Exercise 13: Further uses of the group attribute

The ability to append data to an existing list allows new values to be added to columns over time. One issue that may arise is the need to append values to more than one column, ensuring that related values are all added at the same row position.

At the end of the previous exercise, the Associations tab of your Parties record will display as follows:

To prepare for the next exercise:

1. Delete the last three attachments.
2. Select Curator from the Role Lookup List for Graham Duffy.

   The Associations tab should display as follows:

   

3. Modify exercise12_append_train1.csv, where Train1 is your login name as follows:

   Column Name (Row 1)	Record 1 (Row 2)
   irn	[Your IRN]
   AssAssociationRef_tab(+).NamFirst	Henry
   AssAssociationRef_tab(+).NamLast	Noremark
   AssRole_tab(+)	Curator

   Our objective is to append a new Parties record for a curator, Henry Noremark.

4. Save the file and perform a Typical import.

   The result is not as expected and while the new Parties record is appended, the role has been applied to the incorrect party:

   

   Again, we're faced with the issue that the Import Tool does not know the relationship between columns. And again, the solution is to use the Group attribute.

5. Modify exercise12_append_train1.csv, where Train1 is your login name as follows:

   Column Name (Row 1)	Record 1 (Row 2)
   irn	[Your IRN]
   AssAssociationRef_tab(+ group='1').NamFirst	Kathie
   AssAssociationRef_tab(+ group='1').NamLast	Reed
   AssRole_tab(+ group='1')
   AssAssociationRef_tab(+ group='2').NamFirst	June
   AssAssociationRef_tab(+ group='2').NamLast	Brown
   AssRole_tab(+ group='2')	Curator

   This time the results are as expected:

   

   Note: The Group attribute may be used with nested tables in the same way they can be with tables.