This section describes how to use the DP4 utilities, IMPSETUP and IMPPOST, known collectively as the Importer. As with creating an export program in Report Writer, you use the setup utility (IMPSETUP) to create a parameter set and run the post utility (IMPPOST) to read the parameter set and import the data from an external file.
Typically the files are ASCII text files, and each line of the file to be imported contains information corresponding to one or more records in a DP4 database. The fields in each line can be in fixed posiitons on the line, or the fields can be variable length but delimited by a special character (usually a comma). Importer can read files where each line is in the same format, but also files contain lines of different types (see Understanding Field Groups for more information on this topic).
The Importer setup utility,IMPSETUP, allows you to:
Automatically create Importer programs, sometimes called parameter sets, from export programs created by the Report Writer. See Automatic Creation of Importer Programs
Create or amend parameter sets. See Setting Up Importer Programs
Move parameter sets from one database to another. See Managing Importer Programs
Rename programs. See Managing Importer Programs
Print out details of Importer programsin summary or detail format. See Managing Importer Programs
Test programs, usually after making changes to the data dictionary. See Managing Importer Programs
Delete Importer programs from the database. See Managing Importer Programs
The data posting utility, IMPPOST, allows you to run the parameter sets created by IMPSETUP to import the data from a data file.
If a change has been made to the database structure, any parameter sets need to be reviewed, unless the data independence facility was used. In this case, the programs use the previous structure of the database.