File Menu - Imports
This command imports a text file, previously saved in the proper format, into the Company you are working with.
When you select this command, the 'Imports' list window is opened, where you can specify what is to be imported. As with the 'Exports' list, the options available in the 'Imports' list window vary according to the active module.
The function can import information from another FirstOffice database or from a text file created by another computer program. In the latter instance, you should ensure the text file is correctly formatted (contains the information in the correct order) before importing. This format information is available from your local FirstOffice representative, and can also be found in the Export Format report in the System module.
The first lines in the text file should be:
- format
- 1 46 1 0 1
The numbers in the second line should be separated by tabs. These numbers (parameters) inform the import procedure about the contents of the import file, as follows:
- Date Order
- The first parameter tells the import procedure what date format you have used in the text file. You can use the following values:
- 0
- Month/Day/Year
- 1
- Day/Month/Year
- 2
- Year/Month/Date
- Decimal Character
- The second parameter uses ASCII codes to tell the import procedure what decimal character you have used in the text file. Typical values are:
- 44
- comma
- 46
- full stop
- Machine Mode
- Use the third parameter to specify the platform on which you created the text file, as follows:
- 0
- Macintosh, AIX, iSeries
- 1
- Windows, Linux
- The import procedure will use this information for string conversion if the last parameter (String Type) is 0.
- Replace
- This parameter tells the import procedure what to do if information in the text file duplicates what is already in the database.
- 0
- Any duplicate information in the text file will not be imported. Records in the database will not be replaced.
- 1
- Duplicate information in the text file will be imported, overwriting existing records in the database. This applies to entire records. For example, there is an existing Customer 001 in the database with the name Customer A and Payment Terms 30 days, and in the import file Customer 001 has the name Customer AA and no Payment Terms. The import procedure will overwrite the entire record for Customer 001, so the result will be that it has the name Customer AA and no Payment Terms. Records in the database with no duplicate in the text file will not be touched.
- Note that blocks will always be overwritten with duplicate information from a text file, irrespective of whether this parameter is 0 or 1. There are two types of block: the setting that is a set of fields and check boxes (e.g. Account Usage S/L, Account Usage P/L, Locking); and the setting that is a series of rows (e.g. Payment Modes, VAT Codes).
- String Type
- Use the final parameter to specify the character set used in the text file:
- 0
- The text file contains characters belonging to a single character set (e.g. ASCII, KOI-8R [Russian Cyrillic], ISO-8859-1 [Western European]).
- 1
- The text file contains Unicode characters.
- Text files exported from a FirstOffice database will contain Unicode characters.
You should use the 'Imports' function to restore your FirstOffice database from a back-up, and to import your information into a new version of FirstOffice. For full details of how to do this, please refer to the
Restoring from a Back-up page.
