Ability to bulk update text UDFs in Sims

[Kromatix]

Hi All,

 

After getting in touch with our LA support team, I gather this isn't possible at the moment in Sims.

 

But, there is a change request that people can vote on here:

 

https://myaccount.capita-cs.co.uk/changerequests/ChangeRequest/38b759f8-30d8-e811-a851-000d3ab17ebd

 

Does anyone know of other ways to bulk update / import into Sims UDFs (User Defined Fields)? ...specifically non-boolean and non-lookup.

 

Thanks to everyone in advance

[Knil92]

In theory if you found the table that they are stored in, in SQL you could write a query to update the table

[Kromatix]

Thanks for the info Knil92, I had thought of this, but writing directly to Sims without their consent / licence will potentially cause them to refuse support requests.

 

That said, the table is sims.udf_value, and looks to be straight forward other than the time_stamp column.

 

Does anyone know how to create the type of timestamp used in this table? It doesn't appear to be the normal type, as when I use the following SQL statement it creates a much longer timestamp, and all the values in this column are no longer than 7 hexadecimal characters.

 

SELECT CONVERT(timestamp, GETDATE())

 

Gives...

 

0x0000A997012C37A2

 

But there are no values higher than 0x000000000F27A8D5.

[matt40k]

Cough, cough:

https://simsbulkimport.uk/

 

(large) cough

http://www.edugeek.net/forums/sims-bulk-import/99098-sims-bulk-import-5.html#post1696218

[Knil92]

I mean they'll only stop support if they find out XD

[matt40k]

They'll slap you with a large bill WHEN they find out.

[Knil92]

As for the time stamp, couldn't you enter something manually in the UDF and then just copy what sims puts in there?

[Kromatix]

Cough, cough:

https://simsbulkimport.uk/

 

(large) cough

http://www.edugeek.net/forums/sims-bulk-import/99098-sims-bulk-import-5.html#post1696218

 

Thanks matt40k! Ill see if I can use this, much appreciated!

[Kromatix]

As for the time stamp, couldn't you enter something manually in the UDF and then just copy what sims puts in there?

 

The time_stamp column is meant to be some form of indicator of when the record was modified, so it really needs to be in the right format for Sims to understand - although the table does accept NULL values for that column when looking at the spec...

[Esteban_Child_of_the_Sun]

An alternative could be to use an assessment manager comment aspect and add it as one of your 6 on the Student teacher View so staff can see it on their record.