Can't do hierarchical import efficiently

[dcleal]

I can't see how to do what I want without grubbing around in MS Access, but just thought I'd check with the experts that I wasn't missing anything obvious...

We have a large (12,000) product database which we maintain outside Actinic. Each time we want to upload the web site we run a script that creates a hierarchical import file and imports it. As we duplicate or triplicate several products to have them appear in multiple places, there are actually around 27,000 products in Actinic terms!

At present we do the import in "replace" mode which works perfectly, but the subsequent upload to the web site is very slow as Catalog treats every product as having changed.

Now, I've been experimenting with "update" mode for the import. This doesn't upload unchanged products so it's much faster (good!) but doesn't remove deleted products from the Catalog (bad!!).

So, as far as I can see, I either
(i) live with the "replace" mode and the giant upload for every set of changes, no matter how small
(ii) try to write an MS Access query to delete the removed products by hand (which sounds like hard work).

Any other bright ideas? I need the process to be identical each time (read idiot-proof), so using different modes on different occasions isn't really on.

And can I please put in a request for an extra switch on the "update" mode to delete obsolete products.

- Dave

[NormanRouxel]

We do the Hierarchical Import / Replace every day and this works as you'd like. I.e. only changed pages and new images need uploaded.

If a section or product page hasn't changed after the replace then it doesn't need updated and Actinic won't try to re-upload it.

Perhaps you're changing something on every page (like a date or time) that is making every page or a product on that page different each time you import it.

Norman.

[harlequin]

Jan at www.mole-end.biz has the query you are after

hi there, jan@mole-end has the access query you are looking for to delete any products which have been deleted out of your database, after importing, it works a treat

...actually, she can make it all work with her automation moles which, download your orders, imports your access files, does the re-writing to your database of stock control, and then deletes any products out of actinic which are not on your database, then uploads the whole lot for you....

In fact, it doesnt stop there, the automation moles mean the orders can be sitting in your printer tray ready for you with only a tick box to process them in an actinic sense...

i'm sure she will spot this thread though and contact you or you can contact her...

best,

steve quinn
harlequin domains
www.harlequindomains.com
0800 0832077
Actinic Design, Hosting and Search Engine Optimisation.

[Jan]

:-) thanks Steve ... still working on the automated tea making functionality.

What I did was write SQL to mark items that had been removed from the access database for deletion, which was one of your suggestions, contact me my email for more details (jan@mole-end.biz).

If you want to take a look at the automation tools more details and a free trial are available at :-
http://www.mole-end.biz/acatalog/One...omponents.html

You could use the 'run program' feature in the order processing facilities to do your import and then mark the appropriate items as deleted. Then on the next run the catalog would be uploaded.

We have just merged our automation tools and batch processing tools into a single product, this makes them even easier to use and configure and is excellent value as it costs less than half of the price of the separate components. (We have a £15 discount for all mailing list members this month as well, so now is a good time to buy).

Regards,

[dcleal]

Hmmm.

Thanks to everyone for their comments. I just created a tiny sandbox version with most of the info stripped out, and it seems that Norman is correct - so hopefully I can find out what's forcing a change and stop it

- Dave