Bulk Global Import & Export
- Nick Judson
- Jonathan Reis
In 15.1, it’s possible to import and export individual globals. 16.0 introduces bulk import and export. This enhancement enables the import of ‘common’ globals into newly provisioned Connexion systems, as well as the ability to compare global values across different systems.
Bulk global import operations should only be performed on empty, non-production systems. Bulk overwriting global values on an operational Connexion is very dangerous. This feature is provided for power-users.
Globals are included within channel files. Bulk exporting channels from an existing system and importing those channels into a new empty system is the recommended way to provision new Connexion systems.
Bulk importing is a potentially breaking operation, and therefore the import operation is protected. The following conditions must be met to perform an import:
The user has the ‘Manage Globals’ permission.
The system is operating in Admin mode.
The user has the password which was applied to the globals file.
Exporting
Bulk exporting creates a file containing all globals (it isn’t possible to export a subset of globals). The bulk export operation is done by clicking the bulk export button on the globals screen:
You will be prompted to select a filename and a password. The password will be required by the import operation.
Importing
To import a bulk globals file, select the bulk import button on the globals screen. You must have the ‘manage globals’ permission as well as be in admin mode.
You will be prompted for a filename and a password. The system will then parse the file and compare the contents against the existing globals. The results are displayed within a comparison dialog:
The comparison dialog displays the globals within the export file, matching them with globals in the current system (where possible). If a match is found, the dialog displays the current system value and the importing value. If not match is found, the dialog displays ‘[Doesn’t Exist]'. Note that non-textual globals require you to click on a hyperlink to view the values.
Globals which would overwrite existing values are displayed in Red. If you overwrite an existing global value, all channels referencing that global will be updated.
When using the check/uncheck hyperlinks, only globals detected as new are selected. Globals displayed in red (overwrite existing) must be checked one-by-one (to minimize accidental import).
If you are importing into an empty system and select globals which are children of non-existent groups or tabs, the required groups and tabs will be created.