About Importing Files to the Change List

While Change by Example is a powerful change tool, pattern matching might not readily isolate the precise changes you require. Instead, you can generate Change Lists from a database or spreadsheet containing an account code report or other account code listing. External files can use the Change, Copy, and Combine options. This permits greater flexibility because instead of inputting changes directly within Account Code Change, you can import Change List entries from an external file of the following file types:

• Lotus 123 (V3.0 — V5.0)

• MS Excel (V2.1 — V7.0 Note: MS Excel 97 is not supported)

• dBase III and higher

• FoxPro and Clipper

• ASCII comma-separated text file

Preparing files for Import

In order to import changes successfully, the following Account Code data format must be observed.

Explaining the Account Code data format

The Account Code data format has the following common features, regardless of what application is used to create the import file:

• Each row or line represents one (1) account record.

• Each record contains five (5) fields in the following order:

Field 1	Field 2	Field 3	Field 4	Field 5
Old Account Code	New Account Code	Action Type	New Structure Code	Description

• Field Three, Action Type, has three (3) predefined values, as follows:

To take the following action	Input
Change Combine Copy	0 1 2

• Fields Four and Five — Structure and Description - must contain data even if you don't intend to change them. The following table shows your field entry options and their results:

Field Contents	Change Result
Original data	The original data replaces itself (useful for correcting typos, etc.).
Changed data	The changed data replaces the original data.
Single blank space (no quotes required)	The original data is left untouched.

• In addition, each file type has it's own unique requirements as the following listing shows.

ASCII delimited text file

• The first row is the title row; no other information except the title should appear in this row. If you don't want to include titles, include the row but leave it blank.

• Commas separate the fields and each field's contents must be enclosed within quotes.

NOTE  You can use Windows Notepad to create this file.

MS Excel files

• The first row is the title row; no other information except the title should appear in this row. If you don't want to include titles, leave it blank.

• Columns separate the fields and each field's contents must be enclosed in its own spreadsheet cell.

Lotus 123 files

• File layout is the same as MS Excel file

dBase III and higher files

• File Import only recognizes three DBASE data types: String, Numeric and Date. Any other data types such as memo fields will be ignored.

Consequently, fields must observe the following formats:
 

Field	Must be formatted as
Old Account Code New Account Code Action Type New Structure Code Description	a string field a string field either a string or an integer field a string field a string field

FoxPro and Clipper files

• File layout is the same as dBase III