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    #1

    Product in flat file, but not in Miva admin?

    I'm trying to wrap my head around what the previous admin did on our site as well as familiarize myself with Miva in general. In the process of exporting our existing products to a flat file to get a feel for what I'm need to do to get things back on track, I noticed a large number of products listed on the flat file that are not showing up in the Products management area on the site.

    Just one example, and they all seem to be number based item codes, the PRODUCT_CODE is 3.80708E+11 which is just crazy. The ONE thing they all have in common is they are currently set to inactive, so they are at least not showing up on the site anywhere.

    Where are these records kept? Can I ("safely") edit these entries on the database level? Ultimately I'm looking to simply remove all the dead products and clean things up. Any tips on the best way to do this? Appreciate any help!
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    #2
    PRODUCT_CODE is 3.80708E+11
    I suspect you are opening the export file in Excel, which is notorious for automatically altering numbers: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/2643223 So those part numbers don't actually exist in your store database in that format, it is Excel misleading you.

    Something else to watch for is any part number with a zero as the first digit, certain versions of Excel will strip those off and play havoc with your import processes. Sometimes it helps to export the file as txt vs. csv and import into Excel for manipulation.

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      #3
      That's helpful info Dan, but I don't think that's my main issue here. That helps me understand the exponential number thing, but there are still a number of items in my product database that shouldn't be there and I am not able to remove them via the admin interface. I'm sorry I confused the issue by referring to that one item, but thank you for the information. In fact I actually want to remove ALL entries using numbers as the product code. I want to use a manufacturer-product-desc schema. But for the time being, I want to clean things up. Removing these products from the database is my first goal. I actually believe these errors could have been introduced because of the issues you mentioned here, but I'm wondering about how to remove them.

      Just to be sure I exported to txt and then imported and got the same dead products. So I can confirm that these products ARE present in the database and yet not available in the admin interface.

      Here's an example I've highlighted from the photo below:
      item 222826 and product name 104C

      This product doesn't show up in the admin interface, and yet is obviously here in the flat file dump. They are old parts that we haven't used for a long time, but for the purpose of cleaning up for more efficient import and export I'd like to be able to remove them.

      Is it possible to clean up these entries? My thought was modifying the database directly, but I'm looking for the "safest" option as I'm not sure that would be it.

      I hope this is a little more clear.

      Edit: the photo is tiny. Here's a link: http://screencast.com/t/qf2ZgUn9vW
      screenshot of items
      1 Photo

      Comment

        #4
        Miva database manipulation is a dangerous sport, highly recommend keeping things within the API. Miva does not have a product deletion method via the standard CSV product import/export methods, however XML Provisioning can be used. Here is a previous forum discussion on the topic: http://www.miva.com/forums/forum/onl...rt-file-how-to You can use an Excel and a formula to isolate the items you want deleted and to generate the necessary tags/import file.
        • 1 like

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          #5
          I want to use a manufacturer-product-desc schema.
          I would be curious why you want to go this route, if it is for url/seo purposes, there may be other methods available depending on the specifics.

          Comment

            #6
            Thank you again Dan. That is helpful info. I've done db manipulation in the past, but never with Miva. It's certainly something I'd rather not dive into at this point. The XML Provisioning looks like the right path. I'll pursue that. Thank you.

            Originally posted by Dan - Glendale Designs View Post

            I would be curious why you want to go this route, if it is for url/seo purposes, there may be other methods available depending on the specifics.
            My only thinking is moving away from the products we have up based on seemingly random strings of numbers. It's more of a user logic thing (for the other two people who need to add products to the site). I don't have any reasoning beyond that. There are only a tiny handful that need to be changed, the rest are part of the group of products I am trying to remove.

            But saying all that, you have me rethinking that aspect. I'll reconsider changing existing products IDs.

            Comment

              #7
              Originally posted by daveknepper View Post
              My only thinking is moving away from the products we have up based on seemingly random strings of numbers.
              Your "random strings of numbers" comment regarding your product codes caught my eye. Couple that with your first comment that all of these products are inactive and it made me realize that these are most likely Inventory Variant Products. Miva seems to like to generate the odd random numbered product codes when it encounters a product code and attribute code combination that it "too long".

              With that said, take a look at your products that have attributes and see if the "I" for Inventory has been checked. If it has then take a peek at the Inventory Variant tab. More than likely you are going to find those same randomly numbered product codes showing up there.

              Let me know if you more questions about Inventory Variants - I've got a store that has quite a few of them and some of them have these wild product codes.

              Leslie Kirk
              Miva Certified Developer
              Miva Merchant Specialist since 1997
              Previously of Webs Your Way               (aka Leslie Nord leslienord)
              Email me: [email protected]
              www.lesliekirk.com

              Follow me: Twitter | Facebook | FourSquare | Pinterest | Flickr
              • 1 like

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                #8
                Good catch Leslie, spot on.

                Comment

                  #9
                  Thank you both so much for your help. Leslie, that's an excellent thought. I double checked and none of the entries I'm taking issue with are variants. But it did make take a closer look at what they are...

                  At some point in the past (just asked, about 3 years ago) the previous admin set up a feed of items from another service (in this case it was a company called Infocomm?). I cross referenced and EVERY one of these products also have a designation from "FEED_PRODUCT". Looking into it further it appears to have been XML feed items from an outside vendor.

                  Cool stuff. But not where we are today. :) At this point I'm just trying to expunge them. They haven't been active for ages and I'd much rather have a clean flat file of products for import and export.

                  As it looks like it was an XML process bringing this data in (doing some historical research here) so the XML plan Dan mentioned above looks like the best plan moving forward.

                  Any other thoughts are welcome. Otherwise I'm going to start digging into that XML deletion process.

                  Thanks all!

                  Comment

                    #10
                    Originally posted by daveknepper View Post
                    This product doesn't show up in the admin interface, and yet is obviously here in the flat file dump. They are old parts that we haven't used for a long time, but for the purpose of cleaning up for more efficient import and export I'd like to be able to remove them.
                    By default the catalog page will only display Active products. You can change this setting to show All products and below is a screenshot of that setting.

                    http://screencast.com/t/IAHcKPXR6hD

                    Wayne
                    Wayne Smith
                    • 1 like

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                      #11
                      Originally posted by wsmith View Post

                      By default the catalog page will only display Active products. You can change this setting to show All products and below is a screenshot of that setting.

                      http://screencast.com/t/IAHcKPXR6hD

                      Wayne
                      Wow. Thank you Wayne. That was EXACTLY the issue I was having. I can't believe I missed that. Thanks for catching it. All the "missing" products are showing up now. I could have

                      And the product that was showing up as an exponential number? Found it. It's 10x24-insert-usd. No wonder Excel was have trouble with it.

                      Thank you everyone for the help. I'm really glad I'd posted this in the beginners support group as this was a real bigger thing to do. ;P

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