How do I get my catalog?!

[Paleo]

I see where I can click two options:

Import Catalog

Export Catalog

 

Clicking on export catalog leads me to a place where I can either download the catalog in CSV format which absolutely no one uses or can decode; or I can click and get a link... which again no one (google, bing, ect) can seem to decode.

 

How in the world do I get my catalog? Is there a xml version or txt version? If not... why?

Why do the links not seem to work for anyone? Am I missing something??

[bsmither]

A CSV formatted file is used to transport data in the most plain and pain-free of ways possible.

By "Catalogue", CubeCart is referring to a simple list of the products and the relevant details about each respective product.

A spreadsheet can load a CSV file which allows one to make some simple analysis.

In a somewhat more elaborate format, an XML file can be 'manipulated' in more imaginative ways. It is an XML file that search engines are wanting, and there are ways to get an output of the inventory (the 'catalogue') in that format.

In the Marketplace, there are a few "Product Feeds" that will deliver a custom file in the format required by the respective entity.

We would like to ask, in what final format would want your inventory report?

I would caution against an output that resembles an actual "catalogue", the type that you would associate with Sears, Victoria's Secret, and Swiss Colony.

[Paleo]

Adwords and Bing are both asking for a catalog, either by way of URL, FTP, or uploaded file. Neither of them seem to support the CSV file type.

 

They call it a catalog, but basically they want product information, or product feed information. I found where I have a product feed access password, but I'm not really sure how to use it.

[bsmither]

Do these entities detail the contents of the file they will accept? If they do not like CSV, then maybe they can use XML.

But XML has node names and attributes and maybe a lot more.

For example:

<product>
  <name lang="en-US">Foo</name>
  <name lang="de-DE">Fur</name>
</product>
<item>
  <nomenclature lang="en-US">Bar</name>
  <nomenclature lang="de-DE">Bahr</name>
</item>

Note that the name of the node that designates inventory could be 'product' or 'item'. Then what the inventory is called could be 'name' or 'nomenclature' or 'designation'.

So, we would need to know the "schema" of the file they will accept.

 

[Paleo]

Uploading the CSV file to bing gives the following error:

The file you are trying to upload doesn’t have a valid extension (for example, .txt, .qz, .zip, .qzip, .tar, .qz, .tgz, .xml). Please change the extension and try again.

 

[bsmither]

According to Bing Ads, once you have a Google AdWords campaign set up, you can just have Bing access that data from Google. So, maybe focusing on getting Google AdWords set up is the priority.

But, having zero knowledge about what AdWords is all about, I can't say if submitting a list of your inventory is appropriate.

[Paleo]

Google adwords wants the same list.

They both use .xml, neither use CSV, and neither one seem to recognize the URL for the feed.

[Paleo]

Is there a way to get the product feed in .xml format? Or a way to download the catalog in .xml?

[Dirty Butter]

This thread might be useful to you:

I'm still using this code Bsmither developed for me in 2013. I also cloned the Google Base plugin and created a similar Bing plugin.

 

 

[Paleo]

So this has been something people have been struggling with for a while.

I'm surprised it hasn't been simplified yet. Everything else in cubecart is generally very user friendly, except this.

[Dirty Butter]

I needed a static feed url, because at that time I had to add another site's feed to it easily. There must be some way most people do this without having such problems - otherwise, as you say, it would have been changed in stock versions a long time ago.

[Paleo]

So, I downloaded the StoreYa, shopzills, and shopping.com extensions from the cubecart marketplace to see if I could use one of them to get bing to recognize the file.

It looks like bing likes the StoreYa txt file, but it is giving me the following error:

The below headers/columns are not recognized and will be ignored.

shipping_weight,ean,jan

The below headers / column names are not in accordance with the specifications. Please update them.

upc,isbn

 

So will I need to go into the txt file and change some things?

[havenswift-hosting]

Have a look at https://www.cubecart.com/extensions/plugins/google-merchant-centre-feed which is our replacement plugin for the standard CubeCart export - it adds a lot of extra features, fixes several issues plus also adds the ability to export in xml format

Ian

[Paleo]

Ah, so a purchasable plug-in is required to get the feed and stuff to work correctly?

I was wondering why things seemed to be so unnecessarily incompatible. I knew I had to be missing something.

[havenswift-hosting]

16 minutes ago, Paleo said:

Ah, so a purchasable plug-in is required to get the feed and stuff to work correctly?

That is about it, yes ! There are a couple of annoying issues in the current version but we have also added a lot of extra functionality to the module.  Google also regularly change the feed requirements, and we guarantee to make any required changes as quickly as possible

[Dirty Butter]

Here's the part of my own Bing_Base plugin, cloned and modified from Google_Base, that shows the headers they accepted:

/* BSMITHER ADDED TO OMIT OUT OF STOCK */
$query = sprintf('SELECT I.* FROM %1$sCubeCart_inventory AS I LEFT JOIN %1$sCubeCart_category AS C ON I.cat_id = C.cat_id WHERE I.status = 1 AND I.stock_level > 0', $GLOBALS['config']->get('config', 'dbprefix'));
$results = $GLOBALS['db']->query($query, $per_page, $page);
if ($results === false) $results = array();
 /* END BSMITHER ADDED TO OMIT OUT OF STOCK */
	$header_fields = array('id', 'product_type', 'b_category', 'link', 'title', 'description', 'image_link', 'price', 'condition', 'shipping_weight', 'upc', 'ean', 'jan', 'isbn', 'availability', 'brand', 'gtin', 'mpn');
	$fields  = array('product_id', 'store_category', 'google_category', 'url', 'name condition', 'description', 'image', 'price', 'condition', 'product_weight', 'upc', 'ean', 'jan', 'isbn', 'availability', 'manufacturer', 'gtin', 'mpn');

 

[Paleo]

I'm totally new to all this, so I'm not sure where I make the changes at.

Do I copy the Google base plug-in somehow, make the changes in it, and then rename it and upload it all through cpanel?

[Dirty Butter]

I made a copy of the Google_Base and renamed it. There's also a place in the config file of the plugin where you have to match the re-naming. My Google_Base is not stock, either, as I said previously. If you're not comfortable yet with all this, it sounds like Havenswift's plugin would serve you better.