Client Import Issues

#1

I am trying to import data into my AyaNova. I’ve paid for the extra Import that allows duplicates.

Allow me to outline my particular Property Management application:

As per your document suggestion alluding to a good fit for property management, I’ve redefined the Clients table to Properties.

The Contacts become the Tenants. Many Properties have more than one tenant (usually spouses) with multiple phone contacts, second car, etc. Spouses (on my imported data) requires a second import. That’s why I paid the extra $$$ to allow duplicate imports.

My first attempt to make this work: Create Custom fields. Only problem is, as far as I can tell, custom fields cannot be imported. Major oversight. I would think that if someone needs to create custom fields in the first place, it’s because they are using data that doesn’t fit the AyaNova design and want to preserve it.

Second attempt: Re-purpose phone4 and phone5 for Auto1(primary tenant) and Auto2 (spouse’s car).
Doesn’t work: If I indicate True to “ClientPhoneNumbers” on the Duplicate Options, if wipes out all phone numbers that are already imported. If I indicate false, it doesn’t import.

Third Attempt: Create a multi-lined, Other Contact in the Notes field for spouses name and phone numbers. Fails again: If I concatenate with <cr><lf> it’s flakey in the display and edit. If I omit the <cr><lf>, it’s all jammed together on one line.

#2

Hello Junkm

Correct - as per the Help documentation about the import/export utility, importing custom fields is not a feature of the import/export utility.

Correct - as per the Help documentation that you would have reviewed and checked out before using and purchasing the duplicate option, all phone numbers are grouped together for being updated. Specifying one of the phone fields to be overwriten but not the other phone numbers is not a feature of the duplicate option

For multiline, I just tested the following and a suggestion would be to do similar:
Edit a specific client record (the first client listed so easy to find in the exported file) so that its Other Contacts field has ALREADY multiline entry in it
Export your clients to a file using the importexport utility
Open this exported file using NotePad
Edit, deleting all the records except the very first record of the client that has the multiline entries for the Other Contacts field - so that you can easily see what is happening.
You will see how the multiline field for this record is laid out.
Now edit the company name slightly
Do a test import of this record
Open in AyaNova and view this newly test imported client’s Other Contacts to confirm that the multiline did get imported as a multiline (which I have just confirmed works here).
Now do the same layout for your records that you want to import that have multi-lines.

I don’t see any <cr><lf> in the test exported client csv file - instead it appears to me to be that if the notepad file itself shows line breaks of the field that is surrounded by quotes, than it will be imported as multi-lined (if going into a muli-line capable field).

Try that

  • Joyce
#3

[QUOTE=
For multiline, I just tested the following and a suggestion would be to do similar:
…

Try that

  • Joyce[/QUOTE]

Already tried all that with various combinations of <cr> (ascii 13) and <lf> (ascii 10).

I need to know the new-line ascii value.

#4

Hi again Junkm

I think there is a misunderstanding - there are no ascii characters to be entered for multi-line that we are aware of.

DO as I suggested, creating an export of clients that DO have multi-line entry in one of the Notes fields, so you can see yourself what it looks like in the exported file when you open using Notepad, so that you can do the same for your file that you want to import with.

That is the only suggestion we have for multi-line.

  • Joyce
#5

I DID this before you suggested it. The misunderstanding is that Notepad is brain-dead and will not display special characters. You need something with a little more intelligence to see formatting characters. Try the OpenOffice cvs import. There has to be formatting characters, else how would your program know to split the lines?

#6

This is the only suggestion I have for you.

If you exported to a csv file an existing AyaNova client record that DOES have multiline already, and then open that exported file in whatever it is you want to see what the formatting characters are, you will see there isn’t any, other than the regular paragraph return AND that the multiple lines are quoted.

For example - below is one record. Note how there are quotation marks around the multlined field so that it is imported as one field:

test1multilineABC Accounting,500 E 9th St Box 574,New York,New York,United States of America,10009-5059,500 E 9th St,New York,NY,United States,10009-5059,Mr. John Rufford,“Ms. Barbara Walker Reception
this is the second line of text for ABC
this is the third line of text for ABC”,,,ABCPhone3home,ABCPhone4mobile,ABCPhone5pager,info@exampleabcaccounting.com,146836,http://www.exampleabcaccounting.com,general notes about the client entered via the client entry screen,These are notes that you may want to display for the schedulable users when servicing this client - entered via the client entry screen,Edit the Pop Up Notes field in the client entry screen if you want a note to pop up whenever you open a workorder.,Goverment,Burnaby,REGION 2

  • Joyce
#7

(I can’t believe this!)

How do you post pictures on this forum?

#8

You did attach a image with your forum post.

Although I am not sure what the image you posted is in relation to - appears to be some sort of import utility for another program?

  • Joyce
#9

I’ll try not to confuse things so…

The file - AyaNova099Client.jpg is a Window printscreen of the AyaNova Client Entry Window. My Clients are known as Property Number. This Property is 099 - in order to make it export 1st. In the General Notes field of Property 099, I made 4 entries - “Line 1”, “Line 2”, “Line 3”, “etc.”.

From my Properties (formerly Clients) grid, I selected the little puzzle piece icon (Sorry, no hover help, so I don’t know what you call it!) and selected ImportExport.csv and then ExportSelectedItems. It was exported.

Next, I double-clicked the .csv file that was created. Since OpenOffice is my default for CSV files, a Text Import window is opened up. This is the second Windows printscreen image attached named ImportClient099.jpg.

Down at the bottom of this window, under the Fields heading, are portions of the ascii data being imported. I positioned the viewer over the “General Notes” data exported from AyaNova. Row 1 is record 099. As you can see, these is a character between “Line 1” and “Line 2”. Between “Line 2” and “Line 3”. And between “Line 3” and “etc.” Row 2 is my Property (formerly Client) 100. It also has two lines in the General Notes field. "100 building - Constructed April 1992 " is the General Note’s 1st line. “( 19 years old in April” is the General Note’s comment for the 2nd line. As you can see, this also has a special character between what would be the two lines in the 100 records’ General Note field.

Once again, the question is: “What is this character between each line of multi-lined fields?”

#10

Hi Junkm

It’s my understanding, that what characters show varies depending on what program you are using to view the file itself. This is also identified when a search online is done for multi-line characters.
For example, if viewing using OpenOffice, the characters for multiline may be different than if viewing the same file using another program.
If viewing using NotePad, no characters show - instead each of the lines are on their OWN line within the file, with the whole field surrounded by quotation marks.
I only have the information of what I see via NotePad. I do apologize if you are finding this frustrating, but I do not have specifics for OpenOffice. Another suggestion if you are bound and determined to use only OpenOffice is to do that export from AyaNova of a client that definitely has multiline field, confirm its multiline when viewing via NotePad as what I previously wrote (i.e. each on its own line with the entire field quoted), then open in OpenOffice (not its import utility, but in actual OpenOffice as a document) and see what it shows via that which may help you in your formatting if using OpenOffice rather than Notepad.

#11

I do NOT want to use OpenOffice for anything other than as a tool to point out that that AyaNovas’ Multi-line text field does indeed have a text line delimiter - at least whenever it does the Ascii Export. Notepad, WordPad, Edit all choose to start a new line when it encounters it. OpenOffice Import chooses to display it.

So, some 8-9 message exchanges later we’re back to the original: You don’t know or can’t tell me how to import multi-lined notes into AyaNova. I’ll work around it.

AyaNova Support Response:
As suggested in this topic, do the same as you will see when you export an existing client record that presently has multilines. Then recreate that same format with the client records you want to import.