Miva Merchant 9.0002
MivaScript Engine v5.22
Database API: mysql
We installed the Emporium Plus Template Data Feed module and since their documentation is still Miva 5.X based need to figure out how to get it working in Miva 9.
I thought I would just experiment with setting up a Shopzilla feed using all the default parameters to see if I could get it to generate the file and take a look at the result.
After installing the module and taking a day to figure out that I had to go to Utilities, Add/Remove module to "assign" (Install) the new module to the store (of course not mentioned in the module instructions and not covered in the Miva 9 manual yet). The Miva 9 manual says to follow the instructions from the module developer - which are wrong for Miva 9.
Why doesn't the Miva 9 manual tell me to go to Add/Remove modules to "Install" the new module after uploading it? Isn't that going to be the same process for any new module? There is no "How to add a module" section, is there?
Then I needed to have the Template Data Feed module generate a file and since the documentation is for Miva 5.x, I could not find the button/link to generate the feed so I asked for support about that and was told:
if you click the error next to Utilities you should see the Template Data Feed the data exporting button should be located there
There is no error - what are you talking about?!
That made no sense since I never reported an error and under Utilities, Template Data Feed there was no error and still no button to click so thinking I must be blind, I asked for a screen shot showing me where the button is so I can click it - and I got a screen shot but still could not find that button, so I sent their support another email with my process and screen shot of what I see.
I used 5 browsers and two computers thinking the button must be there somewhere, but I am not seeing it for some reason.
Support then says that what I need to do is click the arrow next to the word Utilities (not the error as they previously suggested), then Template Data Feed and I would see the right screen with the button. The previous day, support told me to click the error but there was no error to click. Now I get it (and I mean just now). arrow and error are not the same thing.
Clicking an ARROW is not the same thing as clicking an ERROR. Duh.
How obvious is that?
I had already clicked the Utilities from the Admin Configuration Menu and ended up in the same place as when I clicked Utilities from the Quicklinks box. The only way to get to the Create Feed button is to click the arrow next to Utilities on the Admin Configuration Menu. Is that in the module documentation that we are advised to follow? Of course not.
I would not think that under the Admin Configuration Menu, Utilities, clicking the ARROW and then clicking an installed module like Template Data Feeds would take me to a totally different place than clicking the module from the Utilities Quicklink box - but it does.
If you click Utilities under the Admin Configuration Menu, you get a while different set of things that what you see if you click the arrow to the right of the word Utilities (so that is where Image Management is).
Now that I have discovered that some things (at least under Utilities) behave quite differently depending on where you click it, what other secrets will be discovered by clicking the other choices?
This is why I asked last week if Miva (as a company) is committed to having their third party developers get their act together on Miva 9 documentation. Since there is really no need to have Miva 5.x documentation anymore (one must upgrade) what are they waiting for? I could have composed the Emporium Plus Template Data Feed module for Miva 9 myself in the time it took me to find this Create Feed button.
Then I asked once I generate the feed file and submit is, how will I be able to be sure that it is actually working and we got what we paid for? That should be in the documentation too - how to test it to be sure it is working. Expectations are low regarding an answer to that question (maybe nobody ever thought of how to test something to see if it actually works).
Off soap box.
MivaScript Engine v5.22
Database API: mysql
We installed the Emporium Plus Template Data Feed module and since their documentation is still Miva 5.X based need to figure out how to get it working in Miva 9.
I thought I would just experiment with setting up a Shopzilla feed using all the default parameters to see if I could get it to generate the file and take a look at the result.
After installing the module and taking a day to figure out that I had to go to Utilities, Add/Remove module to "assign" (Install) the new module to the store (of course not mentioned in the module instructions and not covered in the Miva 9 manual yet). The Miva 9 manual says to follow the instructions from the module developer - which are wrong for Miva 9.
Why doesn't the Miva 9 manual tell me to go to Add/Remove modules to "Install" the new module after uploading it? Isn't that going to be the same process for any new module? There is no "How to add a module" section, is there?
Then I needed to have the Template Data Feed module generate a file and since the documentation is for Miva 5.x, I could not find the button/link to generate the feed so I asked for support about that and was told:
if you click the error next to Utilities you should see the Template Data Feed the data exporting button should be located there
There is no error - what are you talking about?!
That made no sense since I never reported an error and under Utilities, Template Data Feed there was no error and still no button to click so thinking I must be blind, I asked for a screen shot showing me where the button is so I can click it - and I got a screen shot but still could not find that button, so I sent their support another email with my process and screen shot of what I see.
I used 5 browsers and two computers thinking the button must be there somewhere, but I am not seeing it for some reason.
Support then says that what I need to do is click the arrow next to the word Utilities (not the error as they previously suggested), then Template Data Feed and I would see the right screen with the button. The previous day, support told me to click the error but there was no error to click. Now I get it (and I mean just now). arrow and error are not the same thing.
Clicking an ARROW is not the same thing as clicking an ERROR. Duh.
How obvious is that?
I had already clicked the Utilities from the Admin Configuration Menu and ended up in the same place as when I clicked Utilities from the Quicklinks box. The only way to get to the Create Feed button is to click the arrow next to Utilities on the Admin Configuration Menu. Is that in the module documentation that we are advised to follow? Of course not.
I would not think that under the Admin Configuration Menu, Utilities, clicking the ARROW and then clicking an installed module like Template Data Feeds would take me to a totally different place than clicking the module from the Utilities Quicklink box - but it does.
If you click Utilities under the Admin Configuration Menu, you get a while different set of things that what you see if you click the arrow to the right of the word Utilities (so that is where Image Management is).
Now that I have discovered that some things (at least under Utilities) behave quite differently depending on where you click it, what other secrets will be discovered by clicking the other choices?
This is why I asked last week if Miva (as a company) is committed to having their third party developers get their act together on Miva 9 documentation. Since there is really no need to have Miva 5.x documentation anymore (one must upgrade) what are they waiting for? I could have composed the Emporium Plus Template Data Feed module for Miva 9 myself in the time it took me to find this Create Feed button.
Then I asked once I generate the feed file and submit is, how will I be able to be sure that it is actually working and we got what we paid for? That should be in the documentation too - how to test it to be sure it is working. Expectations are low regarding an answer to that question (maybe nobody ever thought of how to test something to see if it actually works).
Off soap box.
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