ReaderwareVW Import Wizard

ReaderwareVW can import data from other databases and programs. This can be useful if you are currently using another product to maintain your video collection and want to upgrade to the power of ReaderwareVW. As long as your current program can export data to one of the two industry standard formats, you can transfer your existing data into ReaderwareVW.

ReaderwareVW can import:
CSV or Comma Separated Value files - These files contain the data for each database column separated by a comma. The first line of the file is a mapping line which allows you to map the data to ReaderwareVW database column names.

TAB Delimited Files - These are similar to CSV files except that the data is separated by the tab character. Again the first line of the file is a mapping line which allows you to map the data to ReaderwareVW database column names.

Mapping data for import into ReaderwareVW

A CSV or TAB delimited file is organized much like a spreadsheet. Each record in the file is a row in the spreadsheet. Each record contains the data for each column in that row.

Here is an example of a CSV file:
"Title","Director","Certification"
"Trial and Error","Hill, James","Not Rated"
The problem is how does ReaderwareVW know what order the columns are in? The mapping line is key to importing data into ReaderwareVW. The first row of the file is the mapping line and it identifies which ReaderwareVW database columns the data should be imported into. This is a common technique used with CSV and TAB delimited files, your file may already have a mapping line as the first line of the file. or it may just contain the data. You need to open the file using a text editor like Notepad or TextEdit. Look at the first line. If there is a mapping line, you need to change the column names to match the ReaderwareVW column names. If it is not there, you need to add the line.

If there are columns in the file you do not want to import into ReaderwareVW you can use a column name of "Junk". Any column name that ReaderwareVW does not recognize will be skipped.

ReaderwareVW Column Names

Use the following table to build the mapping line.


ReaderwareVW Column Names
Column Name Contents
Title Video title, required
Alt_Title Alternate video title
Actor-1 - Actor-5 Actors, you can import a maximum of 5 actors
Director Director
Producer Producer
Screenwriter Screenwriter
Writer Writer
Editor Editor
Photographer Photographer
Composer Composer
UPC UPC
LCCN LCCN - Library of Congress Card Catalog Number
Dewey Dewey Decimal Number
Call_Number Library of Congress Call Number
ISBN ISBN - International Standard Book Number
User_Number Used for your own numbering system
Barcode The raw barcode
Publisher Studio
Place Place of publication
Release_date Date of publication
Copyright_date Copyright date
Region DVD or Blu-ray region code
Certification National certification or rating, MPAA, BBFC etc.
Running_Time Video running time
Content_Language Language
Copies Number of copies of this video
Format Hardcover, Paperback etc.
Series Series
Sound Sound, Mono, Stereo etc.
Color Color B&W etc.
Aspect_Ratio Aspect ratio
Anamorphic Anamorphic? True or False
Subtitled Subtitled? True or False
Closed_Cap Close captioned? True or False
Item_Condition Condition of the video
Cover_Condition Condition of the video jacket
Category1 - Category3 Video categories, ReaderwareVW supports up to 3 categories
Keywords Video related keywords separated by commas. 255 characters maximum
Product_Info Video information, synopsis, reviews etc. 65536 characters maximum
Extras_Info DVD Extras, 65536 characters maximum
My_Comments Your comments on this video. 65536 characters maximum
My_Rating Personal video rating
Transfer_Rating Transfer quality
Favorite Favorite video? True or False
Playlist Include in playlist? True or False
Played_Count Number of times you have played this video
Last_Played_Date Last time you played this video
Book The book the movie was based on
Author Author of the book the movie was based on
Location Physical location of this video
Dimensions Physical dimensions
Weight Shipping weight of this video
Source The source of the information, i.e. web site it was cataloged from
Item_Value Current value of this video
Valuation_Date Date this video was last valued
List_Price List price of video
Purchase_Price Amount paid for the video
Purchase_Date Date this video was purchased
Purchase_Place Where this video was purchased
Out_Of_Print Out of print? True or False
Currency_symbol Currency symbol used for all prices
Media_URL Link to related media, e.g. MP3 file
Owner Owner of this video
Status Status, must be one of Own, Want, Ordered, For Sale, Sold, Withdrawn, Missing
External_ID External ID for this video, IMDb for example
AM_ASIN Amazon ASIN
Sale_Price Sale price
Sale_Date Date sold
New_Value Value of a new copy
New_Count Number of new copies available
Used_Value Value of a used copy
Used_Count Number of used copies available
Collectible_Value Value of a collectible copy
Collectible_Count Number of collectible copies available
Buyer_Waiting Buyer waiting for a copy of this video
Sales_Rank Sales ranking of this video
Loan_To If the video is checked out, the name of the borrower
Loan_To_Brwr_ID If the video is checked out, the ID of the borrower
Loan_To_Email If the video is checked out, the e-mail address of the borrower
Loan_To_Phone If the video is checked out, the phone number of the borrower
Loan_Out If the video is checked out, the date the video was checked out
Loan_Due If the video is checked out, the due date of the video
Loan_Count The number of times the video has been loaned out
Last_Loan_Date The date the video was last loaned out
User1 - User10 User defined fields. ReaderwareVW supports up to 10 user defined fields. Maximum length 255 characters
IMAGE1_FILE The full path of the first thumbnail sized image file
IMAGE2_FILE The full path of the second thumbnail sized image file
IMAGE3_FILE The full path of the third thumbnail sized image file
IMAGE4_FILE The full path of the fourth thumbnail sized image file
LARGE_IMAGE1_FILE The full path of the first large sized image file
LARGE_IMAGE2_FILE The full path of the second large sized image file
LARGE_IMAGE3_FILE The full path of the third large sized image file
LARGE_IMAGE4_FILE The full path of the fourth large sized image file


If you use an invalid column name, the data in that column is not imported. This can be useful. If the file contains some columns that you do not want to import into ReaderwareVW, use a column name like "JUNK" and the data will be ignored.

Importing

These are the basic steps:
  1. Indicate the format of the file you are going to import
  2. Select the file
  3. Run the ReaderwareVW import
  4. Check the results
Note: If the Allow Duplicates option is on ReaderwareVW will accept duplicate ISBNs. If the Allow Duplicates option is off, duplicate ISBNs will be rejected.

Format Selection

This is the first page of the ReaderwareVW import wizard. The first step is to select which format the file you are importing is in. Your choices are CSV, (Comma Separated Value) or TAB delimited. See above for more information on the file formats.


File Selection

You need to tell ReaderwareVW the name of the file you wish to import and where it is located. Click on the Browse button and select the file using the standard file selection dialog.

For TAB delimited and CSV files you can also select the file encoding. You are importing data from another program into Readerware. It is important that Readerware uses the correct encoding when reading the file. If there is a mismatch then data may not transfer correctly.
Automatic detection - In most cases Readerware can determine the encoding by examining the file. This is the default selection and you should normally use this and only specify an explicit encoding if there is a problem.
ANSI - This is your system encoding and is the default. It will work for databases that contain the system language.
Unicode (little endian) - Unicode is a double byte character set and can handle virtually any language and any combination of languages. Little endian is used on Intel systems.
Unicode (big endian) - Unicode is a double byte character set and can handle virtually any language and any combination of languages. Big endian is used on other systems like PPC.
UTF-8 - UTF-8 is a variable width encoding and can handle all characters in the Unicode character set. It has become popular as you don't need to worry about endianness.
In general you should use automatic detection. If Readerware is unable to determine the encoding used, you can select the correct encoding from the list.

Verification Page

Next up is the verification page. This is your last chance to change your settings prior to running ReaderwareVW import. A quick summary of your choices is listed. Click on Next> if you are ready to go. Click on Back if you want to change your choices.

Import Running Page

When you reach this page, your ReaderwareVW import is running. You will see a progress bar that will update as ReaderwareVW imports the data from the file.

When the import completes, click on the Next button to proceed to the final page of this wizard.

Import Completed Page

This page displays the overall import statistics:
Normally this is all the information you need to ensure your data was imported correctly. If user logging is enabled, ReaderwareVW also creates a log file. This file lists each video and any error messages. Click on the View Log button. or you can view this log

When you are done, click the Finish button to exit the import wizard.

Import Errors

There are a few errors that can occur when importing data:

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