CSV Importer Geocoder Exporter XML Exporter

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Installation

How to use (Store Locator v4.0 and later)

Note: Since Store Locator v4.0, all addons (marked as v2.0+) now work within the '/wp-content/plugins/' directory, are fully WordPress plugins, and can be installed as such

  1. CSV / XML Importer / Exporter is a slight exception to the above note.  It is officially discontinued since Store Locator v4.0+ in favor of the CSV Importer / Exporter G2, but still works with Store Locator v4.0+ if you move its folder ('/csv-xml-importer-exporter') from '/wp-content/uploads/sl-uploads/addons/' to '/wp-content/plugins/'
  2. Once in the 'plugins' directory, it will work, but without a traditional WP plugin activation / deactivation interface under WP Admin > Plugins
  3. However, you can still validate (and now also deactivate) it's license key via Store Locator's pull-out admin dashboard (as long as Addons Platform Lite v2.0+ is also installed and validated on the same WordPress installation)

How to use (Store Locator v2.0 - 3.xxx)

  1. Put this directory into /wp-content/uploads/sl-uploads/addons/ folder
  2. Activate license from the LotsOfLocales™ Dashboard interface

(LotsOfLocales™ Dashboard can be accessed from any page in Store Locator's admin section -- it's a tab on the top right of your screen)

How to use (Store Locator v1.2.37 - 1.9.7)

  1. Put this directory into /wp-content/uploads/sl-uploads/addons/ folder
  2. Activate license on the 'News & Upgrades' page of the 'wp-admin' interface


(This change in version 1.2.37 in the location of where you place addon folders allows you to update your main Store Locator plugin without worrying about losing your addons in the updating process the plugin)

How to use (before Store Locator v1.2.37)

  1. Put this directory into /wp-content/plugins/store-locator/addons/ folder
  2. Activate license on the 'News & Upgrades' page of the 'wp-admin' interface


How to prepare your CSV file

  1. Make sure to save your file in "Windows Comma Separated" format instead of "Common Format CSV" (for more recent versions of Microsoft Excel). In older versions of Excel, pick the option of "CSV (Comma delimited)".
  2. Step #1 above should be sufficient. However, if you happen to still have distorted columns after Step #1, follow these steps to avoid having distorted columns on import


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Frequently Asked Questions

Do I need to arrange the columns in my CSV file in any special order?

No, the best feature about this addon is that it allows you to match the columns in your CSV file to the fields (which are database columns) in the store locator database

I need to upload thousands of locations, what's the limit of your CSV importer?

There is no limit specifically with the CSV importer's capabilities.

However, It appears that there is a limit of 2,500 (since Google Maps V3) 15,000 geocodes per day per IP address, according to Google, so that's the main constraint to consider.

Suggestion #1: Consider breaking up your CSV file into smaller chunks of locations, and do your import in pieces. The speed and settings of your server may also sometimes affect how many locations can be handled at once.

Suggestion #2: Consider increasing your WordPress memory allocation, if needed, as described here

Suggestion #3: If encountering Google's geocoding limits, consider the Super Geocoder addon

After uploading my addon files to the "addons/" folder, I'm not seeing the option to activate it on the "News & Upgrades" page

When you extract you addon folder (e.g. "csv-xml-importer-exporter/") from your zip file, make sure that you upload the entire extracted folder and its contents to the "addons/" folder, not just the files. Your directory structure should look like this: "addons/csv-xml-importer-exporter/"

For details on where the proper "addons/" folder is for your version go here: http://docs.viadat.com/CSV_Importer_Geocoder_Exporter_XML_Exporter#Installation

It seems that my columns are all out of place and distorted after the initial step of the CSV import

(Note: these steps shouldn't be needed in most cases, if you've first performed Step #1 here)

This simply happens due to having symbols (&,#,", etc.) in your CSV file. Do the following:

  1. Open your CSV file and do a 'Find and Replace' (press Ctrl + H) … Then perform these steps below in the following order …
  2. Replace all ampersand (&) symbols with it's character entity (&)
  3. Replace all pound (#) symbols with it's character entity (#)
  4. Replace all commas (,) with it's character entity (,) or with nothing ()
  5. Replace all apostrophes (') with it's character entity (') or with nothing ()
  6. Replace all colons (:) with it's character entity (:)
  7. Replace all hyphens (-) with it's character entity (-)
  8. Perform the import again, and you should get clean columns now

If you still receive distorted columns, even after the above steps, continue to search your CSV spreadsheet for any non-alphanumeric characters (anything that is not A-Z, a-z, or 0-9) and convert these non-alphanumeric characters into their proper entity symbols. A good place to search for a specific entity symbol is Google.com.

When I try to upload a CSV file, nothing happens, I get no error message and remain on the "Add Locations" page, or I get a blank screen

(Note: This issue was resolved in CSV Importer/Exporter v1.5 & CSV Importer/Exporter G2 v1.5 (both released Feb. 27, 2016), so if you've purchased after this date or updated to v1.5+ for either addon, you shouldn't encounter this issue)

Click the "Dashboard" tab in your Store Locator's admin area (Store Locator v2.0+), and click the 'Server Capabilities' link --- what version of PHP are you on? If it's greater than or equal to PHP v5.3.9 and your web host uses cPanel (or at least isn't GoDaddy) ...

a) Add the following to the 'php.ini' file in your website's root directory, '/public_html/' (or create the 'php.ini' file if it doesn't exist):
max_input_vars = 50000
suhosin.post.max_vars = 50000
suhosin.request.max_vars = 50000

b) Then, in the '.htaccess' file in the same directory, add the following (replacing "{your_username}" with the actual username in the path):
suPHP_ConfigPath /home/{your_username}/public_html
<Files php.ini>
order allow,deny
deny from all
</Files>

PHP 5.3.9 created a restriction on the max array size that can be handled in PHP to a default of 1000 array elements (city, state, zip, etc) (Ref. #1: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/9807100/post-max-array-size | Ref. #2: http://anothersysadmin.wordpress.com/2012/02/16/php-5-3-max_input_vars-and-big-forms/). When importing many locations, you usually need a lot more than 1000, so the above steps increases your limit to 50000 array elements --- so you should now be able to do your imports. Alternatively, you would just need to break up your big CSV import file into smaller approx 9KB files [~1000 array elements]

I'm receiving a "404 File Not Found" / "404 Page Not Found" error message on export

Option 1:

In your store-locator/mgmt-buttons-links.php file …


… Copy & paste the following line:

$sl_real_base=$sl_base; $sl_base=$sl_upload_base;


… Before this line (approx line 9):

include($sl_upload_path."/addons/csv-xml-importer-exporter/export-links.php")


… then, after the above line (line 9), copy & paste:

$sl_base=$sl_real_base;

Option 2:

Undo the coding changes in Option 1, then copy & paste the CSV Importer folder from the "uploads/sl-uploads/addons/" folder to the "plugins/store-locator/addons/" folder so that you have it in 2 places


(Note: it appears that this affects versions 1.2.37 - 1.2.39.3, so should be fixed by the next version after 1.2.39.3)


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