add a product to magento with php and mysql (programatically) - magento

Question

this is the code I am using, it returns a server error. I am not sure why or what to do for it to work. any help would be greatly appreciated.
<?php
//product = Mage::getModel('catalog/product');
error_reporting(E_ALL | E_STRICT);
$mageFilename = 'app/Mage.php';
require_once $mageFilename;
Mage::setIsDeveloperMode(true);
umask(0);
Mage::app();
Mage::app()->setCurrentStore(Mage::getModel('core/store')->load(Mage_Core_Model_App::ADMIN_STORE_ID));
$product = new Mage_Catalog_Model_Product();
$product->setSku("ABC123");
$product->setName("Type 7 Widget");
$product->setDescription("This widget will give you years of trouble-free widgeting.");
$product->setShortDescription("High-end widget.");
$product->setPrice(70.50);
$product->setTypeId('simple');
$product->setAttributeSetId(9); // need to look this up
$product->setCategoryIds("20,24"); // need to look these up
$product->setWeight(1.0);
$product->setTaxClassId(2); // taxable goods
$product->setVisibility(4); // catalog, search
$product->setStatus(1); // enabled
// assign product to the default website
$product->setWebsiteIds(array(Mage::app()->getStore(true)->getWebsite()->getId()));
$product->save();
// for stock
$stockData = $product->getStockData();
$stockData['qty'] = 10;
$stockData['is_in_stock'] = 1;
$stockData['manage_stock'] = 1;
$stockData['use_config_manage_stock'] = 0;
$product->setStockData($stockData);
?>

Answer 1

With Magento we can have several different ways to add products to the catalog. The way you are try to achieve need a few changes to work well. Please keep in mind that you should use as much of the Magento's functionalities, such as models, configs and so on.
A good approach for what you are looking for would be:
<?php
...
$product = Mage::getModel('catalog/product');
$product->setSku("SKUPROD123");
$product->setName("Name of The Product");
$product->setDescription("Some description of the product.");
$product->setShortDescription("Short one.");
$product->setPrice(299.50);
$product->setTypeId('simple');
$product->setAttributeSetId(9); // need to look this up
$product->setCategoryIds("20,24"); // need to look these up
$product->setWeight(1.8);
$product->setTaxClassId(2); // taxable goods
$product->setVisibility(4); // sets visibility as 'catalog, search'
$product->setStatus(1); // enabled
// assign product to the default website
$product->setWebsiteIds(array(Mage::app()->getStore(true)->getWebsite()->getId()));
$product->save();
I hope it helps