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.imp files for the M3 data import tool

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rhenricks
New Member
Posts: 1
New Member
11/8/2016 2:21 PM

    Hi all.

     

    Does anyone have .imp files for the M3 data import tool that I can reuse?  We are having a debate with merit in Norway regarding our upgrade prosject of Movex and they say that we "must" use the M3 data import tool to upload data, but we all agree that it`s and and they don`t seem to be able to help us good enough.

     I see that we have to make .imp files to use in the import tool and when I ask them if they might provide us with those files used on other projects, we get a good, long run-around....

    So, does anybody have those files for me to have?

    PS: Sorry if I posted in the wrong thread. 

    - R

    Thibaud Lopez Schneider
    Advanced Member
    Posts: 30
    Advanced Member
    11/10/2016 8:39 PM
      Hallo Reidar,

      The imp file is an import description file for the M3 Data Import (MDI) tool that is part of the M3 API Toolkit at C:\MvxAPI\Tools\MDI\mconv.exe . You create the import files yourself depending on your needs. Nobody will send their files to you because they are throwable files, use them and forget them; unless you have a recurring need, in that case you keep them. 1) First, create an input file (e.g. CSV, TSV, TXT), and put the fields names (e.g. CONO, CUNO, CUA1) at the top of the file; that will be the header. 2) Then, launch MDI. 3) Select the input file. 4) Click the M3 icon to set the M3 host/port/user/password to connect MDI to M3. 5) From the dropdown lists, select the M3 API program (e.g. CRS610MI), select the transaction (e.g. AddAddress). 6) Then click the green arrow to map the fields of the file header to the fields of the transaction. 7) Optionally, MDI has options to split fields, trim spaces, etc. 8) Click the settings icon to tweak the import, for instance check the box to skip the header. 9) Then click the icon to execute the import. 10) MDI will loop through your file (e.g. 100 rows), and for each row, it will call the M3 API with the field values. 11) Just wait for the results OK/NOK. 12) Adjust your input file and start again. 13) MDI has options to retry the same lines or not. 14) M3 will protect itself and will prevent creating duplicates of the same keys, so you are safe even if you screw up with MDI.

      As for whether you MUST use MDI, yes and no. You CAN use MDI, but it is not the only option.

      M3 has three known entry points: 1) M3 API, 2) BCI through M3 Web Services (MWS) of type M3 Display Program (MDP), and 3) SQL (read-only).

      For M3 API, there are a plethora of clients, MDI is one client, but there are also other clients such as Java libraries, .NET libraries, C/C++ libraries, SOAP and REST libraries, etc. That means you can create your own import tools in the programming language of your choice. The advantage of MDI is that the tool is there, you don't have to develop it. When MDI is unable to do something we need to do (e.g. a calculation) we use Excel spreadsheets with VB macros to call the API and do the import.

      There is documentation is the doc folder.

      There is also help on the blog at https://m3ideas.org/tag/api/

      Håper det hjalp.

      Mvh,

      --Thibaud
      https://www.thibaudlopez.net/