silverstripe-framework/docs/en/02_Developer_Guides/11_Integration/How_Tos/custom_csvbulkloader.md

title: A custom CSVBulkLoader instance

# How to: A custom CSVBulkLoader instance

A an implementation of a custom `CSVBulkLoader` loader. In this example. we're provided with a unique CSV file 
containing a list of football players and the team they play for. The file we have is in the format like below.

	"SpielerNummer", "Name", "Geburtsdatum", "Gruppe"
	11, "John Doe", 1982-05-12,"FC Bayern"
	12, "Jane Johnson", 1982-05-12,"FC Bayern"
	13, "Jimmy Dole",,"Schalke 04"

This data needs to be imported into our application. For this, we have two `DataObjects` setup. `Player` contains 
information about the individual player and a relation set up for managing the `Team`. 

 **mysite/code/Player.php**.

	:::php
	<?php

	class Player extends DataObject {
	
	   private static $db = array(
	      'PlayerNumber' => 'Int',
	      'FirstName' => 'Text',
	      'LastName' => 'Text',
	      'Birthday' => 'Date'
	   );
	 
	   private static $has_one = array(
	      'Team' => 'FootballTeam'
	   );
	}

**mysite/code/FootballTeam.php**

	:::php
	<?php

	class FootballTeam extends DataObject {
	   
	   private static $db = array(
	      'Title' => 'Text'
	   );

	   private static $has_many = array(
	      'Players' => 'Player'
	   );
	}

Now going back to look at the CSV, we can see that what we're provided with does not match what our data model looks 
like, so we have to create a sub class of `CsvBulkLoader` to handle the unique file. Things we need to consider with
the custom importer are:

*  Convert property names (e.g Number to PlayerNumber) through providing a `$columnMap`.
*  Split a combined "Name" field into `FirstName` and `LastName` by calling `importFirstAndLastName` on the `Name` 
column
*  Prevent duplicate imports by a custom `$duplicateChecks` definition.
*  Create a `Team` automatically based on the `Gruppe` column and a entry for `$relationCallbacks`

Our final import looks like this.

**mysite/code/PlayerCsvBulkLoader.php**

	:::php
	<?php

	class PlayerCsvBulkLoader extends CsvBulkLoader {

	   public $columnMap = array(
	      'Number' => 'PlayerNumber',
	      'Name' => '->importFirstAndLastName',
	      'Geburtsdatum' => 'Birthday',
	      'Gruppe' => 'Team.Title',
	   );

	   public $duplicateChecks = array(
	      'SpielerNummer' => 'PlayerNumber'
	   );

	   public $relationCallbacks = array(
	      'Team.Title' => array(
	         'relationname' => 'Team',
	         'callback' => 'getTeamByTitle'
	      )
	   );

	   public static function importFirstAndLastName(&$obj, $val, $record) {
	      $parts = explode(' ', $val);
	      if(count($parts) != 2) return false;
	      $obj->FirstName = $parts[0];
	      $obj->LastName = $parts[1];
	   }

	   public static function getTeamByTitle(&$obj, $val, $record) {
	      return FootballTeam::get()->filter('Title', $val)->First();
	   }
	}

## Related

*  [api:CsvParser]
*  [api:ModelAdmin]