Import Data

You import data to your database using the DP4 import utility. The import setup utility is used to define the format of an import file.

The details for each import filed are stored as an Importer program or parameter set on the database. To import a file, you call the Import utility specifying the appropriate parameter set, which then postd the records in the file onto the database.

A parameter set contains the following types of information:

• Fixed length

  You can specify whether fields and lines are of a fixed length

• Delimiters

  You can specify the characters used to delimit the fields and records (or lines) in the file

• Line definition

  You specify additional lines if a record is spread over more than one line in the file, or the file contains multiple lien types with data for different tables.

• Database fields

  You can select the destination fields on the database

For any import file, the fields conform to a fixed length, or they are separated by a common delimiter, such as this one:

  0,"M.Miggins","M","C",03 Mar 1955
  1,"John Brown","M","B",29 Jan 1982
  2,"M. Holmes","M","A",01 Jun 1964
  3,"A. Jones","M","B",06 Mar 1945
  4,"A. N. Other","F","A",04 May 1965
  5,"A. McTavish","M","B",04 Dec 1965
  6,"A. White","F","C",05 Nov 1965
  7,"S. Holmes","M","B",05 Nov 1972
  8,"M. Fitzpatric","M","B",16 Feb 1960
  9,"P. Fitzmaurice","M","C",17 Mar 1961
 10,"F. Richmond","F","B",25 Dec 1959
 11,"B. Black","F","C",22 Nov 1963
 12,"F. Red","F","B",23 Jul 1962