With the next release, we have improved how ReadySuite handles importing delimited (CSV & DAT) files. We’ve already talked about a new method for opening these files directly – skipping the need to use the import wizard. But when you need to use the import wizard, for example, to setup verifying native and text links or specifying family and group fields, you’ll notice we have made several enhancements.

See the new process in action below:

One of the first changes you’ll notice is we removed the “Verify external resources can be found” from the first page of the wizard. This option has been moved closer to field selection for native and text files. We found users would often have to jump back to the first page if they forgot to initially enable it. This option can now be turned on or off for native and text files independently.

We spent time cleaning up the preview page for delimited files. The schema selection is a bit cleaner – you’ll now see the delimiter and qualifier characters in the drop-down list. Further, if you mouse over any of the characters, we’ll show a tool-tip for verifying the ASCII code of that character.

The import wizard is now (finally) resizable – so you’ll be able to expand the preview display to show a lot more of the delimited load file.

A significant change we’ve made is the field selection process. We redesigned the original grid list over to our new field map selection process. By default, the left-hand side lists all fields found in the delimited load file. You can select the fields to import by moving them over to the right-hand side. There are arrows for moving one, multiple, or all fields to import at once. This process removes the original method of ignoring fields by selecting “Skip” for each field.

You’ll notice importing a field is now broken into two sections – the ‘Source Field’ and the ‘Destination Field’. This allows you to easily select an existing field in ReadySuite to import against instead of creating a new field. In prior versions, this functionality was merged into the field name drop-down list – we found many users didn’t realize this was possible.

You can see this in action below:

Further, the field list you setup is now exportable to its own field profile. You can save and load the profiles similar to profiles created in any of the export wizards.

Finally, we’ve split the original field selection page into two pages – separating choosing field data types from the options for choosing ‘Document Link’, ‘Family Link’, ‘Native Link’, and ‘Text Link’ fields. We found new users would get confused with the merged drop-down list all being on a single page.

With this new design, users can clearly see the process for specifying the link fields. We added a new option next to the ‘Family Link’ field – making the process of identifying a documents parent and attachment/child references clearer. You can also choose the method we use to identify family links – whether as a ‘Parent ID’ field, a ‘Group ID’ field, or a ‘Range’ field. The range field is the new option – allowing for the family field number to have no correlation to the document number.

On the progress page – we have added a lot more detail. In prior versions, we only showed the number of documents imported or updated. Now you can see the number of documents parsed (found) in the delimited load file, the number of new documents being added, and the number of documents updated (if linked successfully to an existing document). The counts for native and text file references being created or updated is also new. We expect this will especially help speed up certain QC checks during import.

After you finish importing a delimited load file, we changed the fields the document grid displays by default. We now only show the fields on the document grid imported from the delimited load file in their original order. This applies when the delimited load file is the first and/or only type of import performed in a project. Additionally, a grid view is automatically added to the project – allowing you to quickly find/view the fields from the delimited load file.

This covers the enhancement and features for the delimited import wizard – check back next week for more changes coming soon.