DOORS Next provides great functionalities for managing requirements within your team, but as your project grows sooner or later you need to export and import the data using external formats. 

For DOORS Next data the first format to think of is project template (or component template, in case if configuration management feature is enabled in RM). Content of template can be set up to include different types of data but all items of included types will be included to a template (e.g. you can include artifacts to a template - and it means that all folders will be added to a template). Another option is the ReqIF package - it allows interchange requirements between requirements management platforms which are compatible with ReqIF, with more data selection options (e.g. you can include only certain artifacts or modules). 

CSV/spreadsheet format is also an option to export and import data to DOORS Next, and this article provides some details on these functions. 

The purpose of this article is to describe several cases of CSV/spreadsheet import and export, prerequisites and limitations.

Import from CSV/spreadsheet is initiated from the ‘Create’ drop-down list, ‘Import Artifact…’ item (Figure 1).

Figure 1

 

On the ‘Import’ form several options are listed, CSV/spreadsheet import is the second (Figure 2).

Figure 2

 

Mandatory attributes

On the second step of import requirements action after choosing CSV/spreadsheet import the list of import options is displayed. Depending on  chosen location for import and required actions CSV/spreadsheet file must include certain attributes. Import will not proceed if mandatory attributes are missing. Mandatory for all cases attribute is ‘Artifact Type’.

If the purpose of import is creation of new artifacts - CSV/spreadsheet file must include either Name or Primary Text attribute. In case if Primary Text is used - Name attribute will be updated automatically with Primary Text value (with Name attribute type constraints).

If the purpose of import includes update of existing artifacts - then ‘ID’ of artifacts becomes mandatory attribute, and so is any of attributes which are supposed to be updates (could be Primary Text or any custom attribute).

 

Figure 3

 

Another import option which defines mandatory attributes is location. With CSV/spreadsheet import artifacts can be imported to a selected folder (as base artifacts) or to a module - in this case import allows to update module structure (positioning of artifacts in module) and module specific attributes.

Figure 4

 

If you want to import an artifact into a module - in the simplest case, create a new artifact - you need to include module specific attributes to a spreadsheet. They are:

• isHeading - boolean value, related to module specific option of an artifact, regardless of artifact type (must be set to ‘true’ to use as heading in a module, could be empty or ‘false’ in other case
• parentBinding - ID of parent artifact (an artifact to which inserted artifact will be demoted) for the new one. The value is empty if an artifact is on the top of module hierarchy or contains ID of ‘parent’ for the current artifact (e.g. Heading of a chapter to which current artifact is related)

As well as for base artifact import (in other words import into a folder) you have options to update and/or create new artifacts, and if you are going to update existing artifacts - you need to have an ID attribute in your file.

For more precise positioning of inserted artifact you can have in your file existing artifact before which you expect your artifact to appear in a module, but this is not mandatory to perform import of artifact to a module.

Another special case which requires not yet mentioned mandatory data in a file is deletion of artifacts from a module with CSV/spreadsheet import. On Figure 4 you can see that when ‘Import requirements into a module’ is selected an additional checkbox is available below this option - ‘Delete artifacts from the module…’. This option allows you to exclude artifacts from the module when you upload your file. To do this you need to use a file created by export from the module you are planning to update and besides excluding artifacts which are not expected to be in the module you need to keep the ‘METADATA’ section in your file.

Figure 5

 

Use cases

There are several use cases which can be covered with CSV/spreadsheet Import, some of them are explained below.

 

Links creation

You can use CSV/spreadsheet import for links creation, and here there are options. The very straightforward option is to literally insert links directly. In this case you can use a spreadsheet column to build a link to another item (either another artifact in DOORS Next or work item in EWM application or test artifact in ETM). For EWM and ETM this is the main option, you can better understand the format of a spreadsheet after exporting some samples. It can help you to build your spreadsheet for importing links either for base artifacts or for artifacts in a module - depending on the import option you use. For this case CSV/spreadsheet can solve creation of links to the same targets from the new destination (e.g. if you moved your requirements to some new component or application and you need to relink them to the same work items and test artifacts). It is possible only to add new links, CSV/spreadsheet import won’t remove existing links. The format of this attribute is shown no Figure 6 - it includes column name, defining link type and it’s direction, the attributes value consists of id (or pair of module id and artifact id for link to/from artifact in a module as shown on Figure 6), name of artifact and URI of artifact. So it is quite not trivial to reproduce such values outside of DOORS Next.

Figure 6

 

For links to other DOORS Next artifacts you can use CSV/spreadsheet to prepare your requirements for linking via ‘Link by Attribute’ feature. In this case you need to have a special attribute which is supposed to hold IDs of artifacts to be linked. And you can fill values of this attribute via spreadsheet. Depending on your linking policy and needs (linking to base artifacts or linking to artifacts in certain modules) you will use either IDs of artifacts you need to link to (e.g. 12345 is an ID of artifact you want to build a link to) or pairs of module ID and artifact ID (e.g. 23456.34567 - where 23456 is ID of a module and 34567 is ID of an artifact in this module when you want to create a link to a modular artifact). After successful  import of these values you can proceed with using the ‘Link by Attribute’ feature, which can be invoked on a view or selection of artifacts.

Figure 6

 

Tables in Primary Text

You can export tables for import to CSV - but it will be only pseudo-graphics. Some tables can be exported and imported via spreadsheet, and the limitation for this case is size of table. If your table is exceeding the limitation - you will be notified with an alert (see Figure 7). Originally built in DOORS Next tables from our experience look more lean.

Figure 7

 

If a table was successfully exported to a spreadsheet - you should use an original file for import (copy-pasting the content can break the structure).

 

Embedded artifacts

Embedded artifacts can be handled via spreadsheet but they must be present at destination prior to running spreadsheet import.

 

Tips and tricks

Few general tips which could help you when working with CSV/spreadsheet import and export:

• Use column names from exported spreadsheets to be sure they are right
• If you are importing values of modular artifacts (pairs of IDs separated with dots) - check formatting of cells, by default they might be decided by spreadsheet as numbers with decimals and therefore trimmed
• If you are sure you are doing everything right but import fails - try switching to English locale
• If you need to exclude some artifacts from a module - be sure to keep the ‘METADATA’ section from the initial state of a module (it includes list of IDs of artifacts), otherwise ‘delete artifacts from the module’ option won’t work
• When you import from a spreadsheet file - only first tab will be processed by DNG
• Use Arial font size 10 to keep DOORS Next automatically formatting headings in modules
• Reasons to decide module as a location (besides need to update module structure) could be links and tags for modular artifacts
• Use a changeset for bulk changes (a sort of which CSV/spreadsheet import is) to keep an option to quickly revert changes
• If you need to handle spreadsheet import with support of embedded artifacts - reach us for ready to go script for this case
• Be careful with enumeration values - not really visible space in spreadsheet attribute can break import operation

Introduction

DOORS Next provides great functionalities for managing requirements within your team, but as your project grows sooner or later you need to export and import the data using external formats.

Purpose

The purpose of this article is to describe several cases of Excel/CSV import and export, prerequisites and limitations.

Import/Export Formats in DOORS Next

Project/Component Templates

For DOORS Next data the first format to think of is project template (or component template, in case if configuration management feature is enabled in RM). Content of template can be set up to include different types of data but all items of included types will be included to a template (e.g. you can include artifacts to a template - and it means that all folders will be added to a template).

ReqIF 

Another option is the ReqIF package - it allows interchange requirements between requirements management platforms which are compatible with ReqIF, with more data selection options (e.g. you can include only certain artifacts or modules). 

Excel/CSV

Excel/CSV format is also an option to export and import data to DOORS Next, and this article provides some details on these functions. 

Mandatory Attributes

The very first thing you need to know - which fields are mandatory for importing the data to DOORS Next via spreadsheets and their meaning. The best way to get these fields is exporting the data from DOORS Next, and here is some explanation for them. For the basic case (extended case is explained below) you need to have following attributes as columns of a spreadsheet:

• Artifact type - must be existing type of an artifact
• Name or Primary Text - either name or Primary Text must be included to the spreadsheet. If you include Primary Text - the value of Name attribute will be updated automatically (this is basically how DOORS Next works)

Updating Artifacts

If you want to update existing requirements via Excel/CSV file - you need to include an ID attribute column. In this case you can use an ‘update’ option and values in the ‘ID’ column will be checked against IDs of existing artifacts.

If you want to update module content - e.g. module structure (insert new artifacts to a module and or change order of artifacts) - you need to include module specific attributes to a spreadsheet. They are:

• isHeading - boolean value, related to module specific option of an artifact, regardless of artifact type
• parentBinding - ID of parent artifact for the current. The value is empty if an artifact is on the top of module hierarchy or contains ID of ‘parent’ for the current artifact (e.g. Heading of a chapter to which current artifact is related)
• Module - ID of a module, which will be the same for all rows in a spreadsheet because import to a module is pointed to a certain module

Link Creation via Spreadsheet Import

You can use Excel/CSV import for links creation, and here there are options. The very straightforward option is to literally insert links directly. In this case you can use a spreadsheet column to build a link to another item (either another artifact in DOORS Next or workitem in EWM application or test artifact in ETM). For EWM and ETM this is the main option, you can better understand the format of a spreadsheet after exporting some samples. It can help you to build your spreadsheet for importing links either for base artifacts or for artifacts in a module - depending on the import option you use.

For links to other DOORS Next artifacts you can use Excel/CSV to prepare your requirements for linking via ‘Link by Attribute’ feature. In this case you need to have a special attribute which is supposed to hold IDs of artifacts to be linked. And you can fill values of this attribute via spreadsheet.

Depending on your linking policy and needs (linking to base artifacts or linking to artifacts in certain modules) you will use either IDs of artifacts you need to link to (e.g. 12345 is an ID of artifact you want to build a link to) or pairs of module ID and artifact ID (e.g. 23456.34567 - where 23456 is ID of a module and 34567 is ID of an artifact in this module when you want to create a link to a modular artifact). After successful  import of these values you can proceed with using the ‘Link by Attribute’ feature.

Formatting Import

You can use Excel also to import primary text with complex formatting (fonts, colors or even tables) but the source must be also DOORS Next. Formatting in this case is handled via cell note. Another case is embedded artifacts import - in this case spreadsheet includes a link to an embedded artifact which must be already existing on the server.

Other Tips

A few general tips which could help you when working with Excel/CSV import and export:

• Use column names from exported spreadsheets to be sure they are right
• If you are importing values of modular artifacts (pairs of IDs separated with dots) - check format of cells, by default they might be decided by Excel as numbers with decimals and therefore cut
• If you are sure you are doing everything right but import fails - try switching to English locale
• If you need to exclude some artifacts from a module - be sure to keep the ‘METADATA’ section from the initial state of a module (it includes list of IDs of artifacts), otherwise ‘delete artifacts from the module’ option won’t work

Excel/CSV import and export feature can help you in various cases, both as a standalone option or combined with other functions of DOORS Next. Reach us to know more and get support with your special case.