12.1 How to Import Data using ADS 7.0

The Import Data Tool allows data of different formats to be imported and inserted into databases, tables, objects and files.

1. Select Tools->Import Data from the Menubar. This will prompt you to choose a server in which to import data into. Navigate and select your server and click ok. This will bring up the Import dialog

2. The first tab in the wizard is the General Tab. First, browse and select the file you want to import. Once the file is selected a sample of the file will be displayed in the bottom grid. Then select the encoding and platform your file is formatted in. The sample columns will be refreshed as you make changes to your options. Select whether your file is delimited or has fixed width columns. If your file has fixed width columns, type the widths of your columns separated by commas (eg: 15,25,35,60 ). While typing the column widths the sample data will not change, so make sure to click on the Fixed Width radio box to refresh. You may select whether the first row in the file contains the column names to help the import tool map to the table. Last, select the quote identifier for your data values. Make sure the sample data being displayed is formatted correctly before proceeding, then click next.

3. In the Format Tab, you may now select the database, schema and table in which you want to import the data into. If you would like to import into a new table, you may click on the "..." button which will open a Create Table dialog with the columns defined in the sample file. You may change the names and datatypes of the columns in the table and then click ok. At this point you may import into the newly created table. If the sample file contains the column names of the values, ADS will make an attempt at matching the column names of the import file to the names of the columns of the table. You may reorder the column mapping by changing the Position column value to match the column number in the sample file, or you may remove the position value to exclude the column from being imported. Once all columns are mapped click next.

4. In the Options Tab you may begin by selecting whether you want "(null)" text values to be converted to NULL values. Then you must select the format of the dates & time. Date and time values will be formatted in the text file to be imported into date/time columns. If a date string is to be imported into a VARCHAR column then the format does not apply. You also have the option to import directly into the database, or generate an SQL file with INSERT statements to import into the database. A sample of the files values are provided below for configuring the date/time formats. When ready, you may click the Next button to import the data.

5. Once in the Status Tab the import has begun. You may cancel the import at any time by clicking on the cancel button at the bottom of the dialog. If any errors or warnings occur, they will be displayed in the message text window.