PDXpert PLM Software
On-line Help Guide

This help topic describes the current PDXpert PLM release. Earlier releases may be different. To view your release's version of this topic, open PDXpert and press the F1 key or select the Help menu.

Revision files import

This file defines how PDXpert attaches files to document and part records' pending iterations.

Each row in the import file represents an item record with one file that must be imported into the library, and attached to the pending iteration's Files: Revision Files list.

This format imports revision files that are managed under change control.

For historical or background files, use the Item files & links import format.

This import file is used to add a file to the first pending iteration of a part or a document. Do not import a revision file for any item that has a released or canceled iteration.

For important rules that affect this import, see the Iteration-level relational imports help topic.

If a pending parent item has an existing revision files list, the parent item's entire previous list is deleted and is completely replaced by the new attachments list.

Before each new import, ensure there's enough disk space to accept all files in the import list.

Do not attach multiple files with the same name (including extension) to one item revision.

Do not import a Windows Link (.lnk) file. The real data file is not saved, and the link file doesn't contain information that's useful to other computers.

Windows has a practical device:\path\filename.ext length limit of 260 characters. Verify that deep folder paths and their files are within this limit. To avoid problems when users view or copy revision files from PDXpert to their computers, keep revision filenames under about 80 characters.

Each new import copies revision files into the \Data\Library folder, even if those files were previously imported. Files that are no longer needed are not automatically deleted from the folder. Test your import carefully with a small set of data before importing the complete set of files.

The Batch Importer tool can generate a CSV template file, which can be used to import your data. Select List: Revision Files from the dropdown list, click the Export button, and save the file to a convenient location. Unlike many other templates, current file data in PDXpert is not included in the exported CSV file (add a Transforms member if you need this list).

Column name Data type Value if empty Description
Class string Part or Document Part If not specified, then the parent item's Class is a part.
Owner Organizations home organization Identifies the organization that is primarily responsible for the parent item's specification and which issues the item Number.
Type Document Types or Part Types default member If not specified, then the appropriate type collection is determined by this parent item's Class, and the default member of the resulting type collection is used to match the record's Type selection.
Number string row is skipped REQUIRED: Part or document number. If the value is empty, the row is not imported.
RevisionFile file: length ≤ 1000 characters row is skipped

REQUIRED: This is the full file path and name of the imported file, e.g., C:\MyData\MyFile.txt. The file is attached to the item's Files: Revision Files list. When the file is copied into the system library, its attributes are copied to the file's attachment record.

If the file does not exist at the specified path, then the file won't be attached. If the file is one of several files related to an item, none of the files will be attached to that item.

It is highly recommended that the imported files are located on the same physical machine—that is, not on a network or mapped drive—as the importing PDXpert client.
RevisionFileNote string: length ≤ 4000 characters no value This value is imported into the file's Notes area.

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