Maconomy Reference Guide

Specification of Input Data Fields Tab

This section includes the fields and descriptions for the Specification of Input Data Fields tab.

Field Description Island

Field Description
Record ID This field displays the record ID assigned to the current input data field. When you create an input data field, you must write the name of the record ID that should be assigned to the field. You cannot change record IDs assigned to existing input data fields.

By specifying a record ID, you split up fields in groups. On any given record it is possible to assign a record meaning that all fields with the specified ID are assigned to the field and displayed in the table part of the record in question. Maconomy presupposes that all fields with the specified record ID exist in the specified record in the file to be imported.

Field No. In this field, you can specify a field number. The field number decides the order in which fields from the same record are read.
Description In this field, you can enter a short description of the role of the current input data field in the input data format.

Field Condition Island

Field Description
Field Identification In this field you can specify the ID of the correct field according to the format specifications. When the customer payment file is read, Maconomy checks if the current field has the ID specified in this field. If this is not the case, Maconomy checks if the field with the ID specified in this field must be completed (that is, if the field “Mandatory Completion” below is marked).

If the field “Mandatory Completion” is marked, Maconomy will report an error, and the reading will be aborted. If the field “Mandatory Completion” is not marked, Maconomy will repeat this routine for the next record in the row (as specified in the field “Next Record”).

This way you can allow formats which permit a variable number of fields for each record. Example: A payment record in a file contains the fields “&03,” “&05,” “&06,” “&23,” and “&24.” The next record contains the fields “&03,” “&05,” “&23,” and “&24.” Since the field with the field ID “&06” does not have a mark in the field “Mandatory Completion,” reading the customer payment file will not result in an error when reading the second record where the field “&06” is missing.

Mandatory Completion If this field is marked, the field whose ID is specified in the field “Field Identification” above must be completed. See the description of that field above.

Variable Operations Island

Field Description
1-10 In these fields, you can specify calculation formulas for the variables specified for the current format in the window Specification of Input Data Formats. The number refers to the variable with the corresponding number in the window Specification of Input Data Formats; variable 1 = variable 1, variable 2 = variable 2, and so on.

The variable operation takes place right before the actual field is imported. Fields are imported from the record to which they are assigned.

As an example of a calculation you can add the amount from the current customer payment file to the variable which specifies the total amount for the entire payment file. If you have specified that variable 5 is of the type “Amount Field” in the window Specification of Input Data Formats, you can write the following in no. 5 in this island:

#VARIABLE.5 + #INPUTDATALINE.AMOUNTCURRENCY

The result is that variable 5 is assigned the value of variable 5 plus the amount from the current customer payment record. In this way, the total payment sum for all records in summed up in all sections.

It is also possible to refer to the special variable #VARIABLE.0, which contains the value currently being imported from the payment file.

In “Appendix D: Reference Fields in Format Specifications” in the Reference Manual you can find a list of all fields that can be referred to.

Field Contents Island

In this island, you specify information about the field’s format and contents.

Field Description
Field Type In this field, you must specify the field type. The type is validated when you import the file. The following options are available:
  • Constant — You specify the value of the constant in the field “Contents.”
  • Not Used — Specifies an empty field in the field. This option is used if the specifications in the file result in the specification of information that you do not want to import or which Maconomy do not support. Choosing this option corresponds to specification of a constant with no contents but this is more accurate.
  • Reference Field — With this field type you can import a value from the file and as- sign it to a field in the Maconomy database. The relation into which the field is copied is either #REMITTANCEHEADER or #CUSTOMERPAYMENTLINE, but the relation selection is done automatically in Maconomy. The field name is specified in the field “Contents.” A list of valid field names can be found in “Appendix D: Reference Fields in Format Specifications” in the Reference Manual.
  • New Remittance Field — This field type is not used in input data formats.
  • Remittance Field — This field type is not used in input data formats.
Contents In this field, you specify the contents of the field. The contents depend on the value specified in the field “Field Type” below.
Contents Type In this field, you can specify which field type you are referring to. The type is verified when the file is imported.

The following types exist:

Type Content
Integer Field Integer
Amount Field Amount
Text Field Text
Boolean Field “TRUE” or “FALSE”
Date Field Date
Time Field Time
Decimal Field Real number
Format In this field, you can specify the format of the field. The contents of this field depend on the field contents type specified in the field “Contents Type.”
Field Type Format Description
Integer field <empty> Integer.
Amount field #DOLLARAMOUNT Displays the dollar part of the amount.
#CENTAMOUNT Displays the cent part of the amount. Can be used in formats where the dollar and cent part of the amount should be displayed in separate fields.
<empty> Formats the amount like this: Dollar part + the sign specified as decimal separator in the window Specification of Input Data Formats + Cent part.
Text field #REMOVEBLANKS Removes all blank characters.
#REMOVEPRECEDINGZEROS Removes zeroes from the left of the text string, unless this results in a shorter string than defined in the field "Min. Length."
#SUBSTITUTETEXT Substitutes characters according to the conversion table in the window Specification of Input Data Formats.
<empty> Transfers the string only.
Boolean field <empty> The value is converted according to the selection made in the fields "Yes" and "No" in the window Specification of Input Data Formats.
Date field Combinations of:

D2

M2

Y2

Y4

T

The date elements specified can be entered in any order. Separators are specified as "T" followed by the desired character/sign.
Time field Combinations of:

S2

M2

H2

The specified time elements can be specified in any order. You cannot use separators.
Decimal field <empty> Real value.

For text fields, you can combine multiple format definitions using a space, for example:

#REMOVEBLANKS #SUBSTITUTETEXT

Fixed Length If no character or code has been specified as a field delimiter in the window Specification of Input Data Formats, you can specify the fixed number of characters of the data field in this field. If a field delimiter has been specified, for example, “#TAB” for tab-separated files, then the length of the field is defined as the number of character between one tab character to the next or to EOF (End of File).
Min. Length In this field, you can specify a minimum length of the current input data field, if the field uses a character or code as a field delimiter. A specification in this field also indicates that the field must be completed.

If no field delimiter is used, the field may, for example, be used in connection with the reading of a bank account number. Such a field has the type “Text Field,” and in the field “Format” the format specification “#REMOVEPRECEDINGZEROS” will be specified. In order not to remove zeroes from bank account numbers that actually begin with a “0,” the minimum length is set to “7” in this field, which would permit a bank account number such as this: “0123456.”

Max. Length In this field, you can specify a maximum length of the current input data field. Maconomy automatically sets the value in this field to equal the field “Fixed Length,” if no character or code is used as field delimiter. If the value in the import file is longer, an error message is displayed when you read the file.

User Island

Field Description
Created This field shows the date and name of the user who created the data field.
Changed This field shows the date and name of the user who recently made changes to the data field.
Version This field shows the latest version number of the data field. The number is incremented by one each time a change is made to the data field.