How to Add Data to a Field Automatically During Import

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How to Import Your Word List to the Term Table - May 16, 2004

The following tip applies to Biblioscape version 6.2 and later.

Biblioscape term table allows user to pick a word from an existing list during data input. For example, you may create a list of commonly used terminology in your field. While entering data to the Keywords field, you can go to "Edit | Insert Term" and pick from such a list. This will make sure the terms entered in a consistent way.

Import a simple word list:

If you have a list of terms and want to import it into the term table. First save it as a plain text file with a term in each line. In Biblioscape, go to "Edit | Insert Term...". Click on the "Import" button. Select the plain text file you just saved. Biblioscape will prompt you to enter a category name for all the terms to be imported. Please give an appropriate category name.

Import a term list with shortcut and category fields:

The following tutorial will show to how to import a list of country name along with shortcut and category fields.

1. In your Web browser, go to the following URL: http://www.loc.gov/marc/countries/cou_ascii.html. Select all the country names table and press Ctrl+C. Start NotePad and press Ctrl+V to paste. Save the NotePad as a file names "country.txt".

2. Start Microsoft Excel and go to "File | Open..." to open the "country.txt" file. Choose "Fixed width" option. If you are importing a tab or comma delimited file, choose "Delimited" instead. Click Next button twice until the import is finishied.

2. In Microsoft Excel, you need to have 3 columns "Term", "Shortcut", and "Category". So first select the column A and press Ctrl+X to cut. Move the cursor to the first row of column C and press Ctrl+V to paste. Select the empty column A again and go to "Edit | Delete" to remove it. Move the cursor to the first row of column C, type "Country" and press "Enter" key. Select the cell "Country" move the cursor to the bottom right corner, press the left mouse button and drag it all the way to the end of the sheet. So the word country is filled to every cell in column C.

3. In Excel, go to "File | Save" and save it as a tab delimited file.

4. In Biblioscape, go to "Edit | Insert Term". Click on the "Import" button and select the file you saved in step 3. After all the terms got imported, click on the "+" button after the Category lookup box. Type "Country" as the new category name if it is not in there already. You can now select "Country" using the Category lookup box to only display all the country names your just imported.

5. Now, when you need to enter a country name in Biblioscape, you can just go to "Edit | Insert Term". Select the country name you need and press the Insert button.