[Vtigercrm-developers] Receiving data from outside sources

[Mike Fedyk]

Jeff Kowalczyk wrote:

>Mike Fedyk wrote:
>  
>
>>There is a post on the forum asking how to add data to vtiger from an
>>outside source.  It's a good question and I'd like to know the answer
>>too.  Do we have something for this already?
>>http://forums.vtiger.com/viewtopic.php?t=5065
>>    
>>
>
>This ties in with some things I've been thinking about in regards to our
>use of adodb-schema, .sql files, and sample data:
>  
>

The focus of the question is how to get data in and out of vtiger using 
public interfaces from another automated system.  I would like to renew 
that question.  Is SOAP the only and/or best answer in this area?

>Sample Data and Bulk Loading of Customer Data
>---------------------------------------------
>
>Second, I love that we have sample dataset. I would like to see it
>maintained as a separate .sql file, containing only bulk-load statements.
>Perhaps even one bulk load file per table.
>
>If we separate out the bulk load statement sql files, and document how
>they are created, enterprising users can easily recreate them with a
>spreadsheet, some cut and paste, and a bit of elbow-grease. They are
>basically TSV files with a few start and end control characters.
>
>Less enterprising users can pay a helpful vtigercrm consultant to do it
>for them ;)
>
>  
>

I think we need to avoid inserting data directly into the SQL database.  
One of the key areas for CRM is importing data from other systems.  So 
we should have the data in CSV (and other formats if someone wants to 
contribute the converter) that is imported during the install process 
for the various modules.

The converter doesn't have to have a pretty face, just a function call 
that imports from a CSV file at first.  Pretty interfaces for users can 
come later.  The main goal is to have the functionality.

This avoids storing the data in a database specific format and it 
strengthens our import capabilities.

Mike