Importing Data

The program includes a powerful import mechanism that can import resources, activities, or entire schedules from CSV or XML files.

The import process consists of two steps: first, specifying the file and its type; second, telling the program what type of data is contained in each imported field or column.

A CSV text file is the most common format used to export data from many applications. For example, Excel can export a spreadsheet to a comma- or tab-delimited text file. Such files have a very simple structure. They consist of lines of text, with each line containing one or more fields (columns) of data. The fields are usually separated by a specific character, such as a comma or a tab.

XML File

An XML file is another format commonly used by applications to store and export data. While the contents of XML files can vary greatly from one use case to another, their underlying structure remains the same. Our program can parse any XML file and extract all field values from it. You only need to tell the program which fields correspond to which types of data.

How to select the file for import?

After specifying the type of file you want to import, select the actual file by clicking next to the File field. A "File Open" window will appear, allowing you to browse the folders and files on your computer and choose the file you want to import.

How to tell the program what kind of data each column contains?

Once you have specified the file format and selected the file, the program will read its entire contents. At this stage, it can identify the individual fields of data, but it does not yet know what type of information each field contains.

The program will then display all the fields (or columns) it was able to extract from the file. Each field will appear as a separate item in a list. The title of each item will be the first value found in that field. For example, if you are importing a text file whose first column contains room names such as:

Room Name, ...
Room 1, ...
Room 2, ...
Room 3, ...

The program will display an item named "Room Name". To help you identify the field, you can expand the item using the plus button next to it to view up to 10 additional values from the same column, such as "Room 1", "Room 2", and so on. The total number of values found in the field is also shown at the bottom.

Once the fields are displayed, you need to specify the type of data contained in each one. To do this, click the area to the right of a field and select the appropriate data type from the pop-up list. This list contains all available properties of resources, activities, and scheduled cells.

The selections you make depend on the type of data you are importing, so let's look at the most common import scenarios.

Scenario 1: Importing Resources

In this scenario, you want to import a list of resources, where each item in the imported file (for example, each line in a CSV file) represents a single resource. If you are importing activities instead, follow the steps in the next section. However, it is still worth reading this section, as many of the concepts apply to activity imports as well.

At this stage, the columns extracted from the imported file are displayed in the Import window. Next to each column is a clickable field that initially displays Click to choose.... Clicking this field opens a pop-up list containing all available resource types and their properties.

Locate the resource type you are importing and expand it using the small plus button. A list of available properties will then be displayed. Select the property that corresponds to the data in the imported column by clicking the check box next to it.

Repeat this process for each column you want to import. When you have finished mapping the columns, click the Import button at the bottom of the window.

Note: If you need to import data into a property that does not appear in the list, select New Property. This will allow you to create a new property and import the data into it.

Scenario 2: Importing Activities

To import activities, each row in the imported file must contain multiple fields. Each field represents a different type of resource, and together these resources form a single activity. It is not necessary to import the resources separately, because importing activities automatically imports any resources referenced by those activities.

In the pop-up list displayed next to each column, you will find an item called Activity. Expanding this item reveals all available resource types that can participate in an activity. For each column containing a resource name, select the appropriate activity resource type.

For example, if your file contains activity data in the format:

"Course Registration Number, Course Name, Instructor, Room"

Assign the following data types:

Course Registration Number → Activity:Code
Course Name → Activity:Course
Instructor → Activity:Instructor
Room → Activity:Room

If the imported file contains additional resource properties besides resource names, these can be imported during the same operation. For example, suppose the file contains the following columns:

"Course Registration Number, Course, Course Number, Group, Section, Instructor, Room, Building"

In this case, assign:

Course Registration Number → Activity:Code
Course → Activity:Course
Course Number → Course:Code
Group → Activity:Group
Section → Activity:Section
Instructor → Activity:Instructor
Room → Activity:Room
Building → Room:Building

As a general rule, columns containing the names of resources participating in an activity should be assigned the data type Activity:[Property] while columns containing additional properties of those resources should be assigned [Resource]:[Property].

When the import process encounters a new resource name as part of an activity, it first searches for any associated properties of that resource. It then imports the resource together with all available property values and, finally, imports the activity itself.

Scenario 3: Importing an Entire Schedule

In this scenario, you are importing a file that contains all scheduled occurrences of activities, with a specific day and time assigned to each occurrence. For example, one row might contain:

"Course Registration Number, Room 100, Monday, 8:00, 9:30"

and another:

"Course Registration Number, Room 200, Tuesday, 10:30, 11:45"

These rows represent two separate occurrences of the same activity.

The resource columns should be mapped as described in the previous section. However, the columns containing scheduling information should be assigned using the Cell item in the pop-up list.

The Cell item provides the following scheduling properties:

Day
Period
Start Time
Length
End Time
Room

You do not need to assign all of these properties. At a minimum, you must select:

A Day field, and
Either:
- A Period field, or
- A Start Time and End Time field, or
- A Start Time and Length field

Note: If you are importing a schedule that uses periods, make sure the periods and their corresponding start and end times have already been defined in the Resources pane before starting the import.

Once the import is completed, the scheduled cells will be created automatically and will immediately appear in the schedule.

Importing a schedule without activity codes

In the previous example, each activity had a unique course registration number. This number was imported into the Activity:Code property, so the program could easily determine which scheduled cells belonged to the same activity. For example, if several rows in the CSV contained the same activity code, the program knew that these rows were different scheduled occurrences of the same activity.

However, not every schedule has a unique code for each activity. Sometimes the CSV contains only information such as the course, instructor, group, room, day and time. In this case, we need to tell the program which fields should be used to determine whether two rows belong to the same activity. Otherwise, the program will create a separate activity for every row in the CSV. This is done using the Match by this field option.

For example, suppose the CSV contains these columns:

"Course, Instructor, Room, Day, Start Time, End Time"

And suppose that the combination of Course and Instructor uniquely identifies an activity. We would assign the following properties:

Course → Activity:Course, Match by this field
Instructor → Activity:Instructor, Match by this field
Room → Cell:Room
Day → Cell:Day
Start Time → Cell:Start Time
End Time → Cell:End Time

By selecting Match by this field for both Course and Instructor, we tell the program to use the combination of these two fields to identify an activity. For example, if several CSV rows contain "Mathematics, John Smith", the program will treat all of these rows as scheduled cells belonging to the same activity, even if they have different rooms, days or times. If either the Course or Instructor is different, the program will treat the row as belonging to a different activity.

You can use any combination of activity properties in this way. Simply select "Match by this field" for every property that should be used to uniquely identify an activity. The Match by this field option is located at the bottom of the Properties list, under Options.

How to import resource categories?

To import a hierarchical structure of courses or other resources, such as rooms or groups, use the properties "Course:Sub Course of", "Room:Sub Location of", or "Group:Sub Group of".

For example, if one column in the CSV contains the course name and another contains its category, use the property "Course:Name" for the first column and "Course:Sub Course of" for the second column.

After importing, the course list will be arranged hierarchically, with all sub-courses listed under their corresponding parent courses.

Note: You can also use the "Sub Course of" column when importing activities or an entire schedule. For example, if you are importing activities, one of the columns would be "Activity:Course". Add another column named "Course:Sub Course of" and enter the parent course of the course listed in the "Activity:Course" column. This will create the corresponding hierarchical course structure during the import.

How to import automatically?

It is possible to import a file almost automatically, without having to make any selections in the Import window. To do this, the column names in the CSV need to be renamed in advance to names that the program recognizes.

These names are exactly the ones shown in the Import window when you select a property or an option. For example, if you name the columns in the CSV "Instructor:Name" and "Instructor:Email", the program will recognize these names and automatically associate them with the corresponding properties. All you will need to do is press Import to import the CSV file; no selections in the Import window will be necessary.

When you need to include several properties or options for the same column, separate them with a comma. Note that the column name will be enclosed in quotation marks in the CSV, so the comma will not interfere with the CSV structure.

For example, when importing student courses that should be added to the student's existing courses, you can use the column names "Student:Name" and "Student:Courses, Add to the existing value". Note that the second column name is longer and contains a comma. This will add the imported courses to the student's existing courses rather than replace them.

Need help with importing?

The examples above demonstrate only a few common import scenarios. However, the program is highly flexible and can import data from almost any CSV file format.

If you need assistance importing your data, please contact us at support@lantiv.com. Send us the CSV file you want to import—or at least a few sample rows—and we will provide specific guidance on how to configure the import settings for your data.

The next chapter: Working Online.