This Section covers exporting and importing your store's database using the store manager. This is for editing your database with a speadsheet offline, then importing the updated or new database thru the store manager. You will need FTP and spreadsheet capabilities to complete this process.

Database Menu

Your Store Database
Exporting the Store Database
Offline Database Creation & Editing
Importing a CSV Database
Update Pad Length for Product Numbers in Database
Offline Database editing/uploading/importing with DB Wizz

Your Store Database

Click on the database link on yur store manager menu.

Here you may import or export the database in CSV format. CSV is Comma Separated Variables format. It is often used by spreadsheet and database programs as a way of importing/exporting data.

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Exporting the Store Database

Go to the bottom of the database management page. There you will find a box and some buttons. Enter the name of the CSV file you wish to export to in the box as seen to the right. Make sure to add the .csv extension to the end of the name if using a name other than the default, otherwise leave this box blank. If left blank, database.csv is used as the name for the exported database.

Next click on the "export entire database to CSV" button to complete the export of your store's product database. this will actually create the exported database file. Now you are ready to retrieve the file from the server.

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Offline Database Creation & Editing

Once you have exported the database, you will need to use an FTP client and log into your server when your store is located (some hosting accounts have an online site manager that acts like a FTP client, check with your hosting company). You will need to change to the "data_files" directory and then transfer the .csv to your own computer.

Once you have the file, now you can open it with your spreadsheet program. Take note of how the database is layed out and which cells contain data. Use this same layout when adding additional lines. Make sure that the product numbers are in sequence from top to bottom (it is best not to use letters or other characters other than numbers). Please refer to your spreadsheet's manual or help sections for information on how to copy and paste lines to a spreadsheet.

If you are creating a new database from an existing database or speadsheet, it's wise to export and examine the store database to see where to place the product information.

Make sure to follow these tips for editing certain database fields:

Product ID: For simplicity, please use numbers only. If you do use letters, errors will show up in many cases. If you have to use letters as part of the ID, indicated then in either an option file or in the product description. Note: these characters are not allowed in the Product ID: !,#,@,$,%,&,*,(,),{,},{,},|,\,/,=,+.-,?,<,>,~, commas, colons, semi-colons, periods, and spaces.
Product Price and Shipping & Handling Fees: Enter the price you wish to charge for the product in the top box. Do not add the "$" sign. You should enter the price in x,xxx.xx format (examples: 1,999.95, 349.00, 19.95)
Product Category: Enter the product category you wish the product to fall under. This is case sensitive so you will need to be consistent for products that fall under the same category. If you use the same category name but with different letter cases, they will be treated as separate categories. For example, if you sell shirts and you type in Shirts for one product, SHirts for another, and SHIRTS for yet another, these three products will be classified as three different product categories. You may use a single word or use multiple words connected by an underscore character (multi_words) (cannot use this method if auto-generating category links - only if you hard code your category links can you use this method). If you use spaces to separate multiple words (or special characters listed below), you will get an error or results that you did not expect. Note: these characters are not allowed in the Product Category: !,#,@,$,%,&,*,(,),{,},{,},|,\,/,=,+,-,?,<,>,~, commas, colons, semi-colons, periods, and spaces.
Product Name: Enter the product name. This will be the text that is bolded above the product description and the text used to identify the product in order confirmations and in store searches. Make sure the product is identifiable to you and your customer. Note: these characters are not allowed in the Product Category: !,#,@,$,%,&,*,(,),{,},{,},|,\,/,=,+,?,<,>,~, colons, and semi-colons.

Once you are done creating or editing your database, make sure you save the file as a comma delimited .csv file. Now you are ready to upload the file to the server.

Use your FTP client to upload the new or edited .csv file to the "data_files" directory of your store. ACSII or binary type transfers both work fine. Now you will need to go back to the database menu in the store manager to complete the process of updating your store database.

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Importing a CSV Database

Go to the bottom of the database management page. There you will find a box and some buttons. Enter the name of the CSV file you wish to import to in the box as seen to the right. Make sure to add the .csv extension to the end of the name

If you wish to update the entire database, then click on the box for "Full-Import of Product Database". Checking this box will erase the store database and import the the new database that you just uploaded. If you do not check this box, then the new database yu just uploaded will be added to the end of the store database, so if you have a complete database you just uploaded, you will get duplicate product entries. This is helpful if you just make additions to the database (but make sure you continue the numbering sequence from the end).

Next, click on the appropriate import button to complete this step. Unless you created a pipe delimited data file, you will click on the "Import records from CSV" button.

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Update Pad Length for Product Numbers in Database

Towards the top of the database manager section, you will find a button that reads "Update IMG tags and PAD LENGTH". This feature updates the IMG tags the same way they would be if edited individually. However, this button will update all of the tags to point to the URL listed on the "Program Settings" screen. It is useful if you have recently imported the database and the pictures are not showing up, or the directory structure has been changed and you desired to place the %%URLofImages%% token in the path. This option also sets the pad length of the product id numbers to whatever is set in the main settings section of the Program Settings menu. So, if you set the pad length to 5 and you press this button, it and sorts the records of the database so they appear in ascending order of product id and adds zeros to the beginning of the product ID number if it is less than 5 digits in length. this prevents products with similar numbers from showing up out of sequence on the product edit screens and also when customers shop in your store. For example, if four products numbered 2, 3, 345, and 4, this is how they would appear without updating the Pad length: 2, 3, 345, 4. If you update the Pad length, the sequence changes to: 00002, 00003, 00004, 00345. If you use this feature, and you access a product listing directly from a page outside the store, you will need to make sure you add the extra zeros to your product link.

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DB Wizz

With DB Wizz you can manage your Agora store's data with ease. With just one click DB Wizz downloads your Agora store's database. You can add new products or edit existing ones. DB Wizz allows you to sort your product list by category or by any piece of selected text, then make price or shipping adjustments to the selected products. When your edits are complete, one more click sends the updated product list back to your website. You can also import speadsheets, upload images, check orders (this portion in beta), and much more. We recommmend this product over doing .csv imports as it is more reliable when your database product descriptions include commas. For more information on DB Wizz, Click Here.
Or Click here to Purchase the DB Wizz Database Manager

If you have further questions, please refer to the free forum or the Pro Forum for more help and advise. You may also order tech support services at AgoraCart.com