Creating Imports

The import wizard is used to define the parameters and criteria for the import. The wizard content is organized across Source, Style, Filters, Columns, and Target tabs to guide input. Although the wizard tabs are ordered to gather input in a sequence, you can navigate between any tabs.

To create an import:

1. On the Home page, select Import.
2. Click .
3. Optional: Create substitution parameters for the import to pass in user-defined values to the query filter at run time.
   1. Click .
   2. Click Add and add Key-Value pairs.

      Note:

      Key-Value pairs cannot use "<%" or "%>" sequentially or an equal sign.

   3. Click OK.
4. On the Source tab, select the import source from the Device list.

   • If you selected Client File, click Browse and navigate to and select the import file.

     Note:

     The client file is not saved with the import and will need to be re-selected for subsequent runs.

   • If you selected Server File, select the connection and a file name.

     Note:

     A server file can come from a network file system or FTP directory.

   • If you selected Database, do the following:

     1. From Connection, select the external connection to the database.

     2. Click to test the connection.

     3. For each import section, select the database table or view from which to import.

     4. Optional: Select Clear Imported Records After Processing to clear database records which were loaded from the source connection when the import successfully completes.

        Note:

        The Clear Imported Records After Processing option applies to the source tables only. It does not apply to the control tables used for filtering purposes.

     5. Go to step 6.

5. Select from the following Import Sections options:

   • Prefix Delimiter — A character that is displayed at the beginning of a section heading.

   • Suffix Delimiter — A character that is displayed at the end of a section heading. The delimiter suffix is optional.

   • Select section headings that are in the import source and enter text for the section heading.

     Note:

     All import sections are selected by default. Deselect sections that are not in the import source.

6. Select File Format options:

   • Character Encoding — Select one of the encoding options.

   • Strip Quoted Strings — Select to process quoted strings in the import file and to remove quotation marks during data import.

     Note:

     Single ( ' ) and double quotation marks ( '' ) are removed. If both types of quotation marks are used at the same time, only the outer set of quotations is stripped.

   • Fixed Width or Delimited — For Delimited, enter the delimiter character. For Fixed Width, enter fixed width column values in Columns Options of the Columns tab.

   • For client or server file: Skip First Rows in File –– Enter the number of rows to skip from the beginning of the file.

   • For client or server file: No Section Header in File –– Select to import one section only. Available only if one import section is selected. Select if the source file does not contain a section header.

7. Select the Style tab and choose options from these sections:

   • Node Options

     • Determine Leaf Nodes at the End of Import Process—Select to specify that, at the end of the import process, the import automatically sets the leaf property to True for any node that has no children.

       Note:

       This option requires a second pass of the imported data and may require additional time to process. If this option is not selected, all nodes will be imported as limb nodes unless the Leaf property is specified as a column in the Node or Relationship section of the imported data.

     • Enforce Invalid Node Name Characters—Select to validate node name based on the InvName system preference.

   • Relationship Sorting––Sort Relationships—Select to enable the import to sort the nodes based on the order in which they are displayed in the relationship section of the source file or database table, and complete both of the following actions:

     • Sort Property to Populate—Select the node property in which to store the sort order.

     • Hierarchy to be Sorted — Enter the hierarchies to which to apply the sort. Separate hierarchies with commas or enter them on separate lines.

       Note:

       All hierarchies are sorted by default unless specified here.

   • Hierarchy Options––Specify the following information for all hierarchies created during the import:

     • Node Type Property to Assign––Select a node type property which will be assigned to the hierarchy node type property of every hierarchy created from the import.

     • Validations to Assign––Select validations to assign to hierarchies created from the import.

     • Duplicate Delimiter––Enter the character used to delimit base hierarchy names from their unique qualifier names when duplicates are encountered during the import.

   • Domain Options––Specify how domain names are qualified in the import by selecting an option:

     • None — Domain names are not used

     • Select a Domain — Qualifies all nodes in the domain

       Note:

       If you select this option, select a domain name from the drop-down list.

     • Select Import Column — Qualifies nodes based on the selected columns. See steps 9-11.

     Note:

     Qualifying node names appends the qualifier text of the specified domain; it does not assign the node to a domain.

   • Duplicate Handling

     • Append Unique Text to the End of the Node Name — Select to append the unique portion of the name to the end of the original node name.

       Note:

       If you select this option, use the Unique String, Delimiter, Unique ID Seed, and Zero Pad Length parameters to create a naming convention for duplicate nodes. The unique portion of the name is added to the end of the original node name. If not selected, the unique portion of the name is prefixed to the beginning. For example, 001NodeA, 002NodeA.

     • Unique String — Enter a string to be used to form part of the new unique node name.

     • Delimiter — Enter a delimiter character to be used to separate the original node name from the unique portion of the name.

     • Unique ID Seed — Select a starting point for this ID.

       For example, if NodeA occurs three times in a hierarchy and the unique ID seed is 1, the original node is not changed, and the other node names are replaced with NodeA1 and NodeA2. This example ignores the other Duplicate settings in order to illustrate the use of unique ID seed.

     • Zero-Pad Length — Enter the minimum number of digits required in the unique ID portion of the duplicate name.

       For example, a value of 3 for zero-pad length creates duplicate nodes named NodeA001, NodeA002, and so on. A value of 2 creates duplicate nodes named NodeA01, NodeA02, and so on.

     • Associated Property — Select a property to enable duplicate nodes to be grouped so they can be easily queried after the import is complete.

       If an associated property is set, the property is populated with the node name of the original node in all duplicate nodes. This option must refer to a global, associated group (AscGroup) property.

     • Duplicate Error Mode — Select a mode to determine the severity with which the import processor treats a duplicate:

       • Generate Warning — Warning message is added to the log for each duplicate.

       • Generate Error — Error message is added to the log for each duplicate.

         Note:

         Processing stops if the number of errors exceeds the Max Errors value (on Target tab).

   • Orphan Options––Select how orphans generated by the import are handled.

     Note:

     Two types of orphans are used when creating hierarchies from orphan nodes:

     Orphans that are not a child of any other orphan node and have no children (stranded orphans)

     Orphans that are not a child of any other orphan node and have children (top node orphans)

     • Create Base Orphan Hierarchy––Select to create a hierarchy of stranded orphans and enter these parameters for the hierarchy:

       • Name––Enter the name for the orphan hierarchy.

       • Description––Optional: Enter a description for the orphan hierarchy

       • Top Node Name––Enter the name for the top node of the orphan hierarchy.

       • Top Node Description––Optional: Enter a description for the top node of the orphan hierarchy.

     • Create Orphan Branch Hierarchies––Select to create orphan branch hierarchies from top node orphans and enter these settings:

       • Max # To Create––Enter the maximum number of orphan hierarchies to create.

       • Unique Name Prefix––Optional: Enter a prefix which will be appended to the hierarchy name.

       • Hierarchy Property for Parent––Enter a valid hierarchy property. Select a hierarchy level property which will be populated with the value in the Parent field in the Relationship import section if defined. This option is used with the Skip Nodes During Import parameter to create multiple hierarchies from one larger hierarchy. This property can then be used by the export to output a Parent value for top nodes of those hierarchies.

8. On the Columns tab, from the Section list, select an import section.
9. On the Select Columns tab, select the properties to be populated by the import for the import and move them from Available to Selected.

   Note:

   Use the Category list to select a property category to ease navigation.

   A special column called [Ignore Column] is available as a placeholder for any column in the input source that should not be processed during the import.

   Tip:

   For client and server file imports, use the arrows to the right of the Selected list to position the column based on the order in which the column exists in the source file. The first item in the list is the first column, the second item in the list is the second column, and so on.

10. On the Column Options tab, you can map a column to hierarchies. Double-click a column name row and select from these options:

    • Select Apply Value to All Hiers if values in the column should be applied to all hierarchies. By default, this option is selected.

    • In the Hierarchy Listing field, enter the name of each hierarchy to which the column applies. The property value is set only in the hierarchies designated in the list.

      Note:

      The listed hierarchies must match the names of hierarchies specified in the import source.

    • If you selected Fixed Width on the Source tab, enter a value in the Fixed Width column.

11. If you selected the Select Import Column domain name qualification method in step 7, the Domain Options tab is displayed. You can configure these sections:

    • Hierarchy — Top node column

    • Node — Node column

    • Relation — Child and Parent columns

    • Hierarchy Node — Node column

12. If you are importing from database tables, the Database Options tab is displayed. For each import section, the following columns are displayed:

    • Column––Displays the name of the Oracle Data Relationship Management property being populated.

    • Source Field––Click in the Action column to select a field from the source database table for the section. Click to save the changes.

      Note:

      A source field may be mapped to more than one Data Relationship Management property.

    • Field Type––Displays the data type of the field from the source database table.

    • Length––Displays the length of the field from the source database table (if applicable).

    • Order––Click in the Action column and select a field from the source database table used to order the data before import. Click to save the changes.

13. On the Filters tab, do any of the following:

    • Skip blank values for certain property types

    • Skip default values for certain property types

    • Skip Nodes During Import––These nodes are ignored during the import process.

    Note:

    It is recommended to skip blank and use default values to minimize the size of the imported version.

14. If you are importing data from database tables, the following database filters are available:

    • None––No filtering of database records occurs during import.

    • Control Table––Specifies the use of a source database table for controlling the filter. Records existing in the control table will determine which records from the import section tables will be imported.

      1. From Filter Table, select the source database table used for filtering.

      2. From Filter Key Field, select the field from the specified filter table used for filtering data from the import tables.

      3. In the Filter Join Fields section, click and select a field for each import section table to be used for filtering. Click to save the changes.

    • Inclusion List––Specifies literal values used for filtering records from import section tables.

      1. In the Inclusion List section, click Add and enter the literal values to be used as a filter for the tables for all import sections that have a Filter Join Field specified.

      2. In the Filter Join Fields section, click and select a field for each import section table to be used for filtering. Click to save the changes.

15. On the Target tab, enter a name for the new version that will be created by the import.
16. Make selections from these options:

    • Max Errors–Select a value for the maximum number of errors that can occur during processing before the import stops.

    • Assign to Variable–Select a version variable to which to assign the imported version.

    • Save Version To Repository–Select to save the new version to the repository.

17. Click to save the import.

    You are prompted to define a name, description, and an object access group for the import. Select a custom group or one of the following:

    • User––Personal objects that are only available to an individual user to view and run.

    • Standard––Public objects that are available to all users to view and run. Only Data Manager and Application Administrator users can create and modify standard imports.

    • System––Restricted objects that are only available to Application Administrator role users to view and run.