I am moving from Filemaker to Base. Previous posts indicate cutting and pasting data from Calc (post CSV import) to Base is the best way to go. Before I tackle this I want to make sure I understand how the primary key will be handled as all of my data is currently in related fields.
Can I include the old primary key in the pasted data so as to keep all current relations functional? Do I need to do anything special to the primary key field in Base to accept the data? I am under the impression that a primary key field in Base is automatically managed and wonder if it will accept imported values.
Thanks for any an all suggestions. I am quite new to base and must admit I am struggling a bit. The outdated manual has helped with some questions, but has also raised a quite a few.
You could import tables with an existing primary key field.
There will be a wizard for importing data.
If you have reached the step for “Typeformatting” you could set the primary key for a field by right mouseclick on the field name.
After you have imported all tables you could create the relations under Tools → Relationship.
Yes, you can import your key data, but bear in mind:
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you should remove, or undefine, any relationships FK refs you might have defined in your new tables before import, otherwise the import will likely fail ;
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you might want to remove any autoincrement definitions for your PKs until after the import has completed.
You should treat your Base file like a “dumb waiter” when importing the data and remove any of the fancy DDL stuff in order to ensure best chances of data import, then go and redefine all the special bits of each table afterwards.
Alex
Thanks Robert and Alex for the input. I have so far had no success with an import. I’ve gone to the trouble of defining a new database with only one table. A form was made to accept the data, spreadsheet style with the fields listed across the top. A primary key had to be assigned or the form would not allow data input as all controls were grayed out. The PK was assigned, but auto-input was turned off.
The fields created matched the data exported from FMP as a csv file. The csv file was opened in LibreOffice as a spreadsheet. All of the cells were selected and copied to the clipboard. Returning to the form in Base, the first cell was clicked in and the data was pasted with CMD-V. The paste icon was grayed out. Nothing was pasted into the form. Selecting only one row from the csv file pasted everything into the first field of the database form with nothing in the other fields of that record.
I could find no import capability in Base, let alone an import Wizard. I probably just don’t know where to look.
Still seeking advice.
Thanks for any suggestions provided.
Wrong place. Forms are for manual input.
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This was good. Now use the list of tables in Base, but don’t open your (empty) table. Instead right click the name of the table and select paste from context menu. Now an import assistant should open. In your case just append your data to the table, but it is also possible to select columns or move them around.
Thanks Wanderer. I set up a new db with one table and after a few aborted tries was able to import 50,000 records. Nine tables to go and then set up the relations. The end is in sight. Thank you all for giving me the confidence to complete this task.
You can do it ! I migrated from FMPro to OpenOffice.org and a MySQL DB backend many years ago. It is possible, although I still miss the UI capabilities of FMPro, which IMO are still superior by far to LO.
Base is not a database. Without knowing the RDBMS, we don’t even know the software we are talking about.
This is the most convoluted method and prone to errors. Sometimes it is the only viable method.
We don’t know which software you are talking about. What kind of database is the target? IMHO, it should be possible.
Regarding Frame Maker, the source:
- Do you have any ODBC or JDBC driver for Frame Maker?
- Can Frame Maker export the data definition (CREATE statements)?
If 1: Connect a Base document to Frame Maker, copy the table definitions.
If 2: Open the script, run the statements one by one and see where need to solve syntactical or logical errors in the target database.
In either case, importing the data into a well-formed structure should be the last step.