External links problem - unable to update External Data in v16

[Jan]

Sounds like I am saying you are doing something wrong, which I'm not, just that there should be ways of dealing with issues like yours in place within the support offering from Sellerdeck.

You are not asking for help with the software, just reporting a bug, but lots of people will try to get free support (I run a software house, so I know this, so many people choose not to pay for phone support but they want it if they have an issue and don't want to use the free email support) which is why I think it would be useful to have the second option.

Cheers,

[Mike Hughes]

I think half the problem here is that Sellerdeck is poor at communicating with it's users. There is a bug report section on this forum but very few of the reports there get any sort of response from Sellerdeck.

It would be much, much better if Sellerdeck acknowledged the bug reports and gave an indication of the level of priority assigned to it and likely fix time. Without that no-one can have any confidence that anything is ever going to happen.

[feemish]

This act entitles you to a repair or a replacement, as I understand it, Sellerdeck are repairing the issue.

Are they? No one from Sellerdeck has told me that.. and when? I was told (not by Sellerdeck) it is not scheduled to be fixed.

[feemish]

So option one would suit your needs, a way to reports bugs in the software when you do not have a support contract.

But that doesn't exist does it.

[feemish]

You are not asking for help with the software, just reporting a bug, but lots of people will try to get free support (I run a software house, so I know this, so many people choose not to pay for phone support but they want it if they have an issue and don't want to use the free email support) which is why I think it would be useful to have the second option.

Cheers,

But it's not a 'bug' Jan. It's a software failure. Core functionality isn't working.

and plus there is no longer any free email support with Sellerdeck, It has been withdrawn.

[feemish]

I think half the problem here is that Sellerdeck is poor at communicating with it's users. There is a bug report section on this forum but very few of the reports there get any sort of response from Sellerdeck.

It would be much, much better if Sellerdeck acknowledged the bug reports and gave an indication of the level of priority assigned to it and likely fix time. Without that no-one can have any confidence that anything is ever going to happen.

Yes that would be an improvement for bugs.

But when is a bug a bug and when is it a software failure? Sellerdeck seem to be calling software failures 'bugs' which makes them just sound like annoying minor issues... when in fact they are failures. Broken core functionality... Stock control is pretty core functionality isn't it?

[Jan]

Are they? No one from Sellerdeck has told me that.. and when? I was told (not by Sellerdeck) it is not scheduled to be fixed.

Actually the message said it wasn't going to be fixed in the version that is about to be released not that it wasn't going to be fixed ever. I would be surprised if it wasn't scheduled to be fixed but I don't have any information on that.

You need to discuss this with your sales person and if you don't get a satisfactory answer you can ask for a refund and downgrade.

I can see why Jules dropped out of this conversation.

Regards,

[feemish]

I already spoke to the salesperson, quite a few times, and the final communication was that they could not help anymore unless I paid the £545 for support. I then complained directly to Phil Rothwell and was told he was on holiday for weeks.

Apologies if I sound annoyed, but that's probably because I am. I'm certainly not annoyed with anyone on the forum, as this has always been the most helpful place in Sellerdeck world. Which is one major reason why I don't want to take up the paid Sellerdeck 'support' again. I didn't find it very helpful at all. Quite often they couldn't help, and paying £545 to be told 'oh that's a bug' isn't good value for money! Every issue I ever had was solved here on the forum by people like Peblaco and Norman, even when I did have the paid support cover. Except of course this one.. which isn't a bug.. but a failure.

[Jan]

I have had a chat with Hugh in development and this issue is under investigation as a priority at the moment, once the cause has been clarified then it will be planned into a release.

Hope this helps even though it is not a fix for you.

[feemish]

Thanks Jan.

[brucet]

This has been investigated by our CTO, Hugh Gibson. It seems that Microsoft officially dropped support for two-way linking to Excel tables some time ago, but this never came to our attention. The reports here are the first we've received of Sellerdeck users being affected, and the MS article documenting the change is not at all prominent.

There is a Microsoft support article that defines which versions of Access are affected. It also offers two possible workarounds:
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/...e-linked-to-an

Sellerdeck 2016 gives Microsoft's newer ACE drivers priority over any older, unsupported, JET driver that might have previously been in use. This may explain why the issue manifests itself on upgrading from version 14 to version 16. The driver chosen by the software depends partly on the versions already installed on the individual PC, of which there can be several.

Continued use of an older driver is not recommended.

In essence, the change made by Microsoft means that it's no longer possible to make an Excel table behave like a database. Since it's a change to the MS Office core, unfortunately it's not something we can resolve, nor could it be resolved by changing to another ecommerce application.

As a consequence we will unfortunately have to withdraw the Excel linking option, and will be removing it from the UI in a forthcoming release.

As an alternative to linking to Excel, it is possible to link to Access tables in another database, as described in the Microsoft article. These can be updated using Access forms, or a custom Desktop extension or application. We are currently developing an extension to provide easier viewing and updating of stock levels, which we plan to release in due course.

[feemish]

OK thanks Bruce.

I suppose apologies are in order as I immediately laid the entire blame at Sellerdecks door, and from this explanation it seems to be an issue caused by changes from Microsoft which weren't spotted by Sellerdeck... which is understandable. So, sorry for my rather angry tone over this thread.

Thanks for getting to the route of the problem. I will now have to have a good think about how to progress.

Does anyone know if I can change my excel spreadsheet to an access database easily?

[brucet]

No problem Mark, I can understand it's been frustrating. I'm not an Access guru, but I think importing the spreadsheet data is straightforward enough. In Access 2016 you create a new blank database, select 'External Data', and click the 'Excel' icon under 'Import & Link'. Then just follow the wizard.

The UI will be different if you have an old version of Access without the ribbon.

I hope this helps

[webzavi]

I don't think that you should automatically get free support for software that offers a support contract that you have chosen not to have but maybe two things are needed by Sellerdeck with regard to support :

1) A bug report form, so that users without support can report bugs
2) Support for a one off or hourly fee

Kind regards,

With respect when something stops working that's a core function of the software for many years there should be a fix found at no cost. Especially when it works in previous versions still.

If something stops working in MS Windows they don't charge for it

[webzavi]

This has been investigated by our CTO, Hugh Gibson. It seems that Microsoft officially dropped support for two-way linking to Excel tables some time ago, but this never came to our attention. The reports here are the first we've received of Sellerdeck users being affected, and the MS article documenting the change is not at all prominent.

There is a Microsoft support article that defines which versions of Access are affected. It also offers two possible workarounds:
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/...e-linked-to-an

Sellerdeck 2016 gives Microsoft's newer ACE drivers priority over any older, unsupported, JET driver that might have previously been in use. This may explain why the issue manifests itself on upgrading from version 14 to version 16. The driver chosen by the software depends partly on the versions already installed on the individual PC, of which there can be several.

Continued use of an older driver is not recommended.

In essence, the change made by Microsoft means that it's no longer possible to make an Excel table behave like a database. Since it's a change to the MS Office core, unfortunately it's not something we can resolve, nor could it be resolved by changing to another ecommerce application.

As a consequence we will unfortunately have to withdraw the Excel linking option, and will be removing it from the UI in a forthcoming release.

As an alternative to linking to Excel, it is possible to link to Access tables in another database, as described in the Microsoft article. These can be updated using Access forms, or a custom Desktop extension or application. We are currently developing an extension to provide easier viewing and updating of stock levels, which we plan to release in due course.

How come this was not brought to your attention sooner though? Especially when you do testing of the software before release?