SIMS XML applications import

[lpbaker]

Just wondering if anyone has managed to get the XML applications import feature to work (part of SIMS Independent) Routines > Admissions > Import Applications? I initially got a number of errors (despite the XML tags matching the SIMS documentation) and now that I have resolved these I get "The file cannot be imported because of the following errors: Object reference not set to an instance of an object." - not exactly the most helpful of error messages!

 

I really can't afford to wait for Capita to get round to looking at my ticket so any help would be really appreciated. I've attached the very basic stripped-down XML (fake data) that still won't import.

 

Cheers

application.zip

[David44]

Might be worth you posting the whole exception message that SIMS generates. It could give someone the clue they need to work out what is wrong.

 

Note: I don't know the answer to this. I am guessing. But...

 

If you got a number of errors telling you that the XML was wrong and then after fixing these the file crashes SIMS, maybe by fixing the errors you have inadvertently changed something about the file itself. For example, if you opened it in Notepad to fix the issues and then saved it, you may have saved it with UTF-8 encoding when SIMS expects Unicode (or vice versa). Open it in Notepad again and then 'save as' and check what the encoding is set to at the bottom right of the 'save as' window. Try changing it. I know SIMS can be fussy.

 

I also notice that some data is URL encoded (i.e. instead of spaces, you have %20). Look at the StreetDescription node for example. Unless the documentation says otherwise, is it worth converting these back to spaces? Even if it doesn't resolve the problem, you probably don't want to import the data like that anyway.

[panosthegreat]

When I took out this bit of code it let me import the data into my SIMS:

CHINESE

 

Does that let you get any further?

[David44]

Don't know how many students are in your test data

But looking purely at the example file you have uploaded, is CHINESE a valid value for Ethnicity?

 

Looking at the spec here...

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/682670/CTF_18_technical_specification_v_1_0.pdf

and the Common Basic Data Sets here...

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/common-basic-data-set-cbds-database

 

...I am still not sure either way. Try changing CHINESE to CHNE? Does SIMS accept that?

 

Once again, I am not an expert on any of this so take my advice with a pinch of salt.

Edited December 12, 2018 by David44

[lpbaker]

Thanks both - the ETHNICITY data was the issue, removing it or using one of the accepted codes worked.

I've now managed to code a simple CSV to XML converter that will allow me to collect applications data using a Google form or similar, convert to the accepted SIMS XML format and I can then import.

It's very crude (fields and formatting are hardcoded in Java) but it does the job and isn't too bad to edit if necessary - happy to share the code if anyone would benefit from it.

 

Thanks for your help

[matt40k]

Always worth publishing on GitHub