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Shopping Software Training - Creative Import

Home » Shopping Software Training» Creative Import

Why, when importing a flat file and doing an update, does Creative duplicate the goods instead of updating the original goods?

The duplication of goods occur when the "Auto generate goods references" is checked in Commercial Settings | Options. Creative thinks that the goods are new due to the different goods reference assigned when importing. The import file needs to have a "Goods Reference" column inserted with a rare code for each goods.

Are there any guidelines for making an import from an Excel (or similar) spreadsheet?

The best way to learn about the structure of a hierarchical import file is to create a few example products in Creative and then go to 'File | Export' and create a new hierarchical file. Examine the structure of this file to help you build a custom import file.

Are there any examples of the import files available?

Use Windows Explorer to locate your Site folder. You will see a number folders in here, the example import files are in a folder called 'Common'.

How do I import 'User Definable Variables' into my store?

You need to use a hierarchical import for this.

Use Windows Explorer to locate the file Sample Hierarchical CatalogImportFile.txt in your site folder. The file can be opened with a text editor such as Notepad.

How can I import my client's details from a spreadsheet or database?

Use the hierarchical import function which is described in the 'Importing' section of the main help file.

How do I change prices for all goods without editing each goods?

1) Export the Catalogue to a hierarchical export file (File | Export) When encouraged, specific the output file name and location, Comma delimited and Anis character set.

2) Open the file in MS Excel.

3) Select the whole table and use 'Data | Sort' to sort column A into ascending to the order.

4) Delete all the rows for which the text in column A does not start with 'Header: Goods' or 'Goods'.

5) Delete any columns that you do not need to change. You will require keeping the Good Reference and Price column 1 ns as a minimum. Also, be aware that there is a column called Is Deleted; goods with a value of in this column are marked for removal in the Catalogue but have not yet been purged. You may want to exclude these rows before removing the unwanted columns.

6) Change the prices under the Price header. (Remember that the prices are entered without the decimal place e.g. £1.03 is entered as 103).

7) Save the file as a comma delimited text file (Save as type CSV (comma delimited (*.csv). You will get a warning message about the incompatible features, click yes to continue.

8) Close MS Excel, necessary because otherwise the export file remains locked and Creative Ecommerce cannot open it.

9) In Creative Ecommerce, select File | Import.

10) Select 'Flat File Import'.

11) Browse to the CSV file made above.

12) Check Update, Comma Delimited and ANSI, click next.

13) Map the import fields, click next. The import fields must be automatically mapped unless you changed the column headings in MS Excel.

14) Select an error file if required, click next.

15) Click Finish, the goods prices will now be updated

How do I import into sub-sections within the Catalogue using a CSV flat file import?

You require to use the pipe symbol ' | ' to separate the different sections within the section field in the CSV file.e.g. section|subsection|subsection etc.

How can I get out a 'Replace' import so that I can re-apply the import as an Update?

If you have been doing regular backups (either Database Backup or Snapshot Backup) when closing the Catalogue or you have been backing up the site folder with another Application then you will be able to recover from the backup.
If you used the Database Backup then use Housekeeping | Backup | Recover Database to recover the last backup of the database and overwrite the current database with it.

If you used the Snapshot Backup then use File | Snapshot | Import Site to recover the last snapshot and overwrite the site.

If you used another application to backup the site folder, then consult that application software instructions on how to recover a files from the backup and recover just the database CreativeCatalog.mdb.

If however, you have never used any backup procedure then there is nothing you can do. The files within the site directory are the end goods of generation and cannot be reversed out of the database.

Important: When recovering from an earlier Database or Snapshot Backup all configuration changes and all orders downloaded/processed since the backup was taken will be lost, in addition, when recovering from an earlier snapshot all template changes made since the backup was taken will be lost.

I used Microsoft Excel to set up a flat file .CSV import. Why does Creative Business report 'expected 14 ... only 13 received'?

When Exporting to a CSV file, MS Excel drops trailing column delimiters on rows where the rightmost columns is empty resulting in the output rows having a varying number of columns.
You can work round this by making the last column in the spreadsheet a column which always contains data such as the Section column. Creative Ecommerce is not affected by the order of the fields in the CSV file, as the mapping will work fine with these in any order.

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