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Importing Products

osCommerce Importing Products

We recommend you to read our full updated documentation for Store Manager for osCommerce here

The section "osCommerce Importing Products" describes how to perform products import to osCommerce from .csv file - bulk update products.

Pay attention to each Wizard's page when import products to osCommerce. osCommerce Product Import is rather complicated procedure and it may be destructive if performed incorrectly. Create Database backup before importing products especially if you do it first time.

To import products to osCommerce Store Manager follow few steps:

1. First of all prepare a .csv file for Import. Make sure it contains all necessary fields and all data you are going to import is listed in the table.

If your vendor provides you product list in Excel, you can convert your Excel files to the CSV format within the Microsoft Excel or OpenOffice application by using the Save As option. You can then access the Save As dialog box which contains a list of alternative file formats. Among the file extensions offered, you can find Text CSV file format. By saving your file into CSV format, Microsoft Excel or OpenOffice will export the first active worksheet with the correct delimiters.

2. Select "Import" and click "Next >" to proceed.

oscommerce import product

3. Specify the .csv file path and name or use browse button to select one.

You can load import configuration on this step.

4. Source file preview shows a part of .csv file selected to import. There are no options to set, but you should pay some attention to this page. What's so important to look for on this page is fields delimiter and quote character, if some is used.

If you carefully check the very first line of the example, you'll notice that some words enclosed in quotes (") and are separated by comma (,) symbol. That are two important options you have to pay attention to - you will have to setup these settings on the next page. Usually it is enough to see first line, no need to investigate entire file.

Also you can enable and set the row # you want to start import from.

5. Select fields delimiter and quote character. If you specify wrong values, osCommerce Products Importing may not work.

Delimiter Character. Most popular delimiters are comma (,), semicolon (;) and tab character ( ) however other symbols can be used as well.

Note.

Quote string values delimiter will be used to separate strings in .csv file. This delimiter can be disabled if none are used.
On previous sample page we have noticed that comma symbol was used as delimiter and values were quoted with " symbol. Specify two first settings as shown above.
Cate gory delimiter. This is not native .csv setting, it is used only in Store Manager for osCommerce. As you know categories are organized in a form of tree, where parent category can contain one or more subcategories, and subcategory can contain one or more other categories. Category delimiter character is used to separate category names and specify full category tree path for given category. Category path is very similar to directory path used to specify full file name in Windows, where every directory separated by backslash (\) character like this one C:\Program Files\MagneticOne\Store Manager for osCommerce\.

Image Import Options

Upload images - Enable the option in order to upload images to you server via ftp. Please make sure that you have specified correct FTP defails in Tools -> Preferences -> FTP tab.
Default Images Path - Is the path with images folder on your Local PC, like C:\temp\Images<
Keep Image File Path - Allows you to keep image path and upload images into sub folders. Should be used with Default Images Path option. For example specify default images path as: C:\temp\Images if your .csv file contains full image path on your local PC like C:\temp\Images\imagesubdirectory\imagename.jpg and where \imagesubdirectory is the images sub directory(eis) that you would like to create on your server and upload images to. Also subdirectories names should match the sub directory(ies) on your local PC (where images are located on your desktop).
Update Database field even if image is not found - enable the option if you would like to update database field even if the image is not found and will not be uploaded to your server vie FTP.
Resize Product Images - Allows you to specify resizing rules for images.

6. The next page allows you to Link columns from .csv file to appropriate database fields.

oscommerce importing products

Specify the following options:

First row in .csv file contains field names but not values - Obviously it should be unchecked if first row of .csv file contains data, otherwise check this option.
Products identification method - Import will search for a product using selected method of identification. The product will be modified if found, if not - new product will be added.

To link columns from .csv file to appropriate database fields simply click on any database field in the left pane "Database Fields" and after that click on appropriate column from .csv file. the Database Fields pane shows the list of fields in your database that can receive import data. So, to assign .csv column to database field you should select a field at the left pane and then click a column at the right pane.

Source .csv file can contain multiple records, you can assign few fields only that you would like to update - for example there's no need to update all fields if you would like to update product prices only.

Note that sometimes one of key fields may be blank. Obviously blank fields contain the same value for all records. It is required to assign .csv columns for key fields (used by Products Identification Method option, see above).

Database Fields contains such columns:

Rec ID - contains database field ID.Field - contains database field name. Some values in this column contain actual field name, whereas other are "translated". Anyway these names are clear enough to figure out how to use them.
csv col # - the number of the column in .csv file corresponding to this field - the link between database field and .csv column. Delete the value in order to unassign database field.
Set Null - indicates that this field should not contain any data but should be set to Null. You can either specify column name or check this option, but not both of them at the same time.
External - used to import external files to your store. If you have local images path like C:\Temp\imges\image_1.jpg specified in your .csv file or your vendor provides you an external image or description path like http://www.yourvendorswebsite.com/images/sample_image.jpg you may upload it to your site using external chack-box.
Update - used to set some default value to the field, similar to Set Null, but in this case some value can be assigned to the field.
Default value - enter the value assigned to a field (is used only if "Update" option is enabled).
You can specify simple calculation for numeric fields rather that just directly importing data from .csv. Current field value defined as "x" variable, just use it in your expressions. Example:
=x*1.2

- value will be multiplied by 1.2 (increased by 20%) and imported into a field. Useful when importing product prices from your wholesale .csv file. You may just put your markup.
- it can be used to automatically set product status (In stock / Out of stock) depending on product quantity. You have to assign product quantity .csv column to "Product status" field and use mentioned expression. You can assign product quantity .csv column to products_quantity database field as well - one column can be assigned to two or more database fields at the same time.

Mathematical operations supported: * - multiplication; / - division; - subtraction; + addition; < less than; < more than; = equal List of functions: sqrt, div, mod, int, frac, random, trunc, round, sin, sinh, arcsin, arcsinh, cos, cosh, arccos, arccosh, tan, tanh, arctan, arctanh, cotan, cotanh, arccotan, arccotanh, sec, arcsec, sech, arcsech, csc, csch, arccsc, arccsch, abs, ln, lg, log, pi, exp, ! (factorial), ^ (degree)

Note*: Expressions are mathematical equations so they can be used only on numeric fields such as price, quantity etc. You should not use them for string, date/time and other fields.

[Auto Fill...] button - try to set correspondence automatically for all fields. Auto fill option will work only if .csv column name is the same as database field name ("translated").[Clear] button - clear all "csv col" values at the left pane

7. Base Formats and Separators are used to convert text values from .csv file to numerical and date values. You can just set default values using appropriate button.

import products oscommerce

8. Products were not imported to your osCommerce database yet. On Import Preview page you can see how .csv file was processed using import settings, which you specified at previous steps. Check whether all columns that you want to be imported are filled with data: some of them may be blank. This means that either you haven't assigned .csv column or it is empty in source (.csv) file. Columns that were not assigned will not be imported whereas empty values will overwrite existing.

Red blinking arrow

will be shown to draw your attention if any errors occurred.

Also you can enable and set the row # you want to start import from.

9. Import options page settings may affect Import results. Please read and check your selection carefully.

Default category. If category name is specified in .csv file and column is assigned to database field, Store Manager will create entire category tree for a product. If there's no "category name" column (in .csv) or it is not assigned, all products will be imported to a category specified as Default. If default category is not specified and there's no other way to determine into which category products should be imported, program will create "Default category" and place all new products there.
Default manufacturer is set almost the same as for category, except that product may not have manufacturer at all - it is not important. Also you can uncheck option in case you do not want to create new manufacturer if currently imported does not exist in database.
Delete existing attributes when importing new - if checked, import will clear all current product attributes and then add new. If unchecked it will just add new - this may cause duplicate attributes.
Delete products that are not listed in .csv file - allows you to clear database and delete products that are not listed in your .csv file.
Mark unlisted products as "Out of Stock" ( in osCommerce and CRE Loaded this is "In Stock" property of a product) - all products that were not affected by import will be marked as unavailable, but will not be deleted.
Create new product using ID from source file (Not recommended) - allows you to import products with their original IDs.
Cache import data - this option may speedup import process. How does it work? Store Manager does huge number of database operations while importing products. There are many tables affected by import and lot data should be processed. With slow database connection it may take too long - several hours or even days - depending on number of records and connection speed. If cache option is checked, Store Manager will generate database backup file - the same as you can do using Backup/Restore wizard with "Product related tables only" option. After the backup is generated, program restores this backup on local database. All further import operations will be made locally, much faster than through remote connection. After import is completed it will generate another backup - from local database and then restore this backup on your remote store.
With "Cache import data" option import procedure will show several backup/restore progress dialogs - this is normal behavior.
Note: Cache import data option ignored when currently connected to Embedded database.
ShutDown Computer after import is complete - allows you to shut down your PC automatically when import is complete.

Import Method in Store Manager for osCommerce

Add and Modify - will add new product if it is not available in database yet and modify those products that were found
Add Only - only add new products
Modify Only - only update existing products and do not add new entries, even if current product was not found
Just Add - this option may produce product duplicates, since Store Manager will not try to find existing products but will only add all products as new

Save Import Configuration

All import settings can be stored under some configuration. You can load it next time you decide to import products from a file with similar formatting, column names etc.

Attention! Import process will start, when you press "Import" Button! Proceed only if all settings are made, otherwise press "Back" Button and check settings once more!

10. Here you see a number of items imported and if any errors occurred during the import.

oscommerce import

Most frequent import errors are date, time and number conversion issues, caused by invalid format settings (specified at previous pages) or improperly assigned columns (i.e. if you assign column containing text data to numeric database field). Date/time conversion errors might be ignored whereas other errors (like this one Could not find image: image_name.gif) has to be fixed.

Now your osCommerce Product Import is finished.

After using osCommerce Importing Products you can read about option "Exporting Products"