Attached is a simple Excel file that could be used to try this.
Importing Data into CabMaster Products
CabMaster and its associated products have the ability to import a wide variety data directly to the program, in this document we will outline how to import settings for cabinets.
How to Import
To start with, there are 2 different items to import.
1, Global settings, such as Job No, Customer name & address etc. These items are common for the entire job and there values are found under Drawing Properties.
2, These are Cabinet / Parts and their associated properties. This is where you select a Floor 1 Door Cabinet and you can specify such things as its width, height and materials etc. These items are all cabinet / part specific.
Both Global and Cabinet properties are imported differently from within the import file but this will be discussed further later it this HowTo.
When preparing to import a value, you first need to find its field, in this case we would like to import the global “Address” field found under Drawing Properties / “My Setup”.
Once found, hover the mouse over the field and a popup will appear below, this tells you the variable we will need. In this case “AccountAddress1” is the variable we are after (the variable will always follow ‘for’). This can be done for as many Global values as required.
For this example we will take the “Floor 1 Door”.
This is the name of the cabinet we will import, it is very import to get this name correct.
We can then setup to import Cabinets/Parts by finding their name. To do this we can look for the desired cabinet in the Cabinet drop down list, as per example below. This is the name of the cabinet we will import. It is very important to get this name correct.
The only limitation here is the Cabinet / Part name MUST be in the currently loaded library when you import the list file into CabMaster, otherwise it won’t be found and will be ignored.
The last thing we need are the values we would like to change on the Cabinet / Part, such as Height or Width etc.
These are found the same way as the Global variables except this time we are looking at the fields on a Cabinet. As per the example below, we can get the variable for “Width” we simply hover the mouse over that field, then the popup will appear below with the required variable. In this case “CabWidth” is the variable we are after (the variable will always follow ‘for’).
This process can be repeated for as many Cabinet / Part variables required.
Generating an import file
Now that we know what we want to import, it’s time to create the import file.
Firstly, we need to look at the “Global” values we discussed. Global values get input first, they all require a ~ (Tilde) in front of them to show they are a “Global” value and they read left to right.
They are then followed by the Cabinet / Part values which are in rows and column format with a header field first, of the variable required.
These always start with first field being “code”, this is the name of the cabinet / part required then followed by all the other variables going left to right as headers and the required values for each Cabinet / Part going top down.
NOTE: ONLY the values you wish to change from default are required to be filled in, as per the example below, 1 cabinet my require a field changed and the next Cabinet may not, so this field can be left blank.
A completed file should look something like the sample below.
Please also note that global values are not actually required for this import to work successfully, so if no global values are required for an import, the entire top section that starts with the ~ can be removed and the import files first line should be the “header” line starting with “code”.
Creating an import file
These files can be created from a number of different programs, such as ERP or Design program, Text Editor, from a WebSite page or even in Excel.
They are a simple Tab delimited format file.
Saving the import file (From Excel)
Now we have all our data in the file we need to save it as a tab file format.
To do this, we need to save the file as tab format as shown below, however as this will only change the extension to a .txt, we will then need to change the file extension from .txt to .tab manually as CabMaster will not import a .txt file.
Importing into CabMaster
Importing this list file into CabMaster can be achieved by navigating to the file menu (The CabMaster Box) in the top left of the program, navigate to import and then select “Import Item List”.
Now all we need to do is select the tab file we have created and we have successfully imported our file.
TIP: Click the attachment to download this HowTo to your desktop as a .pdf