Import Question

garyg

I have reviewed the ExportImport.txt file in the Docs directory. Helpful, but I figured I'd put this out there to see if someone could chime in:

I have a CSV file that gets updated with fresh data on the 10th of every month.
I have successfully imported the data into Aware, renaming the column headers to match my various BO.Attributes. Once in Aware, there are some related objects that allow us to add information to the imported data, such as Internal Notes, Photo, etc.
The data that gets refreshed each month in the CSV only changes a few fields in the CSV. For example, a loan amount or a date or some comments.
Each record in the CSV has it's own unique ID, which is the same every month when refreshed.
Each month, there are some new records added to the CSV.
I want to be able to ensure that when I import the new CSV data each month, it does not overwrite the pieces of the data that we added during the prior month inside Aware (e.g. - like our internal notes). So if there is a record in Aware that contains an ID that matches the ID of the new imported data, does that mean nothing will be imported since the ID already exists? Or will it overwrite just the few changed fields, while leaving all the other fields alone (including my added data) for each record with a matching ID?

tford

From the ExportImport.txt file:

If there is ID attribute among column descriptions, the object corresponding to this ID will be updated. If ID column is not present, new object will be created. If ID column is present it must be first among other columns.

garyg

So as long as I keep my additional related fields as separate, related BO's, then the imported object fields should simply import the new data, overwrite any matching records, create new objects for any new ID's, and my related BO's and data should remain intact, correct?

tford

Yes.

It would probably help to construct a sample BSV and sample files to import to confirm your understanding.

garyg

Last question per below: By way of example...

If I have a BO called 'Property', with attributes for Name, Address, City, State, Zip, and a discrete Property ID
I also have a related BO called LoanInfo, with various attributes, and each LoanInfo ties to a single property.
If I import a Property, and then attach LoanInfo to that Property via the related LoanInfo attribute, is that instance linked, so that if I re-import updated data for that particular PropertyID a month later, will it know to keep the LoanInfo for that PropertyID intact?

tford

...will it know to keep the LoanInfo for that PropertyID intact?

Yes.

Once again, it's hard to know all the details of your plan here. You can easily put together a sample BSV and some small sample import files to test your hypothesis & file layouts.

vinsnash

I've been following this thread because it is something I need to accomplish.

I want to run a query that extracts data that will be used to update an MS Access table. I then need to import into AwareIM what was exported with fields updated. I include the ID as the first field in the query I use for export to the .csv.

The problem is the AwareIm query/export creates a .csv header that is not anywhere near the required format that can be imported back into AwareIM.

NSCPers.Unit Code, Member Type, Last Name, First Name, Amount Paid

instead of

"NSCPers.UnitCode","NSCPers.MemberType","NSCPers.LastName" ...etc.

This means that whenever there are changes the AwareIM export query users will have to manually create the proper import header to accomplish the import/update. This will be a severe burden on users.

I'm surprised this is the case at this stage of the game.

Vins Nash

vinsnash

Having manually changed the .csv header to the AwareIM import required syntax the function worked nicely and the records that were to be updated were updated correctly.

Can we get that header to be formatted correctly in a new release?

Vins Nash