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Thread tagged as: Problem, Error, Api

Perch Collection Import API does not handle repeaters

When importing with the Perch API into a collection, whenever a repeater field is used in the template, the script fails.

Error:

Uncaught TypeError: Argument 2 passed to PerchFieldType::__construct() must be an instance of PerchXMLTag, instance of PerchRepeater given

Template:

<perch:categories id="category" label="Product Category" set="product-categories" max="1" required="true">
<perch:content type="text" id="model" label="Model Number" title="true" escape="false" />
<perch:content type="text" id="name" label="Name" escape="false" />
<perch:repeater id="features" label="Features" max="8">
    <perch:content type="text" id="feature" label="Feature" />
</perch:repeater>

Import Script:

<?php
include($_SERVER['DOCUMENT_ROOT'].'/perch/runtime.php');

$API = new PerchAPI(1.0, 'product_importer');

$ProductImporter = $API->get('CollectionImporter');
$ProductImporter->set_collection('Products');

$Template = $API->get('Template');
$Template->set('content/data', 'content');

$ProductImporter->set_template($Template);

$products = json_decode(file_get_contents($_SERVER['DOCUMENT_ROOT'].'/import/json/products.json'));

foreach ($products as $product) {
    $features = [];
    for ($i=1; $i < 7; $i++) {
        if ($product->{'Feature '.$i}) {
            array_push($features, ['feature'=>$product->{'Feature '.$i}]);
        }
    }

    try {
        $ProductImporter->add_item([
            'category' => ['product-categories/cooktops'],
            'model' => $product->{'Model'},
            'name' => $product->{'Name'},
            'features' => $features,
        ]);
    } catch (Exception $e) {
        die('Error: '.$e->getMessage());
    }
}

echo 'done';
Lachlan Heywood

Lachlan Heywood 0 points

  • 3 years ago
Drew McLellan

Drew McLellan 2638 points
Perch Support

3 years ago

That's right - it doesn't handle repeaters or blocks currently.
Lachlan Heywood

Lachlan Heywood 0 points

3 years ago

Ok, that is probably something you should note on the API Reference.

When is this expected to be implemented?
Drew McLellan

Drew McLellan 2638 points
Perch Support

3 years ago

It's not currently scheduled - we wanted to see if anyone would actually use the API first.

What's the use case you're looking at?
Lachlan Heywood

Lachlan Heywood 0 points

3 years ago

Taking an export of products and a varied number of associated files from a DMP and importing them using a script. Pretty much exactly what an import API is meant for.

I understand that it's something that will get minimal usage so I see the problems of dedicating time to it. A way of creating content programmatically rather than relying on the admin interface is something that Perch would benefit from in the long term.
Lachlan Heywood

Lachlan Heywood 0 points

3 years ago

Another update for the docs, using assets to assign to fields only works if you have both the original field name in addition to the {$field}_assetID in the data.

For example. this works:

$ProductImporter->add_item([
    'image' => '',
    'image_assetID' => 630,
    //...
]);

However, this does not:

$ProductImporter->add_item([
     'image_assetID' => 630,
     // ...
]);

In addition, if the field is required in the template, the value must be set to a truthy value.
Drew McLellan

Drew McLellan 2638 points
Perch Support

3 years ago

Another update for the docs, using assets to assign to fields only works if you have both the original field name in addition to the {$field}_assetID in the data.

That's not the docs, that's a known bug. We'll get it fixed in a future update.

In addition, if the field is required in the template, the value must be set to a truthy value.

Yes, validation rules from the template are enforced.