one of the manufacturers is uploading daily .xls files to my server, which I then use to automatically determine which products were added/removed/changed and generate .csv import file, which I then manually import using System => Import / export => Import (with "replace existing complex data"), to update products from that manufacturer.
Problem: I have to download .csv file and upload it using magento import functionality. I would like to schedule automatic daily import of given .csv file to Magento store.
Tried so far: Changing the products directly in database with SQL. This worked, but the drawbacks are: code might not work after Magento update, I can cause errors if my code doesn't update all information that should be updated, I don't get all the error checking that Magento import already has.
Is there any way to import .csv the same way as Magento does it, but to call it programatically instead of having to login to Magento and click import?