Our software offers the ability to import player, teams, contacts and officials information (and the link between a player and the team he/she plays on as well as linking Contacts to specific related records in the software). The current version requires that the user have Microsoft Access 2000 or higher installed on their machines. Our next release will allow the direct import from an excel spreadsheet or comma delimited file. We also currently have an excel direct import for fieldlocation availability times.
In order to import players or teams, you will first need to get the information into our Microsoft Access Import Tables. To do this, you will have to follow these steps:
You may already have data in a Spreadsheet. While you can enter information directly into the Access Import tables, it is far easier to enter all the information into a spreadsheet and let Microsoft Access Import the data for you. You can cut, copy and paste without restrictions in a spreadsheet where as you will encounter restrictions within Microsoft Access. There are two spreadsheet options. The first is to use your own spreadsheet and make the modifications explained in Step 2. The other is to use our empty preformatted excel spreadsheet. Our import spreadsheet is located in the programs directory in which you installed the software (default is C:\Programs Files\AnalyzerSoftware\LAFSP) and is called ImportSheets.xls. It is a good idea to make a copy of this excel file so that you always have an empty version. Also, future upgrades may replace this excel template so it is a good idea to rename it so as not to lose any data.
You may import data from an existing spreadsheet. The restriction is that there must a heading row that contains the exact headings of the fields in our database. Click here to see a list of all available fields for import. Our preformatted spreadsheet contains all the proper heading names. The main area that requires caution is the linking of players to teams. Players, Teams and Officials should each be in a separate spreadsheet file or workbook. Players can be linked to teams being imported or teams that already exist in the database. You can link through an ID field or the TeamName field. There are two linking fields: XImportTeamID will link the Player record to an imported team record where XImportTeamID is equal to the TeamID of a record in the XImportTeam table. Alternatively, you can enter the TeamName for a Player and the import will match the name to a Team being imported or currently in the software with the exact same name.
Once you have gotten all of your data properly formatted in the spreadsheet the next step will import spreadsheet data into the Import Access DB. You will have to do the following process once each for Teams, Players, Contacts and Officials in that order. Open Microsoft Access with the Access Import Database (ImportTables.mdb). Under the File menu click Get External Data and Import. A dialogue will prompt for the Spreadsheet. Please ensure the spreadsheet is saved and NOT open in any program. If you used a spreadsheet with different workbooks for each data type (Teams, Players, Contacts, Officials) select that, or select the separate spreadsheets for Teams, Players, Contacts and Officials. Ensure that you select your spreadsheet’s format under the Files of Type: selection prior to picking your data (the import is picky sometimes if you do not). Once selected you will see the following dialogue.
If you are using a spreadsheet with different workbooks you can select the one you want, in the sample above the Teams workbook was selected. Once the correct workbook is selected, click Next and the following dialogue is presented.
Simply check the box for ‘First Row Contains Column Headings’ and Click Next.
The import is going into an existing
table so select that option
and from the pulldown list select
one of the three tables starting with ‘XImport’ depending on which set
of data you are importing. Click Next
when finished.
Finally on the last dialogue, simply click Finish; no options need to be selected. When done you will receive a message that Access Finished importing the file. If you did not have all the fields correctly filled in with proper data types, you would receive a message like this:
You will need to review the records imported and those that were not. Usually, required fields may be missing or incorrectly formatted.
Once all the data has been imported into the Microsoft Access Import Tables in the Import DB, your work is nearly complete. Close the Access DB and return to the League Analyzer software or start it again. The operation of importing will undo bad data, and attempt to keep you data clean. However, a database backup is highly recommended before importing any data. Under the Reports menu select, Select ‘Import Data from Access DB’. A dialogue will prompt you for an Access DB. Select the one that you Imported data into in Step 3. The Access File will be verified that it contains the correct tables to import and then will display a record count of the number of records that will be imported. You can stop the import by selecting ‘No’ in the dialogue box. If you Select ‘Yes’ then the records will be imported. After the import is finished, a dialogue will describe how many records were imported. To prevent multiple records from being imported (such might be the case if the same import DB was selected twice), the software will not import data if: Team Names are the Same, Player ID Number, First Name and Last Name are the same and Officials First Name and Last Name are the same. All results from the import (records import and those not) will appear in a log file in the programs directory (by default will be C:\Program Files\AnalyzerSoftware\LAFSP\Import.Log). If the software encounters an error it cannot handle, it will put the error in the Log and prompt you with the option of delete any records that were imported prior to the error.
You can now check the different areas of the system to view your data. You may have to click the ‘Refresh’ button on some pages to see the Imported data.