Importing a category tree when several categories share the same name

-- HikaShop version -- : 6.5.2
-- Joomla version -- : 6;1.3
-- PHP version -- : 8.3

Hi
We use HikaShop on Joomla (FaLang: ru, en, ua, ge). Our catalog is a tree where leaf categories often have the same display name under different parents. Example:

Judaica → Hamsa
Christianity → Hamsa
(later) Brand A → Hand cream / Brand B → Hand cream
The names on the storefront must stay identical. Renaming leaves (“Hamsa Judaica”, “Hand cream 1”) is not acceptable.

What we tried

Product import (Products → Import) with parent_category + categories, and “Create automatically missing categories” enabled.
HikaShop looks up categories by name and takes the first match. The second “Hamsa” is not created; products from both branches land in one category. parent_category does not disambiguate an existing category.

Putting only the leaf name in categories (as in a HikaShop product export) — same result.

Docs say the categories column can be IDs or namekeys. That works for assigning products, but only after the two “Hamsa” categories already exist. Product import does not seem able to create two categories with the same category_name and different namekeys.

Nicolas wrote on the forum that aliases cannot be used for this, and that category IDs should be used instead.

Question

What is the supported way to create and update such a tree automatically (CSV, mass action, or another built-in tool), so that:

display names may repeat;
each category has a stable unique key (namekey or ID);
later product imports can attach products by that key, not by name?
Is there a category-only import (not the product importer) that accepts category_name + category_namekey + parent?
Or can product import create a missing category by namekey while keeping a separate display name?

We would rather not maintain a custom PHP script or import #__hikashop_category by hand. If the product CSV cannot do this, please confirm that, and tell us the official workflow you recommend.

Thank you

Hi Nicolas!
thank you.
We are imported new categories+subcategory tree and after this we are imported products.
Up to this step - all is perfect.
But then I try to enter to any new product - I get error:

1064
You have an error in your SQL syntax; check the manual that corresponds to your MySQL server version for the right syntax to use near 'AND hk_parent.category_right <= ORDER BY hk_parent.category_left' at line 1

You can try here: made-in-holyland.com/ru/religiya/khristi...nastennoe-ukrashenie .
End Breadcrumb have this structure:
Религия Христианство: Настенное украшение product category Христианство.

The site has four languages: Russian (the main language), English, Ukrainian, and Georgian.
It's strange that the error only appears in Russian.
And yes, we use fabola for joomla,.
Any solution?
thank you.

Database error after category CSV import (6.6.0) + product import by namekey

Hello,

We updated to HikaShop 6.6.0 and used the new Products → Categories → Import, then Products → Import. The category tree and products appeared, but the shop now reports a database problem when working with products.

What we imported

Categories: CSV, UTF-8 with BOM, comma-separated, quoted fields:
category_name,category_namekey,category_parent_id
category_name — display name (may repeat, e.g. two “Hamsa”, two “Keychains”).
category_namekey — our stable keys, hlb_{id}.
category_parent_id — parent namekey (empty for top-level).
Products: our usual product CSV (semicolon, UTF-8 BOM). Column categories contains the namekey (hlb_12), not the display name. “Create missing categories” was off. Update by product_code was on.
We had previously imported the same catalog with the old product importer (duplicate leaf names all landed under Judaica). Those products and that tree were deleted before this 6.6.0 import.

Possible clue from our side

One earlier category export mistakenly had the literal string None in category_namekey / category_parent_id for several rows (Judaica, Christianity, Magnets, and children pointing at parent None). If that file was imported even once, several rows would share the same namekey None, which should violate uniqueness on #__hikashop_category.category_namekey.

The file that was meant to be used after that had real keys only (hlb_6, hlb_15, …), no None.

What we need

The exact error message, and if possible the SQL / stack trace (PHP error, SQLSTATE).
Whether #__hikashop_category has duplicate category_namekey values, or broken nested-set columns (category_left / category_right).
Whether this is a known issue in 6.6.0 after Categories → Import followed by a product import that assigns categories by namekey.
We can send both CSV files if useful.

Thank you,

Hi Nicolas,
thank you.
Now products is ok.
But breadcrumbs displayed anything wrong on all languages:

Souvenirs from the Holy Land | Judaica | Jewish symbolism | product category | Judaica

For example:
made-in-holyland.com/en/religiya/iudaika/jewish-symbolism
made-in-holyland.com/ru/religiya/khristi...nastennoe-ukrashenie
made-in-holyland.com/ua/suveniry-so-svya...hristianstvo/breloki

and other..,,,

Perfect!
thank you!