Screen: ShopSite > Utilities > Database > Upload/Download > Download
Database Upload - Match Upload Fields
Use this screen to match the fields in your database with ShopSite’s database fields. ShopSite assumes that the first record (line) of your file contains field names, and tries to match those names with its built-in field names. You can make this process almost automatic by using the ShopSite field names listed in the Database Upload Fields help.
- Each field from the first record in your database is shown, along with a pull-down menu for each field. Select the ShopSite field in the pull-down menu that corresponds with each field in your database.
If you didn’t include a field in your database, ShopSite will use the default value for new records, and will retain the existing value for existing records.
- If you are uploading revised information for existing products or pages, you must tell ShopSite which field to use to match against existing records.
- For products, set the Unique Product Identifier to either Name or SKU.
- For pages, set the Unique Page Identifier to either Name or File Name.
If you are uploading new records, this selection is not important, though the upload will go a little faster if you set it to (none).
- If you are uploading revised information for existing products or pages, use the New products or New pages field to select what ShopSite should do with new records that don’t match existing records:
- Click Add New to add all unmatched records as new products or pages.
- Click Ignore to have ShopSite disregard unmatched records.
- Click Upload File to have ShopSite start processing the file.
The Checkpoint Interval is used by ShopSite when uploading and processing large database files. If your uploads always complete without restarting, you should not have to adjust this setting. However, if your database files are large, or if the upload process restarts while ShopSite is processing the file, read the following information and consider changing the Checkpoint Interval.
If the database file is quite large, there is a possibility that processing the file may exceed a time limit set by the server, and the server may kill the process. As a precaution against this, ShopSite "checkpoints" it’s progress at specified intervals. If the server kills the process, ShopSite can restart at the last checkpoint, rather than having to restart from the beginning. The only drawback to checkpointing is a slight increase in processing time.
If your database files are small (no more than a few hundred pages or products), you should never encounter any timeout issues or have to worry about checkpointing. However, if you plan on uploading large database files on a regular basis and/or you are experiencing server timeout problems (that is, the upload process restarts part way through), you should try adjusting the checkpoint interval. The default setting of 500 is small enough to almost guarantee that at least one checkpoint will be set during processing, but it may be so small that it is unnecessarily increasing the time required for uploading and processing.
- If you uploaded a relatively small database and encountered a server timeout (that is, the upload progress bar stopped for a while and the upload restated automatically, or you had to click Cancel and restart the process manually), you should talk to your hosting service about increasing the time limit on CGI processes, or checking the load on the server (it may be too busy to process the file in a timely manner).
- If the upload restarted automatically or you had to click Cancel and restart it manually, but the progress bar isn’t showing more progress each time, most likely ShopSite was unable to process the number of records set in the Checkpoint Interval. Decrease the number a little and try the upload again.
- If the upload restarts repeatedly, but each time the progress bar moves a little farther, the upload is working, but it could probably be more efficient. Try increasing the Checkpoint Interval. You can increase the interval until you start to see problem 2, above.
