This article will explain you more about the functionality of the Rules on Import tab.
This functionality minimizes the possibility of importing incorrect files. This is done by setting up conditions that your datafile must meet in order to be processed.
For instance, you can set rules to check if your file:
- has a specific name
- it doesn't contain more than 1000 records
- the creation date can not be older than two days ago.
If all these criteria are met, your file is processed and the data is imported. But when the criteria are not met, your file is denied and the data is not imported.
The more conditions you set, the smaller your margin or error. But don't forget, this also limits the flexibility of your import file.
Consider this functionality as an additional and much needed safety check, to ensure only correct files are imported.
The Rules on import is another application of the dynamic rule engine. When opening up the tab, you’ll see the same familiar looking wizard, with one default condition already in place:
This condition checks if the file you want to import has a creation date after yesterday, in other words: it checks if the file has been created today. This means you will not be able to import older files, which decreases the chances of importing the wrong file by mistake. If you do not want to use this check, you can switch it off.
If there there are more conditions which should be met in order for the the system to import the file, you have to decide if all conditions need to be met, or if one or more of the conditions are enough:
New conditions can be created by clicking the “+” sign and they are set to active by default. The icon behind it denotes that the condition applies to a file.
Open up the dropdown next to the file icon to select what file option your condition concerns.
As soon as you have selected the file option, another dropdown will appear, with which you can set the condition.
After having selected the condition choose your area of reference (either from the file or a constant value) and appoint a value to it.
Since there is only one action to be taken - namely "import" it has already been set for you. After all, you want the file to be imported if it meets the requirements you just set up.
As always, don’t forget to save.
From now on, only files that meet these requirements will be accepted and processed.