Mapping data fields from excel

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   Hi folks! I'm a newbie here, and debating purchase of this software. Been playing with the demo site all afternoon.

I have an access database which I am exporting to excel to upload to this software. I have fields that I need to custom map, but i am not sure where exactly to go to add them properly to the "ProductCart database fields"

For example, I want to create "ProductCart Database Fields" for the following fields that I have in my excel file, so that they will match up:

Publisher
Distributor
PM_Type
Card_Type
Card_Country
Card_State

((basically how do I create more options to show up under the "to" drop down on this pafge of the sample site https://www.earlyimpact.com/demos/standard/pcadmin/step2.asp))

Right now, I imported a product list, and have these items showing in the left column as "From" but nothing to map them to on the right column.

Also, this is a silly question I know, but are all of the "things" I have done to the sample cart visible only to me to or everyone? I stupidly uploaded a rather large category list, do I need to delete them all or are they viewable only on my end?

Thanks for the help

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postcarddepot Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Newbie Joined: 11-July-2010 Status: Offline Points: 0	Post Options Post Reply Quote postcarddepot Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Topic: Mapping data fields from excel Posted: 11-July-2010 at 6:51pm
	Hi folks! I'm a newbie here, and debating purchase of this software. Been playing with the demo site all afternoon. I have an access database which I am exporting to excel to upload to this software. I have fields that I need to custom map, but i am not sure where exactly to go to add them properly to the "ProductCart database fields" For example, I want to create "ProductCart Database Fields" for the following fields that I have in my excel file, so that they will match up: Publisher Distributor PM_Type Card_Type Card_Country Card_State ((basically how do I create more options to show up under the "to" drop down on this pafge of the sample site https://www.earlyimpact.com/demos/standard/pcadmin/step2.asp)) Right now, I imported a product list, and have these items showing in the left column as "From" but nothing to map them to on the right column. Also, this is a silly question I know, but are all of the "things" I have done to the sample cart visible only to me to or everyone? I stupidly uploaded a rather large category list, do I need to delete them all or are they viewable only on my end? Thanks for the help

Greg Dinger Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Certified ProductCart Developers Joined: 23-September-2006 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 238	Post Options Post Reply Quote Greg Dinger Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 11-July-2010 at 7:06pm
	The product import tool is rigid, and provides no functionality for introducing custom fields other than rolling up your sleeves and digging into the code. If that is out of your skills, and provided that this is not a show stopper for you, my team has experience altering that import tool and we would be happy to assist you with the alterations. As for the work you are performing against the test store, those changes are public. However, EI does occasionally refresh the database so it's not going to be there forever.

postcarddepot Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Newbie Joined: 11-July-2010 Status: Offline Points: 0	Post Options Post Reply Quote postcarddepot Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 11-July-2010 at 7:44pm
	Well since I flooded the category list with over a couple thousand categories, it might be a good time for the database to be refreshed. So am I correct in understanding that there is no way (without going into the code) to create these fields myself? The import tool works fine for me, I just need more fields in that drop down list. Thanks for the help! Stacey

Greg Dinger Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Certified ProductCart Developers Joined: 23-September-2006 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 238	Post Options Post Reply Quote Greg Dinger Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 11-July-2010 at 8:21pm
	Regarding your question, yes, the only way to add new fields to the import/export tools is to dig into the code. And the code is far from simple. Here is an example. At the URL below, we have introduced a field that represents a number of "stock staus" settings. We altered the import tool to accomodate that new field. When the client receives a "current inventory" listing from his vendor, he updates a bunch of products in an XLS file, and performs a bulk update using the import tool. http://www.sierratoysoldier.com/ourstore/pc/viewPrd.asp?idproduct=8482

postcarddepot Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Newbie Joined: 11-July-2010 Status: Offline Points: 0	Post Options Post Reply Quote postcarddepot Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 11-July-2010 at 8:42pm
	Thanks for the assistance, but that makes this software too costly for me, to have to pay for something in addition to what comes out of the box. Back to my google searches for another software. Thanks, this software looks great just won't work for my needs Stacey

Greg Dinger Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Certified ProductCart Developers Joined: 23-September-2006 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 238	Post Options Post Reply Quote Greg Dinger Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 11-July-2010 at 8:52pm
	That's unfortunate. PC is excellent stuff. Making a decision around choosing to abandon the cart because it does not accomodate industry-specific data is probably going to lead you to few choices. Hope you change your mind.

ProductCart Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Admin Group ProductCart Team Joined: 01-October-2003 Status: Offline Points: 135	Post Options Post Reply Quote ProductCart Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 11-July-2010 at 9:00pm
	Stacey, Greg is very experienced with ProductCart, but we're afraid some of the information provided above might be misleading (or we misunderstood it). You can certainly import custom fields. They simply need to be setup as "Custom Search Fields". The column name in your spreadsheet must match the name of the field in the ProductCart database. The Import Wizard will take care of the rest. For more information about importing Custom Search Fields, please see: http://wiki.earlyimpact.com/productcart/products_import#importing_custom_search_fields The only limitation is that you can only import 3 custom search fields at a time. The workaround is to import products, then update them with a second import, and that can be done rather quickly. Taking the example above, the first import will include any product information you wish to import, and the following 3 columns: Publisher Distributor PM_Type ... which will match 3 Custom Search Fields in the ProductCart database. The second import simply needs to contain the Product SKU (part number) to match the data that already exists in the database, and the following 3 columns: Card_Type Card_Country Card_State ProductCart will update the existing products (matching each product via the SKU) and will add those additional Custom Search Fields. Just make sure that the column names match the names of the field. So, for example, if you create a Custom Search Field called "Type of Card", then the column name in your spreadsheet will be "Type of Card" and not "Card_Type". We hope this helps!
	The ProductCart Team Home of ProductCart shopping cart software

Greg Dinger Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Certified ProductCart Developers Joined: 23-September-2006 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 238	Post Options Post Reply Quote Greg Dinger Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 11-July-2010 at 9:07pm
	FYI, in a PM she asked for 20-30 custom fields.

ProductCart Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Admin Group ProductCart Team Joined: 01-October-2003 Status: Offline Points: 135	Post Options Post Reply Quote ProductCart Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 11-July-2010 at 9:15pm
	Got it. Yes, importing 30 Custom Search Fields would be time consuming with the way the Product Import Wizard is structured at the moment, and a modification to that feature would probably be necessary to avoid performing the import task multiple times (it would have to be performed 10 times to import or update 30 Custom Search Fields). We'll look at a way to make this dynamic in a future release. Thanks for your feedback.
	The ProductCart Team Home of ProductCart shopping cart software

postcarddepot Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Newbie Joined: 11-July-2010 Status: Offline Points: 0	Post Options Post Reply Quote postcarddepot Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 12-July-2010 at 9:05am
	I have not given up ship yet, but rather trying to manipulate our database and forms to make it work. With hundreds of thousands of inventory items (close to a million sitting here in my office!) the database was custom designed to make the data entry as fast/easy as possible. As of now I am down to 9 absolute fields that I need to carry over from the database. There is a slight possibility that i have some friends who could possibly tweak the code for me if necessary, but I am trying to see if it can be done without tweaking. I'm quite honestly tired of having to depend on others. That was why I was looking for an out of the box product for me. I'm back to playing with the sample website after a good night's sleep and a new perspective on things. Thanks again for the help! Stacey