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Sesame Library | Sesame Import from Relational Databases
We've finished implementing Sesame's
ASCII Import, and we have excellent news for those of you who may need to
convert your data from something other than Q&A:
Sesame can handle hierarchical imports without any programming!
This is a great feature for anyone who needs
to convert existing data that is currently stored in a relational database
program. It is also a great feature for those who have an ongoing need to
import data sent to them by customers or other departments who use
relational database programs.
Here's how it works. Suppose you have an
existing relational database to store your Invoices. You might have the
following tables: Invoice, InvoiceLineItems.
The tables would be related by a key field in InvoiceLineItems
matching a key field in Invoice. The data would look
something like this:
tblInvoice
InvoiceID InvoiceDate InvoiceNumber
1 12/10/200110065
2 12/11/200110066
3 12/11/200110067
tblInvoiceLineItem
LineItemIDInvoiceID QtySold
1 1 50
2 1 25
3 1 70
4 2 15
5 2 10
6 3 25
7 3 25
8 3 18
Normally, to convert this information, you'd
have to build the tables in the new program, export each table separately
from the old program, import each table separately into the new program,
then link the key fields.
With Sesame, you build your
Invoice form with the Invoice Number and
Invoice Date fields. You add a subform for the Line Items
with the QtySold field. You then create one export file
from your old relational database to export the three fields that actually
contain your data, without worrying about the key fields. Most relational
databases know how to make this kind of file. Your export file would look
like this:
"12/10/2001","10065","50"
"12/10/2001","10065","25"
"12/10/2001","10065","70"
"12/11/2001","10066","15"
"12/11/2001","10066","10"
"12/11/2001","10067","25"
"12/11/2001","10067","25"
"12/11/2001","10067","18"
You open Sesame to your
Invoice form and select all the fields for Import.
Sesame will automatically create
three new Invoice records, each with its corresponding
LineItems created and linked!
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