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Importing, Merging, and Exporting Ingredients

Importing Ingredients

To help save you time when entering ingredient data, Rock Maker lets you import ingredients from an XML file or text file.

1. On the Explorer, expand Setup, and double-click Ingredients.
2. Right-click the Ingredients table and select Import Ingredients.
3. Next to Files of type, select the type of file you want to import. Your choices are XML and TXT.
4. Navigate to the file that contains the ingredient information.
5. Select the file and then click Open. The ingredients in the file are added to the Ingredients table.

While importing the ingredients file, Rock Maker will compare the imported ingredient names, short names, aliases and CAS numbers with those already found in the Rock Maker database. If a match is found, Rock Maker will automatically invoke the Merge Ingredients dialog box.

Merging Ingredients

While importing ingredients, Rock Maker will compare the imported ingredient names, short names, aliases and CAS numbers with those already found in the Rock Maker database. If any partial matches between the incoming and existing ingredients are identified, or if an incoming ingredient is not found in the database, Rock Maker will open the Ingredient Import dialog box (shown below), which will allow you to resolve these conflicts before continuing with the import. In this dialog box, you can choose to save the incoming ingredient as a new ingredient or merge the incoming ingredient with an existing one by combining properties from both.

The functions in this dialog box are nearly identical to those found in the Screen Import dialog box that displays when ingredient conflicts are identified during a screen import. The only difference is that in the Ingredient Import dialog box, you do not see a list of conditions.

Please see Importing Screen Conditions for step-by-step instructions about merging ingredients.

Exporting Ingredients

You can export ingredients to CSV, Excel, Text, Word, XML, and XML Spreadsheets.

Note: Ingredients exported in XML file format can be imported later in Rock Maker. This feature is useful for sharing ingredients with a site that is using a different copy of Rock Maker. Rock Maker's XML template for ingredients and screens is an open format that is available to anyone who wishes to use it for development purposes.

1. Right-click the Ingredients table, point to Export Ingredients, and select the file format in which you want to export ingredients.

Note: You can export selected ingredients only in XML file format. In all other file formats, the complete Ingredients table will be exported. Hold down the SHIFT key or the CTRL key to select multiple ingredients.

If you want to export the entire Ingredients table, you must first select all of the ingredients. You can easily do this by selecting the first ingredient in the table, and then while holding down the SHIFT key, selecting the last ingredient.

2. In the dialog box that displays, navigate to the location in which you want to save the export file.
3. In the File name box, you can replace the default name with a name of your choosing.
4. Click Save.

Proper Text File Format

When importing a text file of ingredients, you must make sure it has the proper format. Following are a few notes about the format of the file:

• All data for each ingredient must be contained on a single line.
• For each ingredient, values for the following columns from the Ingredients table should be included: Type, Name, Short Name, Conc. Units, Stock Conc., Low Conc. and High Conc.
• Buffer ingredients should include the following additional values: Stock Low pH, Stock High pH, Low pH, High pH and pKa.
• On each line of the file, data items must be separated by commas.

XML Format

The XML format provides a hierarchical way to organize data, so for each ingredient it is possible to include its stocks, CAS numbers, aliases and other information. We recommend that you import from an XML file whenever possible.

CAS Numbers

The Chemical Abstracts Service (CAS) of the American Chemical Society assigns a unique numerical identifier to chemical compounds, polymers, mixtures and other such substances. The CAS No.s table allows you to record the CAS number assigned to an ingredient used in Rock Maker.

When Rock Maker is importing ingredient data from a file, the CAS number, along with the ingredient's name and alias, helps the application identify matches between the ingredient data file and the Rock Maker database. You should enter an ingredient's CAS numbers whenever possible.

 

To add a CAS number:

 

1. Right-click the CAS No.s table and select Add CAS. A new row is inserted.
2. Type the ingredient's CAS number in the new row.

Related Topics

• Adding and Editing Ingredients
• Searching for Ingredients
• Printing Ingredient Labels
• Calculating Buffer Titration Curves
• Viewing the Buffer Mixing Curve