Completing the Import
When you import records into most tables, the Select Table Type page appears once the necessary file format information has been supplied for the source file. However, when you import records into the System Tree Items table or data into an ALT or Weibull data set, a Select Data type or Select Import Type page appears instead. For more information about completing these imports, see:
1. On the Select Table type page, select the table in which to import records and click Next. The Select Import Type page appears if records already exist in the table. The availability of the options on this page can vary from table to table. If no records exist in the table, the import type defaults to the option for adding records and the Select Field Assignments page appears. If this is the case, go to step 4 for information about completing this page.
2. Select an import type, referring to the following table for option descriptions.
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Option
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Description
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I want to add records
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When selected (default), the records in the source file are added to the table as new records. If the identifier fields for parent tables are not included in the source file or if they are missing for some of the records, you are prompted to select the identifiers that are necessary during the import.
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I want to update records
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When selected, the records in the source file are to update existing records in the table. The unique identifier field for the table into which the records are imported must be included in the source file so that matching records can be identified. Allow new records to be added during update becomes available so that you can indicate whether you want to adds new records when no matches to existing records are found.
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Add Configurations
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This is the only option that appears when you are importing import data into the Configurations table. For information about this import process, see Importing System Tree Configuration Data.
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3. Click Next. The Select Field Assignments page appears.
4. Complete the Select Fields Assignments page, referring to the following table for option descriptions.
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Option
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Description
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Table with sample data
This table displays the first several records in the source file so that you can view its content. After you select a column in this table, you use the Data field option below to assign the column to a data field.
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Field assignment
The options under this heading provide for assigning mappings to the selected column table.
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Source file field
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Indicates the name of the column. This field is display-only.
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Data field
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Provides for indicating the data field to which to assign the data in the column. By default, *Skip Field (Do not import) is selected. To import the data in the column, you must select a data field. By default, all fields in the selected table in the open file are listed. If Show all data fields is available, you can select it to show all fields that can appear in the table in the list. If you are performing a Parts Table import, {Specific Data} appears beneath *Skip Field (Do not import).
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Show all data fields
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Indicates which fields to display in the list. This checkbox is not shown for all types of imports. When it is cleared (default), only the fields used in the table or the forms for this table type are shown. When this checkbox is selected, all fields that can possibly be placed in the table or its forms are shown. If selecting or clearing this checkbox would result in the loss of field selections that have already been made, a window opens, indicating this. You must click Yes to continue or No to cancel.
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This button appears only when {Specific Data} is selected for Data field option a Parts Table import. When this button is clicked, the Specific Data List window opens. In it, you indicate how to import part parameter fields for specific model, category, and subcategory combinations. For more information, see Specific Data List Window.
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When clicked, fields in the source file are mapped to fields with the same names in the target file. This button is not shown when the source file is a text file. You use this button only when the source file is a Microsoft Excel or Access file originally created by using the Export Wizard to export data.
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When clicked, the View All Field Assignments window opens.
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5. If the source file is a Microsoft Excel or Access file generated by the Export Wizard, to map fields automatically, do the following:
a. Click Automap. If field mappings are found, a window opens, indicating that the current selections will be cleared.
b. If this window opens, click Yes.
If the Import Wizard is unable to map one or more fields, a window opens, indicating the situation encountered. After you click OK to close this window, click View All to check the field mappings. For more information, see Using the View All Field Window. After you close this window, manually map any unmapped fields that you want to import as described in the following step.
6. To manually map fields, do the following for each column in the source file that contains an unmapped field with data that you want to import into your file:
a. In the table of sample data, click the column.
b. For Data field, select the field into which to import the data.
To quickly make a selection, you can type the first letter of the field. Repeatedly typing this letter causes the next field that begins with this letter to appear. You can also press the Up Arrow and Down Arrow keys to scroll through the fields.
After a field selection is made, the column name changes from light type to dark type to indicate that the column has been assigned to a field.
7. Once field assignments are completed, click Next.
If a field is mapped to an Identifier field when I want to add records is selected on the previous page, a window opens, displaying a performance warning. Click OK to close this window. You may or may not want to import the identifier. To exclude it from the import, click Back and select Skip Field (Do not Import) for this Identifier field.
If the source file is a Microsoft Access file, the Select Sort Field page appears prior to the Save Template page. For all other file types, records are imported in the order in which they appear in the source file.
8. If the Select Sort Field page appears, do the following:
a. Determine whether you want to order the records to import by a field in the Microsoft Access file. (Only ascending order is supported.) The fields listed are all those in the Microsoft Access file, not just those that were selected for importing on the Select Field Assignments page. If the Microsoft Access file is read-only, the Select Sort Field page is not shown because a sort cannot be performed.
b. When finished, click Next. If you do not select a sort field when importing data into the System Tree Items table, a window opens, indicating that a sort field is recommended for this type of import. If you click Yes, the Select Sort Field page appears so that a sort field can be selected. If you click No, the Save Template page appears.
9. When the Save Template page appears, specify whether you want to save settings to an Import/Export Template file. A button for specifying advanced options might be present. For more information, see Specifying Advanced Options.
Saving import settings to an Import/Export Template file makes it a predefined import that is available to all users. To save settings, click the browse button for the field. A window opens for selecting or creating a file. All Import/Export Template files in the Project are listed.
◦ To save settings to a new Import/Export Template file, click < Create new file >, which is immediately replaced with < Type new file name here and press Enter >. Click this command, enter a name for the new Import/Export Template file in which to save settings, and click the green checkmark.
◦ To save settings to an existing Import/Export Template file, select the appropriate file. This closes the window. If the open System file is in an Enterprise Project, you must have the necessary permissions to create or modify Import/Export Template files in this Project. All permissions are set by your system administrator in the Administrator application.
The name of the file to create or overwrite appears for File name field on the Save Template page. If you have made an error, you can click the browse button again and, when the window opens, select the appropriate file. If you select < No selection >, your previous file selection is discarded and the < Select file... > label is shown for File name to indicate a file must be selected.
10. Once the appropriate file name or label appears for File name, click Next. The final page of the Import Wizard appears.
11. Click Finish. The Import/Export window opens, indicating the progress of the data import. For more information, see Import/Export Window.
The ordering of all records in the source file is preserved as data is copied into the target file. If you are importing FMEA, FRACAS, or Prediction part data, you are prompted to choose the items and/or configurations to which to link records in the source file that have no identifiers. For more information, see Adding Records with Missing Identifiers or Parent Assemblies.
Because most users tend to import the same file type repeatedly, when the import finishes, the selected file type is saved as the default. The next time you select > , you do not need to change your selection for Files of type unless you want to perform a different type of import.