Innovator Admin - loading data from flat file

Hi, Is there any possibility with Innovator Admin tool loading data from a flat file into Aras Innovator? How do I reference to the data file? I know this is possible with Batch Loader like this example <Item type="LT_OEM" where="lt_oem_code='@1'" action="merge"> <lt_oem_code>@1</lt_oem_code> <lt_oem_name>@2</lt_oem_name> <description>@3</description> </Item>
  • Unfortunately, there is no such functionality currently.  The reason is that creating a UI that is both simple and powerful for transforming a file into AML is complicated.  What I generally do for this is
    1. In Excel, create a column next to the data that contains a formula which generates the AML.  The one caveat with this approach is that you need to remember to properly encode your values (e.g. replace & with &amp;).  If you are starting with a SQL table, you could also write your SQL statement to generate AML with the same caveat.
    2. Once you have all of your AML, paste it into Innovator Admin inside of a single <AML></AML> tag.
    3. Use the menu next to the Run button to select Run Batch... to execute the AML in reasonably-sized batches to optimize performance
  • hi can you give one example of how to write that formula?  
  • Given an Excel file like so:
         A            B                C
    lt_oem_code  lt_oem_name     description
    VW           Volkswagen      A description & more
    GM           General Motors  Another description
    You could write the following formula in cell D2 and then copy it down.
    ="<Item type='LT_OEM' where=""lt_oem_code='" & SUBSTITUTE(A2,"&","&amp;") & "'"" action='merge'>
    <lt_oem_code>" & SUBSTITUTE(A2,"&","&amp;") & "</lt_oem_code>
    <lt_oem_name>" & SUBSTITUTE(B2,"&","&amp;") & "</lt_oem_name>
    <description>" & SUBSTITUTE(C2,"&","&amp;") & "</description>
    </Item>"
    Then, within Innovator Admin paste all of the <Item> queries into the window and wrap them in an <AML> tag such as
    <AML>
      <Item type='LT_OEM' ...
      <Item type='LT_OEM' ...
      <Item type='LT_OEM' ...
      <Item type='LT_OEM' ...
    </AML>
    Then, use the menu next to the Run button to select Run Batch… to execute the AML in reasonably-sized batches to optimize performance. Hopefully that helps. If not, let me know.
  • Yes It worked and helped me alot. Thank you. :) Just for future , if I need to edit those part can I use action=' edit'??  
  • You most definitely can.  A few more advanced tips to keep in mind:
    • action='merge' is useful if you don't know if the item exists.  It will create the item if it doesn't, or edit the item if it does.  Otherwise, action='add' or action='edit' work just as well.
    • If you attempt to edit the current version of an automatically versioning item (like a part) multiple times, the id of the item you want to edit will continually be changing.  In this situation, it is useful to construct a query such as <Item type='Part' action='edit' where="[Part].[config_id] = 'CONFIG_ID'"><!-- edits --></Item>
    • For some obscure reason (probably a bug), action='edit' does not work on old revisions of a versionable item (where is_current <> '1').  In those situations, you have to perform three queries: action='lock', action='update', and action='unlock'.