backend-import-export.md

Importing & Exporting

• Introduction
• Configuring the behavior
  • Import page
  • Export page
  • Format options
• Import and export views
  • Import view
  • Export view
• Defining an import model
• Defining an export model
• Custom options
• Integration with list behavior

Introduction

The Import Export behavior is a controller behavior that provides features for importing and exporting data. The behavior provides two pages called Import and Export. The Import page allows a user to upload a CSV file and match the columns to the database. The Export page is the opposite and allows a user to download columns from the database as a CSV file. The behavior provides the controller actions import() and export().

The behavior configuration is defined in two parts, each part depends on a special model class along with a list and form field definition file. In order to use the Import Export behavior you should add the \Backend\Behaviors\ImportExportController::class definition to the $implement property of the controller class.

class Products extends Controller
{
    /**
     * @var array List of behaviors implemented by this controller
     */
    public $implement = [
        \Backend\Behaviors\ImportExportController::class,
    ];
}

Configuring the behavior

The Import Export behaviour will load its configuration in the YAML format from a config_import_export.yaml file located in the controller's views directory (plugins/myauthor/myplugin/controllers/mycontroller/config_import_export.yaml) by default.

This can be changed by overriding the $importExportConfig property on your controller to reference a different filename or a full configuration array:

public $importExportConfig = 'my_custom_import_export_config.yaml';

Below is an example of a typical Import Export behavior configuration file:

# ===================================
#  Import/Export Behavior Config
# ===================================

import:
    title: Import subscribers
    modelClass: Acme\Campaign\Models\SubscriberImport
    list: $/acme/campaign/models/subscriber/columns.yaml

export:
    title: Export subscribers
    modelClass: Acme\Campaign\Models\SubscriberExport
    list: $/acme/campaign/models/subscriber/columns.yaml

The configuration options listed below are optional. Define them if you want the behavior to support the Import or Export, or both.

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Option	Description
defaultRedirect	used as a fallback redirection page when no specific redirect page is defined.
import	a configuration array or reference to a config file for the Import page.
export	a configuration array or reference to a config file for the Export page.
defaultFormatOptions	a configuration array or reference to a config file for the default CSV format options.

Import page

To support the Import page add the following configuration to the YAML file:

import:
    title: Import subscribers
    modelClass: Acme\Campaign\Models\SubscriberImport
    list: $/acme/campaign/models/subscriberimport/columns.yaml
    redirect: acme/campaign/subscribers

The following configuration options are supported for the Import page:

Option	Description
title	a page title, can refer to a localization string.
list	defines the list columns available for importing.
form	provides additional fields used as import options, optional.
redirect	redirection page when the import is complete, optional
permissions	user permissions needed to perform the operation, optional

Export page

To support the Export page add the following configuration to the YAML file:

export:
    title: Export subscribers
    modelClass: Acme\Campaign\Models\SubscriberExport
    list: $/acme/campaign/models/subscriberexport/columns.yaml
    redirect: acme/campaign/subscribers

The following configuration options are supported for the Export page:

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Option	Description
title	a page title, can refer to a localization string.
fileName	the file name to use for the exported file, default export.csv.
list	defines the list columns available for exporting.
form	provides additional fields used as import options, optional.
redirect	redirection page when the export is complete, optional.
useList	set to true or the value of a list definition to enable integration with Lists, default: false.

Format options

To override the default CSV format options add the following configuration to the YAML file:

defaultFormatOptions:
    delimiter: ';'
    enclosure: '"'
    escape: '\'
    encoding: 'utf-8'

The following configuration options (all optional) are supported for the format options:

Option	Description
delimiter	Delimiter character.
enclosure	Enclosure character.
escape	Escape character.
encoding	File encoding (only used for the import).

Import and export views

For each page feature Import and Export you should provide a view file with the corresponding name - import.htm and export.htm.

The import/export behavior adds two methods to the controller class: importRender and exportRender. These methods render the importing and exporting sections as per the YAML configuration file described above.

Import view

The import.htm view represents the Import page that allows users to import data. A typical Import page contains breadcrumbs, the import section itself, and the submission buttons. The data-request attribute should refer to the onImport AJAX handler provided by the behavior. Below is a contents of the typical import.htm view file.

<?= Form::open(['class' => 'layout']) ?>

    <div class="layout-row">
        <?= $this->importRender() ?>
    </div>

    <div class="form-buttons">
        <button
            type="submit"
            data-control="popup"
            data-handler="onImportLoadForm"
            data-keyboard="false"
            class="btn btn-primary">
            Import records
        </button>
    </div>

<?= Form::close() ?>

Export view

The export.htm view represents the Export page that allows users to export a file from the database. A typical Export page contains breadcrumbs, the export section itself, and the submission buttons. The data-request attribute should refer to the onExport AJAX handler provided by the behavior. Below is a contents of the typical export.htm form.

<?= Form::open(['class' => 'layout']) ?>

    <div class="layout-row">
        <?= $this->exportRender() ?>
    </div>

    <div class="form-buttons">
        <button
            type="submit"
            data-control="popup"
            data-handler="onExportLoadForm"
            data-keyboard="false"
            class="btn btn-primary">
            Export records
        </button>
    </div>

<?= Form::close() ?>

Defining an import model

For importing data you should create a dedicated model for this process which extends the Backend\Models\ImportModel class. Here is an example class definition:

class SubscriberImport extends \Backend\Models\ImportModel
{
    /**
     * @var array The rules to be applied to the data.
     */
    public $rules = [];

    public function importData($results, $sessionKey = null)
    {
        foreach ($results as $row => $data) {

            try {
                $subscriber = new Subscriber;
                $subscriber->fill($data);
                $subscriber->save();

                $this->logCreated();
            }
            catch (\Exception $ex) {
                $this->logError($row, $ex->getMessage());
            }

        }
    }
}

The class must define a method called importData used for processing the imported data. The first parameter $results will contain an array containing the data to import. The second parameter $sessionKey will contain the session key used for the request.

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Method	Description
logUpdated()	Called when a record is updated.
logCreated()	Called when a record is created.
logError(rowIndex, message)	Called when there is a problem with importing the record.
logWarning(rowIndex, message)	Used to provide a soft warning, like modifying a value.
logSkipped(rowIndex, message)	Used when the entire row of data was not imported (skipped).

Defining an export model

For exporting data you should create a dedicated model which extends the Backend\Models\ExportModel class. Here is an example:

class SubscriberExport extends \Backend\Models\ExportModel
{
    public function exportData($columns, $sessionKey = null)
    {
        $subscribers = Subscriber::all();
        $subscribers->each(function($subscriber) use ($columns) {
            $subscriber->addVisible($columns);
        });
        return $subscribers->toArray();
    }
}

The class must define a method called exportData used for returning the export data. The first parameter $columns is an array of column names to export. The second parameter $sessionKey will contain the session key used for the request.

Custom options

Both import and export forms support custom options that can be introduced using form fields, defined in the form option in the import or export configuration respectively. These values are then passed to the Import / Export model and are available during processing.

import:
    [...]
    form: $/acme/campaign/models/subscriberimport/fields.yaml

export:
    [...]
    form: $/acme/campaign/models/subscriberexport/fields.yaml

The form fields specified will appear on the import/export page. Here is an example fields.yaml file contents:

# ===================================
#  Form Field Definitions
# ===================================

fields:
    auto_create_lists:
        label: Automatically create lists
        type: checkbox
        default: true

The value of the form field above called auto_create_lists can be accessed using $this->auto_create_lists inside the importData method of the import model. If this were the export model, the value would be available inside the exportData method instead.

class SubscriberImport extends \Backend\Models\ImportModel
{
    public function importData($results, $sessionKey = null)
    {
        if ($this->auto_create_lists) {
            // Do something
        }

        [...]
    }
}

Integration with list behavior

There is an alternative approach to exporting data that uses the list behavior to provide the export data. In order to use this feature you should have the \Backend\Behaviors\ListController::class definition to the $implement field of the controller class. You do not need to use an export view and all the settings will be pulled from the list. Here is the only configuration needed:

export:
    useList: true

If you are using multiple list definitions, then you can supply the list definition:

export:
    useList: orders
    fileName: orders.csv

The useList option also supports extended configuration options.

export:
    useList:
        definition: orders
        raw: true

The following configuration options are supported:

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Option	Description
definition	the list definition to source records from, optional.
raw	output the raw attribute values from the record, default: false.