Import / Export GUI
- Morten Lindequist Køhler
Perfion application uses generic GUI importer to import the data to Perfion and generic GUI exporter to export the data from Perfion. This means that regardless of which import type it is, the GUI importer will be the same and share the same functionality. The same is with GUI exporter which will have the same functionality and user controls for all export types.
Importer and exporter both support the following functionality:
Use import/export manager. It controls how and when the import or export will be executed.
The log data is shown in importer and exporter window which can also be saved to a file.
The log data is saved in Perfion database and can be accessed anytime using Perfion import and export log viewers.
Allows stopping of running or waiting import or export.
Importer:
Allows importing from a single import data file or to choose multiple files. Choosing multiple files allows performing multiple imports.
Exporter:
Allows saving export file of different types to chosen location.
The export file can be opened directly from exporter window after the export have finished.
Import and export can also be performed from Actions and API. This page only shows how to use the GUI based importer and exporter. For using other importers and exporters refer to their manuals. The GUI import can only support encoding via Byte Order Mark (BOM). Files without a BOM will be encoded with the environment encoding.
Import to Perfion via GUI
GUI importer can be started from “Import/Export” top menu or in some other places in Perfion based on data context. Please refer to Import Parameters for more information where from all types of imports can be started.
The importer window is shown in Figure 1.
The importer window has the following parts:
Import controls panel.
Load Data… button. Allows loading the import data from a single or multiple files.
Start Import button. Allows starting the import if the data is loaded and the import is not running.
Stop Import button. Allows stopping the import when it is running.
Clear Data button. Clears the loaded import data. Note that this does not clear any import specific parameters or the log.
Save Log button. Allows saving the log data to a file.
Import specific options panel. All imports have their specific options and this area will differ based on import type.
Data tab. Shows loaded import data.
Log tab. Shows import log.
Loading and Clearing Import Data
Before the import can be started one has to load the import data. Data can be loaded by pressing “Load Data…” button.
GUI importer supports loading of multiple files which allows importing multiple data files in one go.
When the data is loaded with a single file, then the importer will show the data file content in the Data tab as shown in the Figure 1. However, if multiple files were selected in file browser, then the importer will show only the paths of the loaded files as shown in the Figure 2.
Note that the file selection order is important. The files will be imported in the same order they are added to the importer.
The import data can be loaded multiple times. The importer will not clear the data which was loaded before, but instead will add the new selected file(s) as additional data. If there was only 1 file loaded and its content was shown in the grid in the Data tab, then loading any additional import files will add those files and the importer will change the view to show all selected files as shown in Figure 2. Note that loading the new data to importer will clear the log content.
The data loaded to importer can be cleared by pressing the “Clear Data” button. This will remove any data loaded to the importer and shown in the Data tab. Pressing this button will not reset any import options or clear the log.
Import Parameters
Based on which import type is selected, the GUI importer can be started from different places in Perfion and will use different parameters. If import has any parameters, then they will be added to the import specific options panel as shown in Figure 1.
Feature Data Import
There are several ways to open Feature Data GUI importer in Perfion:
From the top menu. Go to Import/Export -> Import Data. Note that Import/Export menu is context specific and the option to import feature data is available when user have selected Feature Data or any other feature data related section. This menu will not be available in Actions and Features sections. In order to be able to import data one must first select a feature to which data has to be imported. Once the feature is selected, then the import file can be loaded.
From a feature context menu. The context menu is available only in “Features” and “Feature Data” sections. When these sections are open, on the left window in the feature list one can right click on selected feature with a mouse and from the context menu choose “Import Data…”. Note that only selectable and not remote features can be selected for data import. These features have icons with a yellow folder.
The example of Feature Data GUI importer is shown in Figure 3.
Feature data import parameters are shown in the table below.
Parameter name | Description and values |
Feature to import to | Feature to import data to. |
Import method | Specifies how the import will treat data cells with empty values in case the item already has a value defined in Perfion. Values:
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Selectable feature validation | By default Perfion imports all selectable values and automatically creates all the selectable lookup values in the process. This behavior can be changed by setting this parameter. Values:
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Incoming data culture | Specifies which culture should be used when parsing incoming import data. The parameter is directly related to Number and Date type feature values if they are imported using string/text format. If the import data culture is not defined, then Perfion will use the culture defined in the PC which runs Perfion application. Note that if the import is set to run using Perfion Application Server, then the culture will be used as set in the Application Server PC. |
Keep the first occurrence of records with duplicate keys | By default Perfion will ignore import items with duplicate keys. This parameter allows keeping the first duplicate item. Values:
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Feature definition import does not have any parameters.
Feature Definition Import
The Feature Definition GUI importer in Perfion can be opened from the top menu. Go to Import/Export -> Import Feature Definitions. Note that Import/Export menu is context specific and the option to import feature definitions is available only when user have selected Features section.
The example of Feature Definition GUI importer is shown in Figure 4.
Feature definition import does not have any parameters.
Feature Configuration Import
There are several ways to open Feature Configuration GUI importer in Perfion:
From the top menu. Go to Import/Export -> Import Feature Configurations. Note that Import/Export menu is context specific and the option to import feature configurations is available only when user have selected Features section.
From a feature context menu. The context menu is available in “Features” section. When “Features” section is opened, on the left window in the feature list one can right click with a mouse on selected feature and from the context menu choose “Import Configuration…”. Note that only selectable and not remote features can be selected. These features have icons with a yellow folder.
From a feature configuration context menu. The context menu is available from feature configuration window. One can right click with a mouse on selected feature and from the context menu choose “Import Configuration…”. Note that only selectable and not remote features can be selected. These features have icons with a yellow folder.
The example of Feature Configuration GUI importer is shown in Figure 5.
Feature configuration import parameters are shown in the table below.
Parameter name | Description and values |
Reference Configuration | The feature configuration to which feature configuration data should be imported to. The value can be preselected only if the GUI importer was opened from a context menu. |
Related Sort Order Import
The Related Sort Order GUI importer in Perfion can be opened from the top menu. Go to Import/Export -> Import Related Sort Orders. Note that Import/Export menu is context specific and the option to import related sort orders is available only from sections which have related sort order configuration and also from Feature Data section.
The example of Related Sort Order GUI importer is shown in Figure 6.
Related sort order import does not have any parameters.
Action Import
The Action GUI importer in Perfion can be opened from the top menu. Go to Import/Export -> Import Actions. Note that Import/Export menu is context specific and the option to import actions is available only when user have selected Actions section.
The example of Action GUI importer is shown in Figure 7.
Action import parameters are shown in the table below.
Parameter name | Description and values |
If one or more actions exist in advance | Existing action handling, e.g. when some or incoming items are already in Perfion. Values:
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Filtered Values Configuration Import
The Filtered Values Configuration GUI importer can be opened in this way in Perfion:
From the Filtered Values Setup. Go to Tools -> Filtered Values. The Filtered Values Setup will open and from here a selected Filtered Values configuration can have configurations imported by pressing the Import button.
The example of Filtered Values Configuration GUI importer is shown in Figure 8.
Filtered Values configuration import parameters are shown in the table below.
Parameter name | Description and values |
Filtered values configuration to import to | The filtered values configuration to which filtered values configuration data should be imported to. The value is preselected with the configuration from which the GUI importer was opened. The configuration can be changed to another configuration for the selected base feature and controlling feature; i.e. the filtered feature can be changed and only valid filtered features for the selected base feature/controlling feature can be selected. |
Import method | Specifies how the import will treat data already present in Perfion. Values:
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Starting and Stopping the Import
The import can be started by pressing the “Start Import” button, but only when the import data is loaded.
When the import is started it does not mean that the import will run immediately. The importer is using the Import/Export Manager to control the simultaneously running imports and if there are other imports with higher priority, then the import will be added into queue and executed when there are no other imports with higher priority. The information about what is happening will be shown in the log. Refer to the “Import/Export Manager” manual for more information about how this works.
If the import was started, then it can be stopped by pressing the “Stop Import” button. This will initiate import stopping procedure. The import can be stopped when it is still waiting to be executed and also when it is already running.
Stopping the import does not mean that it will stop immediately. How quickly it will stop depends on the phase where the import process is at the moment:
Import is waiting to be run (e.g. it is in a queue). In this case the import should stop almost immediately.
Import is running. In this case the import can stop only after currently running import sub-task is completed. The import performs many sub-tasks and can be stopped only in between those sub-tasks.
Import Log
The import log shows information about the import and it can also show errors while loading the import data.
The log content will be handled based on user actions:
The log is always cleared when the new import data file is loaded.
The log is not cleared when “Clear Data” button is pressed.
If the import will be run multiple times, then the log will be kept for all those independent runs.
The log data can be save by using “Save Log” button.
The log data is also stored in Perfion database, so the same log data shown by GUI importer can be also accessed by using Perfion import log viewer.
The example of log data is shown in Figure 9.
In case the log contains errors or warnings then there might be some extra data available which provides more information about the reason what happened. When available such data will be shown in Data column. To open the extra data press the button with magnifier icon in the Data column as shown in Figure 8. The data preview will be opened in another Windows application which is by default configured to open the data based on its type (file extension). In most cases the data will be in HTML format and in this case the data most likely will be opened in the default internet browser. There could also be other types of data such as text or XML data.
Export from Perfion via GUI
GUI exporter can be started from “Import/Export” top menu or in some other places in Perfion based on data context. Please refer to Export Parameters for more information where from that specific import can be started.
The GUI exporter window is shown in Figure 10.
The GUI exporter window has the following parts:
Export controls panel.
Export file type select box. Allows choosing the type of the export file.
Excel. Saves data to Excel format with .XLSX extension.
DataTable. Saves data as serialized DataTable in XML file.
Start Export button. Allows starting the import if the data is loaded and the import is not running.
Stop Export button. Allows stopping the import when it is running.
Save Log button. Allows saving the log data to a file.
Open File button. Allows opening the exported file after the export procedure is finished.
Export specific options panel. All exports have their specific options and this area will differ based on which export is used.
Log tab. Shows export log.
Export Parameters
Based on which export type is selected, the GUI exporter can be started from different places in Perfion and will use different parameters. If export has any parameters, then they will be added to the export specific options panel as shown in Figure 9.
Feature Definition Export
The Feature Definition GUI exporter in Perfion can be opened from the top menu. Go to Import/Export -> Export Feature Definitions. Note that Import/Export menu is context specific and the option to export feature definitions is available only when user have selected Features section.
The example of Feature Definition GUI exporter is shown in Figure 11.
Feature definition export parameters are shown in the table below.
Parameter name | Description and values |
Export type | Using this field one can select the type of export. There are following options:
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Export with | This option controls how feature definition identity properties will be exported. There are two options:
Export using names is also useful when data has to be exported from one Perfion application and imported into another Perfion application. In this case IDs from one Perfion application may not match IDs in another, but one can still match features using their names.
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Select language | It allows choosing the language, which will be used to export feature definition data. This field will be disabled for Translations type export, because language selection for this export is not needed. The user can select language from one of the active Perfion languages. The language selection is required to properly export feature assignments to information groups which are language dependent. By default, the active user language is preselected. Note, the selected language has no relation to translatable feature data, which is always exported in all languages it has data for. |
Feature Configuration Export
There are several ways to open Feature Configuration GUI exporter in Perfion:
From the top menu. Go to Import/Export -> Export Feature Configurations. Note that Import/Export menu is context specific and the option to export feature configurations is available only when user have selected Features section.
From a feature context menu. The context menu is available in “Features” section. When “Features” section is opened, on the left window in the feature list one can right click with a mouse on selected feature and from the context menu choose “Export Configuration…”. Note that only selectable and not remote features can be selected. These features have icons with a yellow folder.
From a feature configuration context menu. The context menu is available from feature configuration window. One can right click with a mouse on selected feature and from the context menu choose “Export Configuration…”. Note that only selectable and not remote features can be selected. These features have icons with a yellow folder.
The example of Feature Configuration GUI exporter is shown in Figure 13.
Feature configuration exporter parameters are shown in the table below.
Parameter name | Description and values |
Reference configuration | The feature configuration from which feature configuration data should be exported. This parameter is not configurable directly, but its value is selected when the GUI exporter is opened from a context menu. In case the export is done from the top menu, then all configuration data is selected for export in which case the reference configuration value will not be shown. |
Export with | This option controls how feature configuration data will be exported. There are two options:
Exporting feature configurations with Names allows easier editing the exported data when preparing new data for re-import. The exported document will be in human readable format, where all configuration item paths will resemble how configuration items are shown in “Feature Configuration” window. Export using Names is also useful when data has to be exported from one Perfion application and restored into another Perfion application. In this case IDs from one Perfion application may not match IDs in another, but one can still match features and feature items using their names.
Exporting feature configurations as IDs have advantage over name export, because it is less ambiguous. Exporting data using names in some cases can be impossible if some feature item have duplicate or invalid names. Feature configuration data if exported using IDs will be less readable for users, but it allows exporting data without any ambiguity and are very well suited for configuration backups. Export using IDs is significantly faster and produce smaller document size. |
Select language | It allows choosing a language which will be used to export feature configuration data. If configuration is exported using names (which is default option), then any feature items in configuration can be determined only by using their names. In some cases feature items can be localizable (e.g. if the feature item belongs to a localizable feature) and then names will be chosen based on which language is selected in this field. By default, the active user language is preselected. |
Related Sort Order Export
There are several ways to open Related Sort Order GUI exporter in Perfion:
From categorizer feature item context menu. One has to open a section which is configured to use the related sort orders. In this section the categorizer feature is on the left side. The GUI exporter can be opened by selecting one or more items and then from context menu selecting “Export Related Sort Orders…”.
From a feature context menu. The context menu is available in “Features” section. When “Features” section is opened, on the left window in the feature list one can right click with a mouse on selected feature and from the context menu choose “Export Related Sort Orders…”. Note that this option is available only for those features which are selectable and has “Sortable Related Items” data property.
The related sort orders can also be exported from Actions section, because Actions in Perfion are configured to use related sort orders.
The example of Related Sort Order GUI exporter is shown in Figure 14.
Related sort order exporter parameters are shown in the table below.
Parameter name | Description and values |
Export with | This option controls how related sort order data will be exported. There are two options:
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Select language | It allows choosing the language, which will be used when selecting which feature item values to use in case the features are localizable. This field will be disabled if export with IDs option is chosen, because language selection for this export is not needed. The user can select language from one of the active Perfion languages. By default, the active user language is preselected. |
Action Export
There are several ways to open Action GUI exporter in Perfion:
From the top menu. Go to Import/Export -> Export Actions. Note that Import/Export menu is context specific and the option to export actions is available only when user have selected Actions section.
From actions item context menu. One has to open Actions section. The GUI exporter can be opened by selecting one or more Actions feature items (on the left side) and then from the context menu selecting Actions -> “Export Actions…”.
The example of Action GUI exporter is shown in Figure 15.
Action export parameters are shown in the table below.
Parameter name | Description and values |
Export with | This option controls how action data will be exported. There are two options:
Export using names is also useful when data has to be exported from one Perfion application and imported into another Perfion application. In this case IDs from one Perfion application may not match IDs in another, but one can still match items using their names (values).
|
Filtered Values Configuration Export
The Filtered Values Configuration GUI exporter can be opened in this way in Perfion:
From the Filtered Values Setup. Go to Tools -> Filtered Values. The Filtered Values Setup will open and from here a selected Filtered Values configuration can be exported by pressing the Export button.
The example of Filtered Values GUI exporter is shown in Figure 16.
Filtered Values configuration exporter parameters are shown in the table below.
Parameter name | Description and values |
Export with | This option controls how Filtered Values configuration data will be exported. There are two options:
|
Select language | It allows choosing the language, which will be used when selecting which feature item values to use in case the features are localizable. The selected language code will be postfixed the column names in the exported file, e.g. ControllingValue_EN if EN language was chosen. The user can select language from one of the active Perfion languages. By default, the active user language is preselected. |
Starting and Stopping the Export
The export can be started by pressing the “Start Export” button. A new window will open which will allow selecting the name of the export file and where it must be saved.
When the export is started it does not mean that the export will run immediately. The exporter is using the Import/Export Manager to control the simultaneously running exports and if there are other exports with higher priority, then the export will be added into queue and executed when there are no other exports with higher priority. The information about what is happening will be shown in the log. Refer to the “Import/Export Manager” manual for more information about how this works.
If the export was started, then it can be stopped by pressing the “Stop Export” button. This will initiate export stopping procedure. The export can be stopped when it is still waiting to be executed and when it is already running.
Stopping the export does not mean that it will stop immediately. How quickly it will stop depends on the phase where the export process is at the moment:
Export is waiting to be run (e.g. it is in a queue). In this case the export should stop almost immediately.
Export is running. In this case the export can stop only after currently running export sub-task is completed. The export performs many sub-tasks and can be stopped only in between those sub-tasks.
Export Log
The log shows the information about the export.
The log content will be handled based on user actions:
The log is always cleared when the new export file is selected.
The log data can be save by using “Save Log” button.
The log data is also stored in Perfion database, so the same log data shown by GUI exporter can be also accessed by using Perfion export log viewer.
The example of log data is shown in Figure 17.
In case the log contains errors or warnings then there might be some extra data available which provides more information about the reason what happened. When available such data will be shown in Data column. To open the extra data press the button with magnifier icon in the Data column as shown in Figure 15. The data preview will be opened in another Windows application which is by default configured to open the data based on its type (file extension). In most cases the data will be in HTML format and in this case the data most likely will be opened in the default internet browser. There could also be other types of data such as text or XML data.