ShopAdmin lets you update selected fields for a large number of product records in your cart database via the import facility. For instance, you can prepare a CSV file containing a selected set of model numbers, prices and quantities in stock, and update just those fields for the model numbers you specify.
When updating product records via import, you will need at least two fields: a lookup field and one or more fields whose values need updating. The lookup field can either be the Product ID or the Model of the product. The lookup field value uniquely identifies the product record, so no two product records in your cart database can have the same model or Product ID. Maintaining this uniqueness enables you to update your product records by model or product ID, thus simplifying the update process.
The update process
Prepare a CSV file containing the data for lookup field and the fields you wish to update. (You might find it useful to obtain a “starter” CSV file by exporting the product records you wish to update, and then editing this file. You can export product records via the Tools – Export menu item in the Products area.)
From the Products tab, click the Tools button and select “Import/update”.
The update wizard appears, displaying step 1. Choose the Update existing records option. Select the Look up by field – Product ID or Model. Choose the file from which to update the data, or paste the data into the text box. Click “next”.
The update wizard shows step 2. The import to fields are usually prefilled by ShopAdmin. Click “next”.
ShopAdmin validates your data, making sure that the data types match up correctly, e.g., that date values such as “Date available” are correctly specified in each record. If there are no errors, or if you chose the setting to omit erroneous records. it shows step 3, just before the update process begins.
Click the “Import” button. ShopAdmin updates your product records into your shopping cart database, and when done, shows a “Done” button. Click the “Done” button, and you will see the list of product records, with your new product data now in place.
Notes about the CSV file structure
- The first (header) row of this file should contain the names of the product fields, in no particular order.
- The subsequent rows should contain the product data records, one per row.
- Ideally, the header row would contain the same field names that ShopAdmin recognizes. (These are the same names that ShopAdmin uses when it exports your product records.) If so, ShopAdmin will automatically detect the matching and pre-select the fields in step 2 of the update wizard. If you cannot have those names, you can still match the names in the CSV file with the ShopAdmin names in step 2.
Troubleshooting update errors
ShopAdmin performs several data validity checks during the update process. Here are some errors you might encounter.
- Incorrect field separator. At step 1, you can specify either the comma or the tab as the field separator that your input data uses. If you make the wrong choice here, your data will not be aligned correctly, as you can see from the screens on the right.
- Data errors.In Step 2 of the update wizard, ShopAdmin displays an error dialog (such as the one shown at right) if you have any of the following situations in your data:
- You provide data in a format that ShopAdmin is unable to convert.
- The data value in the cell for a picklist field (e.g., Category, Product type or Taxable Class) does not match any of the allowed values for that picklist. You can get the allowed picklist values configured within your cart database as described in the product import documentation. ShopAdmin matches the picklist value you specify against these configured values, ignoring case, and issues an error if there is no match. Even though it ignores case, it includes spaces and special characters, so you will want to make sure that the values in your data conform to the values in your picklists.
- The data value in the cell for a reference field (e.g., Manufacturer) does not match any value in the table; e.g., the manufacturer name you have specified in the cell does not occur in your cart database.
In most of these cases, you can simply press the Back button, correct and re-paste your data. When you encounter an error, you might check some common sources of data errors:
- Misaligned columns. If you have omitted a column of data in your record, the entire record shifts to the left, and you will see data errors from the missing cell all the way to the right.
- Incorrect field matching. If you have provided header names that are not the ones that ShopAdmin uses, and you have matched your names with the ShopAdmin names, you must ensure that the matching “lines up” correctly. For example, if you have incorrectly matched a product name field with a date field, ShopAdmin might show data conversion errors where it cannot convert the name to a date value.