Mass Import for Legacy Data with Characters > 1024

ckndr47

Hi,

I have a question for you guys and i need your suggestion as how to approach for the solution.

Our Client is importing data from thr Legacy system to Navision 5.0.

For most of the import we have used Dataport and its working fine but there are certain things where we are stuck.

My problem is almost related to the post here, but i dont like that solution.
http://www.mibuso.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=20504

I dont want to rush. The problem is we have to import the data and put in table 5061.

I am not using the comment (text) field instead we are using a BLOB field and i am using Waldo Pad (thanks to Waldo Pad) that actually works fine with that. Now our clients want to import the date from Legacy to Nav; but the comments they have are more then 1024 characters.

What should be the resolution? We can dictate the client as to what sort of file we are expecting so it is somethin we can handle but before asking them anything i want to make sure if we would be able to fix it up.

So guys tell me?

1) DataPort (No)
2) File Parsing (No, its something tht we are asking for trouble, dont want to risk it out)

Can we do the same stuff with XML Port? or is thr anyother workaround.

Do post in your feedback.

Thanks and Regards,

ara3n

Hello.
I suggest to take the file and open it in excel.

Split the field in 1024 characaters, that way you can load them in two or 3 fields.
Then in the dataport populate the table.

ckndr47

Thanks ara3n for your quick response.

Yeah i had the same idea that we may create 3-4 extra fields but again its something that is not predictable right; we dont know how big the data is it might exceed upto 5-6 fields.

Anyother work around. I dont want to play with the file parsing its a risk

ara3n

ask them to parse it and put the rest of the field on separate lines.
that way you can have unlimited length.

ckndr47

ask them to parse it and put the rest of the field on separate lines.
that way you can have unlimited length.

I dont get you

ara3n

column A    Column B   Comments 
   1                      2              blaha blah
   1                                     blah blah
   3                                    blah blah

ask them to give you the data in that format.

ckndr47

Yeah thats a good idea but thn i have to make sure that there is no Carriage return within that comments field.

Anyother workaround?

todro

ckndr47 wrote:

Hi,

I have a question for you guys and i need your suggestion as how to approach for the solution.

Our Client is importing data from thr Legacy system to Navision 5.0.

For most of the import we have used Dataport and its working fine but there are certain things where we are stuck.

My problem is almost related to the post here, but i dont like that solution.
http://www.mibuso.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=20504

I dont want to rush. The problem is we have to import the data and put in table 5061.

I am not using the comment (text) field instead we are using a BLOB field and i am using Waldo Pad (thanks to Waldo Pad) that actually works fine with that. Now our clients want to import the date from Legacy to Nav; but the comments they have are more then 1024 characters.

What should be the resolution? We can dictate the client as to what sort of file we are expecting so it is somethin we can handle but before asking them anything i want to make sure if we would be able to fix it up.

So guys tell me?

1) DataPort (No)
2) File Parsing (No, its something tht we are asking for trouble, dont want to risk it out)

Can we do the same stuff with XML Port? or is thr anyother workaround.

Do post in your feedback.

Thanks and Regards,

You can use bigtext to workaround the 1024-bytes limit and save the bigtext directly in your BLOB field

Depending on exactly the layout of the file, you could create a simple XML with e.g. the tool CSV2XML from http://www.a7soft.com and then import the xml file with XMLPort, which supports bigtext.

David_Singleton

ckndr47 wrote:

Hi,

I have a question for you guys and i need your suggestion as how to approach for the solution.

...

IMHO, I think you are asking the wrong people the wrong question here. You have some great suggestions given to you here, BUT you are trying to find a technical solution to a business problem.

In your situation, here is what I would do.

Go to the customer, and setup a computer with two screens, Open Navision on one and the Legacy system on the other. Also have excel or a text editor handy.

In the legacy system, have the client find a handful of Samples of the comment text that they want brought across into Navision. Now have them copy an paste the text from the legacy system into Navision (use excel or text editor to get the lengths correct) and get them to make it look how they want it to look. Once you have gone through 5-10 examples, you will now see what the final result needs to be.

Once you know the result, and you have the source, THEN you can start to resolve the technical issue of how to map then.

ckndr47

You can use bigtext to workaround the 1024-bytes limit and save the bigtext directly in your BLOB field

Thanks Todro for your feedback; The idea sounds great to me; becuz our client can only export thr existing data either as .txt or .xls, so we will ask them to purchase the tool; generate the XML's and then we are good to go.

IMHO, I think you are asking the wrong people the wrong question here. You have some great suggestions given to you here, BUT you are trying to find a technical solution to a business problem.

In the legacy system, have the client find a handful of Samples of the comment text that they want brought across into Navision. Now have them copy an paste the text from the legacy system into Navision (use excel or text editor to get the lengths correct) and get them to make it look how they want it to look. Once you have gone through 5-10 examples, you will now see what the final result needs to be.

Thanks Singleton for your concern; i can understand what you are trying to say; offcourse i have gone through all those steps and now i am upto the point where i have to start with a reasonable approach in mind; But before starting anything when the business is clear it is always good to have the expert opinion of you guys.

Start of the day i was confused whether to go with File parsing or .xml or any other approach but with valuable input of you guys i am definite as whr to start.

Thankyou very much again.[/quote]

ara3n

You can save as xml from excel. FYI.