Converting a CSV file into XML

[Gosiame Letlape]

Good day

 

Is it possible for one to encode a CSV file into XML in order to avoid entering descriptive and administrative metadata into the actual AtoM template?

If so, please advise on the process.

 

Your assistance would be gladly appreciated.

 

Regards

Gosiame Letlape

 

 

 

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[Dan Gillean]

Hi Gosiame, 

Can you describe what you are trying to do a bit more? 

AtoM can import CSV files directly, using the CSV templates available on our wiki here: 

• https://wiki.accesstomemory.org/Resources/CSV_templates
  

You can find the current CSV import documentation in our user manual here: 

• https://www.accesstomemory.org/docs/2.3/user-manual/import-export/csv-import/
  

Because the CSV import format is custom to AtoM, all fields in the template should import as expected. With XML data,  such as EAD 2002 XML, the EAD standard is very flexible and there are many different possible expressions that might all be valid within the XML standard - but AtoM's import will be looking for specific fields in specific places, and can't support all possible valid interpretations. This means that the CSV import is actually a better way to import AtoM data than XML, because XML will always be a crosswalk from one standard to another (and there will be some XML implementations that AtoM won't support), while our CSV import is AtoM specific. I would recommend sticking with the CSV import if at all possible - just about every field in AtoM should be represented in our CSV templates. If you are having trouble finding a field, let me know. 

In the 2.4 release, both XML and CSV imports will be supported by the job scheduler when imports are conducted via the user interface, meaning you will be able to import large files without the web browser timing out and killing the import. There is also new update functionality coming via CSV import. You can read the initial draft of the 2.4 CSV import documentation (work in progress!) here: 

• https://www.accesstomemory.org/en/docs/2.4/user-manual/import-export/csv-import/
  

It would be possible to convert a CSV to XML data such as EAD, but you would need a developer to prepare what is often called a transformation script - code that will take your CSV as input and, based on mappings you provide to the developer, convert the contents into EAD 2002 XML. This requires knowing the target standard very well, so you can make sure your transformed data not only conforms to the EAD 2002 standard, but also conforms to what AtoM will import. 

If you are just looking for XML versions of data you've prepared in CSV format, you might consider importing your AtoM CSV into an AtoM test instance, and then using the XML export options in AtoM to export your record again. AtoM will handle all the crosswalking in the background. 

Regards, 

Dan Gillean, MAS, MLIS
AtoM Program Manager
Artefactual Systems, Inc.
604-527-2056

@accesstomemory