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SENSIBLE SOLUTIONS INC. |
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Q&A to Sesame Export Hierarchical Conversions |
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| Q&A files are in the old "flat file" structure that does
not allow the many benefits available in a more "relational" structure.
Sesame allows you to use a common relational structure and a natural
hierarchical structure. But exporting the files from Q&A does not
come up with a format that allows them to be imported into Sesame for
either a relational or hierarchical structure. Even Q&A databases
that have been designed like relational structures using XLOOKUP functions
cannot be easily imported correctly into Sesame to support
relational/hierarchical structures.
But that can now be overcome using this service. This should save many hours of work in the initial translation stages, and provide unlimited value by allowing the use of the more advanced structures available in Sesame. |
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Instructions to prepare Q&A before exporting |
| Before exporting Q&A file, perform the following
modifications: |
| 1. Make a backup of your Q&A file before
proceeding. |
| 2. For each line item to be in the Child SubForm,
add a Text field. If you have 15 line items in the database, then 15
fields must be added. They can have any valid field name, they will
not be imported into the Sesame application. Line1, Line2, etc. may
be good. |
| 3. Perform a Mass Update to the database adding the
value "QQLA" (without the quotes) into each of the newly added fields. |
| 4. You are now ready to set up your export specifications. |
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Instructions for the Q&A Export specifications. |
| It is not necessary to move the fields on the form, but
it may be easier to do that to eliminate the need to number the fields for
exporting. The following layout positioning is critical: |
| 1. The first field should be the Key Field, such as
Invoice Number, Purchase Order, etc. |
| 2. All of the fields that will be on the common
Parent Form (will call the Header) must be next in sequence. They
can be in any order, as long as they are all ahead of the line items that
will be going onto the Child SubForm. But the order will have to be
known when doing the import to Sesame, so perhaps keep the Sesame layout
in consideration. |
| 3. All of the fields that are common to each single
line must be kept in a group, any order is OK, but again, consider the
Sesame layout. |
| 4. Each group of line items must be preceded
immediately by one of the newly added fields that has the value "QQLA" in
the field. (See step 2 in the preparation section above). |
| 5. If you have moved the fields into the same
sequence as noted in steps 1-4, then it will not be necessary to number
the export fields. If the fields are not moved, then they will have
to be numbered sequentially to match the export specs just defined in
steps 1-4. Be sure to save the Export Spec with Shift-F8 in case it
is necessary to do this again. |
| 6. Export the file using "Quotes" around text, and
the Comma as the delimiter. Use of the template is your own
decision. |
| 7. Save the exported file. Typical format would resemble the following cell contents: Sample of three ParentForm records. There are 3 common fields in the header. Each parent has 3 lines with 4 fields for each line. |
| "KeyFld1","HdrFld1","HdrFld2","HdrFld3","QQLA","Line1Fld1","Line1Fld2","Line1Fld3","Line1Fld4","QQLA","Line2Fld1","Line2Fld2","Line2Fld3","Line2Fld4","QQLA","Line3Fld1","Line3Fld2","Line3Fld3","Line3Fld4" "KeyFld2","HdrFld1","HdrFld2","HdrFld3","QQLA","Line1Fld1","Line1Fld2","Line1Fld3","Line1Fld4","QQLA","Line2Fld1","Line2Fld2","Line2Fld3","Line2Fld4","QQLA","Line3Fld1","Line3Fld2","Line3Fld3","Line3Fld4" "KeyFld3","HdrFld1","HdrFld2","HdrFld3","QQLA","Line1Fld1","Line1Fld2","Line1Fld3","Line1Fld4","QQLA","Line2Fld1","Line2Fld2","Line2Fld3","Line2Fld4","QQLA","Line3Fld1","Line3Fld2","Line3Fld3","Line3Fld4" |
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Submitting file(s) for conversion |
| Once the file has been saved, it can be uploaded using
this page. |
| Please ZIP the file before uploading. Let me know
if you need help with Zip process. |
| Once I have received the file I can provide a cost
estimate within one work day. |
| Please provide your name, email address and phone number. Provide any comments you think may be may be useful. |
