Managing import specifications

Analyst's Notebook supports a range of facilities for managing and organizing the import specifications that you and others in your team create. As well as using the standard functions for renaming and duplicating specifications, you can configure local and shared storage locations.

About this task

The tools for managing import specifications fall into two categories. You can change the behavior of the application for all specifications, or you can operate on particular specifications.

Procedure

Analyst's Notebook supports storing import specifications in two locations that it calls "local" and "workgroup". When you save a specification, you can choose which location it is stored in. You can use configuration settings to change the target of both locations.
  • Change the physical folders that the application uses as the "local" and "workgroup" folders:
    1. In Analyst's Notebook, click the Home tab, and then click Import > Saved Specifications.
      The Import Specifications window is displayed.
    2. In the Other Tasks pane, select Change Local Folder or Change Workgroup Folder.
      The Browse For Folder window is displayed, with any current setting selected.
    3. Select or create a target folder, and then click OK.
      Note:
      The intention is for the "workgroup" location to be a shared folder, but the application does not enforce that guideline.
Analyst's Notebook displays import specifications from the "local" and "workgroup" locations in a single list. The list of operations that you can perform then changes according to which (and how many) specifications you select.
  • Perform file system operations on one or more import specifications:
    1. In Analyst's Notebook, click the Home tab, and then click Import > Saved Specifications.
      The Import Specifications window is displayed.
    2. Select one or more import specifications.
    3. In the Specification Tasks pane, select one of the commands:
      Option Description
      Edit Open the import specification for editing.
      Rename Edit the name of the import specification that you (and potentially other users) see in the Saved Specifications window.
      Duplicate Create a duplicate of the import specification. The new specification has the same name as the original, with the prefix "Copy of ".
      Copy to Workgroup Folder If the import specification is in the "local" location, copy it to the "workgroup" location.
      Show data file in Explorer Open Windows Explorer at the location of the data file that is stored in the import specification.
      Show specification in Explorer Open Windows Explorer at the location of the import specification.
      Delete Delete the import specification.
By default, the Import Specifications window displays specifications that are relevant to your context. In standard Analyst's Notebook, you see only classic specifications. When you connect to i2 Analyze, you see schema-aligned specifications. However, you can also work with classic specifications when connected:
  • In the Options pane of the Import Specifications window, select Show classic specifications.
    Any classic specifications in the "local" or "workgroup" locations are added to the list.