silverstripe-framework/docs/en/howto/csv-import.md

Import CSV data

Introduction

CSV import can be easily achieved through PHP's built-in fgetcsv() method, but this method doesn't know anything about your datamodel. In SilverStripe, this can be handled through the a specialized CSV importer class that can be customized to fit your data.

The CsvBulkLoader class

The [api:CsvBulkLoader] class facilitate complex CSV-imports by defining column-mappings and custom converters. It uses PHP's built-in fgetcsv() function to process CSV input, and accepts a file handle as an input.

Feature overview:

• Custom column mapping
• Auto-detection of CSV-header rows
• Duplicate detection based on custom criteria
• Automatic generation of relations based on one or more columns in the CSV-Data
• Definition of custom import methods (e.g. for date conversion or combining multiple columns)
• Optional deletion of existing records if they're not present in the CSV-file
• Results grouped by "imported", "updated" and "deleted"

Usage

You can use the CsvBulkLoader without subclassing or other customizations, if the column names in your CSV file match $db properties in your dataobject. E.g. a simple import for the [api:Member] class could have this data in a file:

FirstName,LastName,Email
Donald,Duck,donald@disney.com
Daisy,Duck,daisy@disney.com

The loader would be triggered through the load() method:

:::php
$loader = new CsvBulkLoader('Member');
$result = $loader->load('<my-file-path>');

By the way, you can import [api:Member] and [api:Group] data through http://localhost/admin/security interface out of the box.

Import through ModelAdmin

The simplest way to use [api:CsvBulkLoader] is through a [api:ModelAdmin] interface - you get an upload form out of the box.

:::php
<?php
class PlayerAdmin extends ModelAdmin {
   private static $managed_models = array(
      'Player'
   );
   private static $model_importers = array(
      'Player' => 'PlayerCsvBulkLoader', 
   );
   private static $url_segment = 'players';
}
?>

The new admin interface will be available under http://localhost/admin/players, the import form is located below the search form on the left.

Import through a custom controller

You can have more customized logic and interface feedback through a custom controller. Let's create a simple upload form (which is used for MyDataObject instances). You can access it through http://localhost/MyController/?flush=all.

:::php
<?php
class MyController extends Controller {

	private static $allowed_actions = array('Form');
	
	protected $template = "BlankPage";
	
	public function Link($action = null) {
		return Controller::join_links('MyController', $action);
	}
	
	public function Form() {
		$form = new Form(
			$this,
			'Form',
			new FieldList(
				new FileField('CsvFile', false)
			),
			new FieldList(
				new FormAction('doUpload', 'Upload')
			),
			new RequiredFields()
		);
		return $form;
	}
	
	public function doUpload($data, $form) {
		$loader = new CsvBulkLoader('MyDataObject');
		$results = $loader->load($_FILES['CsvFile']['tmp_name']);
		$messages = array();
		if($results->CreatedCount()) $messages[] = sprintf('Imported %d items', $results->CreatedCount());
		if($results->UpdatedCount()) $messages[] = sprintf('Updated %d items', $results->UpdatedCount());
		if($results->DeletedCount()) $messages[] = sprintf('Deleted %d items', $results->DeletedCount());
		if(!$messages) $messages[] = 'No changes';
		$form->sessionMessage(implode(', ', $messages), 'good');

		return $this->redirectBack();
	}
}

Note: This interface is not secured, consider using [api:Permission::check()] to limit the controller to users with certain access rights.

Column mapping and relation import

We're going to use our knowledge from the previous example to import a more sophisticated CSV file.

Sample CSV Content

"Number","Name","Birthday","Team"
11,"John Doe",1982-05-12,"FC Bayern"
12,"Jane Johnson", 1982-05-12,"FC Bayern"
13,"Jimmy Dole",,"Schalke 04"

Datamodel for Player

:::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'
   );
}
?>

Datamodel for FootballTeam:

:::php
<?php
class FootballTeam extends DataObject {
   private static $db = array(
      'Title' => 'Text', 
   );
   private static $has_many = array(
      'Players' => 'Player'
   );
}
?>

Sample implementation of a custom loader. Assumes a CSV-file in a certain format (see below).

• Converts property names

• Splits a combined "Name" fields from the CSV-data into FirstName and Lastname by a custom importer method

• Avoids duplicate imports by a custom $duplicateChecks definition

• Creates Team relations automatically based on the Gruppe column in the CSV data

  :::php

  'PlayerNumber', 'Name' => '->importFirstAndLastName', 'Birthday' => 'Birthday', 'Team' => 'Team.Title', ); public $duplicateChecks = array( 'Number' => '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]