Before you import data, examine both your external data file and the component (application, questionnaire, or sub-form) into which your data will be imported to ensure the following conditions are met.
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Data file requirements
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Use a flat, delimited file format (for example, .csv or .txt), where each row equals 1 record in Archer. If the data is currently in a database, Microsoft Word, or a PDF, convert it to a flat file.
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Separate individual fields with field delimiters, such as a comma or a tab.
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Example: 'Metro','1.6','2003','Industrial Park'
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Example: 'Metro' '1.6' '2003' 'Industrial Park'
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Example: 'Metro'|'1.6'|'2003'|'Industrial Park'
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Separate values within a field with a values delimiter, such as a semi-colon or pipe (|).
Important: Ensure your values delimiters are unique and specified. During a lookup, when populating sub-forms, cross references, values lists, and User/Group List fields, if Archer encounters the specified delimiter in the source file, additional records or values are created, instead of completing an update.
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Example: 'Sedan','Luxury','Black;White;Red;Blue;Yellow'
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Example: 'Sedan','Luxury','Black|White|Red|Blue|Yellow'
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Example: 'Sedan','Luxury','Black:White:Red:Blue:Yellow'
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Mark any characters in the content that may be interpreted as a delimiter (such as apostrophes, hyphens, and colons) with an escape character (such as a backslash).
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Example: "c:\inetpub\wwwroot\Archer"
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Example: "c:**inetpub**wwwroot**Archer"
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If the content that you are importing contains any of your delimiters in individual field values, do 1 of the following:
- Use single or double quotes to enclose field values in your data file, for example, "Server, Router." Characters enclosed in quotation marks are not interpreted as delimiters.
- Choose Field and Values Delimiters for your data file that do not occur anywhere in your field values. The pipe (|) and circumflex accent (^) characters are good examples of uncommon characters that work well as delimiters.
Verify that your data file has a consistent format for date and time values and that a separator is used between the date and time values and between the time and the AM/PM designation.
Application or sub-form requirements
Verify the following:
- Your application contains all necessary fields. Importing data into an application copies data from an import file into existing fields, but does not create any new fields. Review the field types that you can import data into and their rules and import behaviors.
- For all required fields in your application, your import file must contain a value for every row.
- The fields from your external data file match the fields in the application. The system automatically maps import fields to application fields when they have the same name.
- If you are importing data that uses a double-byte character set, such as Japanese, the alias of each field must be set to a single-byte character set, such as English.
Leveled applications
To import data into a leveled application, you must create a separate data file for each level, and then import each level separately, starting with the top level (level 1).
Your level-1 file must contain all of the field values that you want to import.
The file for each subsequent level must contain:
- All of the field values that you want to import from that level.
- A field from the parent level that has unique values in each record, such as a Tracking ID field. This field allows the data from that level to be appropriately mapped to the parent level.
Tip: To create sample source files for yourself, run an advanced search on your application for all level-1 fields, and then export the results as a .csv. Repeat this step for your level-2 fields, this time including a level-1 field where the values are unique in each record. Repeat for any additional levels.
Sub-forms
To import data into an application that contains a sub-form, you must create a separate external data file for your application records and your sub-form entries.
The sub-form data file must contain unique field values from the application records, such as Tracking ID values, so the sub-form entries can be appropriately mapped to the application records where they will reside.
