How do I Import CSV entries into Product with Options? 1.5.3

Using Opencart 1.5.3.1

I have a CSV file exported from my stock control system (Sage Accounts) which I am going to need to use to firstly import all of my many products into Opencart to get set up and then on a daily basis to get stock levels up to date on the website (as we sell mostly wholesale over the phone).
The problem I have is that in Sage and the CSV file, each product's sizes (most commonly 4) is in as individual entries that each have a unique barcode number and stock level.

My concern is how I'm going to tell Opencart to group these 4 entries into one product with size options and not have 4 of the same image/product etc for the different sizes on the site.

I'm new to all this and have found this CSV Import Pro http://www.opencart.com/index.php?route ... order=DESC and others which seems like it'll work in principal.

Any help or advice or just a point in the right direction would be massively appreciated as this the last issue I have to deal with before going live and I just can't get my head around it Also any advice on if the afore mentioned mod is the best tool for the job in hand.

Thanks to anyone in advance for their time. If you need any further information, I'll happily provide.

Kenny Kinetic

Normally, this kind of topic questions would go under the commercial contributions but the best advice would be to read the inputs from the comments of this contribution before making any decisions to buy it. If you do see good inputs and people likes it and is compatible with your OpenCart version, it won't hurt to give it a try.

Hi Straightlight, thanks for commenting.

Apologies for posting in wrong place, I'm fairly new to opencart wasn't sure if what I was doing was a common task tackled by people before or some crazily expensive custom programming job. We are a Ltd company but I'm doing this on a shoe string budget and can't really afford to get a specialist in so am having to do things the hard way and learn as I go.

I've looked about loads and can't find anything directly addressing this issue, so any more help or advice is appreciated.
I just saw Qphoria's Options Boost mod, which would allow for barcodes on options which may help, but I still don't know how I'm going to upload info in from a csv file as there's also the issue of entering quantities for sizes but also the master stock quantity which i'm going to need totalled in order for it to work.

If Q or anyone who's used the Options Boost mod see's this, maybe they can shed some light on if it will help me.

I am totally confused, the more I look into this, the more I have doubts. I figured it would be a straight forward task.
I need to minimise data entry into Opencart as I'll need to update it at least twice a day. I can spend the time setting up if it will help but lack the understanding of how it will work after that.

Kinetic

Out of interest, how do other Opencart users go about the task of updating their stock quantities on a daily basis when they have many products?
Do you use a csv file from a stock control system or from a supplier? If so how to you go about uploading that into opencart?
It would be good to see how other people tackle this task. Opencart's great stuff and I've enjoyed building my site now I just need to understand the most efficient way of doing daily maintenance now before getting swamped by it.

Hi Kinetic

I am looking at OC to set up a new website and have the same issues as you of products as inividual items in the Accounts system but need to link as a single item with size options on the web.

I have planned a linked table to get the web product code from the Inventory product code and the size/colour option so it can be mapped on web update and back again to individual item codes on Order Importing.

In my last job I wrote a App that checked on products modified/sold/receipted (was SQL based so added a Trigger on Inventory update and Price change) and then via SOAP talked directly to the web site and updated the qty or price. This happened every hour. Worked well and kept 9000 products in sync.

Hope this helps.