How to use Web Service for Products?

[shri]

I have never used Webservice before. But i wanted to learn how to use it to Create/Update/Delete/Retrieve Products in my shop. I set up Webservice in BO->Preferences->webservice

I generated the key and everything. I have giving all the rights. I went through the CRUD example that was given on prestashop documentation. The example given is of customer data. I tried it and it worked perfectly fine for customer data in my site. But i do not need to change any customer data.

 

According to my requirements, I am supposed to set up Products database to be updated by product data from another site using webservice API automatically. I simply cannot understand how to do that. As the example given in documentation shows that i have to do it all manually. Does anyone have any article or book that can guide me to achieving this. Or can anyone just tell me steps to make this work? 

[newbie87]

Hello, I am not an expert but, I think that module is there to allow your cart to communicate with third party services accessing your products such as a warehouse, a drop shipper etc. It works in conjunction with a cron job either set at your server level or initiated by the third party service.

[shri]

Thank you for replying

That's a good Idea. I found a module and I installed it than realized that it was very old and did not seem verified by prestashop. It did not work after installation. I am still looking for another module or something that can help. If anyone comes across anything useful please do help me out.

[newbie87]

Wouldn't it be easier to export products from the cart, make changes in excel or notepad then import the file back into your shop? There are inexpensive add-ons to help with that approach.

 

Do you have a specific third party service/warehouse to which you are trying to connect? If it is a warehouse or dropshipper, check to see if they already have a way to download your orders using the API that you generated. No sense reinventing the wheel. :-)

 

They might also offer a service called Dropstream. It acts as an interface between your cart, your warehouse and any marketplaces on which you place your products. They have a warehouse interface for Prestashop and you might want to contact them directly. http://www.getdropstream.com .

 

And about buying modules:

(1) always check to make sure they are recently revised and updated for your version of Prestashop.

(2) Some module sites allow customers to make comments. Read them. You can find out who supports and who does not support their modules. 

(3) Shop around. Prices for the same types of module are all over the map.

(4) Be wary of module descriptions written in broken English or poor grammar. Most of the developers seem to live in India, Pakistan etc. Some are conscientious and care about the quality of their work; but many are just in it for the money.

Edited March 30, 2015 by newbie87 (see edit history)

[shri]

I have another site which is automated automatically by another person. I spoke to him just now. He said he can provide me with Json files with the data that i need as he uses Linux. So that means I have to convert the Json files to csv and than import them? I have never used Json before. 

 

Also I did notice the broken English on the site i was looking through. I will watch out for the dodgy sites.

[secondhand-obchod.sk]

Did you find that module or some way to handle that ?

 

I am looking for a simmilar thing.

[shri]

Nope nothing much helpful. But im still looking

[JRubio74]

I have developed a web tool that downloads product files from the provider and updates the Prestashop product database using Web Services. It also allows me to manage categories, price margins and combinations.

 

It downloads the products that are already in Prestashop database before changing anything, so no previous work is lost.

 

Maybe you need something like this?

 

Sorry for my "broken English", I'm Spanish!

[shri]

Yes that's correct, I need something like that. I think your English is just fine. (This is coming from an Indian. My English is not very good either  )

[JRubio74]

The biggest problem with Prestashop web services is that there's only a little information on the net, so you have to face the problems yourself. I don't have a guide or book to help you, but if you find problems, ask me and I'll try to help.

 

If you want to use the web tool, here's the page with complete information about features: importaciondeproductos.com. It's in Spanish, but I'm sure that Google Translator will help.