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Relational import files
Relational files establish relationships between items and pending revisions that are already in the database. These item/revision records are often imported in bulk using the ItemMaster.csv file, although they can also be created in the normal course of using PDXpert.
Use both item- and revision-level relational files to initialize your database from legacy data sources, such as an MRP database or Excel files. You can also use item-level relation files to update item files and external links, as well as to keep parts' materials lists current.
General guidelines for all relational import files
If you use Excel as your CSV file editor, it may make undesired changes to values that it interprets as a number. For example, part number strings beginning with zero (e.g., 001234) will often be silently converted to a numeric value (1234). If you have any part numbers, document numbers or other data with leading zeroes, don't use Excel. Instead, use Windows Notepad or other plain text editor (not Word) to edit your import file.
Empty import file .csv templates (with existing item data, if any) can be exported using the External Data Importer tool. Select the Import Type template, then click the Export button.
- Parent and child items in these import files are matched according to the identification rule defined in , Item uniqueness defined by: Number, Organization, Class, Type. Columns not specified in the rule (Class or Type) are ignored during matching. Revision values are always ignored in the matching (in fact, none of these files include a column for specifying an item revision).
- All lists that are applied to a specific parent item (approved sources, structure items, file attachments and materials) are treated as an unbreakable replacement set. If any one row of the item's set cannot be imported, then none in the set is imported. If all rows of the set can be imported, then the parent item's entire previous set is deleted, and the new set is added.
- The first row of the import file (the "header" row) must contain the column names as defined in this reference. The header names are case-sensitive and must be spelled exactly as shown. Every column with data must have a conforming header. Do not include more than one column with the same header name.
- Defined columns may be in any order. Extra (undefined) columns in the import file are ignored.
- Every value must conform to the column's specified type (collection member, string, number, etc.) or be empty. For example, a column that requires a numeric value cannot include non-numeric characters.
- Leading and trailing spaces will be removed ("trimmed") from each data element before it's matched or assigned to a relationship.
Guidelines for item-level relational import files
This section applies to importing Materials, Item File, and External Link data that's applied to an item.
These import files always create or update parent-child relationships regardless of the parent item's revision status (pending, released or canceled).
Column definitions for importing a materials list
This import uses the ItemMaterials.csv format.
| Column name | Data type | Assignment if empty | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Class | string Part | Part | If not specified, then the parent item's Class is assumed to be a part; rows containing Document are skipped. |
| Owner | Organizations | default member | Identifies the organization that is primarily responsible for the parent item's specification and which issues the item Number. |
| Type | Document Types or Part Types | default member | If not specified, then the appropriate type collection is determined by this parent item's Class, and the default member of the resulting type collection is used to match the record's Type selection. |
| Number | string | row is skipped | REQUIRED: If the value is empty, the row is not imported. |
| MaterialName | Materials | row is skipped | REQUIRED: If the value is empty, the row is not imported. The special value DELETE-MATERIAL-LIST deletes the current materials list from the part. |
| MaterialValue | double ≥ 0 | 0 | Material's mass quantity or a ratio of material to the total part mass. See note 1. |
| MaterialUnit | Units of Measure | g (gram) | If this value is
|
| MaterialLocation | string | no value assigned | Assigned to the material's Location value. |
Notes:
- The part's total mass is shown on the Materials tab as Part mass (weight). If this assigned value is less than the calculated sum of its imported materials list, then its total mass is updated to the sum of imported masses. If the total part mass is greater than the sum of its imported materials, then its total mass will not be modified.
- If the Part mass (weight) on the Materials tab is zero, then all calculated masses will be imported as zero.
Column definitions for importing item files and external links
This import uses the File.csv format.
| Column name | Data type | Assignment if empty | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Class | string Part or Document | Part | If not specified, then the parent item's Class is a part. |
| Owner | Organizations | default member | Identifies the organization that is primarily responsible for the parent item's specification and which issues the item Number. |
| Type | Document Types or Part Types | default member | If not specified, then the appropriate type collection is determined by this parent item's Class, and the default member of the resulting type collection is used to match the record's Type selection. |
| Number | string | row is skipped | REQUIRED: If the value is empty, the row is not imported. |
| PathItem | file: length ≤ 1000 characters | see note 1 | This is the full file path and name of the imported file. If a column has a value, then that file will be attached to the corresponding Files: Item list. As the file is copied into the system library, its attributes are extracted and used to populate the file's attachment record. If the file does not exist at the specified path, then the file attachment record won't be created. |
| PathExternal | URI: length ≤ 1000 characters | see note 1 | This identifies the location of an external resource, such as a supplier website. It's used for importing into the parent item's Files: External list, and is otherwise empty. No URI validity check is applied. |
Notes:
- At least one of these columns must have a value.
Guidelines for revision-level relational import files
This section applies to importing Structure, Source, and Revision File data that's applied to a specific revision of an unreleased item.
These import files are used for creating parent-child relationships only on a pending parent item. Do not reference any parent item that has a released or canceled revision.
A parent item's structure may be assigned the same child on more than one row. Do not assign the same child record more than once on a parent item's source list or file list.
Column definitions for revision-level import files
| Column name | Used in (note) | Data type | Assignment if empty | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Class | 1 | string Part or Document | Part | If not specified, then the parent item's Class is a part. |
| Owner | 1 | Organization | default member | Identifies the organization that is primarily responsible for the parent item's specification and which issues the item Number. |
| Type | 1 | Document Type or Part Type | default member | If not specified, then the appropriate type collection is determined by this parent item's Class, and the default member of the resulting type collection is used to match the record's Type selection. |
| Number | 1 | string | row is skipped | REQUIRED: If the value is empty, the row is not imported. |
| ChildClass | 2 | string Part or Document | Part | If not specified, then the child item's Class is a part. |
| ChildOwner | 2 | Organization | default member | Identifies the organization that is primarily responsible for the child item's specification and which issues the item Number. |
| ChildType | 2 | Document Type or Part Type | default member | If not specified, then the appropriate type collection is determined by the child item's Class, and the default member of the resulting type collection is used to match the record's Type selection. |
| ChildNumber | 2 | string | row is skipped | REQUIRED: If the value is empty, the row is not imported. |
| StructureFind | 3 | integer ≥ 1 | last find-item + 1 | This value is assigned to the Find row identifier. Values on rows assigned to a single parent cannot be duplicated; that is, a parent assembly cannot have two rows with the same Find number. |
| StructureQuantity | 3 | double > 0 | 1.0 | This value applies only to items where Class=Part. It's assigned to the row's Quantity value, and represents the number of child parts required to produce a parent. |
| StructureUnit | 3 | Unit of Measure | default member | This value applies only to items where Class=Part. If the value is empty, then the part's Default unit of measure is applied. |
| StructureRefDes | 3 | string: length ≤ 32000 characters | no value assigned | This value is assigned to the child item's RefDes ("reference designator") area. |
| StructureNotes | 3 | string: length ≤ 32000 characters | no value assigned | This value is assigned to the structure's Notes area. |
| SourceRank | 4 | integer ≥ 1 | 1 | This value is assigned to the Rank value, and indicates the child part's standing relative to other approved sources. Duplicate Rank values are permitted among several child parts. |
| SourceNotes | 4 | string: length ≤ 32000 characters | no value assigned | This value is assigned to the source's Notes area. |
| PathRevision | 5 | file: length ≤ 1000 characters | no file is attached to the revision | This is the full file path and name of the imported revision file that will be attached to the Files: Revision list. As the file is copied into the system library, its attributes are extracted and used to populate the file's attachment record. If the file does not exist at the specified path, then the file attachment record won't be created. |
Notes:
- This matching column appears in all data import files
- This matching column appears in the ItemStructure.csv and ItemSource.csv import files
- This relationship value appears only in the ItemStructure.csv import file
- This relationship value appears only in the ItemSource.csv import file
- This file path column appears only in the File.csv import file.
Definitions
- double
- A floating point number, such as 2.5 and 92.5418, formatted using the importing computer's Regional and Language settings.
- file
- A string that represents a file path and file name.
- item matching
- A specified set of Class, Owner, Type and Number that is used to match an existing document or part within the PDXpert database.
- The required columns depend upon your identification scheme's uniqueness criteria: if every item is uniquely identified by Owner and Number, then only these two columns need to be included. If there are overlapping part and document numbers, then Class would likely also be included. Other schemes may require specifying the Type to ensure uniqueness.
- The attributes used to specify uniqueness are identified before the Item Master is imported. A difference in any one of these specified values will cause the match to fail.
- string
- A series of displayable letter, number and symbol Unicode characters, such as "Bracket". The length of the string "Bracket" is 7 characters.
- URI
- A string that represents a Universal Resource Identifier, and is often a website. A URI is prefixed with http://, ftp:// or file://
- value
- The complete contents contained between two CSV delimiters.
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Help topics describe the most current PDXpert PLM software release, and may differ from earlier releases.
