Adding new/extra fields to the products table is simpler compare to adding new/extra fields to a separate table.

Adding easy populate new/extra fields to the products table

0. Backup your database and your file.

1. Create new/extra fields in the products table. This can be done directly through phpMyAdmin if you have direct access to your database or through scripting in case you don’t.

2. Edit easy populate import.

3. Edit easy populate export

4. Test to confirm changes

Adding easy populate new/extra fields to a separate table

I have develop a system which can handle single or multiple data feeds in any file format to load products into stores from classic oscommerce,  to zen cart, to cre loaded, etc. This a real time inventory feed. The system is easy to use, can be configured to include products attribute option, attribute option values, download product images, and does not need any manual intervention. It effectively gives a store owner the ability to focus exclusive on running the business rather than chasing inventory because of constant update.

This system works with virtual any supplier inventory feed for including Petra, Synnex, Doba, dbldistributing, trademarkcommerce, CNET, Effex Media, Murphysmagic, etc. Contact me today for references and a free consultation on how to implement on your store.

Inventory Update Script
Method and System for Loading Large Amount of Product Attributes without using Easy Populate

Reference Sites
automated inventory load & update cre loaded: www.collegegiftregistry.com
automated inventory load & update cre loaded: www.strutmanelectronics.com
automated inventory load & update cre loaded: www.promgowns4less.com

automated inventory load & update zen cart: www.mscom2000.com
automated inventory load & update zen cart: www.shopthe7.com/pokershop/

Easy Populate Advanced

Understanding Easy Populate Advanced

Easy Populate Advanced is a product content management system for adding, editing, and deleting existing products. It is a robust php script capable of handling many modifications to suit any oscommerce based shopping cart needs. It can be set-up to run as cron/schedule job, modified to take input from database instead of a text file, it can be modified to include product extra fields from the product table or from another tables; the list goes on and on. In fact it is the specific needs of an e-commerce site and capability shop owner/programmer that determines or limit what Easy Populate script can do.

* Easy Populate Advanced file name must have EPA prefix. Examples of proper file names are EPAxyz.txt, EPAXYY.txt and EPA_xyz.txt.

* Every row must end with EOROER and there must not be any other text or character after EOREOR column on each row.

* Product model (v_products_model) string length/number of characters must be less than or equal to 25. This is the predefine value in epconfigure.php ($modelsize = 25). If you need to have more than 25 characters change this value to say 50 ($modelsize = 50). Then you can either access you database directly and run ALTER TABLE `products` CHANGE `products_model` `products_model` VARCHAR( 50 ) or add this line to your easypopulate_import.php below include statements at the top; tep_db_query(“ALTER TABLE `products` CHANGE `products_model` `products_model` VARCHAR( 60 )”).

* The default file delimiter is tab.

* Header fields with the name of each column your want to import must be the first row that is v_products_id, v_products_model, …, v_status, v_action, EOREOR

* Unwanted columns can be deleted. For example v_products_image_sm_1, v_products_image_xl_1, v_products_url_1, v_date_avail, v_date_added can be deleted if they are not needed.

* v_status field for setting active and inactive products

* File split

* The default no of categories is 4 (v_categories_name_1, … ,v_categories_name_4), to have more categories, increase $max_categories from 4 to say 7 in epconfigure.php. Then add more columns to your EPA file to reflect the change. In case the $max_categories is now 7 then the EPA files should have (v_categories_name_1, v_categories_name_2, … ,v_categories_name_6, v_categories_name_7).

* The temp folder within the main install must be writteble. You can use a folder other than the temp folder ut your have to specifiy the name of your new folder in the configuration file.

* Multi language support.

Using Easy Populate Advanced to add product

To add new product value of the v_products_id must be 0; this is a required field, do not leave it blank or empty. In case you are sure you have unique product id, you can use your predefined product id.

Using Easy Populate Advanced to delete product

Use v_action column to delete products. Each row must have delete (all lower case)

Using Easy Populate Advanced to edit product

Using Easy Populate Advanced to manage product attributtes

Using Easy Populate Advanced with extra fields in product table

Using Easy Populate Advanced with extra fields in another table

Please post your EP (Easy Populate) Wizard, feature requests, commet, and feedback here. Also you can request a free copy of Easy Populate Wizard for 15 days trial at no charge.

Read Easy Populate in a Weekend

EPA – Easy Populate Advanced comes with cre loaded. Product identification based on product id.

EPB – Easy Populate Basic – http://www.oscommerce.com/community/contributions,500. Product identification based on product model. A variant of this comes with cre loaded as well.

Easy Populate Wizard Step 1

STEP – 2  Here you provide information about source file

  1. Field Delimiter 

    possible selections in this drop down are asterisks(*), caret(^), comma(,), dash(-), pipe(|), semi colon(;), space(\s), tab(\t), tilde(~). Default is tab(\t)

  2. Source File Name

    Use the “select” button to bring out file dialog window

  3. First Row Contains Column Headings

      Check this checkbox if the first row of the data/source file contains column headings

  4. Reference Column

    Use this to select the column you will like to fix and use as reference for navigational purposes.

easy populate wizard step 2a

Easy Populate Wizard Step 2b

 

STEP 3 Here you provide information about destination file that is the you want to save your processed data as.

1. Field Delimeter drop down for selecting the type of delimiter to use. The default and recommended delimiter is the tab (\t). Possible values as asterisks(*), caret(^), comma(,), dash(-), pipe(|), semi colon(;), space(\s), tab(\t), tilde(~).

2. EPA or EPB File Name to use.    

Easy Populate Wizard Step 3a

Easy Populate Wizard Step 3b

STEP 4 This is the final step. Here you are provided with EPA or EPB dedpending on your selection in step 1.

3. When you do not need a field, select exclude this field. 

 

Easy Populate Wizard Step 4a

Easy Populate Wizard Step 4b

 

 

 

 

timezone

 Changes recommended in this thread Time Zone Offset – Adjust to match your location, Needs a little work to be complete.. is not necessary.

In the spirit of continuous improvement, there is a solution that eliminates this problem. What the solution does is provide the capability to set the base price and end price for each product. By using a linear relationship, the individual prices for each price points can be calculated on the fly there by eliminating manual intervention.

Another advantage of this method is the ability to use it with easy populate effectively. There is no need to replicate rows to accommodate the different customer groups.

This is where Inventory Update Script comes to play. The script update inventory using one or more inventory feed from one or more supplier. It can be set up to automatically select products based on pre-defined criteria and to load these products at pre-defined time of the day without having to manually do anything. Also images can be automatically downloaded and filtered so that decisions can be made efficiently regarding products without images. This allows store owners to focus specifically on running the business instead of struggling with loading products.

Write today for a demonstration.

Update Inventory with Supplier’s CSV, Tab, XML Inventory Feed

If you have used the existing system of loading product attributes based on easy populate(EP), easy populate basic (EPB) or easy populate advanced (EPA), you will quickly notice that the system is clumsy and very confusing. Partly because of the header names and the associated numbering. I posted a response here to clarify the confusion. Even with that write-up and my several years of experience, I still get confused! To add another dimension to the problem, if you have large amount of attributes, you will realized that you reach the 256 column limit pretty quickly considering that you use about three columns for each attribute option values and 2 columns for attribute names.

Solution:

Faced with a challenge to loaded over 5000 attribute option values, I have developed a new method that is user friendly, intuitive and fast. The method is very scalable to accommodate any amount of product attributes. It is particular suited for sites with large amount of attribute option values since there is no column or row limitation. You don’t have to worry about splitting files to separate small files because of timeout error. The method has been tested on a site with over over 40 attribute option and over 5000 attribute option values.

Here is live website on which this method has been applied:
Contact me at if you are interested in using this method on your site.

In EPB v_status is used for delete. Valid values are for v_status are Active, Inactive and Delete. In EPA v_action is used for delete. Valid value is delete. Please note the case of each valid values.

In EPB default size (number of characters ) of v_producs_model is 12 characters; it is 25 characters in EPA. You can change this value through your phpmyadmin direct access to your database, if you do make a change, please change the value in your easy populate configuration to match whatever your new value is.