Export and Import Facilities

Uniface enables you to export and import your development object definitions by means of XML files, with built-in safeguards to prevent Repository corruption. If the data is compatible, it is transparently migrated to the current Repository structures.

The Uniface Repository holds the development object definitions. The definition for one development object may be spread over several entities, so it is crucial that these definitions be correctly exported and imported to protect the integrity of the Repository. Uniface provides its own export and import facility to ensure that this is the case.

These facilities are useful when you need to exchange definitions between different developers, integrate with source code control systems, or migrate from one version of Uniface to another.

You can access these facilities in the following ways:

In the Uniface IDE, from the Main Menu ( ≡ ) or Actions menu.
In ProcScript, using $ude ("export") and $ude ("import").
From the command line, using /imp

Note: It is not possible to use /imp or $ude("import") to import data created by Data Copy facilities such as /cpy and $ude("copy").

Exporting Definitions

Uniface exports data as well-formed, well-defined XML in which objects that have aggregation relationships are nested. Unlike the data copy functionality, the export facility takes referential integrity constraints into account, ensuring that all the data applicable to an object definition is correctly exported. Note the following:

It is not possible to append export data to a file created with the data copy facility.
When appending data to an existing export file, the Repository version attributes must match exactly.

For more information, see Export Development Objects.

Importing Definitions

During the import process, Uniface checks the Uniface version and Repository version to ensure that the data is compatible. If it is, the data is imported and migrated (if necessary) to the current Uniface Repository structures. If the data is incompatible, Uniface does not allow the data to be imported.

Data is considered compatible if it comes from the same Repository version, or if it can be migrated to the current Repository.

It is considered incompatible if the source XML file was created using a copy facility instead of the export functionality.

For more information, see Import Development Objects.