Easy Populate, Attribute Options, and HOLY COW!

[Naegle]

Ok,

 

I'm population my OsCommerce database, using easy population, from an access database on my pc. The contribution is wonderful; however with the current configuration of oscommerce, the attribute feature can be a mess.

 

I set up a few items with attributes and downloaded the text file, only to find that OS makes a new column for each attribute and language on every item. (4 columns per attribute for a setup with 2 languages).

 

The problem....

 

Now I have about 100 attributes for about 1000 products, which means I have 400 additional columns added to my database or 400,000 fields, which is kind of silly if those products only utilize a couple attributes each, if any. That?s allot of useless space and I would fear that would also affect my database performance.

 

The question....

 

Am I misinterpreting what I see from the Easy Populate download? If attributes are used that way, couldn?t it be done in a more efficient manner?

 

I.E. on my access database, I have one table for products that includes a field for an attribute key that is linked to my attribute table. That way I only have on field added to the products and no repetitive data.

 

Do I just deal with this cumbersome feature (since I?d really like to edit the attributes using easy populate without scrolling through hundreds of fields) or is there an easier way?

 

Thanks for the help!!

[Guest]

this is the support thread for easypopulate:

http://www.oscommerce.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=64945

 

 

you should be posting questions and answers there.

 

yes, attributes takes a bit, and if you understood what has to happen to add an attribute then you would know why it is that way.

folllow the process thru the manual process.

1. add product option (one table)

2. add attribute value to option and then merge (two different tables)

add the combination of the above to a product already created (another table)

they can not be written all at once, certain steps have to happen when adding an attribute.

[Naegle]

Mibble,

 

Sorry about the random post. I'll move on over to EP. (I'm still a little new around here)

 

Thanks for the help though. I guess the export from easy populate makes things look worse than they are. Everything should work fine If I make the appropriate attribute changes through the admin panel.

 

Thanks again!