Sub section upload problem

[Sally Dickson]

I have been uploadng large numbers of products to the new shop:
http://www.toysandgifts.co.uk

To this I use flat file import.

So I export Products, then reformat the information in excel to give me:

section name... product... etc etc.

The problem is on reinporting the information all the sections get thrown out.

So I have the structure:

section:Fancy Dress
sub-section: >>>>Star Wars
Sub-section:>>>>>>>Girls
sub-section:>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Age 3-4

I end up with 4 sections:

Fancy Dress
Star Wars
Girls
Age 3-4

This is complete mess, since I also have:

Fancy Dress> Disney princess> Girls> Age 3 - 4
Fancy Dress> Indiana Jones> Boys> Age 3 -4,

so end up with:

Fancy Dress
Star Wars
Indiana Jones
Disney princess
Girls
Girls
Age 3-4
Age 3-4
Age 3-4
Boys

Basically its a mess.

I find the hierarchial upload very difficult to understand, let alone work with.

But clearly flat file upload is no longer working

Any tips?

[rmorrow]

If the sections have imported OK with the products, but just at the wrong level, isn't it OK just to drag and drop them into the right place in the tree?

[Sally Dickson]

yes, that ishat I do, but with so many similar sounding sections, its not ideal.

it means you have to make signifiant changes, not just details. otherwise its more trouble than its worth

SD

[Sean Williams]

So I export Products, then reformat the information in excel to give me:

Could this sentence be the clue?
In our experience of flat (& hierarchical) files, format is everything.

We found we could only make things work 100% every time by creating the complete structure we wanted in a 'virgin' site with a single product in each section/sub section/sub section etc, exporting this and then duplicating this structure exactly for every product we added.
We found that any deviation or "reformatting" caused problems.

It sounds long-winded, but in fact once the first one is done, it's a breeze.

[Sally Dickson]

Hi Sean,

Thanks for this. I must have misunderstood, but do you actually have one sub-section one product?

I understand what you are saying about formating the hierarchial layout, but if I want to add metatags to the sections, well ils near on impossible using the hierarchial layout.

I have tried by highlight the relevant field in pink, but even so with 50 odd sections and subsections, you go 'crosseeyed' trying upload very similar data into the right field. I did think of adding an addition sheet to the spreadsheet and using VLOOKUP to paste the metattags from one page onto the next. But again its complicated.

In the end it is often easier to work directly in Actinic then using the upload spreadsheets, which is a pity.

Best wishes,

Sally Dickson

[Sean Williams]

Thanks for this. I must have misunderstood, but do you actually have one sub-section one product?

Hi Sally
what I meant was to make sure you have all the various permutations of products and their section structure represented at least once so that you can see the structure in the flat / hier file.

Hiers can be a bit of a nightmare, but they do start to make sense; a 50" monitor would be useful. Have fun!

[Duncan Rounding]

I created an Excel workbook for a client that has a simple data entry worksheet which is automatically 'patched' over to an upload data worksheet. This is no quick fix but it does makes life so much simpler afterwards. They can now add entries for up to 30 products at once and then upload it as an hierarchical file in no time at all.

[leehack]

That sounds like a great idea Duncan.