Title: CSV import and post automatic creation
Last modified: August 21, 2016

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# CSV import and post automatic creation

 *  [bastien31](https://wordpress.org/support/users/bastien31/)
 * (@bastien31)
 * [12 years, 3 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/csv-import-and-post-automatic-creation/)
 * Hi,
 * As part of the redesign of a car garage website in WordPress, my client would
   like to display a list of vehicles contained in a csv file he receives each week.
   So every week, I must update the list presented on the site by adding new vehicles
   and removing sold vehicles.
 * I have good PHP / MySQL knowledge but I ‘ve never done custom code like this 
   in WordPress. I wanted a few tracks or confirmation regarding the implementation
   of a solution.
 * That’s what I think to make:
 *  – a PHP function to parse the CSV file in order to extract each entry (vehicle)
 *  – a function (a plugin for example) which call the parser function. For each
   entry, it checks if it exists in the WordPress DB. If not, I insert the entry
   with a insert_custom_post. I keep all the id in order at the end to be able to
   do the reverse to remove the sold vehicles.
 * Where I don’t exactly know what to do, is what type of post to use. I want to
   be able to perform research on these posts (vehicles type) kie brand, year, kilometers
   or price.
 * I think I have to create a custom post type (maybe two ? one for the global list,
   one for the detailed vehicle ?).
 * Is anybody can tell me more about this king of development ?
 * Thanks a lot
    Nice day,
 * Bastien

Viewing 2 replies - 1 through 2 (of 2 total)

 *  Moderator [bcworkz](https://wordpress.org/support/users/bcworkz/)
 * (@bcworkz)
 * [12 years, 3 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/csv-import-and-post-automatic-creation/#post-4555998)
 * In general, it sounds like you’re on the right path. You definitely want a custom
   post type for listings. it’s not too difficult to query listings based on data
   stored in postmeta, that is where I would store the data.
 * It could be more efficient to store such data in a custom table, but I’m guessing
   the inventory size you’re anticipating isn’t really huge, so postmeta should 
   be fine. You still need to decide if you should store everything in a structured
   array or under individual keys. The array is more efficient but more difficult
   to query.
 * Another option for some content is of course your suggested second post_type,
   but I am not that enamored with that idea. Having everything keyed to a single
   ID is fairly important.
 * Curiously, how to store the various bits of data is similar to the issues encountered
   with [multilingual](http://codex.wordpress.org/Multilingual_WordPress) sites.
   Reviewing the various options there along with the pros and cons should be helpful
   to you for deciding on the best approach.
 *  Thread Starter [bastien31](https://wordpress.org/support/users/bastien31/)
 * (@bastien31)
 * [12 years, 3 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/csv-import-and-post-automatic-creation/#post-4556025)
 * Thanks bcworkz for the quick reply.
 * I’m happy to see that I am in the right direction. As you mention, the inventory
   size will not be huge. I’m going to tried with postmeta on a small sample (fake
   data with just two parameters) to try the validity of this solution.
 * I noted your remark for my second post_type and I think you are right. I can 
   of course bound the two post_type by their id in for example a hidden field, 
   but I think it’s to complicate things for nothing.
 * Have a great day!

Viewing 2 replies - 1 through 2 (of 2 total)

The topic ‘CSV import and post automatic creation’ is closed to new replies.

## Tags

 * [csv](https://wordpress.org/support/topic-tag/csv/)
 * [custom post](https://wordpress.org/support/topic-tag/custom-post/)

 * In: [Hacks](https://wordpress.org/support/forum/plugins-and-hacks/hacks/)
 * 2 replies
 * 2 participants
 * Last reply from: [bastien31](https://wordpress.org/support/users/bastien31/)
 * Last activity: [12 years, 3 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/csv-import-and-post-automatic-creation/#post-4556025)
 * Status: not resolved

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