Is there an extension or app or a way to import products from a CSV file?

Thanks Oliver,

The plugin requires a license key.  Where do i find that?

Oliver,

I tried this and got this error:

Error inserting remaining products: Incorrect datetime value: '12/1/2024 14:26' for column `ecopetsu_store`.`ep_content`.`created` at row 1

Here is whjat I did-

First I created a product in J2Store.  A basic simple test product, filled in all of the fields as appropriate for this simple product.

Then I used the plugin to export is to a csv file.  The file appears to have all of the fields as shown in the docs.

Then I deleted that product and used the plugin to import that csv file.  I set the characterf set to UTF-8 as my database is utf8mb4_general_ci

When I look at the database column as shown in the error above, that column has the datetime format of "2021-05-13 02:12:05". MySQL retrieves and displays DATETIME values in ' YYYY-MM-DD hh:mm:ss ' format.

It appears as though the plugin is trying to write the product content with a datetime format of "MM/DD/YYYY hh:mm"  and the import fails.

In the CSV the column 'created_on" has the dated as 12/1/2024 14:26.  All other Joomla content in that table use the datetime format of YYYY-MM-DD hh:mm:ss.

So it appears that the plugin is creating the datetime format incorrectly on an export.  Once I changed the format of the cells in the CSV to the correct datetime it imported the product.

There were a couple of other errors that I think were in the csv file but I'm not sure where they came from.  If I figure that out I will update this.

No migration. your version of J2store, downloaded here, was what was installed and the Joomla version is 5.2.2

I have attached the export file I created it is just one product.  I created it a a simple product.  It is possible that the csv file that I opend with Excel set the cell format for dates incorrectly and that caused the problem, but I have no othe way of opening a csv to tell for sure.

I made the corrections and saved it to another fle name and that was able to be imported, but still caused a couple of errors I can't explain.  I uploaded it as will, j2test.csv

I just looked at the 1st csv file in Notepad++ and it has the dates formated as 12/0/2024 14:26.  So it appears the plugin IS setting the date in that format.

All of the normal joomla dates in the content table are set to the yyyy-mm-dd format by MySql.  The site I am working on is a new quickstart with T4 BS5 templates.  But that makes no difference to the content table.  That is created by a joomla install and any articles created will be that format.

Yes the dates were set in the CSV file when it was exported, so those would have to be by the plugin as the other articles content is created correctly in the database.  The j2test.csv file was after I corrected the date format on all of the date cells in Excel,  It was THAT file I used for the import.  The first one was what the plugin created and that was what failed.

I can't give server access aa there are other files there with confidential info.  I can export content from any table you want as a csv file if that would help.

The other "errors" may have been data that the import did not recognize, so it may be more of a notice of data error rather than a coding error

Oliver, there are only 2 entries in those tables so the exports are attaced as csv files.

I also did another product export using the plugin and it is attached as well.  If I open that with Notepad, the dates are correct. But if it is opened with Excel, then the dates are converted to the MM/DD/YYYY format by Excel.  So the problem is in how Excel handles that.  Since Excel would be the program that users would use to work with these files and the dates would then be saved incorrectly after edits, it might be necessary to clarify that in the docs or maybe refer to this link for clarification:

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/msoffice/forum/all/excel-importing-csv-file-date-format-changes-from/a3d3b61c-ff9e-472d-9c7b-8cb9d230ced9

I applied these changes to my computer and now the csv opens with the dates correct.  However, the settings in my region are accepted for the USA.  That is the default settings when Windows is installed on my computer.  I can see that this could cause problems in other locales that may use the MM/DD/YYYY format on their systems,  I am at a loss as to how to handle that, but an explanation in the docs would be a good place to start

Oliver,

I have done a littel more research and given this more thought.  Since Excel will probably be the way users will edit the csv files and since Excel defaults to the MM/DD/YYYY format AND changing the REGION settings on their computer can have a broad affect of other applications, that would nopt be the best solution.  I think it would be better to have the plugin parse the csv during import for the dates and convert them all to the YYYY/MM/DD.  Asking users to either change their personal region settings might create bigger problems for them, or adviseing them to alter all the date formats in thier CSV import file that might contain hundreds of entries would be very tedious.  A coding solution would be a better solution.

Oliver,

What I suggested was not to change the dattime format theat Joomla and MySql uses.  I kjnow It has to be that way.  It is not wise to have users change the region in the computers to solve the problem eiother as that would create a lot of unintended consequences  elsewhere.  What I suggest is for the import routine to check the csv import for the MM/DD/YYYY format that might be there because the user used Excel to edit the file and then saved it with that format in those cells.  Then if the import enccounters the format, it just converts it back to the proper format so the error does not occur.

I realize that ytou guys just got into aal this recently and I appreciate your efforts so far.  If I can help you make it better, please let me know.  I am happy to test things for you.

A suggestion for this plugin, in the future, would be a way to map fields into the J2Store database from a CSV file that was exported from some other ecommerce platfom. The users from other ecommerc apps would have an easier time migrating to J2Commerce.