Categoria: Exporting and Importing Objects

Objects are imported using the ZOMImport command. ZOMImport imports all objects described in the ASCII files produced by ZOMExport. Therefore, before you can use ZOMImport, you must first place the ZOMExport files in your database directory. Then, to invoke ZOMImport, enter

ZOMImport

You can also import Z41 files that are compatible with older versions of ZOM as shown in the following example:

ZOMImport ;f Z41

ZOMImport can also be used with the standard ZimSAVE object description files. If you want to import objects from ZimSAVE format files, enter

ZOMImport ;f DT4

Objects are exported using the ZOMExport command. The objects to export are identified using the normal object selection criteria. For example, suppose you have associated all the objects you want to export with the keyword “To_Export”. The following command exports these objects:

ZOMExport +k To_Export

ZOMExport builds a series of ASCII files containing the object descriptions. These files are placed in your database directory. By default, all files are suffixed with “.Z50” and are suitable for use with Zim version 5.0 and later.

You can also create files with suffix “Z41” which are compatible with 4.XX versions of ZOM. For example,

ZOMExport +k To_Export ;f Z41

You can also have ZOMExport build files in the standard ZimSAVE format. These files could then be imported using the standard ZimLOAD utility. (ZimSAVE creates a series of files in the database directory typically suffixed with “.DT4”.) The following exports object descriptions in ZimSAVE format:

ZOMExport +k To_Export ;f DT4

ZOM provides two special services for exchanging objects between separate development environments. Objects are exported from one environment using ZOMExport and imported into another environment using ZOMImport. These services use a machine-independent ASCII file format to exchange objects.

Objects being exchanged retain their object key identification. The object key enables ZOMImport to compare the objects being imported with the existing objects in the target environment. ZOMImport can then perform an intelligent merge of the imported and existing objects, detecting new objects, deleted objects, and changed objects.

Note: The Export and Import wizards provide a wider range of functionality when porting applications. ZOMExport and ZOMImport are suited only for exporting object dictionary definitions, where the wizards export generated applications and framework metadata.