Non-existent JPG files

[deepthinker]

When auto-generating hierarchical import files from an external stock control system, often the photography and production of JPG files lags well behind the products themselves. The automatically-produced import CSV files nevertheless contain an automatically-generated JPG filename, but such product records are rejected on import because the JPG file cannot be found.

It would be useful for the import program(s) on Actinic to use a DEFAULT.JPG picture in such cases (the DEFAULT.JPG would be user-generated just once, perhaps saying "Image under construction") which would allow the basic website to be fully populated and tested before all the relevant JPGs were available.

In this way the same import file could be re-imported from time to time without any alteration, as more JPGs come on-line; or

(better still) the database retains the actual JPG filename requested but uses DEFAULT.JPG at run-time if the actual file cannot be found at that time.

[leehack]

A default image is already defined which you can have as you want it (set in site options), i don't think it will do what you say though because you are importing and telling actinic that this image is here and should be used for this product. Actinic rightly tells you it is not, proceeding at that stage would be fraught with problems.

What i generally do in this area is run an import, then open up the error file and adjust each one without an image to not set an image (or use the default one), and then rerun the import. This way you have a master list of what is missing and thus a to do list. I think your idea could just result in a messy incomplete site over time. In almost every marketplace, i'd say an image is of paramount importance, in fact multiple images are, so a facility allowing setup of products without images would be for many site owners a very bad option - or at least with the ones I work with lol.

[deepthinker]

Missing JPEG files

Lee, What you say would be true in a live web environment. But I am talking about a development environment, well before anything gets published to the web. We need to develop the extract software from our stock control system with all its internal tree structure, hundreds and hundreds of products, without having to worry about missing JPGs at this stage. Plenty of time to fill in the gaps before publishing.

[leehack]

Fair comment, but if that's the case why not take the image completely out of the equation and do them all together when you have completed development? Nothing more permanent than a temporary solution is my stance.

[NormanRouxel]

the extract software from our stock control system

Surely that's the place to check that the images exist. You'll have full control there and can set a default image if your fileExists fails.

[deepthinker]

Missing JPGs (cont...)

Ah, because the programs are DOS based (Don't say anything !) and the shortened DOS 8.3 filename convention is incapable of checking the existence of multiple similarly-named files (such as My_Product_1234567890.JPG)

Otherwise I would have done this a long time ago !