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Import Engine: Best Practices Workflow

This guide outlines the standard workflow for importing data into Arena.

1. Create the Import Definition

The first step is creating an import definition.

  • Static Design: By design, definitions cannot be edited once created. This ensures your integration always relies on a static, predictable configuration.
  • Multiple Definitions: You may need different definitions for different parts of an integration (e.g., one for Items, one for BOMs).

Key Configuration Fields:

  • Name & Description: Descriptive text to identify the integration usage.
  • Resource: The target Arena world/view.
  • Mode: (e.g., OVERWRITE).
  • Options: Configurations for specific behaviors (see below).

Common Options:

  • matchDuplicates: Behavior when editing resources where duplicates exist.
  • createDuplicates: Behavior when replacing resources where duplicates exist.
  • fileEditionEdit / fileEditionDelete: Handling file revisions.

2. Run the Import

Once defined, you create an Import Run by referencing the Definition's guid.

  • Submit Content: The actual data (XLSX, CSV).
  • File Content: Physical files (PDFs, drawings) if importing to the File world.
  • Commit Flag: Set commit to false to preview results; set to true to save data to Arena.

3. Monitor Status

Poll the run status until it reaches COMPLETE.

  • Status Values: CREATED, RUNNING, COMPLETE, ERROR

  • Note: COMPLETE means the engine finished processing, regardless of whether individual rows succeeded or failed.

4. Check Results

Before committing, inspect the counts returned in the run object:

  • totalCount
  • successCount
  • errorCount

If there are errors, download the Result Content or Error Content CSV files. These files contain a status, errorCode, and errorMessage for every failed row.

5. Commit

If the results are satisfactory (and commit was false), use the Commit endpoint to finalize the import.