Archibus Smart Client Transfer
Issue: Have you ever wanted to export data out and/or import it into Archibus?
Solution: There are several requirements to be able to export/import data in smart client.
First, it must be a view in smart client that is in grid mode. The easiest way to get one of these views is to select the Views tab and open the table you wish to export/import
Second, there can only be a primary table. You can add a standard table or a child table to view and create a spreadsheet of data to have import capabilities.
After you have the view open, turn on/off the fields that you want to export/import.
You need to have the primary key fields on for this to work.
Now click the Transfer in the ribbon
On the next screen, select the format that you wish to have the file. Both XLS and CSV will open in Excel.
Click Begin Transfer
A scroll bar will appear and move along as it completes the job.
When the job is finished, It will list a file in the Result View or File column. Click this file and a popup of folders will appear. Scroll to the folder you wish to save the file, enter the name of the file, and press save.
Now you can close the transfer dialog box.
From this point, you can edit the data in the spreadsheet that you just created.
A few things to remember are:
*) The transfer in command will first try to create a new record for what is in the spreadsheet. Then it will update all the records in the database to match what is in the spreadsheet. One thing to be aware of with this, is that it does an update match what is in the spreadsheet. If the spreadsheet has a blank value for a field in the record, the Transfer in will clear out this value from the archibus data.
*) if you want to only import new records, I find there are fewer errors if you clear out all the data (leaving the header row in the spreadsheet) and then only include the new data
*) any fields that validate on data in other tables need to match exactly what the data is in that table. For example, if you are importing divisions into the RM table, you can have HEALTH in the spreadsheet and it is in the DV table. But if you have Health in the spreadsheet and HEALTH in the DV table, it will give an error.
If you need to add new data to these foreign key table, you will need to either manually enter that data prior to doing this Transfer In or do a preliminary Transfer in for this foreign key data
Once you have the spreadsheet setup, you will repeat the Transfer Out, except choose Transfer In. If you have errors in your importing data, the program will create a spreadsheet that lists these error. This is a complicated spreadsheet and may take a little bit of time to interpret its errors and correct them.
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