|
By trenery - Sun 21 Nov 2010
|
Hi
Has anyone got the google feed XML to output? I am getting an error and it is not producing a file. Mike
|
|
By Paul - Tue 23 Nov 2010
|
I tested the one on our demo and it seems to work ok:
http://demo.kartris.com/uploads/temp/GoogleBase.xml
Make sure your site has write permissions for that location.
|
|
By trenery - Tue 23 Nov 2010
|
|
Thanks, thats working now
|
|
By trenery - Tue 23 Nov 2010
|
OK, the google feed is being generated but google will not accept the feed format. I had to manually change the tags as below. With these changes it does not report errors but still does not include the product.<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?><rss version="2.0" xmlns="g='http://base.google.com/ns/1.0'"><channel><title>Bikers Barn</title><link>http://www.bikersbarn.co.uk/</link><description>Motorcycle Clothing and Accessories </description><item><g:id>bikersbarn21</g:id><title>Held ARESE Gore Tex Motorcycle Trouser</title><description>quattrotempi Z-Liner touring trousers with gore tex |
|
By trenery - Tue 23 Nov 2010
|
|
It needs to be like this, this line is incorrect |
|
By Ogma - Tue 23 Nov 2010
|
Just tried it. The XML failed but the text file went in OK
Carl
|
|
By trenery - Wed 24 Nov 2010
|
My text file failed but I think it is due to me description text. I will do some more tests.
Paul, how do we change the XML Scheme? |
|
By Paul - Wed 24 Nov 2010
|
I know we had a lot of problems with the XML format in GoogleBase.
CactuShop also had a feed generator, and then at some point we had some customers getting problems having it accepted. I recall working on one site's feed for a couple of weeks, checking and changing everyday, but Google was never very precise on the cause of all items being rejected.
I ran it through third party validators that claimed to check for GoogleBase errors, and fixed the odd minor point with some items. But still nothing went in.
So we switched to text format instead, and suddenly everything just worked.
If anyone finds specific problems (some might not necessarily be Kartris-related - for example I found in the past lots of problems if you have too much UPPER CASE), then please edit the file to confirm that your changes get it accepted and we can update the code.
The XML and text itself is generated within the compiled code of Kartris so cannot be easily tinkered with. But if anyone can get an XML file trimmed down to a few items, manually make changes in order to get it accepted, then I'll happily ensure the code is updated.
We built in the text format option precisely because of the problems we had repeatedly with the XML format. But if anyone cracks it, I'd love to know what changes are required.
|
|
By trenery - Wed 24 Nov 2010
|
Hi PaulThe format of the XML below works and gets accepted. The main issues you have are a few missing "g:" in the tags and also the xmln line is wrong. However, there are glitches caused by the users own description of the product. for example, it will fail if you have an "&" in it. I have also noticed that you use the version description for the google feed, which is very useful as this means we can have a cut down description on the version but the full description at the main item level for displaying on the site. Other shopping carts give the user a separate "GoogleBase" description and use that for the google description. This I think would be a good option for you guys in the future as it means you can have a full description in your shop and a different "sales pitch" in the google listing. Plus you can play with the google text to get it accepted.
Your HTML editor is causing me huge problems. It seems to be chucking in some strange data and additional tabs. I will start a separate thread about this.
I also have problems uploading the googlebase file as TXT. This is because your HTML editor sends the line feeds that are in the description (if there are any) which causes an incorrect new record line in the tab separated TXT file.
In summary, The only way I can get this to work at the moment is to have a single, unformatted description paragraph in the version description of the product and upload it to google via a TXT file. |
|
By trenery - Wed 24 Nov 2010
|
We should also include the image link to get a proper listing.
image link [image_link]This is the URL of an associated image for a product. Please use full size images (400x400 pixels or larger), not thumbnails. Please do not include logos in images. If you do not have an image for your product leave this attribute blank. You can include up to 10 image links, however, one high quality image is preferred.
|
|
By trenery - Tue 7 Dec 2010
|
Hi Paul
If I upgrade to a paid version of Kartris would you be able to sort out the google feed issues? |
|
By Paul - Tue 7 Dec 2010
|
The request to add images is on our list, but quite a way down. Certainly if you have a full license we'd escalate it to the top so you should have an update within a few days.
The XML / text issues are probably harder to resolve. We've had many problems getting XML feeds accepted by GoogleBase even when we've run them through validators and the RSS format all checks out. Google isn't very helpful in saying what is wrong. Even third party GoogleBase validators say everything is fine.
If you can PM me with specific issues and what you need escalated I can confirm to you.
|
|
By trenery - Wed 8 Dec 2010
|
Hi Paul
It needs to be like the following file. I have tested this and it works fine. You have a few errors in your header plus a few tags are wrong. <?xml version="1.0"?> <rss version="2.0" xmlns:g=" http://base.google.com/ns/1.0"><channel> <title>Shop Title</title> <link> http://www.Bikersbarn.co.uk/</link><description>Bikers Barn</description> <item> <g:id>1234</g:id> <title>Sena SMH10 Motorcycle Bluetooth Intercom</title> <description>The SMH10 is a Bluetooth v2.1 Class 1 Stereo Headset with long-range Bluetooth Intercom designed specifically for motorcycles. With the SMH10, you can call hands-free on your Bluetooth mobile phone, listen to stereo music or voice instructions of GPS navigations by Bluetooth wirelessly, and have intercom conversations in full duplex with a passenger or other motorcycle riders.</description> <g:price>324.99</g:price> |
|
By trenery - Wed 8 Dec 2010
|
Sorry, I got the image tag wrong. Here it is corrected.
<?xml version="1.0"?> <rss version="2.0" xmlns:g=" http://base.google.com/ns/1.0"><channel> <title>Shop Title</title> <link> http://www.Bikersbarn.co.uk/</link><description>Bikers Barn</description> <item> <g:id>1234</g:id> <title>Sena SMH10 Motorcycle Bluetooth Intercom</title> <description>The SMH10 is a Bluetooth v2.1 Class 1 Stereo Headset with long-range Bluetooth Intercom designed specifically for motorcycles. With the SMH10, you can call hands-free on your Bluetooth mobile phone, listen to stereo music or voice instructions of GPS navigations by Bluetooth wirelessly, and have intercom conversations in full duplex with a passenger or other motorcycle riders.</description> <g:price>324.99</g:price> |
|
By Paul - Mon 13 Dec 2010
|
Ok, is on our dev plan but unsure exactly when this will be incorporated as couple more pressing things at present that pay the rent.
Including an image link is a bit tricky as we need to do a few things:
1. search if there is a version image available and use this if there is
2. if not, search if there is a product image to use
3. don't include an image link if no product or version image
The product images also need to be to the full size images nested within the images/products folder rather than to the image.aspx page which handles auto-thumbnails, as having read the spec, Google will only accept static files. They recommend 400x400px or maybe a little more and also state that while they support multiple images, they're recommend to just submit a single good quality one (which would be our preferred approach)
Did you do a post about the HTML editor? It's a licensed component so not really our code although i'd be interested in specific issues with it. One thing relating to the google/froogle descriptions would be to strip HTML from those before the text is put into the feed. We have a function for this already which uses a RegEx to do this, so I think it should be possible once the other issues with the XML feed are sorted to strip the HTML too.
|