Download Log Format Change?

[mkp007]

You guys changed the log format. You removed one of the rows and now my data doesn't line up.

[E-junkie_Guru]

Yes, we removed the "Affiliate Share (common for txn)" column (formerly column Z in a typical spreadsheet view) to avoid the frequent confusion about having two separate columns where affiliate commissions could be reported, and because commissions granted according to the Common Share % setting have been reported in the "Affiliate Share (per item)" column for over a year now, so the "Affiliate Share (common for txn)" column is now always blank and thus no longer needed unless the log view covers transactions before last April (in which case that column would be included).

[mkp007]

Please add a column back where it was removed and leave it blank (ie so when I paste into excel it imports the data back into the right columns.)

[peltiertech]

Whaaaa??? You just went ahead and changed the format? No discussion, no warning?



The new format is incompatible with all of my old data and with all of my old data processing routines. You should have just left the column blank.

[mkp007]

You also changed the shipping field for multiple items. Now each item gets a shipping total. I prefer the old way since I set up my excel program that way.



is anything happening to resolve these two issues?

[E-junkie_Guru]

Okay, we've reverted to the old format for log downloads, restoring the single column (Column Z) that had been removed, with our apologies for the disruption and inconvenience. However, in cases where that column does not contain any data, the column header label now will also be omitted, so the column will still be present in the file but otherwise unpopulated with any data.



Hopefully, this still should prevent most of the previous, considerable confusion among merchants who didn't realize there were two places in the log where affiliate shares could be reported (and the most obvious of which was always blank as of the past year-plus). For this reason, we are also still omitting the obsolete column from the online display of Transaction Log views in a browser.



@mkp007: Current log downloads show the shipping total reported only once per order, logged with the first item in multi-item orders. I'm not sure what was happening before, but it appears to be fine now that Development has reverted to the old download format.

[peltiertech]

There had been a discrepancy in multiple item orders: the column which was omitted in single item orders was only omitted in the first item of multiple item orders, so inserting a blank column in Excel was not always the correct action to correct the download format.



Thank you for reverting to the previous format.

[manytrickssw]

In the future, can we please get notified in advance of any changes to your download log format? When this happened a week ago, I spent a few hours figuring out what had changed, and tweaking my system to account for the vanished column.



Now you've added it back, so my system is broken again. However, it's even worse than before: having a column with a blank header is a terrible idea for database records. In FileMaker Pro, for instance, that column is skipped completely, thereby throwing off all the remaining columns.



Can you title it UNUSED or OBSOLETE or something? And we really need some sort of notification system, in advance, before this is changed again. I have too much work tied up in a complex import and analysis spreadsheet to have it breaking for no stated reason.



thanks;

-rob.

[mkp007]

Everything appears back to normal for me. Thx.