Question

Photo of Eyob Zeleke

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import data from external application and upload to rockrms

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What is the best way of importing data from an external application and loading it to rockrms? Should I use your APIs to POST? For example, if i have  a list of contacts (Firstname, Lastname, email, phonenumber.....) and want to load it to rockrms, what do you suggest? My original thought was to directly load them to the SQL Person table  in rockrms but i might be battling with a lot of dependent tables in this approach. I learned that you have POST APIs that i can use. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks! 

  • Photo of Jim Michael

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    There is also a free CSV importer plugin in the Rock Shop, that might be easier to use for your simple needs (it sounds like you're not trying to import contribution history and similar) https://www.rockrms.com/Plugin/55

  • Photo of Jay Greentree

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    There isnt an "officially supported" way to import information but Newspring Church has a a script you can try and see if it will work. It requires the information to be saved in csv format. Excavator

  • Photo of Eyob Zeleke

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    Thanks Jay, I will check it out.

  • Photo of Eyob Zeleke

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    Thanks guys for the inputs! To give you  more context, the external application I am trying to pull data out of is called Wild Apricot. Through their APIs I am able to get data and in code (C#) I am trying to transform it and load it to rockrms. I have the data available but not in csv. I would like to see if i can upload from code. Still looking at the Excavator code though if I could get something out of it. Thanks again!

  • Photo of Eyob Zeleke

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    Thanks Nick! That's helpful! I will review the slingshot project as well as the resources. One more question though.....can I bring in a new set of tables and integrate them with the rockrms application? I assume the answer is NO but want to rest my case. Tell me if the following statement is true: I would have to change the data I am importing to fit in with the rockrms data structure right? 

    • Hock_Hin Lee

      Hock_Hin Lee

      You can add new fields by configuring Rock before doing the Import. Refer to the Person Attributes chapter in the "Person & Family Field Manual". Note that there are several ways of adding new fields into Rock. I have not tried Slingshot, but I could import data for newly added fields using Excavator.

      • Nick Airdo

        Nick Airdo

        Depending on the nature of the tables (data) you have and how you want to "integrate" them, you may be looking at something more like what plugin developers do with their custom data described in the 202 dev guide: https://www.rockrms.com/Rock/Developer/BookContent/17/17#savingcustomdata If you haven't read the QuickStart Tutorials and the 101 guide, I'd start with those two first before you jump in too deeply.


        Hock Hin is also correct that Rock supports a very wide range of data field types which can be added to People (and other Rock entities) as attributes. In most people data import cases, this is typically sufficient for holding the data.

      • Photo of Eyob Zeleke

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        Ok, I will checkout the dev guide tutorials. Thank you for directions Hock Hin and Nick!

      • Photo of Bereket Girma

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        I have been using Excavator and it works great.I have never tried CSV importer plugin.

      • Photo of Eyob Zeleke

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        Thanks Bereket!

      • Photo of Eyob Zeleke

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        Are attributes considered as column fields that can be populated with data from the front end? How do I get access to them in code (C#)? We have added attributes to the Person table and now trying to export the data we have through code.