News and announcements

CS-Cart Store Import Add-on

Konstantin Molchanov (CS-Cart team)

Hello!

Today I would like to share some information about the CS-Cart Store Import add-on, which is to be used for importing data from CS-Cart 2.2.4 or 2.2.5 to CS-Cart 3.0.2 (of the same edition) as well as for importing CS-Cart 2.2.4/2.2.5 Professional and Community stores to CS-Cart Ultimate as additional storefronts.

This add-on is included by default in CS-Cart 3.0.2 and can not be obtained separately from the distribution.

How it works

What it basically does is import the database from an existing store (powered by CS-Cart 2.2.4 or 2.2.5) to a CS-Cart 3.0.2 installation.

In case of using the add-on in CS-Cart 3.0.2 Professional, Multi-Vendor or Community, it will overwrite all the existing store data (if there is any) in this CS-Cart 3.0.2 installation with the imported content.

If you use the Store Import add-on in CS-Cart 3.0.2 Ultimate, the data (only from CS-Cart 2.2.4/2.2.5 Professional and Community editions!) will be imported to a separate storefront, which will be created automatically. Thus, you can import as many CS-Cart Professional or Community stores as you have to a single CS-Cart Ultimate 3.0.2 installation (you may need to acquire additional storefront licenses for your CS-Cart Ultimate).

UPD: There is currently no way to directly import data from CS-Cart 2.2.4/2.2.5 Community Edition to CS-Cart 3.0.2 Ultimate Edition. This issue will be solved in one of the future releases. Take our apologies for the inconvenience.

Usage

Important: Before you start the import see how much space the existing CS-Cart 2.2.4/2.2.5 installation takes on your server hard drive. Make sure you have at least twice as much free space left!

Now follow these steps:

  • Install CS-Cart 3.0.2 to a separate destination on the same server as you existing CS-Cart 2.2.4 or 2.2.5 installation. You can find the detailed installation instructions in the installation guide.
    Please consult with your system administrator or contact our support service if you are not sure about this step.
  • Enter the admin panel of the newly installed CS-Cart 3.0.2 and go to Administration -> Add-ons;
  • Find the Store Import add-on and click on Install:
    Store Import Add-on
  • The add-on will be installed within a few seconds. Now go to Administration -> Store Import;
  • Enter the server path to the existing CS-Cart 2.2.4/2.2.5 store. It is the path where your existing store is installed on the server. For example, on UNIX-based systems it should look something similar to ‘/var/www/examplestore’, and something like ‘C:/examplestore’ on Windows. Please ask your system administrator if you are not sure where to find this path!
    Click the Validate path button:
    Store Import Step 1
  • If you have entered a valid store path, you will see the Expert settings section. Be careful modifying values in this section! If you are not sure, do not change these settings! UPD: The Storefront URL and Secure storefront URL parameters are displayed for CS-Cart Ultimate only. Unlike Ultimate all other editions provide only 1 storefront, so the parameters are useless.Store Import Step 1
  • Click the Import button;

The import process will start. The progress will be indicated in real time. When the process is finished the data from the specified CS-Cart 2.2.4/2.2.5 installation will be imported to the current CS-Cart 3.0.2 store.

Licensing

As the process above requires having a separate CS-Cart 3.0.2 installation, after the successful import the old CS-Cart 2.2.4/2.2.5 must be removed or closed for public access until you are sure you no longer need the software files and database. It is illegal to use both CS-Cart 2.2.4/2.2.5 and CS-Cart 3.0.2 having one license.

If you would like to replace your existing CS-Cart Professional installations with one (or several) CS-Cart Ultimate installation, buy an Ultimate license (if you have not yet), make the import using the instructions above and then contact CS-Cart team to replace your CS-Cart Professional licenses with Ultimate storefronts.

If you have any questions about the add-on and its usage, feel free to ask right here in the comments. We will do our best to give you detailed answers as soon as possible.