Copying Data Between Databases
Data can be copied between two databases, between a database and a transportable database, or between two transportable databases.
A non-current database can be opened as a guest database to copy data between databases on the same machine or network.
A transportable database may be used for transferring data:
- Between databases within an organisation.
- When sharing data with external organisations.
- When sending data to Innovyze as part of a support request.
Copy and paste
Objects are copied and pasted between databases in the same way as within a database. You can paste data copied from an older version of a database into a newer version but you cannot paste data copied from a newer version of a database into an older version, unless you update the older version to the same version as the newer database.
Copying and pasting is recursive. When an object is copied, all descendants of the object are copied with it. For example, if you copy a group, all items and groups contained in the parent group will also be copied.
To copy data between databases:
- To copy data from / to a database other than the current database, choose Open | Open/Create database from the File menu. Select the relevant database.
- Select New Explorer window from the Window menu to display an Explorer window of the database. Open another database or a transportable database that you want to copy:
- To view another database, select Open | Open another database from the File menu and choose the relevant database. (Multiple guest databases may be opened.)
- To view a transportable database, select Open | Open transportable database from the File menu and choose the relevant database. (Multiple transportable databases may be opened.)
- In the Explorer view for the database, right-click on the top level of data you want to copy. For example, you can choose a whole asset group or any item in a asset group (such as a network or a Selection List group).
- Choose Copy from the popup menu.
- In the Explorer view for the database to be copied to, right-click on the item that is to contain the copied data and select Paste from the popup menu.
InfoAsset Manager will copy all items of data at or below the selected level.
This process can be repeated as often as is necessary, so that any combination of data items are copied to the database.
Copy duplicate objects
All objects in an InfoAsset Manager database (stanalone, workgroup or transportable) are identified by a globally unique ID (GUID A Globally Unique IDentifier, or GUID, is an automatically generated identifier that is guaranteed to be unique across all systems. It is generated using a complex algorithm based on the date and time and the individual computer's network card ID. GUIDs take the form {629810C2-3F6B-11D3-9BF3-00600891B690} and you will see them in a number of places where uniqueness is essential.).
InfoAsset Manager checks if objects being copied to a database already exist in the database. If there are duplicate objects, the Copying Of Duplicate Items dialog will be displayed:
- Click OK to continue to paste the objects. Items that already exist in the database will be duplicated there. The duplicate items have an exclamation mark (!) appended to the item name to create a unique name from the old name. A new unique identifier is also generated.
- Click Cancel, and no data will be copied (regardless of whether it is duplicate or not).
Objects are not overwritten.
Copy ground models
When ground models are copied, the Copying of Ground Models dialog is displayed. This lists the ground models that have been selected for copying.
- Check Copy Ground Models if you want to copy ground model data. Note that leaving ground model data out of the copy operation is quite useful as this data is potentially very large.
- Click Continue to copy the data.
- Click Cancel to abandon the entire copy process.
Copy attachments
The Copying attachments dialog is displayed after networks are copied, when data that contains attachments (images, videos or other attachments) is copied. This dialog gives you the choice to include or exclude certain attachment types from the copy process. The ability to leave any of this data out of the copy operation is quite useful as some of it is potentially very large:
- Click Get details to get the count and size of attachments for the current network.
- Check Copy image files if you want to copy images.
- Check Copy video files if you want to copy videos.
- Check Copy other files if you want to copy attachments that are neither images nor videos.
- Click OK to copy the data.
- Click Cancel to abandon the attachment copy process.
Copy workspaces
When you copy a workspace between databases, InfoAsset Manager will automatically copy all the underlying data required to recreate that workspace in the new database. You do not need to select this data yourself. This extremely powerful feature enables you to transfer complete projects easily and simply between databases.
