Cant download CSV with EasyPopulate due to too many attributes

[mad_dexter]

Hi, I've messed up!

I have just downloaded all products by EP to change some categories, but found that Exel could only open a partial file. Further investigation showed that I have in excecss of 250 columns in the attributes at the end of each product row, labelled as follows (the "/" signifies columns in the spreadsheet)

....../1/Version/Version/Version/1/Download/Download/Download:windows - Inglese/ ------> /57/Download/Download/Download:windows - Inglese/EOREOR/

I know how this occurred ... It happened when I during adding products from Access to Exel before saving as a CSV, I filled in the blank attribute column in Exel by dragging the corner of one cell to fill in the rest of the column, but didn't notice on one of the uploads that Exel incremented numbers in subsequent rows when using the drag-corner-to-expand function.

I have uploaded products in short sections. Is there a way to resolve my attribute issue easily without having to upload all my product files again, such as editing something in the sql database?

Do the last columns (before the EOREOR) have to contain data or could they be left blank?

Cheers.

[michael_s]

Use open office Calc to open your document. 1024 columns available there.

[mad_dexter]

Thanks. I can see all column now but there are many products missing from the EP download. These are on the web, but not in the EP file. Could this have caused a problem with Easypopulate?

[ridexbuilder]

All products must have model numbers.
Your server may have timed out, if there are a large number of products - you need to raise the PHP timeout, from 60-90 seconds is normally enough.
Try splitting the download: one with just descriptions, the other with everything else - or whatever combination suits you better.

[mad_dexter]

Thanks. All products do have model numbers. Where do I change the server time-out (I am on a shared virtual server with a hosting company) ?

I had tried just dowloading the attributes, but again the list is incomplete.

Cheers.

[ridexbuilder]

They may allow you a custom php.ini file but it very much depends on the hosting provider. How many products are we talking about?
Try filtering by a category, to reduce the resulting set.

[mad_dexter]

Thanks.

1200 products with a lot of html tables in the description.

Just finished reading wiki docs and found how to edit EP settings. I uncommented the para in easypopulate.php relating to time-out and now gives 300 secs and it works.

I now have the complete listing and ** Hail Open Office Calc ** as it loads the complete file!

One last question (on this matter)... I read that Easy Populate doesn't handle attributes (well?). Will it allow me to upload a modified file (with the many, many "download" attributes deleted) and delete them from the sql database?

If not then this has been a bit of a red herring, and I will need to delete the database and start again. Although not a waste of time as I can now download the complete product list with the extended time-out

[ridexbuilder]

As we keep telling folks, it always pays to check out the wiki !!!

I recently updated EP in the SVN to the latest version (2.76i) - I found it handled attributes better. I've also added in the full documentation.
As to your specific question: "suck it and see".
Just remember those backups!

To help you along, here an example - you'll want to change EUR to GBP but apart from that it should be fine. There are a few changes from default that I find makes working with Calc spreadsheets (and attributes) easier.

Remember that Thanks button, in lieu of beer money, it's the only gratitude we get (most of the time).

[mad_dexter]

I was going to buy a round of Thanks once I had sorted out the prob. But what the heck, I'm buying now

Incidentally, EP 2.76 doesn't delete attributes from the sql database, so I will upload your EP and try again.

Failing that, I guess the only other option is to reload all my csv's

Cheers.

[ridexbuilder]

Try the upgrade - it's just a matter of replacing a few files - very straightforward.
Get it from the Aug 2009 files at osCommerce: Easy Populate & Products Attributes . You don't need to go through the install procedure.
Or grab it from the SVN but you'll need to go back a fair bit, with all the recent updates.
Then use my EP config file to replace what is there.