berrywoods - 8:27 pm on Feb 2, 2011 (gmt 0)

thanks very much rocknbil. Ill have a play around with what you've suggested,

i think oscommerece uses a similar method already.

problem was trying to automate the process.

Currently, my wholesaler sends me a cd with images and a csv file with all product data. Theres no grouping on the csv, every product has a different code. i have a vb.net program which uploads the csv to a sql database, i have a table for products we stock in store, which then goes onto the till system, at about 3am, the program removes all products from the website, and then reuploads both whats on the in-store table and everything else on the wholesaler table.

i didnt want to use oscommerece's inbuilt attributes as this would mean splitting up all the products manually. although i may have a go at using vb.net to do this.