Getting Started - Mapping Fields How To

Mapping Fields How To

Printed From: ProductCart E-Commerce Solutions
Category: ProductCart
Forum Name: Getting Started
Forum Description: Installing, activating, and getting started with ProductCart
URL: https://forum.productcart.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=2285
Printed Date: 12-July-2025 at 1:04am
Software Version: Web Wiz Forums 12.04 - http://www.webwizforums.com

Topic: Mapping Fields How To

Posted By: fire
Subject: Mapping Fields How To
Date Posted: 29-December-2008 at 7:28pm

I am trying to import some categories and at the stage were we are to map fields...The directions given at wiki are not that clear as to what is meant buy this.. What is mapping?
The following is the instructions on the admin page...
"Use the drop-down menus below to map existing fields in your Category database, located on the left side of the page under 'From' to ProductCart database fields, which are located on the right side of the page under 'To'."

'To' what?

As far as I can tell all of these fields exist in both the xsl file and the store database
so we entered in the same names
ex From: category Name To: category name
But we get a error when we 'Map Fields'
error---Some of the mapping instructions are overlapping. Please make sure that the database fields are mapped uniquely.
Whats up can someone explain this mapping step?

Replies:

Posted By: Greg Dinger
Date Posted: 29-December-2008 at 7:37pm

If you run the wizard, there will be dropdown boxes on the screen which allow you to associate spreadsheet column titles to database columns. In other words, if you have columns for SKU, Description and Price - you "map" those columns to the appropriate product table fields.

Does that help?

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Posted By: fire
Date Posted: 29-December-2008 at 7:44pm

So if I have a column called 'category name' I map that name to 'category name'?

Posted By: Greg Dinger
Date Posted: 29-December-2008 at 7:47pm

yes, map the category name in the worksheet to category name in the category table.

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GreyBeard Design Group

Certified ProductCart Developer

Web Design/Development/Hosting

http://tinyurl.com/5c8t4t" rel="nofollow - Add-Ons & Custom Code |

Posted By: fire
Date Posted: 29-December-2008 at 7:48pm

all of my names can match up to other names... I used the example excel file as a guide when I made my excel file

Posted By: fire
Date Posted: 29-December-2008 at 7:52pm

Thanks. It works Tongue

Posted By: Greg Dinger
Date Posted: 29-December-2008 at 8:04pm

That's great. We're actually working on a project where we are instructing a client on how to do this. In that process, we may be developing some revised instructions which we'll share with EI for the wiki. Our hope is to make the instructions a bit easier, and that they will include some screenshots.

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GreyBeard Design Group

Certified ProductCart Developer

Web Design/Development/Hosting

http://tinyurl.com/5c8t4t" rel="nofollow - Add-Ons & Custom Code |

Posted By: fire
Date Posted: 29-December-2008 at 11:24pm

Ya that would be great if there was better instructions with pictures. Question: How do you import products to the right subcatagories?
What is the difference between the field called 'Category name' and 'Parent Category'. I thought that 'category name' was the category the products was to be found in. I tried to enter the products under the 'category name' but found that there was a bunch of new categories created instead of the products being under the sub-categories. Bit hard to explain I guess.

---Thought I would add this in hopes that it may help others...
If you are having trouble importing into different levels but do have your categories in place...add a few products manually to the location up want then use the re-import (below import tool) tool to see the how the products are placed... This helped me a lot!

Posted By: Greg Dinger
Date Posted: 30-December-2008 at 3:32am

If you haven't done so, read the WIKI articles. If you have already done so, read them once more, slowly. Then take 2-3 products and experiment. Understand the limitations as to how may categories can be assigned to a product during the upload. Someone may correct me on this, but I believe it is useful to have your category structure in place before importing products so you have the subcategories to point to while importing products.

Parent can be root, or it can be the category above a subcategory.

It's actually fairly easy if you take a small sampling as I mention above and practice until you have it down. If you are working with a fresh databse, there is a procedure in the WIKI that allows you to purge all products - and there is also an "undo last import" procedure. This allows you to play around - loading and subsequently clearing product data until you are satisfied with the results. Just be patient, mess with it, and it eventually falls in place.

-------------
GreyBeard Design Group

Certified ProductCart Developer

Web Design/Development/Hosting

http://tinyurl.com/5c8t4t" rel="nofollow - Add-Ons & Custom Code |