Presentation Transcript

1. ELF Imports into Custom Files

   Katie Morgan Datatel Programmer/Analyst
2. About Linfield Four year, co-ed, comprehensive, undergraduate, private Enrollment: ~2600 3 “campuses” Traditional 4 year liberal arts & sciences plus business and education in McMinnville Nursing (transfer-only) in Portland Adult Degree/Continuing Education in McMinnville, Portland, and online
3. About Our ELF Imports Approximately 20 ELF specs in regular use ACT (highly customized) SAT (highly customized) CommonApp NursingCAS NRCCUA Peterson’s And a bunch of others
4. About Our Custom Files Currently using APP.USER fields in the APPLICANTS file. Many are customized to multi-value and some to linked entities (aka associations aka sub-files). Migrating to SQL Server For metadata customizations that will impact table structures in SQL Server, we were encouraged to migrate data to custom entities.
5. The Import Challenge We import to these fields on a regular basis. Options: Create a custom batch process to run after import to populate just these fields. Find a way to make ELF talk to our custom entity.
6. Disclaimer This is a work in progress for us, and so is not yet in production at Linfield!
7. Create Custom Import Create your custom Colleague file (if it doesn’t already exist) Create a custom intermediate file Create custom ELF spec mapping the custom intermediate file to the custom Colleague file
8. Create Custom Intermediate File See Answernet Doc 6678 – however I don’t know why it says to put the intermediate file in CORE It says to put the release status to developing, but doesn’t tell you to change it to releasable when you’re done
9. Intermediate File Attributes Attributes (aka fields aka columns) must be in a particular order: prefix.BATCH prefix.TRANSXN filename.ADDOPR(create under Attributes) filename.ADDDATE(create under Attributes) filename.CHGOPR(create under Attributes) filename.CHGDATE(create under Attributes) prefix.RESULTS
10. prefix.BATCH Create under Attributes Type = Foreign Key (1-1) Internal Size = 20 Points to Attribute (under Linkages) = ELF.BATCH.CONTROL.ID
11. prefix.TRANSXN Create under Attributes Type = Data Internal Size = 10
12. Record “Add” Fields filename.ADDOPR Create under Attributes Type = Data Internal Size = 20 filename.ADDDATE Create under Attributes Type = Data Internal Size = 10 Conversion = D4/
13. Record “Change” Fields filename.CHGOPR Create under Attributes Type = Data Internal Size = 20 filename.CHGDATE Create under Attributes Type = Data Internal Size = 10 Conversion = D4/
14. prefix.RESULTS Create under Lists Type = Foreign Key (M-M) Internal Size = 10 Points to Attribute (under Linkages) = ELF.TGT.RESULTS.ID
15. Your Fields Add your fields in locations 8 and higher
16. Define as Intermediate File Use RKEY in UI Set Intermediate File to Yes Enter your prefix (optional) Reimport your entity into Colleague Studio Close the entity from your editor (if it’s open) Right-click the entity in the process explorer and choose Import from the context menu If you do not do this, your RKEY settings will be lost when you package this up!
17. Set up Dependencies File = ELF.INTER.FILE.DEPS Record = your custom intermediate file name Attribute 1 (ELFINTER.FIELDS) = field name(s) for your foreign key pointer(s) to its related file(s) Attribute 2 (ELFINTER.RELATED.FIELDS) = field name(s) for the related file field(s) to which your foreign key(s) point(s) Attribute 3 (ELFINTER.CARDINALITIES) = relationship between the foreign key in your custom intermediate file and the field to which it points in the related file 1 – one and only one A – at least one M – zero, one, or many Z – zero or one Special Note: You will need to create a declaration on CDEC to include this item in your package. Alternative is to create this manually in each environment after installing the rest
18. Sample Intermediate File:INTER.L25.APPLICANT
19. Create Custom ELF Spec Create it on ELFS Name it the same name as your intermediate file. Now add your target file If you enter your custom file, you will get an error message
20. The Troll on the Bridge
21. What the elf? See Answernet Doc 31796.22 The error message popped by the UI form has never been delivered by Ellucian. This message pops when you add a target file that is not defined as an intermediate file.
22. How to Get Past the Error:Change the Question Enter an intermediate file as target, instead Choose one with as few required fields as possible Map the minimum number of fields possible Save the spec
23. Clean up the Target File Records File = ELF.SPEC.TGT Record = [your ELF spec name]*[your fake target file name] Copy this into a new record = [your ELF spec name]*[your real target file name] Delete the fake
24. Edit the ELF Spec File = ELF.SPECS Record = Your ELF spec name Edit the following attributes: Attribute 4 (ELFSPEC.MAPS) – Clear the field completely Attribute 5 (ELFSPEC.TGT.FILES) – Change the field to [your ELF spec name]*[your real target file name]
25. Now Edit the Field Mappings Now clean up your fake field mappings File = ELF.MAPS Records = any records with your spec in ELFMAP.SPEC Delete them all
26. Cross that Troll Bridge Now you can return to ELFS and finish building your ELF spec. Build your field maps to the target fields in your custom Colleague file. Add any other edits you need. Generate it. Test it. And test it some more.
27. Some Final Details Don’t forget to create duplicate criteria, if applicable Don’t forget to create merge criteria
28. Questions? Katie Morgan Datatel Programmer/Analyst Linfield College kmorgan@linfield.edu