Importing File-Based Job Data

The cloud Remote Sampler system imports external job data using the Cloud Adaptor Service that runs locally on customer hardware. This Windows service monitors a set folder in the file-system and processes any files that are written into the folder. If the file contains job data that matches the Remote Sampler Job Data Schema then it will be processed and uploaded to the cloud Remote Sampler system.

In order to import data into Remote Sampler, it must be formatted in XML. A simple example is shown below.

Example Job Data Formatting

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<JobGroupInput xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema">
  <JobGroupName>Collection Run 1</JobGroupName>
  <Jobs>
    <JobInput>
      <JobName>Warehouse Jobs 5</JobName>
      <JobId>123345</JobId>
      <JobParts>
        <JobPartInput>
          <JobPartName>Sample 1</JobPartName>
          <JobPartId>198576</JobPartId>
          <ScheduledDate>2017-08-14T00:00:00+01:00</ScheduledDate>
          <ScheduledLocation>
            <DisplayText>An Example Location</DisplayText>
            <LocationType>Warehouse Location</LocationType>
            <Latitude>52.123</Latitude>
            <Longitude>1.789</Longitude>
            <GridEast>543678</GridEast>
            <GridNorth>123654</GridNorth>
            <BuildingName>123456</BuildingName>
            <BuildingNumber>12</BuildingNumber>
            <Street>Main Street</Street>
            <City>London</City>
            <Zip>AB1 3CD</Zip>
            <Zone>Zone 1</Zone>
            <ReferenceNumber>A123465</ReferenceNumber>
          </ScheduledLocation>
          <DataFields>
            <DataFieldInput>
              <DisplayText>Gross Weight of Sample</DisplayText>
              <FieldName>Gross Weight</FieldName>
              <DataType>number</DataType>
              <ReadOnly>false</ReadOnly>
              <Optional>false</Optional>
              <DefaultValue>0.00</DefaultValue>
            </DataFieldInput>
          </DataFields>
          <ItemsForCollection>
            <ItemForCollectionInput>
              <ItemId>123456</ItemId>
              <DisplayText>2KG BULK SAMPLE</DisplayText>
              <ItemType>Physical Sample</ItemType>
              <Optional>false</Optional>
            </ItemForCollectionInput>
          </ItemsForCollection>
          <Attributes>
            <AttributeInput>
              <AttributeName>Example Attribute Name</AttributeName>
              <AttributeValue>Example Attribute Value</AttributeValue>
            </AttributeInput>
          </Attributes>
          <MethodToUse>Warehouse</MethodToUse>
        </JobPartInput>
      </JobParts>
    </JobInput>
  </Jobs>
</JobGroupInput>

An XSD schema file for this XML format is available here: JobGroupInput.xsd

Remote data collection involves a technician travelling to a given location on one or more occasions to collect data and physical items. To represent that process in the import data format, each data collection event is represented as a JobInput that has a unique ID and is made up of one or more JobPartInputs. A JobPartInput represents a single visit to a given location. Each JobPartInput has a target location to visit (ScheduledLocation) along with a set of data items to collect on-site (DataFields) and physical items to collect (ItemsForCollection).

Remote Sampler allows conditional behaviour to be configured based on Attributes of the JobPartInput. The Attributes collection is used to hold any number of additional fields that might be required to set up conditional behaviour for different types of JobPartInput.

A full explanation of each of the available fields is given below.

Parent	Field Name	Description	Data Type	Example	Required
JobGroupInput	JobGroupName	This name describes a collection of Jobs. This might describe a collection of related jobs for a single user for example.	Any text	ROUND1 01-JAN-2017	Yes
JobInput	JobName	A textual description of a job.	Any text	Warehouse sample 1	Yes
JobInput	JobId	A unique identifier for the job.	Any text	123456	Yes
JobPartInput	JobPartName	A textual description of the job part.	Any text	Warehouse sample 1 first day	Yes
	JobPartId	A unique identifier for the job part.	Any text	987654	Yes
	ScheduledDate	The date that the job part has been scheduled for completion,	DateTime	01-Jan-2017 00:00:00 Any standard datetime format is acceptable.	Yes
	MethodToUse	This field can be used to specify which Remote Sampler device method should be used for this particular job part.	Text. Must match an existing method name in the system.	Warehouse Method 1	No
ScheduledLocation	DisplayText	The text that the device user will see for the target location	Any text	12, Main Street, A City, AB1 2CD	Yes
	LocationType	The type of sample collection location.	Any text	Possible examples: Customer Address Warehouse Container	Yes
	Latitude	The latitude of the target location. (Lat/lon or grid coordinates are required if navigation is to be used)	Number	52.1234	Yes if navigation required
	Longitude	The longitude of the target location. (Lat/lon or grid coordinates are required if navigation is to be used)	Number	-1.765	Yes if navigation required
	GridEast	The grideast value if the location has grid-based co-ordinates. (Lat/lon or grid coordinates are required if navigation is to be used)	Number	123456	Yes if navigation required
	GridNorth	The gridnorth value if the location has grid-based co-ordinates. (Lat/lon or grid coordinates are required if navigation is to be used)	Number	654321	Yes if navigation required
	BuildingName	The building name for the target location.	Text	Warehouse 12	No
	BuildingNumber	The building number for the target location.	Number	67	Yes if navigation required
	Street	The street for the target location.	Text	Main Street	No
	City	The city of the target location.	Text	London	No
	Zip	The zip code or postal code of the target location. A house number and zip code can be used for navigation in place of co-ordinates for navigation if required.	Text	AB1 2CD	Yes if navigation required
	Zone	A zone code for the target location if the location has one.	Text	Zone 123	No
	ReferenceNumber	A unique reference number for this location if it has one.	Text	123456	No
DataFieldInput	DisplayText	The display name of the data field that will show to the device user.	Text	Sample temperature (deg C)	Yes
	FieldName	The name of the field in the customer datasystem if this datafield is to be exported on completion.	Text	SampTemp	Only if data is to be returned to external datasystem
	DataType	The type of data this field will contain. This field can be left blank and configured within Remote Sampler.	From list	Use a value from the list below: Text Number DateTime List GpsPosition Address Checkbox DateOnly TimeOnly MultiselectList	No
	Readonly	Whether this field can be changed by the device user at runtime.	Boolean	True False	No
	Optional	Whether this data field is required from the user at runtime.	Boolean	True False	No
	DefaultValue	A default value to present at runtime.	Text	12.3	No
ItemForCollectionInput	ItemId	A unique ID for the item to be collected.	Text	A12345	Yes
	DisplayText	A textual description of the item to show the device user at runtime.	Text	2kg Bulk Sample	Yes
	ItemType	The type of item to collect	Text	Bottle	Yes
	Optional	Whether this item is required for collection at runtime.	Boolean	True False	Yes
AttributeInput	AttributeName	The name of the attribute.	Text	SAMPLE_POINT_CODE	Yes
AttributeInput	AttributeValue	The value of the attribute.	Text	Z1234	Yes