Importing and Exporting Data

The Navigational Data Access commands append from and copy to can respectively be used to import and export Recital data.

The SQL statements create table and insert allow data to be imported from XML files and the into, save as and to clauses supported by the SQL select statement offer a wide range of export formats for the selected rows.

Import From Text Files

The append from command imports data into the currently selected table from the specified file of the stated format. The file extension of the imported file is assumed to be '.csv' for type csv and '.txt' for all other types unless included.

append from <filename> 
[while <condition as logical>] [for <condition as logical>]
[type] sdf | fixed | delimited | delimited with blank | delimited with <delimiter> | csv

Examples

use example
// Standard data file
append from custsdf sdf
// Fixed length fields
append from custfix fixed
// Delimited (',' separated, "" around character fields)
append from custdel delimited
// Delimited with blank (single space separates fields)
append from custblank delimited with blank
// Delimited with <delimiter> (',' separated, <delimiter> around character fields)
append from custpipe delimited with |
// Microsoft Excel compatible comma-separated
append from custcsv csv

Import from XML

The create table statement allows a new table to be created from metadata stored in an XML file and the data to be optionally loaded.

create table <table>
  [from] xml <.xml file> [load]

Example

create table customer2;
  from xml cust.xml load

The SQL insert statement supports the import of data from an XML file:

insert into <table> from [xml] <xml filename>

Example

insert into products;
  from xml prices.xml

Import Live Data using SQL Connectivity Functions

Export to Text Files

select <column-definition> from <table-definition> to file <filename>

Examples

select * from shippers to file shiptxt

Export to XML

select <column-definition> from <table-definition> into xml <xml filename>

or

select <column-definition> from <table-definition> save as xml <xml filename>

Examples

select employeeid, lastname, firstname;
  from employees into xml emp
select employeeid, lastname, firstname;
  from employees save as xml emp

Export to HTML

select <column-definition> from <table-definition> into html <html filename>

Export to JSON

select <column-definition> from <table-definition> into json <filename>

Importing and Exporting Data

Contents