Complete: How to go about planning my imports?

[jimrecht]

Hi John:

Not sure if this is the correct forum for my question (since it's specific to SeedCode Complete), but here goes:

As you know, I currently use the previous version SeedCode Complete (for FM 8.5+), in a rather extensively modified form.

Now I have two goals:

1) To build out my shiny new copy of Complete (for FM 11) so that its interface file corresponds (more-or-less) to my current solution's interface, and its data file corresponds to my current solution's data;

2) Then, to import my existing data.

I'm afraid I may have overlooked something in the documentation you've created to accompany "Complete for FM 11" -- but I can't find any information addressing these two specific issues.

Can you steer me in the right direction?

Yours,
Jim Recht

[John Sindelar]

Hey Jim,

We have some notes about importing your contacts here: http://www.seedcode.com/pmwiki/pmwiki.php?n=SeedCodeComplete2.ImportingContacts

But since your solution is specific to what you've build, I don't think you'll find much in our docs about how to add your existing features, layouts etc to Complete. You just have a lot of work ahead of you.

I can give you some guidelines though that we use when moving big features from one solution to another. It's all about the order you do things. So let's say you have a layout or part of a layout you want to move from one file to another...

- Begin by adding the layout's table to the new file if it isn't there already. Most of your big tables will already be in Complete (Contacts, Invoices) but they'll have different fields.

- Then relate that tables to others on the graph and clean up and calcs that were commented out when you imported the table in (or pasted fields in)

- Then add any value lists the layout or its scripts may need. Same with custom functions.

- Now create a new blank layout for this layout, giving it the correct name and basing it on the right table.

- Paste or import any scripts the layout uses into the new file (everything you've done so far is to make sure that script find everything it needs when it arrives and does so without error).

- Finally you paste the layout contents into the new layout: again, those fields and buttons should find the fields and scripts they're looking for. The whole trick is to first create the objects subsequently imported objects will want to find when they arrive.

As you can tell, it is more of an art than a science and we do offer consulting if you'd like to know more.

Hope that helps,

John

_________________
John Sindelar
SeedCode LLC

[jimrecht]

Thank you John: your reply is super-helpful as usual!