Export/Import

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  • #12875
    ExhaustedTech
    Participant

    My apologies, I couldn’t figure out the best/fastest way to do this and I’m hoping you can guide me.
    The scenario- I want to export a grid to CSV, add notes to each and re-import it back into the grid. Is this doable? I see I can export the grid/notes into a text file and modify that but I thought I saw some previous forum topics about CSV support being added and maybe I just couldn’t figure out where this is. Thank you!

    #12876
    doug
    Moderator

    You can’t export the grid to CSV, but you can export it to XML simply by saving it to .bps. You can then open .bps files in notepad or import into excel etc and modify. Be careful doing this because if you modify something that BatchPatch doesn’t expect or not in the correct format, it will potentially break your grid.

    However, you can also accomplish your goal of importing notes without doing that.

    You can create a separate text file just to hold the Notes for given hosts. So, a text file in this case might look like:

    host1|notes for host1
    host2|notes for host2
    host3|
    host4|notes for host4

    So then if you have hosts in the grid with those names (host1, host2, host3, host4), you can then use ‘Actions > Import notes’, and it will apply your notes from the text file to the matching names in the grid. Select all desired rows in the grid, import the file that is formatted as shown above, and then notes will be populated for each selected host based on your file’s contents.

    #12877
    ExhaustedTech
    Participant

    Wait, so those notes can actually stay with the host and wouldn’t need to be re-entered each time?!
    Basically, I’m trying to just put the user’s name with the host. Now that you’ve said it and I’m imagining it, it makes complete sense. Another new thing learned! Thank you as always!

    #12878
    doug
    Moderator

    There are several columns in the BP grid that you can use to store various notes about a given row.

    Notes
    Notes2
    Description
    Location
    Category

    You can enter data into any of these and save it with the grid so that it’s always there. The Notes import feature that I mentioned in the previous posting is specific to the ‘Notes’ column. The other columns can either be manually typed into in the grid, or you can use ‘Actions > Modify category, description, location, notes, color, etc.’

    #12879
    ExhaustedTech
    Participant

    But those other ones are grid-specific, correct? If I save it with a grid and then make a new grid, can they be reimported into the new grid like the notes?

    #12880
    doug
    Moderator

    Yes all of those columns are grid-specific, including the Notes column. However, with the Notes column we have that facility where you can keep notes, if desired, in a separate text file, and then any time you have a new grid you can import the notes from that text file. That text file can contain notes for 1000 machines (or any number) if you want. And then let’s say you have a new grid with just 30 machines, you can still use that same file to populate the notes for just the 30 machines that are in that particular grid.

    #12881
    ExhaustedTech
    Participant

    Thank you!

    #13570
    KarlaMaria
    Participant

    Is there anyway to import information into the Descriptions column or Notes2?

    #13571
    doug
    Moderator

    You have a few options:

    You can manually edit those fields directly in the grid by just typing into them. Also see ‘Grid > Enable/disable column editing’

    You can use ‘Actions > Modify category, description, location, notes, color, etc.’

    You can import the description field when using ‘Grid > Add hosts from directory’ by checking the ‘Import description field’ checkbox.

    When using the ‘Grid > Add hosts’ dialog, or when importing a text file list of hosts into the grid (File > Import), the following are all valid (See ‘Help > Usage, tips, shortcuts’) :

    The order of values entered must be the same as the order shown below:
    # MAC
    | NOTES
    || NOTES2
    ||| DESCRIPTION
    |||| LOCATION
    |U| USERNAME
    |P| PASSWORD
    |D| DOMAIN

    Syntax examples for adding hosts with extra values: (Note it is not necessary to include all elements as long as the overall order of elements is preserved)
    host1#1C6F65D56413
    host2#1B3A65B54322|notes for host2
    host3|notes for host3
    host4|||Description information for host4||||Location information for host4

    #13573
    KarlaMaria
    Participant

    Ah! This worked perfectly copying directly from Excel into BatchPatch. Thank you.

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