importing products

[Barry]

Hiya

I have client that regulary sends me new products to load into the shop, he sends one email per product, the email contains the image file as an attachment, the price, product name and available size options, often several hundred emails!

so, im trying to switch over to getting him to fill in a spreadsheet with all the info i need and the images in a sperate zip file, much faster and easier if we can get it right

the problems im up against at the moment is getting the size options (attributes) into the file, im using a flat file but i understand from reading the forum that i need a heirachial file instead, i exported the sites products so i could see what a correct one looks like and theres no way i can ask him to create one of those for import - waaaay to complex for him (and me for that matter!) - is there any way around this? otherwise i will have to go back over each product and past in the attributes afterimporting!!

also, with the flat file im experimenting with, i have a path to the image files, something like;
folder/folder/imagename.gif
but after importing the file the images have been imported without the / so im getting
folderfolderimagename.gif
which is obviously broken

any pointers on how to save us both from days of work would be very gratefully received!

thanks guys

[Barry]

To Update this thread, I found the solution to the 2nd query here, you simply have to put a \ instead of an / in the spreadsheet you want to import and it works ok

ie instead of folder/folder/imagename.gif

use folder\folder\imagename.gif

im still stuck on the other part though, how to get the size options into the spreadsheet without having to master making very complex hierarchial spreadsheets, any pointers would be very welcome

i wanted to be a webmaster not a data input clerk

[Cheapprices4u]

hi what i do is have a dummy product hidden of course

with all colour and size options avaliable

copy and paste to the new products and delete whats not needed

then once im done i purge all the deleted options

[fergusw]

Barry,
There is a program within Actinic that will assist you in converting flat files to heirarchical files.
It's called "FlatFileConvertor.exe" and is located in the Actinic Program files folder.

[gabrielcrowe]

FERGUS! you LIVE!!

[fergusw]

Who are you? And who's this Fergus you keep referring too? My head hurts!

Pam (opening shower door): "Bobby - I had the most terrible dream......."

[gabrielcrowe]

hahaha, you crazy foo.

[Darren B]

LOL i was thinking exactly the same Gabe - i have been formulating the plan for the search party

[Barry]

Heeeeeeeey this is turning into a party! what a great forum!

thanks for that great tip Fergus, you sure are live Senor, ill post back how i get on

and thanks for that tip Cheapprices4u, i have been using that method myself but am going to have a crack with the convertor as they are sending me hundreds of new products a week

thanks guys and party on