Imports Broken

[Craig60]

Very early in the morning on September 29th, we got error messages during our daily product uploads: (Two files, but each one generated an error.)

Microsoft SQL Native Client error '80040e07'
The conversion of a char data type to a datetime data type resulted in an out-of-range datetime value.
/admin/includes/ezsql.inc, line 67

Microsoft SQL Native Client error '80040e07'
Conversion failed when converting datetime from character string.
/admin/includes/ezsql.inc, line 67

I quickly opened a support ticket (BHP-132300), and got a quick response stating that some maintenance had been done on our server, and asking us to try the upload again. We did, and the problem continued. Then, I was asked to send support an import file that was giving us problems, and I did that within 50 minutes of the original ticket time. Since then, I have heard nothing. (And I have asked for status updates twice since then...) We have now missed at least two scheduled imports, along with any updates that would have been done during the day, and it looks like we will miss another import tomorrow morning.

Has anyone else been having this problem?

[Craig60]

Well, it's almost noon on Saturday, October 1st, and still no response from 3dcart. I was under the impression that 3dcart had improved their tech support. I think I was wrong... Even a quick, "Yes, we reproduced the problem and we are working on it." would be better than no response at all for two days.

[ElegantWeddings]

Not sure if this would help, when we had this issue it was because of the data we were importing. We were sending the "date_created" or "last_update" fields in long format.
Check your feed for the DATE columns that it has m/d/yyyyy format.
For example April 8, 2011 would be 4/8/2011

[Craig60]

Not sure if this would help, when we had this issue it was because of the data we were importing. We were sending the "date_created" or "last_update" fields in long format.
Check your feed for the DATE columns that it has m/d/yyyyy format.
For example April 8, 2011 would be 4/8/2011

Thanks for the response. (3 days, and still no response from 3dcart.) In our import file, we had the date_created field blank. (So, the date defaulted to 1/1/1900.) We filled that field in, and tried the import again. This time, the error message is:

Microsoft SQL Native Client error '80040e07'
The conversion of a char data type to a datetime data type resulted in an out-of-range datetime value.
/admin/includes/ezsql.in

We are not currently uploading the last_update field, since it looks as if 3dcart maintains this field.

The odd part is that until 3 days ago, this file uploaded just fine...

[Craig60]

I think we are making progress. We isolated a single record that wouldn't upload, and determined that our extended description field (which for us is html), was giving the 3dcart import problems. By examining the record with a hex editor, I saw that there were several Carriage Return/Line Feed (Hex 0D 0A) characters in the field. By removing those characters, the record was able to be imported. We are now in the process of making sure that these characters are not in the extended description field for ALL records.

[Craig60]

Success! We went through our import file with a fine toothed comb, and got rid of every extraneous Carriage Return and Line Feed character. We also ensured that these characters would not appear in the import file in the future. (When exported from our internal master database.) That worked. All products uploaded correctly.

I have no idea why our import file worked prior to September 29th, and wouldn't work afterwards.

Still no word from 3dcart...

[Craig60]

3 1/2 days and still no word from 3dcart technical support. (Even after I told them that I found a workaround...)

[ElegantWeddings]

well... technically it wasn't the "import" functionality that was broken.
The data that was being imported was not properly formatted.
Most of the time when you get Microsoft SQL Native Client errors it is the data.

[celebra1]

Timing

Most tech departments have the weekend off. I bet 3D tech does too.

[Craig60]

well... technically it wasn't the "import" functionality that was broken.
The data that was being imported was not properly formatted.
Most of the time when you get Microsoft SQL Native Client errors it is the data.

True, but something changed on September 29th to cause my import to fail, and it wasn't my import file(s). And that still doesn't explain the lack of response from 3dcart on the issue. Even if they had come back and said that their script no longer stripped out the Carriage Return and Line Feed characters, and the presence of those characters was what was causing the import to fail, at least I would have known. This just seems really unusual for 3dcart support to not even respond to a ticket, after two VERY quick responses the morning that I reported the problem. Maybe they had a problem with their system?

[Craig60]

Most tech departments have the weekend off. I bet 3D tech does too.

That's possible, but I thought 3dcart tech support worked 24x7. And I reported the problem on Thursday, September 29th, very early in the morning. I got two VERY quick responses, and then nothing for over 3 1/2 days.

[InsnWizard]

Have you responded to the last contact by 3D. The ticket system has a tendency to mark a ticket closed after 3D responds to you. Not a big deal if it's fixed in one shot but can be a problem if it's an ongoing problem.

On something that is not fixed after the initial response I always acknowledge the response no matter how many responses we trade. That pops the ticket as open until they respond. Check the status of the ticket. If it's says closed open it and send a response.

As for the weekend you can get a response but they are far and wide between and usually only once in a day.

[Craig60]

Have you responded to the last contact by 3D. The ticket system has a tendency to mark a ticket closed after 3D responds to you. Not a big deal if it's fixed in one shot but can be a problem if it's an ongoing problem.

On something that is not fixed after the initial response I always acknowledge the response no matter how many responses we trade. That pops the ticket as open until they respond. Check the status of the ticket. If it's says closed open it and send a response.

As for the weekend you can get a response but they are far and wide between and usually only once in a day.

Yes, I've responded several times, asking for status updates, and letting them know that I found the cause of the problem, and solved it on my end, even though 3dcart hasn't responded to me. And this has been going on for over 3 1/2 days now. It's really strange. I'm glad that I went ahead and solved it on my own, rather than waiting. (I wish I had done that right away, now...)

[Craig60]

4 Days + and still no response from 3dcart. I just opened another ticket, just to check the status on the old one. Something must be wrong with their system.

[Craig60]

I just got a response to my 2nd ticket within a couple of minutes! The technician said that the 1st ticket was there and open.