GoogleBase Feed URL Access

[napacabs]

With version 7.0.3 we were able to provide Sales Comparison Sites such as Pricegrabber and Nextaq the URL of the GoogleBaseData.txt product feed accessible at:

http://www.site.com/Admin/marketing/fee ... seData.txt

They would then pick-up the feed daily and update product listings. However, with version 7.0.5, it's been moved to

http://www.site.com/App_Data/Feeds/GoogleBaseData.txt

and now I'm unable to access the url. The App_Data folder will NOT render out any contents on the web. How can I access the Google, Shopping.com and Yahoo URL feeds? Or a url location to view output?


Thank You for any help.

[AussieInSeattle]

I just ran into this issue - not sure if you managed to fix it or not, but I "simply" created a virtual directory in IIS at the root of my AC site that points to App_data/feeds - I'm assuming there are no security ramifications with this approach, but now the feed is accessible from /feeds/GoogleBaseData.txt

Hope this helps.
Regards,
Matt

[Endeavour]

We have AC version 7.0.4. What is the URL where the GoogleBaseData feeds are stored? I tried the two URLs mentioned by napacabs but pricegrabber still tells me the feeds are empty. I think Matt's solution of creating a virtual directory is beyond my abilities.

[david-ebt]

The location for the feeds (App_Data/Feeds) is not accessible from the outside world because the App_Data folder has restricted access by default under IIS.

Mazhar explains how to modify the data feed source code so you can put the generated feed files into another folder that is accessible. The forum post is:
viewtopic.php?f=42&t=13477&p=58069&hilit=feeds#p58069

We added a little code to our feed pages so the administrator could download them directly when the feed was completed.

We modified the ASPX to add a hyperlink:

Code: Select all

<asp:Panel ID="MessagePanel" runat="server" CssClass="contentPanel">
    <div class="contentPanelBody">
        <asp:Label ID="SuccessMessageHeader" runat="server" Text="SUCCESS"></asp:Label>
        <asp:Label ID="FailureMessageHeader" runat="server" Text="FAILED"></asp:Label>
        <asp:BulletedList ID="Messages" runat="server">
        </asp:BulletedList>
        <asp:HyperLink ID="DownloadLink" runat="server"></asp:HyperLink>
        <br />
    </div>
    <asp:Button ID="ContinueButton" runat="server" Text="Click to Continue" OnClick="ContinueButton_Click" />
</asp:Panel>

and we modified one of the code behind functions to:

Code: Select all

protected void UpdateMessagePanel(bool success, List<string> messages)
{
    MessagePanel.Visible = true;
    SuccessMessageHeader.Visible = success;
    FailureMessageHeader.Visible = !success;
    if (success)
    {
        DownloadLink.NavigateUrl = string.Format("/uploads/{0}", FeedFileName.Text);
        DownloadLink.Text = "Download Link (Right click and Save As)";
    }
    PopulateMessages(messages);
}

This was in addition to the FeedDataPath change in the GetPostedOptions function mentioned in the forum post above.

[mazhar]

We have AC version 7.0.4. What is the URL where the GoogleBaseData feeds are stored? I tried the two URLs mentioned by napacabs but pricegrabber still tells me the feeds are empty. I think Matt's solution of creating a virtual directory is beyond my abilities.

Its very easy to change the feeds location to somewhere accessible publicly. Let me explain it to you and I think you will be able to do this.

1- In first step create desired folder in your website by using some FTP tool or file browser of your hosting control panel. For example lets say you want your Google Base feeds to be publicly accessible under URL endeavourtoys.com/feeds/GoogleBaseData.txt. Now you can see that in order to support this URL we need a folder having name Feeds on your website root. Go and create folder, you may need to give application write access on this Feeds folder.

2- Now all you need is to tell Google Base to generate feeds under this new Feeds folder instead of putting them under App_Data/Feeds. In order to do this edit your Website/Admin/Marketing/Feeds/GoogleBase.aspx.cs file and locate following line of code

Code: Select all

options.Load(new GoogleBaseOptionKeys());

and replace it with

Code: Select all

options.Load(new GoogleBaseOptionKeys());
options.FeedDataPath = Server.MapPath("~/Feeds");

finally save the file.

That's it jobs done. Now try generating Google Feeds and they will be under feeds folder where anyone can access them through URL.
Finally if you want Shopping.com and Yahoo Shopping feeds to go under this new publiclly accessiable folder then you need to repeat step#2 on Website/Admin/Marketing/Feeds/Shopping.com.aspx.cs and Website/Admin/Marketing/Feeds/YahooShopping.aspx.cs files.

[mazhar]

I posted a mod about automatic Google Base feeds here viewtopic.php?f=47&t=15341