Suisoft KitBase - Import Procedure
This short guide is provided to help you to import your own data into KitBase. The guide is written around Excel as the format for your data but the principles are the same for other data sources.
It is recommended that you read through the guide before starting, to familiarise yourself with the process.
This guide is intended for users with basic Excel skills and should not contain programmer jargon.
If you find the process hard to follow or have any questions please get in touch via the Suisoft Contact page
and I will endeavour to improve it and help you to import your data.
- Gary Marples, Developer - Suisoft Limited
Before attempting to import your data into KitBase, you will need to make your spreadsheet as simple as possible and ensure that the data in the cells matches that expected by KitBase.
Important: You should make a backup of your spreadsheet before beginning and always work on a copy.
Ideally, each sheet should conform to the following:
The KitBase importer will allow you to specify the row containing column headings and the row for the first line of data, however the process will be simpler if the spreadsheet is laid out as above.
You don't need to worry about making mistakes, as you can easily clear down KitBase and start again.
If you have a spreadsheet with multiple sheets, you can import each sheet separately.
So that KitBase can automatically match up the columns, you should conform to the KitBase column names on your column headings row (row 1). The KitBase column names are listed below. You can match up the field names later in KitBase but doing it here will save some time if you have to import several times.
Note that all of the fields are optional. You only need to match up the fields for which you have data. The data that goes into the fields is your choice, e.g. you can have kit types of "Aeroplane" and "Vehicle" or you can have "Tanks", "Aircraft (Prop)", "Aircraft (Jet)". There are a few exceptions (for example Status values are fixed to Wanted, Owned, Sold etc) and they are noted below.
Where the term 'Kit' is used, this also applies to accessories (after market).
You can also add custom fields to KitBase. This will be necessary for columns that are not built-in. For these columns, you should use the column headings you would like to see in KitBase, for example "Era" if you want to have a column indicating the era of your kits (e.g. "World War II").
You can add custom fields via the 'Tools / Custom Fields' menu option or via the 'Customise Fields' link above the grid on the Import screen.
If you are only interested in importing your Owned kits, you will only need to match up the following fields:
(use these names in your spreadsheet column headings)
| Accessory Type | Only included if the record is an accessory (e.g. "Cockpit") |
| Kit Type | Indicates the type of kit (e.g. "Helicopter"). If not included, defaults to "(unspecified)" |
| Nation | Indicate the nation of the subject (e.g. "Germany") |
| Real Manufacturer | Indicates the manufacturer of the subject (e.g. "Supermarine" for a Spitfire) |
| Type Number | Indicates the type number (e.g. "F-14" for a Grumman F-14 Tomcat. If you keep the type number and name together, you should import them into name. |
| Name | Indicates the name (e.g. "Tomcat" for a Grumman F-14 Tomcat). |
| Product Manufacturer | The manufacturer of the kit (e.g. "Airfix"). |
| Product Number | The product code of the kit. |
| Product Media | The product media (e.g. "Plastic" or "Resin"). |
| Scale | The scale (e.g. "1:72" or "1/72"). If not included, defaults to "(unspecified)" |
| Location | The location where the kit is stored, e.g. "Back Bedroom Storage Box" |
| Location Number | The location number of the kit, e.g. a box number. MUST BE A WHOLE NUMBER. |
| Date Started | The date when construction of the kit started. MUST BE A VALID DATE, YEAR OR BLANK. |
| Built | Indicates whether the kit is built. Should be "Yes", "No", "Y" or "N". Blank also indicates No. |
| Date Finished | The date when construction of the kit was completed. MUST BE A VALID DATE, YEAR OR BLANK. |
| Date Issued | The date or year when the kit was issued. MUST BE A VALID DATE, YEAR OR BLANK. |
| Original Retail Value | The cash value of the kit at time of retail. |
| Current Market Value | The current market value of the kit. |
| Acquisition Type | Indicates how the kit was purchased. Must be "Bought", "Given", "Traded" or blank. Will default to blank if missing or invalid. |
| Date Acquired | The date when the kit was obtained (e.g. bought). MUST BE A VALID DATE, YEAR OR BLANK. |
| Acquired From | Where the kit was obtained from, for example the name of a retailer or person. |
| Amount Paid | The amount paid for the kit. |
| Shipping Paid (Acquisition) | The amount paid for shipping. |
| Accessory Notes | A memo field containing a list of accessories stored with the kit, along with any other notes. |
| Reference Notes | A memo field containing reference notes for the kit. |
| Paint Reference Notes | A memo field containing paint reference notes for the kit. |
| Import Quantity | This is a special field. KitBase does not have quantity field because a set of 3 kits could have different built states, date finished, acquisition date etc. Instead duplicates are stored. If you include the 'Import Quantity' column the data should contain the number of kits you want to add with data as per the rest of the row. |
If you are interested in importing your Wanted, Sold, Traded, Gifted or Scrapped kits there are additional fields:
| Status | Indicates the state of the kit. Must be "Wanted", "Owned", "Sold", "Traded", "Gifted", "Scrapped". Will default to "Owned" if missing or invalid. |
| Date Disposed | For kits that aren't wanted or owned, contains the date sold/traded/gifted or scrapped. |
| Disposed To | For sold/traded/gifted kits, contains the name of the recipient (e.g. a trader or person). |
| Amount Received | For sold kits, contains the amount you received for the sale of the kit. |
| Shipping Paid (Disposal) | For sold kits, contains the amount YOU paid in shipping. |
Important: You should never re-open a CSV file in Excel and re-save it. Some fields such as scales will be misinterpreted by Excel and will become unusable. To update the data, always edit the Excel spreadsheet (XLS or XLSX) and re-save as CSV.
Each sheet in your spreadsheet should be saved as a 'CSV (Comma delimited)' file.
Ensure that you have saved the original spreadsheet as an XLS (or XLSX) file first.
In Excel 2007 and above, the procedure is:
In earlier versions of Excel, the procedure is:
You may receive a warning saying that the file type 'does not support workbooks that contain multiple sheets'. This is normal and indicates that the CSV file will only contain the current sheet. You can click OK.
You may also receive a warning saying that 'features are not compatible with CSV (Comma delimited)'. This is also normal and indicates that formatting will not be saved in the CSV. You can click YES.
Now that you have a CSV you can move on to importing it into KitBase. If you have followed the guidelines above and have a simple spreadsheet with a single row of headings followed by clean data, this should be the easy part (famous last words!)
You may want to start with a clean database if you have been experimenting. To do so, start up KitBase and go into the 'File / Clear Down Database and Images' menu option. This will delete the KitBase database and associated documents and images. You should make a backup first if you want to retain the data
After clearing down you will need to restart KitBase and create a new database.
IMPORTANT: You may want to untick the 'Create common master lists' box, so that the Kit Types, Real Manufacturers, Scales etc are empty allowing the import to fill them in from your data.
Start KitBase and go into the 'Tools / Import' menu. Alternatively, you can click the 'Import' button on the toolbar.
Click the 'Open File...' button and browse to your CSV file. Click Open.
You will now see a preview of the CSV data. The data that will be imported is shown in Green. The column headings row is shown in blue. Any blank rows will be greyed out, indicating that they will be skipped.
If you have placed the column headings in row 1 and matched the names, you should see that the column names are already selected in the drop down lists above the grid.
If the column headings are on a different row, you should click the row. The row number will show in the 'Column Name Line' box. You should see that rows above the colum headings are greyed out, indicating that they will be excluded from the import.
The 'First Data Line' box should refer to the line number underneath the column headings. If your data starts further down you will need to manually edit the number in the 'First Data Line' box.
You should review the column name drop downs above the grid and ensure that they are all correctly matched. Any that are left blank will result in the data in the column being ignored.
When you are happy with that the column names are matched and that the correct rows (those marked in green) will be imported, you can click 'Validate' to check the CSV file.
After validation, a list of messages may be shown underneath the grid. These will indicate Excel style row numbers and column names. The messages will indicate the type of issue. You may need to fix the data in the spreadsheet and export the CSV again. If you overwrite the same file you can simply press Refresh to reload the same CSV file then Validate again.
If you are happy with the warnings or have cleared them all, you can now click Import to pull the data into KitBase.
You should now spend some time spot checking records in KitBase versus the spreadsheet. Make sure that the data has been imported correctly.
If you need to re-import some data, you can delete the rows from the database or simply clear down again ('File / Clear Down Database and Images').
KitBase has some built in views to help with removal of import batches (the 'By Import Batch' views). Simply click the view name ('By Import Batch') to the top left of the Kit List screen then use the drop down list to filter the first column. With the filter in place, press CTRL+A to select all rows then click the 'Delete' button. This will delete the batch.