Artlink not imported    

Question

The ArtLink importfile is not being imported and processed, the artlink process fails.
 

Explanation

The most common causes:
 
Planed task not (correctly) set
Without (correctly set) a planned task the artlink will not be processed. Click here for more information about managing planned tasks.
Incorrect filename.
In the scheduled tasks with which the Artlink is imported, the submitted filename does not match the Artlink that is being placed on our FTP server.
When for example an automatich date/time is used in the filename, it will never match the in the scheduled tasks mentioned filename.
Unknown size/ incorrect extension
Format has to be .txt or .xml, if necessary zipped.
Some ERP packages automatically add a sequence number behind the extension of the .xml before it's packed in .ZIP that is being uploaded to our FTP server. Consequence is that the file that in the zip -for example- is named "Artlink.xml(1). This is considered to be a unknown file format.
Uploading failed
The uploading of the file to the correct filder on the ftp-server has failed:
  • The name of the folder has to be: /in
  • For all information about our FTP server and how to request login details: click here
Time Out
If the system is very busy, a Time out may occur.
When importing manually, the status ‘Failed’ appears under On-going tasks. Try importing manually again after at least half an hour.
If the ArtLink is read in via a scheduled task, _TimeOut is added to the filename on the FTP server. At a later time, this file will be automatically re-imported.
File too big
If the ArtLink is read via a scheduled task and the unzipped file is larger than 750 MB,  _FileTooBig is added to the filename on the FTP server. The file will not be imported.
 
If importing manually, two checks are performed:
  • the file to be uploaded is larger than about 750MB (regardless of whether it is zipped or not) then the following error message appears:
"The file to be imported should not be larger than about 750MB’. (750MB is an approximation here, what the system can handle at most depends on various factors).
  • the unzipped file is larger than 750 MB then the status ‘Failed’ will appear in On-going tasks.
 
Decrease the file by not adding unnecessary articles or information in the file. Example:
  • articles that contain not enough linkable data (article number, GLN, GTIN).
  • articles that reasonably will not occur in EZ-base.
    These articles will not link, therefore, do not include them in the file.
Incorrect structure of faulty fieldnames
A file with wrongul tags or column headings will ususally be processed, the wrongful tags and columns are being ignored.
Nonetheless it can occur that the file is not being processed at all due to such errors.  
Field too long or element occurs too often
Exceeding the maximum field length or number of times an element may occur.
See the rules described in the xsd https://file.ez-base.nl/ArtLink1.0.xsd.
Use the xsd to validate the .xml. 1
Special characters
Special characters create an unreadable file.
  • For .txt files this encloses characters such as end-of-line, tab, quotes, that occur in the data but have a special meaning in a seperated by tab-file.
  • For .xml files it concerns characters such as (but not only) <,>,& that have a special meaning in XML.
In both formats control characters can occur. The common advise is: produce the files prefferably by using a specialized library that manages the handling of special characters by itself, and make sure that this is administered for all fields: in practice, eventually there will always occur a "forbidden" charachter somewhere in a field where it wasn't expected.
Encoding not correct
The encoding of the artlink does not match the XML declaration: an encoding can be specified in the opening element of the artlink, the standard for this is UTF-8. If this does not match the encoding in which the file was actually written, it leads to the error message: "XMLException: There is no Unicode byte order mark. Cannot switch to Unicode." (example: as encoding is specified "UTF-16" but file is written in "UTF-8") 1
EZ-catalog is temporarily unavailable
Various processes take place both in the evening and at night. For example, changes made in EZ-catalog are synchronised with EZ-web. To ensure that these processes run as smoothly and efficiently as possible, it is not possible to import an Artlink during these processes. During disruptions or maintenance, importing an Artlink may also be undesirable.
The Import button for a manual Artlink import is therefore temporarily disabled during these processes.
Any previously started Artlink imports that have not yet been completed are aborted before these processes start (in On-going tasks, "Failed" is then displayed behind the Artlink import).
 
1 If the ArtLink is imported via a scheduled task, and the import fails due to a content error, the file is renamed: _Failed is added to the name. The file will not be imported.
Also the failed artlink is automatically validated using an xsd (similar to this xsd) checking if the xml is correct.
The result of this validation is in a file with the same name as the failed artlink import with "_Validation.log" added to it.The log file is put on our FTP server.