posted on May 10, 2004 12:06:58 PM new
I've learned from reading the posts here that SMPro isn't designed to be run in a network environment, which is unfortunate as I have three researchers that busy themselves each day creating listings.
Now please correct me if I'm wrong but would this work:
I create a program that allows my posters to create their listings outside of SMpro altogether, where the program allows them to create descriptions, enter weights, choose categories, etc, as well as take the photos of each item.
All the necessary fields required for listing import into SMpro are saved to a "network safe" access database set up on a shared directory.
The program transfers the images taken by the posters for each item to our ftp/www and the unique names are recorded in the database.
At the end of the day, the posting administrator generates two files... One file for importing the listings, and a second file for importing all the picture names/locations.
These two files are used to generate the day's batch of items and the whole mess is then checked and uploaded/synched as normal.
If you think that would work, I'll get started on it immediately, otherwise, let me know where I could go wrong given the restraints of the Vendio importing system.
A BIG help would be to see the actual field structure for listings created in SMpro or to learn of a way to manipulate the programs internal db directly.
Please let me know... I need to get things up and running again here.
I have passed your comments along to engineering for evaluation. Unfortunately, I cannot guarantee what would happen if you tried this, so I am hesitant to advise you either way at this point.
Technically, the workaround you propose can work, though we cannot recommend it since we have not tried it ourselves. If you wish to pursue this, here are points to consider:
1. You do not need to ftp your images. You can add images directly to Sales Manager Pro by copying them to the \Vendio\images folder directly. Note: when you do this, program startup will be slower as it detects and creates thumbnails of each new image.
2. You should add your images before importing your items. This way, Pro can validate that the correct image is present for each imported item.
3. You must follow image naming rules. For example, Sales Manager Pro only accepts JPEG and PNG images; space, dash and
other characters are stripped from the name; and maximum characters = 32.
4. Finally, you would use the Batch Importer in Sales Manager Pro to import your items (ODBC sources accepted).
The key will be to create clean image names and copy them to the \images directory first. Otherwise, an imported item will generate an error during validation and you will need to edit the item to correct it.
A final note: you should go to your online My Account tab to update all your preferences, custom templates, etc. so that they can be applied to all your imported items.
