Format for importing files

The format for importing files is CSV.

CSV data is supported by many applications, including spreadsheets such as Microsoft Excel and OpenOffice.org Calc. These programs can be used to conveniently create new lists of applications to be monitored, and the data then exported in CSV format.

The following fields can be supplied:

• appnumber - the application number. Use the same formats that are accepted when using the Add panel to add individual files (e.g. 99100026 - 8 digits).
• pubnumber - the publication number. Use the same formats that are accepted when using the Add panel to add individual files (e.g. EP811545, EP1023455, WO9912805, WO02051231).
• reference - a user-provided reference, up to 15 characters
• description - a user-provided description, up to 50 characters
• seen - if you want the file to appear immediately in the "Changed items" view, specify false (the default value is true and the item does not appear in the "Changed items" view).

As a minimum, you must provide either the appnumber or the pubnumber. All other fields are optional.

Users typically supply either the appnumber or the pubnumber, plus a reference and a description. If possible, always use the appnumber in preference to the pubnumber as this will make the import much faster (resolving the pubnumber is relatively time-consuming).

You must provide a CSV header record to identify the fields you supply. This is a special CSV record which appears as the first record, in which the values are field names. It identifies the fields and the order in which they are provided.

To be valid CSV data, all records - including the header record - must have the same number of fields. If you do not want to supply an optional value for some records, you should code consecutive delimiters. The CSV delimiter can be a comma or a semicolon.

Sample CSV import data:
appnumber,description,reference
EP1234567,This is a sample description,ref1
EP2345678,This is another sample,ref2
EP3456789,,ref3