Open Source – Set-up and Data Import
12 min
Tutorial for setting up the data import in the open-source tool.
Import Utility for Essential Open Source
Setting Up the Import Utility
First, you need to set up the Import Utility. From the homepage click on the Import Settings tab
You will now see the screen shown below
Step 1
Target Environments
You need to define a target repository, ie. a baseline to use, this is defined as a Target Environment. Click New Live to see the ‘Create Production Environment screen’.
Create an environment name, usually the repository name
Select a deployment type, either Local or Server depending on your install
Use the Upload button to navigate to and upload a zipped version of the repository
Note:The target repository should be your latest production repository, unless you are going to use the DUP option. You will need to either update it here or in Step 6 or 7.
OR, If you are server based enter your server details
Enter the path to your viewer if you’d like to test or publish the repository directly
This should be a test viewer as you should not test imports in the production viewer
You will now be back on the Import Settings page, in the Target Environments section Click the New Dev/QA button to set up a test environment.
Create an environment name, usually the same as the production environment name but with Test or QA after
Select a Deployment Role, either Dev or QA
Selected the related Production Environment, this will be the one you created in the previous step
Step 2
Data Sources
To define a data source click New.In the ‘Create Source Repository’ window, add the name of the data source, usually a spreadsheet. Click OK.
NOTE: You will need to add a new data source each time you want to create a new type of import.
Step 3
Go back to the homepage and select the Manage Imports tab.
To set up a new Import Activity Click New and the ‘Create Import Activity’ window will appear
Name the activity
Select Excel as your import type
Choose the Data Source you set up in Step 2
Click Upload and navigate to and select the spreadsheet to be imported, e.g. the Launchpad spreadsheet
Ignore the other fields and click OK
Step 4
Select the Import Activity and click Open
Step 5
You will see the Import Activity Screen
Use the Upload Import Specification button to upload the Import Spec for this activity. It will be an XML file
You can edit import specifications with the Edit Import Specification button. If you are using specification provided by the Essential team then there is no need to edit/amend these for the imports to work. Creating your own import specifications is not part of this how to guide.
Source Spreadsheet
This will contain the spreadsheet you uploaded in step 3.4. Note: You can upload later versions of the spreadsheet using the Upload Spreadsheet button
Select Worksheets
To ensure that you bring in only the data you want you can tick and untick worksheets and amend the start and end rows.
Note: You don’t have to bring in all the worksheets in a spreadsheet, for example, you could bring in only the Applications worksheet from the Launchpad worksheet if that is all the data you have initially. The views populated will be dependent on the data you have imported. Equally, if you have added additional rows to the worksheet you can choose to just import these rows
The import matches on ID and then Name, so if you want to add additional information, such as lifecycle, to applications you have already imported you can simply add the data and re-import as it will match to the existing applications in the repository. You can also use this to update data, for example, if you want to change an application name you can do so and then re-import – it will match on the ID and then update the name (although this would be easier to do in the repository itself!).
Test Import
Select the Test Environment from the dropdown, this will be the Dev/QA repository that you created earlier
Click Test Import and you will see the ‘Test Import’ Screen
Step 6
If you have changed the target repository click Refresh to update the target repository.
Click Run Import – you will see the import working through the sheets. Depending on the amount of data this may take some time
Click Download Messages and search for ‘warning’ and ‘exceptions’ to ensure there are no errors in the data
If OK click Download to download a copy of the repository with the new data. You can then open the repository to check the data and publish, if required.
You can optionally click Publish to Test Viewer to directly publish to the viewer you added in Step 1 to test the data.
You can optionally click Promote to Local Live to overwrite the target repository that you added in step 1
NOTE: You should test the result before doing this and you only use this if you want to replace the target repository.
If you are using a local version of Essential Open Source once you are happy with the result you can promote this repository to your production environment.
Step 7
If you are using a server based version of Essential Open Source you need to complete this step. If you are using a local version you do not have to complete this step if you have completed steps 5 and 6 in Step 6.Once you have tested your import in Step 6 above and are happy with the result you can either Execute your import. You have two options:
Click the Execute Import button.
You will see the ‘Live Import’ screen.
Upload the repository you want to add the data to
Click Run Import
- If you set up a server based repository in step 1 it will apply the changes directly to the repository
- If you added a local repository it will apply the changes and update the target repository – much like clicking Promote to Local Live in the Test section
Click Publish to Viewer to publish to the viewer you added in Step 2
Alternatively,
Click the Generate Import File button. This will download a DUP to your downloads file, you should save the DUP somewhere sensible.
Open your production repository and select the Essential Update tab
Click Choose and navigate to the DUP and select it
Check the Detailed progress box and click Apply Updates button to add the data to your repository
Save the repository with a new name, maybe as the next version.
Publish to the viewer
Updated 22 January 2024