Importing a List

1. On the Softdial Campaign Manager™ toolbar, select the button.
2. Enter the appropriate information in the Import campaign list dialog (Fig. 1):
   

   Fig. 1 - Import Campaign List

   The displayed fields are used as described below.

   Field	Description
   File to import	Select your prepared list file. For more details, see Creating a List
   Data source name (DSN)	Enter the data source name (DSN). If you are unsure of the data source name, it can be found in the Database Input tab/ page of the Campaign Properties Editor.
   Data source user	Enter your username for the data source
   Data source password	Enter your password for the data source.
   Table name	Enter a name for the list. This is the table name that will later appear in Softdial Campaign Manager™. If you need to add rows to an existing list, enter the name of a table that already exists. As long as the columns in the new list match the format of the existing columns those new entries will be added to the end of the list. If you need to create a new table, enter a table name that is not currently in use. Table names should use only alphanumeric characters, underscores, or dashes and cannot contain spaces or other whitespace.
   Key column	Enter the column name for the key column
   Field separator	Enter the file delimiter. A comma is the default value, which is the default delimiter for a .CSV formatted file.
   Phone number columns	Enter the column number(s) of the column(s) that contain telephone numbers. Column numbers start at 0 and should be separated by a comma. Example If your list has five columns: Title FirstName LastName HomePhone MobilePhone, in this field, you would enter 3,4 to select the HomePhone and MobilePhone columns (starting at 0, not 1). Telephone numbers are checked for correct formating and that they do not contain any non-numeric characters. Columns defined here are also used to attach prefixes to the contents if the Attach prefixes to phone numbers checkbox is selected (From V10.6 only).

3. From V10.6 - it is possible to configure prefixes to the telephone numbers in the list. Different prefixes may be added based on the length of the telephone number.

   The list of prefixes to be used is defined in the Config.xml file within the ListImport folder (e.g. C:\Softdial\ListImport) with the following format:

   <Prefixes>
     <Prefix PhoneNumberLength="4" PrefixToAttach="1212343"/>
     <Prefix PhoneNumberLength="7" PrefixToAttach="1212"/>
     <Prefix PhoneNumberLength="10" PrefixToAttach="1"/>
   </Prefixes>

   Prefixes are added to the columns specified in the Phone number columns field. See table above.

4. Select Use first row for column names. Always check this box.
   • If you are creating a new table, the column names from your .csv file will be used as the table's columns names.
   • If you are adding records to an existing table, the column names will be compared to make sure that the format of the new data matches that of the existing records. (See below - Adding columns while creating a table)
5. Click the Start import button. If all information was successfully entered, you will see a success dialog after the list has been fully uploaded (Fig. 2).

   

   Fig. 2 - Import List Success

6. Click the OK button. This list will now appear in the Database Input tab (Fig. 3) of any campaign using the same data source name.

   

   Fig. 3 - Database Input Tab

It is not possible to modify an existing table (i.e. one that already exists in the database), using List Import but occasionally you may need to create a table using a list which contains additional (non-standard) columns.

To add user defined columns to a table:

1. select the Table settings tab (Fig. 1),
2. enter the required column names and datatypes (Fig. 4).
   

   Fig. 4 - Import Campaign Table Settings

3. click Start import

The new columns will be included in the table.

From V10.6.366 - it is possible to set the data type for the Unique Key Column. Prior to this, this column's data type defaulted to Int.

When importing a file with local characters, check the following:

• Database collation must be set to UTF 8.
• Imported file encoding must be set to UTF 8.
• Column names must be in the format supported by database. List import removes dots and commas from column names, but column names must not contain spaces.
• Any additional text that is not in .csv file format must be removed.
• ​If using MS SQL Server - change the default database column type from varchar to nvarchar. To do this:
  1. Locate the ListImport folder (e.g. C:\Softdial\ListImport)
  2. Open the Config.xml file
  3. Uncomment the following line:

     <!--<DefaultColumnDataType>nvarchar(80)</DefaultColumnDataType>-->