Importing restrictions and reservations with Job server

This article explains how you can import time-based file restrictions and reservations from a CSV file with the Job server function.

If you haven’t used the Job server function before then please read the Job server article first.
To learn more about time-based restrictions, read the article Restrictions and reservations.

CSV file specifications

You can prepare your file using e.g. MS Excel, Libre Office Calc or other spreadsheet software, simply save your file as a CSV (Comma Separated Values) file when you’re done.
The first row of your file must be a header row with the column names:

• ID
  Required. This column will hold the values used to look up the files in the database. It must be called ID regardless of the actual field that you are using (e.g. refcode, id, objectname etc.).
• TYPE
  Optional. If you add this column, then it must have the value 1 for a restriction, or 2 for a reservation. If no value is supplied, the default 1 (restriction) is used.
• STARTDATE
  Optional. If you don’t add this column then the start date will be set to the data that your job is processed. If  you add a date then it must be in the format dd/mm/yyyy.
• ENDDATE
  Optional. If you don’t add this column then the end date will be set to the start date + 1 year. If  you add a date then it must be in the format dd/mm/yyyy.
• NOTES
  Optional. The notes column holds any internal notes that you would like to store.
• DESCRIPTION
  Required. The description column holds the text that will be visible on the client facing pages.
• USERID
  Optional. The column must have valid user id’s if your CSV file has data to link the restriction/reservation to a user account.
• REMINDERS
  Optional. This column must have 0 to disable reminders or 1 to enable reminders. If no data is supplied, then reminders are disabled.
• SHOWONPREVIEWS
  Optional. This column must have 1 to display the restriction on previews, or 0 if you don’t want this. If no data is supplied then restrictions will show on previews (i.e. the default is 1).
• SHOWONORDERS
  Optional. This column must have 1 to display the restriction on order/cart pages. If no data is supplied then the default value 1 is used.
• BLOCKDOWNLOADS
  Optional. This column must have 1 to make the restriction block downloads. If no data is supplied then the default value 0 is used (i.e. downloads are not blocked).
• BLOCKORDERING
  Optional. This column must have 1 to make the restriction block the “add to order” function. If no data is supplied then the default value 0 is used (i.e. add to order is possible).
• HIDEFROMSEARCH
  Optional. If the value 1 is supplied then the file will be excluded from search results during the duration of the restriction/reservation. The default is 0.
• TERRITORIES
  Optional. If no values are supplied then the restriction/reservation is not a territory restriction, i.e. it is created as a normal restriction – not linked to any countries. To make a restriction apply to specific countries, add a comma separated list of ISO 3166 country codes. You can find the codes at the bottom of this article.

Note that the column names must be in the header row exactly as above (i.e. no spaces, all capitals).

Required and optional columns

As described above, there are only two required columns – i.e. ID and DESCRIPTION. This means that you can upload a CSV file with just these two columns if you want to. For any missing columns the default values will be applied.

The Look up values column

Your CSV file must have values that are used to look up the files in your database. The column header in the CSV file must be named ID (as explained above), but you can specify a field name to use in the job properties. E.g. to look up files using the objectname field, simply select that field in the properties drop down box.

Duplicate entries

Since there may be many restrictions/reservations for a file, the system can’t check for duplicate entries. If you upload and process the same CSV file more than once, then the restrictions will be added regardless. So if there was a problem with your import/processing job – it’s a good idea to contact support as opposed to just running the job again.

ISO 3166 country codes

To make restrictions or reservations apply to specific countries only (as opposed to “World wide”), enter the below ISO codes and use commas to separate multiple codes.
For example “NL,BE,LU,DE” for “The Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg and Germany“.