Wizard Advanced Tutorial Step 8

Step 8 - Import of resource variants

The import wizards used in step 5 up to step 7 allow appending a resource variant to one resource. Those wizards can be used most efficiently if the data that are needed for the resource table and the resource variant are located at the same file. In our example there is the complication that the direction of the resource reference is in the opposite direction than in the original database. In DiversityDescription a resource references e.g. a descriptor and one or more resource variants reference the resource. In the original database several entities, e.g. descriptors or states, may reference the same picture.

During the import of the resources we used the picture number as the external key of the resources. Together with their parent key, e.g. a descriptor ID, this gives unambiguous entries although the external resource ID alone is ambiguous. Now we want to create a resource variant, containing the URL of the picture, for each resource entry with the same external resource ID.

Since this “multiple” import is no standard feature of the import wizard, the following description shows a work-around: During the import the first resource entry with a matching “Resource ID” that is not referenced by any Resource variant will be available for data update and appending of a new resource variant. A repeated import with the same setting will find the next resource entry and so on until all ambigious resource entries are processed. 

Close the import wizard for the description resources. Now choose Data -> Import -> Wizard → Import resources → Resource variants … from the menu, select the session for project “Deemy”. The following window opens that will lead you through the import of the categorical state resource data. Open file “Deemy_IMG.txt” (see below).

Selecting the data ranges

In the selection list on the left side of the window all possible import steps for the data are listed according to the type of data you want to import. The available steps Update resource and Resource variant are already selected.

We want to update some fields of the resource table with values form the data file attach the resource variant to the resource. In import step Attachment at the right side select Update resource id (see below). Note: With this import wizard only update of resources is supported. 

Select the import step Merge from the list. For Update resource we keep the Merge option because this table shall be updated, for the other step Insert should already be selected, because a new entry has to be inserted (see below).

In the import step Update resource click on Resource ID and in the center window the assignment data for the resource id (“id”) are displayed. Click on to make this the decisive column. Mark the “id” column as Key column for comparison during attachment and click on From file to select the column “PID” as data source. After that the column should look as shown below.

Click on Resource name. The center window shows the data column “label” and “detail”. Deselect the “label” entry and select “detail”. Click on From file to select the column “SourceTitle” as data source and enter Source:  in field Pre.: (double-click in the field to open a separate edit window). Now click on the button at the end of line “detail”, select file column “Volume” and enter , vol.  in field Pre.:. Repeat the last step for file columns “Pages” (, p. ) and “ReferenceNotes” (, notes: ). After that the column should look as shown below. 

Click on Resource rights and in the center window the assignment data for the resource rights are displayed. Select “rights_text”. Click on From file to select the column “Author” as data source and enter ©  (Alt+0169 and a blank) in field Pre.:. Now click on the button at the end of line “rights_text”, select file column “DateYear” and enter ,  in field Pre.:. After that the column should look as shown below. 

In the import step Resource variant click on Resource link. The center window shows the data column “url”. Click on to make this the decisive column and on From file in the “url” line to select file column “FileName”. Double-click on the text box after Pre.: to open a separate edit window. Here enter the web address of the picture server where the files are located and confirm with “OK”. After that the column should look as shown below.

Click on Variant type. In the center window select the data column “variant_id”, click on For all: and select the value “good quality” (see below).

Click on the import step Resource variant to find some ungrouped fields. In the center window select the data column “pixel_width”, click on From file and select the value “WidthD”. Now select the data column “pixel_height”, click on From file and select the value “HeightD”. Finally select the data column “mime_type”, click on From file and select the value “FileName”. Click on button to define a transformation. In the transformation window click on the cut transformation, enter Position: 2, click on to enter splitter character . (period) to extract the file extension. Now click on to insert a translation table and to insert the values contained in the file column. “gif” shall be converted to image/gif, “jpg”  will become image/jpeg (see below).

After that the columns should look as shown below.

Testing

To test if all requirements for the import are met use the Testing step. The test for the first data line is shown below.

Import

With the last step you can start to import the data into the database. If you want to repeat the import with the same settings and data of the same structure, you can save a schema of the current settings. As mentioned in the introduction, the import step has to be repeated until no more resource variant is imported. At the first run 789 lines were imported (see below).

At the second run, started by another click on Start import, 152 lines were imported (see below).

Finally, at the seventh run no further line is imported (see below).