xmanyes Posted March 23, 2010 Share Posted March 23, 2010 Hello, I am not a programmer, but I make living from my website as probably most of osCommerce users. So far I had customized website with just basic options and I thought moving up to osCommerce - THE platform - would save me some trouble and time as many of enhancements are already present in the form of plugins ... But the first obstacle I see that the product database is scattered to 14 (if not more tables). I have 7 different suppliers and they all give me complete database in "2-dimensional" world, with all data needed, and I find it extremely difficult to synchronize such database as I did before (Navicat). I would need to do separate table update for prices, descriptions, extra pictures, languages, etc... as said I think I counted 14 different tables! So instead of having less work, I would have to be very careful to update everything and all tables if I want the products will be visible to my clients. With planned database of 20.000 products you can imagine this is not a few seconds operation. I tried EasyPopulate plugin and I thought this might be my solution, but if I export the database in CSV and then trying to "manipulate" that in excel, but it just breaks the boundary of the columns. Anyone with stomach problems - I would not suggest to look at the structure you get... And I wish someone with more experience would shed some light into the issue, how the rest of you are coping with this? In my view the product table could be just one and that would make things much more simple, with fields (or column names from Excel - that is how I get my databases...) like: id, prod_no, prod_descrEN, prod_descrFR, prod_decrIT, prod_price, prod_stock, prod_image1, prod_image2,... and so on. What would be wrong with such database layout??? Apart from being very simple to maintain & update, but as said, I am not a programmer and might not "feel" the logic behind it. In hope some noble helping soul could help/guide me to overcome my problems I wish you all well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
♥mdtaylorlrim Posted March 23, 2010 Share Posted March 23, 2010 Hello, I am not a programmer, but I make living from my website as probably most of osCommerce users. So far I had customized website with just basic options and I thought moving up to osCommerce - THE platform - would save me some trouble and time as many of enhancements are already present in the form of plugins ... But the first obstacle I see that the product database is scattered to 14 (if not more tables). I have 7 different suppliers and they all give me complete database in "2-dimensional" world, with all data needed, and I find it extremely difficult to synchronize such database as I did before (Navicat). Well I am a programmer, by necessity not by trade. And when I needed to install 17k products into a store when I had them all available in a downloadable file I just wrote a program to do it for me. Took a day but it was well worth it. And the products are in two tables, but you do have to link to categories and manufacturers. I don't see how you can count 14 or more... If you make your living at this then maybe you should just hire a programmer to get you started on a program like the one I use. For a one time cost it will pay for itself in a short time. Or you could ask others what they do to enter thousands of products at a time, or if you started writing the routines yourself maybe you could get some help from others along the way. Community Bootstrap Edition, Edge Avoid the most asked question. See How to Secure My Site and How do I...? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NodsDorf Posted March 23, 2010 Share Posted March 23, 2010 Well I am a programmer, by necessity not by trade. And when I needed to install 17k products into a store when I had them all available in a downloadable file I just wrote a program to do it for me. Took a day but it was well worth it. And the products are in two tables, but you do have to link to categories and manufacturers. I don't see how you can count 14 or more... If you make your living at this then maybe you should just hire a programmer to get you started on a program like the one I use. For a one time cost it will pay for itself in a short time. Or you could ask others what they do to enter thousands of products at a time, or if you started writing the routines yourself maybe you could get some help from others along the way. I deal with multiple websites as well. I started using Oscommerce StoreManager by Magnetic One to deal with shops that contain thousands of products. All you have to do is make the proper excel adjustments and upload. Just a tip, the program is not free. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xmanyes Posted March 23, 2010 Author Share Posted March 23, 2010 Thanks, nice tips... But I did had a programmer who told me the structure cannot be changed. That osC has such layout! I replied that this is 21st century and there is nothing that couldn't be programmed or re-programmed, but that is where our ways split. So I said I will ask wise guys at the forum to see if someone has come to conclusion how to make it. Bearable. So, extra coding to make this work is of course possible, but I don't think this "shop" was planned to need special programing skills for such simple act as to import some products into database. Or maybe they just thought initially (osC team) that products should (have to!) be entered one by one in the admin console... Up to 100 products just might even do it! But the shop is all around the PRODUCTS, at the end you have to populate as much as products you could so the selling can begin, so I truly do not understand. The client does not care about the framework, all they want to see are relevant products. Will try StoreManager from MagneticOne, they have trial period of 30 days. Still I am baffled that this was specially designed to be so complicated and no (simple) workaround in "free" version... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NodsDorf Posted March 23, 2010 Share Posted March 23, 2010 Thanks, nice tips... But I did had a programmer who told me the structure cannot be changed. That osC has such layout! I replied that this is 21st century and there is nothing that couldn't be programmed or re-programmed, but that is where our ways split. So I said I will ask wise guys at the forum to see if someone has come to conclusion how to make it. Bearable. So, extra coding to make this work is of course possible, but I don't think this "shop" was planned to need special programing skills for such simple act as to import some products into database. Or maybe they just thought initially (osC team) that products should (have to!) be entered one by one in the admin console... Up to 100 products just might even do it! But the shop is all around the PRODUCTS, at the end you have to populate as much as products you could so the selling can begin, so I truly do not understand. The client does not care about the framework, all they want to see are relevant products. Will try StoreManager from MagneticOne, they have trial period of 30 days. Still I am baffled that this was specially designed to be so complicated and no (simple) workaround in "free" version... If you take Niche shops that only contain a hundred or so products, those can be done via the admin panel. Oscommerce is after all a FREE program. Which has continued to evolve since I first started using it back in 2004. I'm not sure but I feel that it was designed to give somebody with no experience the ability to start a website. Your suggestions while to you and I sound simple now, would have confused the hell out of me 6 years ago. I hope that Store Manager works well for you like it has for me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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