Add customers from an external database

[kernock]

Could anyone what data I need to send to the actinic database in order to add customers to the person table and set them up with a username.

I am happy to connect to the actiniccatalog.mdb from the external database and do all the coding outside actinic - I just need to know what fields to use and what tables they are in.

Thanks in advance.

[wjcampbe]

None.

The person table keeps records of the people who placed the recorded orders, not details of customer accounts.

Suggest you take a copy of the database before and after you add a customer account and find where the changes are really made.

[Jan]

The easiest way to do this is to generate a hierarchical import file from your application and then import the customers into Actinic, changing the Actinic tables directly from your program could cause problems, it isn't a very safe way to go about adding customers.

Regards,

[Nadeem]

Hi there

Just to add in what Jan has written above (which is the best approach I feel), is that in Actinic, if you create one customer account only, then go to "File | Export", and you can simply export the customer accounts. This will give you a template to work with, with your own bespoke application.

Kind Regards

[kernock]

Adding via MDB

Many thanks

Is it actually possible to do it programatically - if not I will stick with the import method but I would much rather write a vba app to add the records so that I can put the whole process behind a button in our in-house management system - that way their is no other user intervention required.

I was hoping to put actinic on a server/workstation and just set the system to up to manage itself.

Any help is greatly appreciated.

Thanks

[kernock]

Import Method

If I use the import method - do I need the price schedule rows (I have customer groups set up) or can I ommit these?

Thanks Again

[cdicken]

In a customer import file you need to import the main account details, the address details and the buyer details. You don't need to include customer group pricing info (apart from you can specify a customer group for the customer account as part of the import file).

Details of the import fields are in the main help - 'Importing | Valid Fields in Hierarchical Files | Import Content into Actinic'

[sally01]

Hi,

Is there no way of importing customer details from a flat csv file by mapping it against the customer database. Or even a quick way of creating a hierarchical file from a flat file (1200 accounts)

[Bruce]

Sally,

V8.0.3 introduced a Flat file to Hierarchical converter...

The converter is an application called 'FlatFileConvertor.exe'. You will find it within the 'Actinic v8' folder on your desktop. To begin, click the 'Browse' button at the top and then locate the *.csv file that contains the data you want to import.

When the file is selected in the 'File To Convert' box, click the 'Get Fields' button. All the fields in your import file will be listed down the left hand side in the column called 'Import Field'.

The right-hand column is called 'Type of Field' and this is where you tell the converter how to treat each field. There are four options to choose from, which are detailed below:



Option : Description
Product: Set this option for any product fields, including your custom
fields
Section Name: If you have included section information in the data file, then
this option for the field containing the section name data.

Note: only one field in the import file can contain the section name.

Section Others: If you have any other section fields, other than the section
name, then set this option for the fields.

Not Used: Set this option for any field you don't want included in the
hierarchical file.

Note: If you have used any standard Actinic field names for your product data, Actinic will automatically allocate them as being product or section fields.

Once you have set up all the fields correctly, click the 'Browse' button next to the 'Output File' field and select a location and filename for the hierarchical file.

Once you have done this you can click 'Build File' to create the file.

More info is available within the Help Files in Actinic.. 'Help | Help Topics'

Kind regards,

[NormanRouxel]

There's a sample Customer import file in your Site1/Common/SampleCustomerImportFile.txt

[kevster]

Interesting - im going to try usiing this, didnt know it was there! im giving a client a flat file layout that generates certain fields when they populate product info then I can hopefully use this to build a hierarchical file as the product layout pages are quite complicated using multiple prods with components and permutations in.

fingers crossed!