NEW FEATURE: Import Content to Dynamic Module

Posted by Community Admin on 18-Mar-2013 00:00

I found this out the hard way. Apparently there is a way to export content, but there is no way to import content into your dynamic module. Please add this in the near future.

Craig

Posted by Community Admin on 18-Mar-2013 00:00

Hi Craig,

Dynamic modules allow you to export module structures and import them to other modules. However, you do not export the content of the module, only the module itself - fields, type, structure. Can you elaborate a bit more on what you want to achieve?

Regards,
Jen Peleva
the Telerik team

Do you want to have your say in the Sitefinity development roadmap? Do you want to know when a feature you requested is added or when a bug fixed? Explore the Telerik Public Issue Tracking system and vote to affect the priority of the items

Posted by Community Admin on 18-Mar-2013 00:00

Thanks for the reply Jen.

Specifically I would like the ability to export the CONTENT from a dynamic module and then IMPORT the content into another Sitefinity environment of the same dynamic module.

For example, if I am building out a new dynamic module and I have entered the content in my TEST instance but now I want to move that content to my PROD instance. I would then export the content and then import it into into the same module in my production environment.

As I think about this process, it seems bigger that what I first thought, but I also heard that Site Sync will soon have the capability to sync dynamic module content. Too bad we would need Site Sync to do this though. Thanks and have a great day.

Craig

Posted by Community Admin on 21-Mar-2013 00:00

This is really important. You can export custom module content, but you can't import it? Ouch.

I haven't taken a survey or anything but I would wager a guess that the 90% of module content export scenarios are people preparing to take something from sandbox to production.

Some kind of generic SiteFinity data import/export tool wrapped in a wizard interface would be nice right about now.

Posted by Community Admin on 21-Mar-2013 00:00

Hi guys,

At the moment we have planned syncing dynamic modules, which will practically provide this functionality.

Greetings,
Jen Peleva
the Telerik team

Do you want to have your say in the Sitefinity development roadmap? Do you want to know when a feature you requested is added or when a bug fixed? Explore the Telerik Public Issue Tracking system and vote to affect the priority of the items

Posted by Community Admin on 21-Mar-2013 00:00

Thank you for the reply. Look forward to using that functionality.

Posted by Community Admin on 21-Mar-2013 00:00

That's awesome, but this functionality is only available in the Site Sync Add-on which is a $2000 to $4000 add-on for Professional Edition users and up. Is it possible to add a scaled down version specific for this one use case?

Thanks,
Craig

Posted by Community Admin on 25-Mar-2013 00:00

Hello Craig,

Someone from our Sales team will contact you shortly to give you more indormation about the Site Sync module.

All the best,
Jen Peleva
the Telerik team

Do you want to have your say in the Sitefinity development roadmap? Do you want to know when a feature you requested is added or when a bug fixed? Explore the Telerik Public Issue Tracking system and vote to affect the priority of the items

Posted by Community Admin on 28-Mar-2013 00:00

I agree there should be a content import if there's an export - included in any version.

Posted by Community Admin on 01-Apr-2013 00:00

Hi James,

The reason we haven't invested time in such functionality is that soon the ability to sync dynamic modules will be available out-of-the-box.

Kind regards,
Jen Peleva
the Telerik team

Do you want to have your say in the Sitefinity development roadmap? Do you want to know when a feature you requested is added or when a bug fixed? Explore the Telerik Public Issue Tracking system and vote to affect the priority of the items

Posted by Community Admin on 09-May-2013 00:00

In case anyone else is trying to Import data exported from a Dynamic module, here is what I used.

The code below creates a page that allows you to upload an excel file to import data from.

You will need to customize the key value section to match your data.
You can find the field information for adding an item to your module by logging into the back end of your site and going to Module Builder>Your Module> and clicking "Code reference for 'Your Module'", and then look at the "Create a ..." code sample.
I have only used this for one module so I'm not sure how it will perform with other data structures.
I suppose you could use this process to import any data as long as it fit your schema.

Import_Module_Data.aspx

<%@ Page Language="vb" AutoEventWireup="false" CodeBehind="Import_Module_Data.aspx.vb" Inherits="SitefinityWebAppVB.WebForm2" %>

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd">

<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">

<head runat="server">

<title></title>

</head>

<body>

<form id="form1" runat="server">

<div>

<br />

This screen is used to import an excel file that is created when exporting data from the Consultant module.

<br />

<asp:FileUpload ID="FileUpload1" runat="server" /> <asp:Button ID="btnGo" runat="server" Text="Import Data" />

<br />

<asp:Label ID="labelDone" runat="server"></asp:Label>

<br />

<asp:GridView ID="GridView1" runat="server">

</asp:GridView>

</div>

</form>

</body>

</html>

Import_Module_Data.aspx.designer.vb

'------------------------------------------------------------------------------

' <auto-generated>

' This code was generated by a tool.

'

' Changes to this file may cause incorrect behavior and will be lost if

' the code is regenerated.

' </auto-generated>

'------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Option Strict On

Option Explicit On

Partial Public Class WebForm2

'''<summary>

'''form1 control.

'''</summary>

'''<remarks>

'''Auto-generated field.

'''To modify move field declaration from designer file to code-behind file.

'''</remarks>

Protected WithEvents form1 As Global.System.Web.UI.HtmlControls.HtmlForm

'''<summary>

'''FileUpload1 control.

'''</summary>

'''<remarks>

'''Auto-generated field.

'''To modify move field declaration from designer file to code-behind file.

'''</remarks>

Protected WithEvents FileUpload1 As Global.System.Web.UI.WebControls.FileUpload

'''<summary>

'''btnGo control.

'''</summary>

'''<remarks>

'''Auto-generated field.

'''To modify move field declaration from designer file to code-behind file.

'''</remarks>

Protected WithEvents btnGo As Global.System.Web.UI.WebControls.Button

'''<summary>

'''labelDone control.

'''</summary>

'''<remarks>

'''Auto-generated field.

'''To modify move field declaration from designer file to code-behind file.

'''</remarks>

Protected WithEvents labelDone As Global.System.Web.UI.WebControls.Label

'''<summary>

'''GridView1 control.

'''</summary>

'''<remarks>

'''Auto-generated field.

'''To modify move field declaration from designer file to code-behind file.

'''</remarks>

Protected WithEvents GridView1 As Global.System.Web.UI.WebControls.GridView

End Class

Import_Module_Data.aspx.vb

Imports Telerik.Sitefinity

Imports Telerik.Sitefinity.Model

Imports Telerik.Sitefinity.DynamicModules

Imports Telerik.Sitefinity.Data.Linq.Dynamic

Imports Telerik.Sitefinity.DynamicModules.Model

Imports Telerik.Sitefinity.GenericContent.Model

Imports Telerik.Sitefinity.Utilities.TypeConverters

Imports Telerik.Sitefinity.Security

Imports Telerik.Sitefinity.Lifecycle

Imports Telerik.Sitefinity.Taxonomies

Imports Telerik.Sitefinity.Taxonomies.Model

Imports Telerik.Sitefinity.Modules.Libraries

Imports System.IO

Imports System.Data.OleDb

Imports System.Data

Public Class WebForm2

Inherits System.Web.UI.Page

Public Sub CreateConsultantListing(ByVal dtData As DataTable)

' Set the provider name for the DynamicModuleManager here. All available providers are listed in

' Administration -> Settings -> Advanced -> DynamicModules -> Providers

Dim providerName As String = String.Empty

Dim dynamicModuleManager_ As DynamicModuleManager = DynamicModuleManager.GetManager(providerName)

Dim consultantListingType As Type = TypeResolutionService.ResolveType("Telerik.Sitefinity.DynamicTypes.Model.ConsultantDirectory.ConsultantListing")

'Dim consultantListingItem As DynamicContent = dynamicModuleManager_.CreateDataItem(consultantListingType)

Dim consultantListingItem As DynamicContent

For Each rowConsultant As DataRow In dtData.Rows

With rowConsultant

consultantListingItem = dynamicModuleManager_.CreateDataItem(consultantListingType)

' This is how values for the properties are set

consultantListingItem.SetString("UrlName", .Item("UrlName").ToString)

consultantListingItem.SetValue("Company", .Item("Company").ToString)

consultantListingItem.SetValue("Owner", SecurityManager.GetCurrentUserId())

consultantListingItem.SetValue("PublicationDate", DateTime.Now)

consultantListingItem.SetValue("Address1", .Item("Address1").ToString)

consultantListingItem.SetValue("Address2", .Item("Address2").ToString)

consultantListingItem.SetValue("City", .Item("City").ToString)

consultantListingItem.SetValue("State", .Item("State").ToString)

consultantListingItem.SetValue("Zip", .Item("Zip").ToString)

consultantListingItem.SetValue("Phone", .Item("Phone").ToString)

End With

consultantListingItem.SetWorkflowStatus(dynamicModuleManager_.Provider.ApplicationName, "Draft")

' You need to call SaveChanges() in order for the items to be actually persisted to data store

dynamicModuleManager_.SaveChanges()

Next

labelDone.Text = "Data has been imported."

End Sub

Public Sub ImportData()

Dim connectionString As String = ""

If FileUpload1.HasFile Then

Dim strfileName As String = Path.GetFileName(FileUpload1.PostedFile.FileName)

Dim strfileExtension As String = Path.GetExtension(FileUpload1.PostedFile.FileName)

Dim strfileLocation As String = Server.MapPath("~/App_Data/" & strfileName)

'This will delete an old file if it exists.

File.Delete(strfileLocation)

If File.Exists(strfileLocation) = False Then

FileUpload1.SaveAs(strfileLocation)

End If

'Check whether file extension is xls or xslx

If strfileExtension = ".xls" Then

connectionString = "Provider=Microsoft.Jet.OLEDB.4.0;Data Source=" & strfileLocation & ";Extended Properties=""Excel 8.0;HDR=Yes;IMEX=2"""

ElseIf strfileExtension = ".xlsx" Then

connectionString = "Provider=Microsoft.ACE.OLEDB.12.0;Data Source=" & strfileLocation & ";Extended Properties=""Excel 12.0;HDR=Yes;IMEX=2"""

End If

'Create OleDB Connection and OleDb Command

Dim con As New OleDbConnection(connectionString)

Dim cmd As New OleDbCommand()

cmd.CommandType = System.Data.CommandType.Text

cmd.Connection = con

Dim dAdapter As New OleDbDataAdapter(cmd)

Dim dtExcelRecords As New DataTable()

con.Open()

Dim dtExcelSheetName As DataTable = con.GetOleDbSchemaTable(OleDbSchemaGuid.Tables, Nothing)

Dim strgetExcelSheetName As String = dtExcelSheetName.Rows(0)(2).ToString()

cmd.CommandText = "SELECT * FROM [" & strgetExcelSheetName & "]"

dAdapter.SelectCommand = cmd

dAdapter.Fill(dtExcelRecords)

con.Close()

GridView1.DataSource = dtExcelRecords

GridView1.DataBind()

'Import records

CreateConsultantListing(dtExcelRecords)

End If

End Sub

Private Sub btnGo_Click(sender As Object, e As System.EventArgs) Handles btnGo.Click

Try

ImportData()

Catch ex As Exception

labelDone.Text = "Data was not imported."

End Try

End Sub

End Class

Posted by Community Admin on 13-May-2013 00:00

Hi Jeremy,

Thank you for sharing your implementation with us!

All the best,
Jen Peleva
the Telerik team

Do you want to have your say in the Sitefinity development roadmap? Do you want to know when a feature you requested is added or when a bug fixed? Explore the Telerik Public Issue Tracking system and vote to affect the priority of the items

Posted by Community Admin on 12-Sep-2014 00:00

This thread is over a year old...I thought I'd check to see if this functionality has been added to Sitefinity? Or am I going to have to wade through this code with my very limited skills to figure out how to import some data into our modules? If I am going to have to is there a c# version anywhere of the great code Jeremy provided? Thanks!

Posted by Community Admin on 17-Sep-2014 00:00

Hello Richard,

Currently, this functionality is not available out of the box. We have a feature request logged in our feedback portal to allow users to import data to their dynamic modules. Hopefully we will be able to implement it in the near future. Here is a link to the feedback portal where you can track the progress of the feature request and vote to increase its popularity.

For the time being, you may take a look at the following article for more details on importing external data to Sitefinity dynamic modules.

Regards,
Sabrie Nedzhip
Telerik

Do you want to have your say in the Sitefinity development roadmap? Do you want to know when a feature you requested is added or when a bug fixed? Explore the Telerik Sitefinity CMS Ideas&Feedback Portal and vote to affect the priority of the items

Posted by Community Admin on 09-Mar-2015 00:00

Hi. Is there any progress on this feature being made available out of the box? It is really a critical requirement for many large content websites.

Posted by Community Admin on 12-Mar-2015 00:00

Hello,

This feature is still not available out of the box. For the time being the only option is to import the content using custom logic as described in the suggested blog post.

Regards,
Sabrie Nedzhip
Telerik

Do you want to have your say in the Sitefinity development roadmap? Do you want to know when a feature you requested is added or when a bug fixed? Explore the Telerik Sitefinity CMS Ideas&Feedback Portal and vote to affect the priority of the items

Posted by Community Admin on 01-Jul-2015 00:00

The ability to define custom content data models is useful in theory but if in practice you have to commandeer a DBA for a few hours or crack open a SQL client just to migrate content into your custom data model it really defeats the purpose of the feature.

This thread is closed

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