[ANN] CSV Importer for ActiveRecord

Rails
1

Hey all,

Just thought I’d let you all know that I’ve posted a CSV importer
plugin for Rails that adds an import method to ActiveRecord:
http://www.stephenbartholomew.co.uk/2007/7/20/csv-importer-for-rails.

It’s fairly basic at the moment but I’ve been using it a fair bit.
Check it out and let me know what you think.

Cheers,

Steve

2

Stephen B. wrote:

Hey all,

Just thought I’d let you all know that I’ve posted a CSV importer
plugin for Rails that adds an import method to ActiveRecord:
http://www.stephenbartholomew.co.uk/2007/7/20/csv-importer-for-rails.

It’s fairly basic at the moment but I’ve been using it a fair bit.
Check it out and let me know what you think.

Cheers,

Steve
Well, I need to import a CSV file, but I may be too new to Rails to use
it.

I downloaded it to the vendor/plugins directory, but now don’t know what
to do with it. The code on your site appears to be OK, but I don’t know
where to place the pieces.

I have to manipulate the imported data considerably before writing it to
the database.

3

Alan,

I dont know if it may be of help, but I had a similar situation, where
I have to transfer data in csv (actually newline and tab delimited
text) into a database model. The approach I have taken, which has
served me well was to create a model just for the imported data.
Creating a method for each field. The structure of the data was such
that for me it was best to use split functions rather than try to
parse the data.

Now I can take a row from the incoming file, and call new on the csv
model. This then splits the data and holds it in a partial form. eg.
I have to initially split multiple records that are separated by \n–
\n etc. I can then decide to hold partially in the best form for the
structure I am dealing with. Then I can pull out the fields as I need
them.

The data contains Customer, Order and Lineitem information. So
internally in the imported data model, I hold the customer fields as
an array, the Order fields as an array, and the Lineitems as an array
of Class LineItem ( a Class within the imported order model.

Also then I have included in the model, methods for order_fields,
customer_fields and line_item fields. These return a hash of the
fields which can be used to create a new instance of the database
model.

By using a model for the csv data, it makes it easy to test and
maintainn being easier to adapt if the csv format changes. And means
the controller part of the code is kept clean as follows:

@data_records.each do |row|
lines=ImportedOrder.new(row)

  # create the order and line_items
  @order=Order.new(line.order_fields)
  @order.customer=Customer.new(line.customer_fields)
  line.line_items.each do |item|
    @line_item=LineItem.new(item.fields)
    @order.line_items<<@line_item
  end

   @order.save

end

I have stripped out some extra stuff to test for different types of
order, count updated records and provide logging etc. I have also
changed the naming to make more general, so I hope the above is
correct. Anyway, the point I am trying to make is that if you
implement the right methods at the model level, it should be fairly
simple to create the database records based on that model.

hth
Tonypm

4

Tonypm,

I really appreciate this! I’m not certain that I understand all that
you said, but I think I can figure it out. I have Agile Web D.
on Rails and several Ruby books, including, of course, the Pickaxe.

The program I’m writing is one that I already wrote in PHP, but after a
year away from it, I find it very difficult to maintain. It puts the
input data into a bunch of Celko trees.