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rvaga
VP-CART Super User
USA
254 Posts |
 Posted - September 06 2006 : 14:05:16
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vs. 5.5
Many times I end up adding the same product via database update, it's a royal pain to go through hundreds of ccodes to see if I already have the item on my site (book publishers supply Excel updates which often contain books listed in previous updates). I will often edit existing products over time, to add my own comments. The problem is, the update erases what I have added with the bulk import update.
What would be great would be an option in bulk import, where:
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If [ccode] exists
Skip Row and go to next Row
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(as you can tell, I know nothing about programming)
Does anyone know if this could be done? Maybe it's already possible but I don't know how? |
Edited by - rvaga on September 06 2006 14:12:25 |
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elammers
VP-CART Super User
USA
256 Posts |
Posted - September 06 2006 : 19:23:02
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I'm sure support can give the definitive answer, but in 6.09 I don't have that problem. New client has 3,000+ items given to me from an AS400 system. While fine tuning what fields went where, the ccode field remained constant, and if it already existed then the upload tool just updated any info that was different. If the ccode didn't exist, then it added it.
So is this a difference between the versions or a config setting? I don't know.
Regards,
Eric in Maine |
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devshb
Senior Member
United Kingdom
1904 Posts |
Posted - September 06 2006 : 19:35:38
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indeed; the latest reply is what I've found too.
If you wanted to use more detailed logic you'd need to customise it a bit though.
eg "if the product exists then update x/y/z but not a/b/c, if the product doesn't exist then create it using a/b/c/x/y/z" would need a customisation
another alternative of applying that logic without a customisation would be to create 2 separate spreadsheets; one for new products and one for updates, and only have ccode+x/y/z in the update-sheet and have ccode+a/b/c/x/y/z in the new-sheet
Simon Barnaby
Developer
[email protected]
www.BigYellowZone.com
Web Design, Online Marketing and VPASP addons |
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rvaga
VP-CART Super User
USA
254 Posts |
Posted - September 06 2006 : 22:17:29
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That's why it would be best (in my part of the VPASP world) if there was an option in the bulk import admin panel, something along the lines of:
1) AutoSkip (will not update any existing products [ccode])
2) Update and/or Add All
This type of option would save me countless hours of messing with Excel, double-checking to see if the product already exists on the site.
I would think any site that deals with huge vendor supplied database tables would find this option extremely helpful. It would streamline the process of adding new products, allowing the site owner to select individual products in admin and add comments without the fear that a future bulk upload would overwrite changes made in cdescription or extendeddescription.
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devshb
Senior Member
United Kingdom
1904 Posts |
Posted - September 07 2006 : 03:43:58
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if the ccode is your matchfield then it'll never update it, regardless of whether the item's new or an update.
but for the other columns, an extra option for a blanket "don't update anything if the product already exists" should be relatively simple to add.
we've just done an enhanced import which has various options in it; it'd be fairly simple to add that option to it. that enhanced import isn't up for sale yet, but we're thinking of adding it to our "category bundle" as the enhancements are mostly related to category related logic
eg options to do with re-calculating the "level3" column (ie using the prodcategories to backfill your "level3" column with a comma separated list of categories that the product's under). it's quite complex from the asp side, but we've simplified the import/export process and broken them down into simple steps/options so that you can be guaranteed that your prodcategories always end up correct/fully-populated regardless of whether you do imports, exports, edit-products, or even run sqls etc to maintain your data.
quite a few of our clients use imports for their initial load/conversion, and some also use it for ongoing updates from suppliers etc, so we did the enhanced import off our own backs with the view of ending up selling it as an addon.
we spent ages trying to work out the various types of maintenance that people would/could do, and gathering together a definitive set of import/export relates steps that would guarantee that the data doesn't get corrupted or overwritten with the wrong values; I think we finally worked it out and it seems solid, but the extra options you mention above would be handy too for some merchants.
a more detailed option that people might want is, instead of just a blanket "don't update if it exists" flag, add some extra options on a per-column basis so that for each column you can have tickboxes for:
1) update this column if the product exists
2) populate this column if the product is new
Simon Barnaby
Developer
[email protected]
www.BigYellowZone.com
Web Design, Online Marketing and VPASP addons |
Edited by - devshb on September 07 2006 03:48:37 |
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