the PHP timeout issue, as this happens IMMEDIATELY I click the import button)

 

Thanks

Cheers

 

Robert

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Hi!  - looks like a great contribution, thank you!

 

I'm trying to use EasyPopulate (2.4b7) to upload products into osCommerce.  

 

The thing is that my data source is delivered as a whole bunch of seperate TAB delimted text files (ie pricing in a seperate file to product details etc.).  

 

When uploading a text file using EasyPopulate, does the file you are trying to import have to have ALL fields present (even if they are blank) ?  

 

What I'm hoping is that I could do something like this:  

 

Modify the product details text file, and include blank columns for fields which are located in another file (eg. pricing), then upload that file. Then, modify the pricing file, and include columns for each field (empty) which are in the other file, then upload THAT file.  

 

Is this a valid way of working, or do I have to somehow merge the individual files such that ALL the info for each product is populated in the one TAB delimited text file?  

 

Thanks for any help in advance...

 

Hi, Tim the EP guy here.

 

The way EP works, if a field is present, it's assumed that the data in the field is valid, and it will update the item. So if the description is in the file, and it's blank, then EP will dutifully put a blank into the description.

 

EP doesn't require all the fields to be present in the file when you upload it. If the field is there, it will use it, if not, it will *generally* keep the existing data. I say *generally* because it's designed that way, and as far as I know, it works fine. If you've added fields to the database and to EP, then you have quite a bit more chance for error. As with all contribs, you should back up your database and test with just one or two products to verify that it's going to behave the way you expect.

 

So that's the long answer, the short answer is yes, EP should work OK using the method you described, as long as you don't include fields you don't want to update.

 

Enjoy!

 

Tim

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Thanks for the reply Deborah!

 

So, what you're saying is that as long as I have the v_products_model field defined in each file, I could upload each file individually? Does this mean that I still have to have blank columns for other fields as defined in the template, or could I have say a TAB delimted file with just  v_products_model and v_products_price in it ?

 

Also, I now have a master file with about 15000 records in it, when I try to upload, it just jumps straight to a standard browser "Page Not Found" error.

 

Any idea what causes this? (ie it doesnt seem to be the PHP timeout issue, as this happens IMMEDIATELY I click the import button)

 

Thanks

 

Hi again!

 

v_products_model is required, beyond that the fields should be optional. Do not include a blank field unless you intend to have that field set to a blank in the database.

 

I would very much recommend you start with a much smaller spreadsheet (3-5 products) until you've got the process working smoothly. If that works, then move on to more at one time. If you're on a shared server, there is probably no chance that you'll be able to upload all those products in a single shot. Many people ran into limits around 300-500 items at a time, but YMMV. EP does have a file-split function to break the file into smaller chunks.

 

The 404 error bothers me tho. Something is not right in your configuration. I'd suggest doing a view-source on the EP page, and look at the form tag and see what page the button is trying to post to, and see if that makes sense in the context of your server settings.

 

Cheers,

 

Tim

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Ahhh...looking at the source for the page, I see the hidden field which relates to file size. Obviously, my files are WAY to big!

 

I have grabbed a smaller chunk of the file, and am now able to get the import to work.

 

This importing will be done to a local dedicated server, so speed of upload will not be an issue.

 

I have successfully imported a bunch of products, and then their image path from a seperate file. I see the categories listed, but the products all say "Product Not Found". I gather I'm missing some important field.

 

I'm on the right track now...

 

Thank you both for your help, I dips me lid!

Cheers

 

Robert

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Hmmm...I'm now trying to use the "split file" function to chop the big file up into digestible chunks.

 

This also just takes me immediately to the "Page Cannot Be Displayed" error.

 

Im just gonna check the apache log to see if there's anything in there...

 

ahh! I saw a message which indicated that the file size was too large!

 

This is a parameter in the /etc/httpd/conf.d/php.conf file - LimitRequestBody which seemed to cause the 404 type error I described earlier.

 

However, now when I try to use the split file function, it just returns me straight to the EasyPopulate screen, without doing anything...

 

I'm getting there...

Cheers

 

Robert

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so, I installed easy populate for the client - no problem.

ran the froogle download and submitted it to froogle - no problem

 

decided it was time to try an upload.

1) backup data from database

2) backup database structure

3) easy populate download to tab del exell

4) save as tab deliniated

5) upload

 

WAMMO!

 

it starts creating "added" items. There are no "new" items. This is not good. Fortrunatly I had done (1) and (2).

 

No problem. Go into phpmyadmin and empty the products and products description tables restore in phpmyadmin.

 

Hmmm, seems to have creaed a bunch of new manufacturers.

 

Go into OSC admin and remove them.

 

Dump the database again (sql data only)

 

Match it up against the sql data dump from before I did the upload. All match (except an additional clickthrough on the manufacturers counter) [one of the reasons that this is done at 2AM PST]

 

Looks fine.

 

Go to the site. Click on one of the categories that has sub-categories. Hmmm, something si wrong. It should show the sub-cats with images, but it returns an empty list, as if it was a category with no products.

 

Not good.

 

Create a new test category in OSC admin and add a sub-category.

 

Displays the subcategory in OSC as it's suppose to.

 

Create a new category and MOVE one of the old sub-categories to it.

 

Displays properly in OSC.

 

Now, I'm at a loss. It's clear that easy populate DIDN'T populate properly, but the dump of the table and the restore of the old data SHOULD have reverted the site back. The databases match (from the phpmyadmin dump of all the tables in the database). Why is OSC NOT functioning properly in displaying the sub-categories?

 

I'm at a loss to explain this, although my kluge of creating new top level categories and then moving the sub-categories to them seemd to work, I have no idea why it wasn't working when all the data in the database was the same.

 

While I would love to know what actually failed in easypopulate (oh yes, I'm using version 2.41B7 and my OSC is tep_snapshot_*-20020728 with some heavy mods) my concern is actually what happened to the category/sub-category. The database showed no differences, yet the system functioned differently.

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First, do your products have unique model numbers?

 

about 10% of them have unique "product model" values (this is what you meant, right? - the field 'v_products_model').

 

[again, my main concern is *not* easypopulate, but what happened to the categories/sub-categories when the database was resored and it still didn't work properly]

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First, do your products have unique model numbers?

 

about 10% of them have unique "product model" values (this is what you meant, right? - the field 'v_products_model').

 

[again, my main concern is *not* easypopulate, but what happened to the categories/sub-categories when the database was resored and it still didn't work properly]

 

Hi Tim here finally,

 

I don't have any input for you on the database problems, but the products_model must be unique for each item in the db. Otherwise EP has no way of telling one product from the other. I think the docs cover this.

 

Sorry you are having problems.

 

Tim

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Hi Tim here finally' date='

 

I don't have any input for you on the database problems, but the products_model must be unique for each item in the db. Otherwise EP has no way of telling one product from the other. I think the docs cover this.

 

Sorry you are having problems.

 

Tim[/quote']

 

"EasyPopulate requires the use of the product_model field (model number). It won't work without the model number. The model numbers you assign must be unique, i.e. you can't give all your products a product_model of "test"." - top of the page on page 2. Missed it. That explains the readon I hosed the database :-) Now, what happened with the categories and sub-categories?

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Hi Tim here finally' date='

 

I don't have any input for you on the database problems, but the products_model must be unique for each item in the db. Otherwise EP has no way of telling one product from the other. I think the docs cover this.

 

Sorry you are having problems.

 

Tim[/quote']

 

"EasyPopulate requires the use of the product_model field (model number). It won't work without the model number. The model numbers you assign must be unique, i.e. you can't give all your products a product_model of "test"." - top of the page on page 2. Missed it. That explains the readon I hosed the database :-) Now, what happened with the categories and sub-categories?

 

Have you tried restoring the categories and categories_description tables from your backup?

 

Tim

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Hi Tim here finally' date='

 

I don't have any input for you on the database problems, but the products_model must be unique for each item in the db. Otherwise EP has no way of telling one product from the other. I think the docs cover this.

 

Sorry you are having problems.

 

Tim[/quote']

 

"EasyPopulate requires the use of the product_model field (model number). It won't work without the model number. The model numbers you assign must be unique, i.e. you can't give all your products a product_model of "test"." - top of the page on page 2. Missed it. That explains the readon I hosed the database :-) Now, what happened with the categories and sub-categories?

 

Have you tried restoring the categories and categories_description tables from your backup?

 

Tim

 

A review of the entire database shows there are "no differences" between the data in those tables (phpmyadmin "data" dumps of the entire database). Since there are no changes to the records I saw no reason to dump and reload from the pre-change .sql file.

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A review of the entire database shows there are "no differences" between the data in those tables (phpmyadmin "data" dumps of the entire database). Since there are no changes to the records I saw no reason to dump and reload from the pre-change .sql file.

 

DOH! Now it's my turn to not read everything... 8-)

 

It's very odd with it not displaying. Have you tried turning off the cache in your browser completely? I'm just wondering if the new category ID numbers in the URL made the browser reload the page, while the existing categories were in the browser's cache from when you looked at them when they were broken.

 

I'm shooting in the dark here - that's a very odd symptom you're getting.

 

Tim

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DOH! Now it's my turn to not read everything... 8-)

 

Hey' date=' that's okay. I know the feeling :oops:

 

It's very odd with it not displaying. Have you tried turning off the cache in your browser completely? I'm just wondering if the new category ID numbers in the URL made the browser reload the page, while the existing categories were in the browser's cache from when you looked at them when they were broken.

 

I'm shooting in the dark here - that's a very odd symptom you're getting.

 

Tim

 

I know, that is what bothered me. No, I wasn't the only one getting it. The client was up with me. I was getting it in NS7 and he was getting it in IE, The fcat that it was not reflected in the database is what concerned me the most.

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I know, that is what bothered me. No, I wasn't the only one getting it. The client was up with me. I was getting it in NS7 and he was getting it in IE, The fcat that it was not reflected in the database is what concerned me the most.

 

Did you try turning off the caching in OSC? I know it pre-builds the category values. If it filled the cache with nothing, then you restored the database, but if the cache hasn't been told to refresh, it might just be showing the old cached empty categories...

 

Something to try, anyway.

 

Tim

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I have been using Easypopulate very effectively for some time. But after installing the Category Description contribution something strange happens. I have suppose 250 item file which I upload to my site, some of the items within this file goes to top level category although appropriate category values are present. If I took one these fault items and prepare a single item file and upload, then this time goes to correct category. I am totally confused???

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