Commands hide complex keystrokes Common
commands are supplied with DataLoad, EG TAB Commands
can be added, edited and deleted The action executed when commands are used can be changed, while new commands can be added or existing commands deleted. DataLoad is supplied with many commonly used commands and those are configured to perform the appropriate action on many systems. However, as you become more proficient in using DataLoad it is a good idea to start creating new commands or editing existing ones.
A command is typically used to hide complex keystrokes behind a more user friendly command name. An example of this is the command *SP which is supplied with the default commands. This command highlights the benefits of the commands file.
To send "Save & Proceed" in Oracle Applications 11i the following keystroke combination is required:
\%F%V
Attempting to enter those keystrokes every time a Save & Proceed is required will make the DataLoad spreadsheet more unreadable and therefore harder to understand and maintain, and the likelihood of mistakes also increases. A much better approach is to register those keystrokes under a user friendly command name. The Save & Proceed keystrokes are normally defined as *SP. This means that the command can be used multiple times in one load but it is only defined in one place, thus that definition can be changed once rather than every time the command is used in a sheet.
The default commands are stored in the file "commands.dat", which must be located in the same directory as the dataload.exe file. This file should not normally be directly edited, however, and all commands should be edited from within DataLoad. Command definitions are also stored in the DataLoad spreadsheet files. This makes the spreadsheets portable and any special commands you have created for a load will still work as intended on another user's PC. Commands are edited in the command definition form, which is accessed via the Edit > Commands menu path, or by clicking on the following icon:
By clicking on the icon or selecting 'Commands' from the 'Edit' menu the following form will be displayed:
Using this form you can update, add and delete commands.
The left column, titled Command, contains the command name that you would use in the .dld file. By scrolling to the bottom of this form, you will find space to enter your own new command names.
The columns to the right list the available command groups, with a space to create your own command group if required. This is where you can add, amend or delete the commands. A command definition may need to vary between applications and the different definitions should be entered in the different command group columns.
If the keystroke F4 are to be regularly used in a spreadsheet, it may be beneficial to use a command instead of the keystroke combination in the DataLoad cells. The DataLoad keystroke to simulate F4 is '\{F4}' and this could be configured as a command called '*PP', for example.
To do this, open the edit commands form and add this new command at the bottom of the form, as shown below:
Having configured this command, whenever *PP is used in a DataLoad spreadsheet the keystrokes F4 would actually be sent to the target application. The name of the command is entirely the user's choice and any name can be used. Most default DataLoad command names start with the character '*', however this is not required and any suitable name could be used.
When commands are edited, added or deleted the new definitions only apply to the currently open DataLoad spreadsheet. Other spreadsheets will not incorporate these changed commands nor will the commands become the default for new spreadsheets. To make the current commands the default for all new spreadsheets the 'Make Default' button should be pressed on the 'Commands' form.
When commands are edited the changes are only applied to the currently open DataLoad spreadsheet. If the 'Make Default' button is pressed, as described above, these changes will become the default for all new spreadsheets. If the default commands have been changed since a spreadsheet was created you may wish to incorporate these commands in the spreadsheet. Similarly, if a spreadsheet's commands have been edited you may wish to change these commands back to the default commands. In either case the goal can be achieved by pressing the 'Load Defaults' button on the 'Commands' forms. This button causes the default commands stored in the commands.dat file to replace the commands currently stored with the spreadsheet.
