Issues with the Products Cron Update Plugin

-- HikaShop version -- : 2.6.2
-- Joomla version -- : 2.5.28
-- PHP version -- : 5.4.45
-- Browser(s) name and version -- : n/a

I am pretty sure I have found a bug in the Hikashop Products Cron Update Plugin. It appears to change the Tax Category when it runs a product update.

I have a very simple update running with that plugin. It runs once a day on a simple CSV file that contains only product_code and product_quantity. It only is supposed to update the quantity of the items on hand to keep the website in sync with the current inventory in the physical store.

I am finding though that it is change the Tax Category of all items back to the default tax category, which for us is for the state sales tax. Certain items though are except from sales tax and thus have the tax category of "none". Those items are returning to the state sales tax after each run of the update plugin.

What can be done to fix this apparent bug in the cron update plugin? Anyone have any thoughts on what I can try?

Hi,

First, you can try to use a mass action with an action "CSV products" and a cron trigger, instead of that plugin. The plugin was made with the import of complete CSV data periodically in mind, while the import in the mass actions system was made to update product data. So it's more appropriate.

How exactly do I do that?

I see that I can choose CSV Products as a filter, and choose the import file, but what action do I use to properly update the quantities available for the products based on the values of the CSV?

What are the options "Save the products on Mass Action csv import" and "ADD_ON_CSV_IMPORT_MASSACTION", and what do they do?

The documentation for any of this is pretty much nonexistent, so any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

Hi,

You don't have to select any action, but only have to check the "Save the products on Mass Action csv import" which allow to update the informations based on the csv file and the option "ADD_ON_CSV_IMPORT_MASSACTION" (missing translation) allow to create a product if present in the csv file but not in the shop.

I had some delays in working this, as the client needed me to focus on other work. I have been working with the Mass Actions function to get the CSV import to work. Unfortunately, I have been having issues.

If I try the Mass Action function to update the product quantities from a CSV, all I am getting is errors. Specifically an error like:

The line 'BAC1003,100' could not be imported Product not found

I get an error like that for each and every line in the CSV. I created as a UTF-8 file, comma separated. I have tried putting quotes around the product code, and not. I don't know what else to try.

My question is does the CSV need to be in a very specific format for this to work?

Hi,

Could you attach the csv file to this topic to see how it is formatted ?
Which version of HikaShop do you have ? The latest 2.6.3 from which date ?

I have attached the CSV.
I have version 2.6.3 installed. The file name is com_hikashop_business_v2.6.3_2016-06-30_00-26-44.zip

Let me know if you need anything else.

Hi,

Could you give us a backend and FTP access to your website in order to debug it directly ?

These informations can be sent via our contact form with a link to this topic in your message.
www.hikashop.com/support/contact-us.html

I have submitted the information you requested. Let me know what you find, and thank you for the help.

Have you folks had a chance to look into this yet? Just trying to check in and see as this problem is still plaguing me. Thanks.

Xavier was away since Thursday and is returning tomorrow. He'll look at that tomorrow.

Hi,

Problem solved, there was an error in our code, we will fix that on our end too.
Thank you for this report !

Hello Xavier,

Sorry to revive an old post but I've encountered a problem to which I can't seem to find a solution.
I managed to get the Hikashop Products Cron Update Plugin to work and stock level import was done appropriately but only to main products. When I try to update stock levels for variants it's not working.

Couldn't find any documentation regarding this issue. Could you please advice?

Thank you,

Guy.

Hi,

When you import variants, you need to also have the main product as a row before the variants, with a product_parent_id column pointing to the product_code of the parent and characteristics columns with the values of the variants. Basically, what we explain in the import documentation and what you get if you export products with characteristics with the "export" button of the products listing :
www.hikashop.com/support/documentation/73-hikashop-import.html
I suppose that your CSV must be missing some bits of that.

Thank you. I was afraid this will be the answer. The file is automatically exported from an ERP and this fields are all missing

Hi,

Then you can try to use a mass action (menu System>Mass actions) in order to import your file.
It can handle products and variants updates with only the product_id or product_code and the columns you want to update.
It can also run with the cron at a specific frequency.
However, it can't rename columns in the CSV on the fly like the cron update plugin can.
www.hikashop.com/support/documentation/167-massaction-form.html