View topic - How do you run an xml feed in Zen Cart

[laggardlady]

As the title, how do you run an xml feed in zen cart. What do you do with it? I tried opening it in excel but couldn't manage it. When I open it from the site where it can be downladed it states at the top

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This XML file does not appear to have any style information associated with it. The document tree is shown below.
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Does that mean there's something wrong with it? As you can tell by the questions I know absolutely nothing about xml files.

Any bits of information would be much appreciated.

Thanks

[Sash]

Not sure if this is what you need, but i had the same problem when opening them in excel,(u get the same stuff duplicated),, If you download the froogle file of it in easy populate (tip from Mr Redspell), it shows fine,,,,

If thats not what you mean i aint got a clue lol..

[firewall]

where are you getting the file from ..are you using a zencart add on

[laggardlady]

The file is from a supplier to populate the site. I asked about a csv file and they said they had this xml feed. I thought I could open it in excel but can't do it and I have no idea what to do with it.

I've tried reading about xml feeds but don't really understand it all.

[Sash]

you do get programmes to change from xml to csv,IF and HOW i dont know,Goodluck...

[laggardlady]

Thanks sash. I'll do a bit more reading and also contact the supplier.

[firewall]

have you tried converting the file to excel ....
I have managed to open a xml file in excel ..it was a while ago ..if you still need help I'll look for a xml file and try open it again

[laggardlady]

Firewall, I've tried opening it in excel but it won't do it, says there are errors in it.

I do remember previously being able to open one in excel but this one must have errors although I don't see how others can use it if it has errors. It's really something I'll have to read up on and try and get some understanding off but it's difficult because although I would like to work with them I'm not really interested in learning it all

[Sash]

Did you ever find a solution to this???

[laggardlady]

Sash, no sorry I didn't. I didn't take it any further because it's not something I have much interest in learning and I find when I've no interest I can't really learn.

[Sash]

No probs, i have quite a few xml feeds i could use, but cant! because i cant find anything that can use them,

WOnder why suppliers supply xml files, when loads of people cant use them,

Strange because in zen cart admin it uploads to google base from an xml file,, but wont allow import of xml,,,

Dont know lol,,

seen a few "pay for" modules But what one is it lol

[BargainMania]

Open a blank page, click on data, xml, import xml.

After you have imported you xml file, you can save as a tab delimitted text file. Then you can change the headings for that file and save.

Hope that helps you out

Alistair

[BargainMania]

No probs, i have quite a few xml feeds i could use, but cant! because i cant find anything that can use them,

WOnder why suppliers supply xml files, when loads of people cant use them,

Strange because in zen cart admin it uploads to google base from an xml file,, but wont allow import of xml,,,

Dont know lol,,

seen a few "pay for" modules But what one is it lol

You see, every supplier (of data feeds) probably has their own FORMAT in which that data is configured. And it is very UNLIKELY that their format is instantly compatible with the format that Zencart needs/uses to populate its product data.

So, somehow, the feed data needs to be "re-assembled" before it can be sent into the ZC database.

Everybody's needs are different. But in ALL cases, no two are alike, because their feeds are very differently formatted. So a BESPOKE system would have to be written for each

Alistair

[essexboyracer]

Hi There, I have been looking at using XML Product Feeds (for affiliate IM not dropshipping).

BargainMania is correct in that something bespoke would have to be written and it will involve some programming etc Basically I see it working thus:

1. Grab the feed from the suppliers URL
2. Optionally unzip the feed (depending on the feed content, but if you are looking at basic content, title, description, price, image etc 4,000 products could be 5MB uncompressed)
3. Run the unzipped file through your XML parser, there are some out there and PHP has a built in extension called SimpleXML. You will need to do this differently for each suppliers feed as BargainMania says
4. Import the newly created XML file into ZC (or optionally in step 3 transform the XML into a flat CSV file)
5. Do all this on a cron job at 12 midnight

I spent a while looking for an off-the-shelf solution to do this without too much hassle and found a content management system called Symphony-cms which uses XML as its native data store. You need to get your head around some confusing drupal like terminology but once there and with a few mods it can be workable, if your only doing affiliate links. Not sure how it would work within a cart environment.

I had spoken with a chap who did a module for opencart that imported feeds from various sources, it was half developed but promised everything.