Tracker Import Export

Tracker Tabular is an advanced import/export feature for Trackers, allowing for more flexibility and more predictable results. To use the feature, it must be enabled from the Tracker admin panel. It will then be accessible through the tracker listing along with the other import options.

With Tracker Tabular, the administrator must first define an import/export schema. This is essentially a list of columns and the format that will be used to present or manipulate the information. Each supported tracker field type may expose one or more supported formats.

Field format examples:

• The date fields that let you choose which date format that should be used.
• The text fields that normally allow to present a single value. However, if the field is multilingual, it will provide one format for each supported language, allowing to cleanly export all desired languages into a file, send the file to a translator and import it back.
• The category field provides a wide range of options, depending on if the field allows a single value or multiple. It can present the category ID, or the category name, make each category available as its own field to be marked with an X. This allows the adminstrator to provide the exported data in a human-readable format suitable to the required task.

The available set of fields and formats are expected to augment over time. The user interface allows to explore the available options.

Technicalities

Fields can be marked as Read Only. This will make sure that when importing, the field will be skipped, making the import process faster, but also making sure only the allowed fields get modified. It also allows to include multiple formats that would otherwise conflict, such as the category ID and the category name, for example.

For the import to be possible, a single field can be marked as the Primary Key. The item ID can be used, but other fields can be used as well. For example, if you manage a product database and know your supplier-provided serial numbers are unique, you could create a schema that uses those as the reference and not include the auto-generated item ID at all.

See:

• http://sourceforge.net/p/tikiwiki/code/53165