ELF Imports into Custom Files

Katie MorganDatatel Programmer/Analyst

About Linfield

• Four year, co-ed, comprehensive, undergraduate, private

• Enrollment: ~2600• 3 “campuses”– Traditional 4 year liberal arts & sciences plus

business and education in McMinnville– Nursing (transfer-only) in Portland– Adult Degree/Continuing Education in

McMinnville, Portland, and online

About Our ELF Imports

• Approximately 20 ELF specs in regular use– ACT (highly customized)– SAT (highly customized)– CommonApp– NursingCAS– NRCCUA– Peterson’s– And a bunch of others

About Our Custom Files

• Currently using APP.USER fields in the APPLICANTS file.– Many are customized to multi-value and some to

linked entities (aka associations aka sub-files).• Migrating to SQL Server– For metadata customizations that will impact table

structures in SQL Server, we were encouraged to migrate data to custom entities.

The Import Challenge

• We import to these fields on a regular basis.• Options:– Create a custom batch process to run after import

to populate just these fields.– Find a way to make ELF talk to our custom entity.

Disclaimer

This is a work in progress for us, and so is not yet in production at Linfield!

Create Custom Import

1. Create your custom Colleague file (if it doesn’t already exist)

2. Create a custom intermediate file3. Create custom ELF spec mapping the custom

intermediate file to the custom Colleague file

Create Custom Intermediate File

• See Answernet Doc 6678 – however– I don’t know why it says to put the intermediate

file in CORE– It says to put the release status to developing, but

doesn’t tell you to change it to releasable when you’re done

Intermediate File Attributes

• Attributes (aka fields aka columns) must be in a particular order:1. prefix.BATCH2. prefix.TRANSXN3. filename.ADDOPR (create under Attributes)4. filename.ADDDATE (create under Attributes)5. filename.CHGOPR (create under Attributes)6. filename.CHGDATE (create under Attributes)7. prefix.RESULTS

prefix.BATCH

• Create under Attributes• Type = Foreign Key (1-1)• Internal Size = 20• Points to Attribute (under Linkages) =

ELF.BATCH.CONTROL.ID

prefix.TRANSXN

• Create under Attributes• Type = Data• Internal Size = 10

Record “Add” Fields

• filename.ADDOPR– Create under Attributes– Type = Data– Internal Size = 20

• filename.ADDDATE– Create under Attributes– Type = Data– Internal Size = 10– Conversion = D4/

Record “Change” Fields

• filename.CHGOPR– Create under Attributes– Type = Data– Internal Size = 20

• filename.CHGDATE– Create under Attributes– Type = Data– Internal Size = 10– Conversion = D4/

prefix.RESULTS

• Create under Lists• Type = Foreign Key (M-M)• Internal Size = 10• Points to Attribute (under Linkages) =

ELF.TGT.RESULTS.ID

Your Fields

• Add your fields in locations 8 and higher

Define as Intermediate File

• Use RKEY in UI– Set Intermediate File to Yes– Enter your prefix (optional)

• Reimport your entity into Colleague Studio– Close the entity from your editor (if it’s open)– Right-click the entity in the process explorer and

choose Import from the context menu– If you do not do this, your RKEY settings will be

lost when you package this up!

Set up Dependencies• File = ELF.INTER.FILE.DEPS• Record = your custom intermediate file name

– Attribute 1 (ELFINTER.FIELDS) = field name(s) for your foreign key pointer(s) to its related file(s)

– Attribute 2 (ELFINTER.RELATED.FIELDS) = field name(s) for the related file field(s) to which your foreign key(s) point(s)

– Attribute 3 (ELFINTER.CARDINALITIES) = relationship between the foreign key in your custom intermediate file and the field to which it points in the related file• 1 – one and only one• A – at least one• M – zero, one, or many• Z – zero or one

• Special Note: You will need to create a declaration on CDEC to include this item in your package.– Alternative is to create this manually in each environment after installing the rest

Sample Intermediate File:INTER.L25.APPLICANT

Field Names Linked Entity Name

Data Type Loc

INTER.L25.APPLICANT.ID Key 0:1

XIAPP.BATCH Foreign Key (1-1) 1

XIAPP.TRANSXN Data 2

INTER.L25.APPLICANT.ADDOPR Data 3

INTER.L25.APPLICANT.ADDDATE Data 4

INTER.L25.APPLICANT.CHGOPR Data 5

INTER.L25.APPLICANT.CHGDATE Data 6

XIAPP.RESULTS Foreign Key (M-M) 7

XIAPP.APPLICANT.ID Data 8

XIAPP.SOURCE.CODES L25.IAPP.SOURCES List 9

XIAPP.SOURCE.DATES L25.IAPP.SOURCES List 10

XIAPP.OTHER.COLLEGES List 11

XIAPP.TRAVEL.ABROAD.CTRY List 12

Create Custom ELF Spec

• Create it on ELFS• Name it the same name as your intermediate

file.• Now add your target file– If you enter your custom file, you will get an error

message

The Troll on the Bridge

What the elf?

• See Answernet Doc 31796.22– The error message popped by the UI form has

never been delivered by Ellucian.• This message pops when you add a target file

that is not defined as an intermediate file.

How to Get Past the Error:Change the Question

• Enter an intermediate file as target, instead• Choose one with as few required fields as possible• Map the minimum number of fields possible• Save the spec

Clean up the Target File Records

• File = ELF.SPEC.TGT• Record = [your ELF spec name]*[your fake

target file name]• Copy this into a new record = [your ELF spec

name]*[your real target file name]• Delete the fake

Edit the ELF Spec

• File = ELF.SPECS• Record = Your ELF spec name• Edit the following attributes:– Attribute 4 (ELFSPEC.MAPS) – Clear the field

completely– Attribute 5 (ELFSPEC.TGT.FILES) – Change the field

to [your ELF spec name]*[your real target file name]

Now Edit the Field Mappings

• Now clean up your fake field mappings– File = ELF.MAPS– Records = any records with your spec in

ELFMAP.SPEC– Delete them all

Cross that Troll Bridge

• Now you can return to ELFS and finish building your ELF spec.– Build your field maps to the target fields in your

custom Colleague file.– Add any other edits you need.– Generate it.– Test it.– And test it some more.

Some Final Details

• Don’t forget to create duplicate criteria, if applicable

• Don’t forget to create merge criteria

Questions?

Katie MorganDatatel Programmer/AnalystLinfield Collegekmorgan@linfield.edu