Shareable CSV Import / Export Specifications?

[Thelonius]

Does anyone know where - in Sparx - the .csv Import / Export specifications are retained?

We are starting to create a number of these specifications. It would be convenient if specific .csv import / export specifications could be accessed and shared by all members of our team using Sparx.

Are these viewable in some section of the app we have yet to discover? Can they be edited or viewed somewhere other than in the CSV Import / Export dialog panel?

[Paolo F Cantoni]

Hi Thelonius,
From memory, they're held in one of the more obscure tables in the repository.  I seem to recall copying rows therein to quickly create variants.  However, I may be completely wrong and (unfortunately, much as I'd like to help) I don't have time to look.

HTH,
Paolo

[Thelonius]

Thanks Paolo

Does anyone know if there is a better way to do .csv import / exports?

It seems users are required to hand-enter specifications for tagged values on a one-by-one basis.

The .csv specifications seem to be ephemeral - I can't see how we can save a specification persistently somewhere in model.

This makes it hard to find and re-use a specification in which we have painstakingly defined many 'columns' of tagged values.

Thanks

[Paolo F Cantoni]

Hi Thelonius,
From memory, they're held in one of the more obscure tables in the repository.  I seem to recall copying rows therein to quickly create variants.  However, I may be completely wrong and (unfortunately, much as I'd like to help) I don't have time to look.

HTH,
Paolo

You're in Luck, Thelonius!
With a spare 5 mins and an educated guess, I found them in t_template!

We usually create an empty spec (to get the GUID) and then copy and paste from an existing one.

HTH,
Paolo

[KP]

Can be imported/exported as Reference Data. There is a "CSV" checkbox in the Export Reference Data dialog under "Code, DDL, Transformation & CSV Templates"

[Thelonius]

I must be doing something terribly wrong. When I create a new CSV import specification - it replaces the import specification I created previously.

E.g. I'm losing my work. Surely I should be able to create and retain multiple CSV specifications. I should be able to have more than one CSV specification.

This is obviously not how this feature should be working.

[Paolo F Cantoni]

I must be doing something terribly wrong. When I create a new CSV import specification - it replaces the import specification I created previously.

E.g. I'm losing my work. Surely I should be able to create and retain multiple CSV specifications. I should be able to have more than one CSV specification.

This is obviously not how this feature should be working.

The import/export mentioned by Neil does work, but it was just easier and faster to "Just Do It" in the DB.
Make sure you have a new name and GUID for each entry.

Paolo

[Thelonius]

@KP - the "export csv as reference data" approach seems to be a viable approach to keeping csv specifications from being lost.

Can export and import a CSV specification as XML. That works.

I had no idea. Hadn't seen that in any Sparx documentation.

But thanks for the tip.

[qwerty]

I had no idea. Hadn't seen that in any Sparx documentation.

The problem with their docs is that you only find if if you know where it's written :-/

q.