Overview

The Aurora Bulk Image Importer usually checks the "_uploads/product-images/" directory on your FTP for new files. This is done on a scheduled agreed upon during initial configuration, but can be anything from once a week to every hour.

The Importer uses the name of the image to get all the information it needs to link the new image to a product in Aurora. This is described in more detail later in this document (see "Naming Import Images").

Naming Import Images

File Formats

Aurora will ignore files that do not have the extension GIF, JPG or PNG, logging an error in the report when they are encountered.

Supported File-name Fields

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It is important to note that this describes what Aurora can support and may differ from what you have configured, but this is considered the 'default' behaviour.

The image naming convention allows three things to be specified (in this order by default):

1. Product or Variation Reference
2. Image Order
3. Image Name

Field Separators

Each of these fields must be separated by the characters "_-_" to allow Aurora to identify each of these values easily.

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The use of "_-_" is very important and should never be used in any product reference or image name, as doing so would break the importer.

Forward-slash Characters/Place-holders

To prevent confusion with directory structures on the FTP accounts, the "/" must never be used in an image file-name, even if it appears in the Product Reference.

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Doing so could result in unexpected behaviour and would likely result in your image not being imported.

To solve this problem, you should replace all "/" characters with the characters  "_slash_" when it is required. This being so, if the Product Reference is "PR123/03" then the value using in the file-name should be "PR123_slash_03".

Aurora will then recognise these place-holders and replace them with the "/" character again when searching for the product(s) in question.

Example Image File-names

With all these file naming rules understood, this means that they should look something like the examples below, with each field separated clearly by the "_-_" characters.

productsku1_-_1_-_front.jpg
productsku1_-_2_-_back.jpg
productsku1_-_3_-_side.jpg
productvariationsku1_-_1_-_green.jpg
productvariationsku2_-_1_-_blue.jpg
productvariationsku3_-_1_-_red.jpg
productsku2_-_1_-_nike trainers.jpg
pr123_slash_03_-_1_-_first-image.jpg
pr123_slash_03_-_2_-_second-image.jpg

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The image file-names are not case sensitive from the perspective of the import process. You can have upper case, lower case or any combination of the two in the file-name itself, but these will all be standardised by Aurora on import.

Import Delays

To help ensure that files placed in the import directory are ready for import, i.e. they are not still being uploaded, the importer can be configured to wait a set period of time before attempting to import an image.

This delay can be anything from nothing at all, to several hours, but the recommended delay is usual around ten minutes.

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If you anticipate the need to upload very large images or will be doing so over a very slow internet connection, then this delay should be increased.

Error Handling

The Aurora Bulk Image Importer does support some basic error handling and reporting to help allow you to track it's progress and identify issues when they occur.

Image Archiving

By default, Aurora will move images out of the import directory and into an "archive" sub-directory, where they will remain for a set period of time. This is usually 7 days, but can be adjusted to suit your logging and resource requirements.

This archive allows you to quickly and easily track when an image has been processed and even move them back into the import directory should you wish for them to be processed again for any reason.

Error Reporting

When errors occur during an image import, these are collated into a single report for the particular 'run' of images and then stored in Aurora for you to view.

These can be found in the Store -> Logs -> Errors section of the Aurora Back-end and will only be generated when an issue is present to be reported.

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You should check here regularly and before reporting any issues with the import process to see if it can tell you what the issue was. Using this information it provides, you should be able to easily track down and resolve most common problems, including:

• Incorrectly named files
• Unrecognised product references (i.e. Aurora could not find a product)
• Unsupported file types

Missing/Unrecognised Products

If Aurora could not find a product to match the reference provided (after having checked both Products and Variations), then the image file is moved to a sub-directory called "product-not-found". This files are left in place for you to investigate and resolve, they should be moved back into the parent import directory as and when either:

• The product they refer to has been added.
  or
• The file-name has been corrected with the appropriate format and reference information.

Image Validation

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Aurora makes an effort to ensure the images being uploaded are valid by loading it into the usual methods used by Aurora to manipulate images to help ensure they are OK for use.

This is not a full-proof method of validation, but does usually catch the most common issues, including:

• Non-image files (like Word documents) accidentally named JPG.
• Incomplete image files (due to corruption or failed uploads).

If an image is found not to be valid for any reason, then it is moved to an "invalid" directory and an error added to the log, which can then be checked at a later date for resolving.

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Again, this method is not full-proof and an effort should be made to ensure all images provided to Aurora are in fact valid and complete.