User Tools

Site Tools


urapidflow:importing_http_images

How to Import Images

To explain where images are expected to be stored, we assume that Magento is installed in '/var/www/html/'.

There are few rules that you need to know and understand to successfully import images with RapidFlow.

  1. There are 2 general cases when importing images, in first case you both copy image files and add data to database, in second case you only add data to database.
  2. If you want actual file copying to occur you should make sure that 'Auto-import image files' is set to 'Yes'
  3. With ordinary profile of data type 'Products' can only be imported direct image attributes (image, small_image, thumbnail).
  4. To import images that are not direct attributes (gallery images, not image, small_image, thumbnail attributes) you need to use a profile with data type 'Products Extra' - available only in RapidFlowPro
  5. Default place for uploaded images (that is if 'Local Source Folder' setting is empty), is in a folder named 'images' that is within same folder as imported csv file. If imported file is 'import.csv' and it is placed in '/var/www/html/urapidflow/import', RapidFlow expects to find 'images' folder next to it. So the profile will look for image files in '/var/www/html/urapidflow/import/images'.
  6. If 'Local Source Folder' is not empty, there are some rules. If path set is absolute (starting with /) it will be looked for from server root. For example if you set '/images', the profile will look for folder images in server root, not in Magento root. If path is relative - not starting with / - then it is considered relative to imported file. If you set 'image', it will be resolved to '/var/www/html/urapidflow/import/image'. When configuring 'Local Source Folder' you can use few shortcuts - {magento}, {var}, {media} - in this example they resolve to: '/var/www/html/', '/var/www/html/media', '/var/www/html/var'. These prefixes can be used to point to a place you wish to use for image import location within Magento structure.
  7. 'Retain remote subfolders' setting is not relevant for local files. It is taken into account only for remote files. For local files naming is done as follows:
    1. If only image name is given, without folder path - 'my-product.jpg' - default Magento naming conventions are used. A dispersion path prefix is created - 'm/y/' in this case - and if it does not exist in 'media/catalog/product', 'm/y/'' path is created. Then image is copied there and the value 'm/y/my-product.jpg' is saved for corresponding attribute.
    2. If provided value is like - 'thumb/m/manufacture/a/aproductimage.jpg' - then if the file exist in configured location it is copied into 'media/catalog/product' by preserving same folder structure. This means that importing 'thumb/m/manufacture/a/aproductimage.jpg' will result in 'media/catalog/product/thumb/m/manufacture/a/aproductimage.jpg' file and 'thumb/m/manufacture/a/aproductimage.jpg' as corresponding attribute value.
  8. Import of gallery images is preformed via Products Extra data type format, which is available in RapidFlowPro add-on. This profile type uses fixed format csv files, which means that column types are determined by row code and not by general column headings as in regular product import. This also means that different non related data can be imported with single Products Extra profile.
  9. For gallery images see http://unirgy.com/wiki/urapidflow/fixed_row_format#cpicatalog_product_image - CPI is the code to actually import the image files and associate them with a product.
  10. All above location instructions are valid for gallery image imports as well.
  11. If you want to have variations in image order and labels for different store views you should also use - CPIL http://unirgy.com/wiki/urapidflow/fixed_row_format#cpilcatalog_product_image_store_specific , note that all images should have been imported with CPI or as product attributes before you can assign them labels.
urapidflow/importing_http_images.txt · by jamby77