Exporting and importing externally edited iBase data

You can export data from iBase for editing in a different application, and then reimport it. There are two ways of doing this, either by matching the information on import, or by exporting the record IDs, and by using the ID for record matching during the import.

About this task

Before you export the data, you need to display the record IDs for the entity or link types that you want to edit. This is done by a suitably qualified user in iBase Designer, by adding the record ID field to the entity or link types.

Once this has been done, you can export the records that you want to edit in the usual way. You should export the data to a text file.

When you edit the data:

  • Do not change the values in the record ID field.

  • Do not add new records - only existing records will be updated using this method.

  • Take care not to edit or delete characters such as text qualifiers and field delimiters.

Procedure

To reimport iBase data:

  1. In Step 1 of the import wizard, in the Source area, turn on The import source contains 'Record ID's that originated from this database. This option is unavailable if the entity type does not have visible record IDs. In this case, you will need to match the records carefully when you import them.

  2. Click Next to display the Step 2 page.

  3. Enter the file name. You do not need to set any of other options on this page. Click Next.

  4. Click Auto Assign, to automatically assign fields in the source data to the iBase fields.

  5. Check that the fields are assigned correctly. You must map the iBase Record ID type field to the import source field that contains the record ID.

  6. You do not need to specify any identifier because iBase uses the record ID as the identifier. Click Next.

  7. You do not need to decide whether to check for matching records because iBase will automatically check against the record ID and only update existing records. Any new record IDs will not be accepted; new records will not be created. Click OK to continue.

  8. Complete the import in the usual way.