Apostrophe Pieces Importer

⚠️ NOTE: This module is deprecated, its functionality has been incorporated into @apostrophecms/import-export.

This module adds an optional import feature to all piece type modules in an Apostrophe project. This feature enables importing pieces from CSV files where it is configured. Requires Apostrophe 3.

Installation

npm install @apostrophecms/piece-type-importer

Use

Initialization

Enable @apostrophecms/piece-type-importer in app.js.

require('apostrophe')({
  shortName: 'my-project',
  modules: {
    // The Importer module
    '@apostrophecms/piece-type-importer': {},
    // A piece type that allows imports (see below)
    'article': {}
    }
  }
});

The Pieces Importer module improves all piece types in the site to add import functionality to them. To enable that functionality, you must add the import: true option on the appropriate piece type(s). The example above demonstrates doing this in the app.js file. More often it will be preferable to set this option in the module's index.js file.

// modules/article/index.js
module.exports = {
  extend: '@apostrophecms/piece-type',
  options: {
    label: 'Article',
    pluralLabel: 'Articles',
    import: true // 👈 Adding the import option.
  },
  // Other properties...
}

Updating existing pieces

You can also update existing pieces via this module.

To do that, you will need one (and only one) key column in your file. This column's name must be exactly the name of the existing field that uniquely identifies each row as an update of a specific existing piece, followed by :key.

For instance, if you need to change the usernames of users in bulk, you might prepare a CSV file like this:

username:key,username
bobsmith,bob.smith
janedoe,jane.doe

The key column is the old value. You may optionally also present a new value for that same column in a separate column without :key. You may also include other columns, as you see fit. The important thing is that you must have one and only one :key column in order to carry out updates.

Mixing inserts and updates

If a row has no value for your :key column, it is treated as an insert, rather than an update.

Importing rich text (HTML) rather than plaintext

By default, if you create a column in your CSV file for a field of type area, it will be imported as plaintext. Any special characters like < and > will be escaped so the user can see them. HTML is not supported.

To import areas as rich text HTML markup, add the importAsRichText: true option to the area field in your schema.

Roadmap