Recipe Import

Owned by Alex Anderson
Jul 22, 2020
3 min read


First, some references:
ESHA Port manual for Importing Recipe (use this for concept, not necessarily literal)
ESHA Port overview webinar (~30 minutes)

To get to specifics, to import a Recipe, there are certain fields that must be present. At a minimum, the import file needs the following (order does not matter).

·        Recipe Name

·        Ingredient Name

·        Ingredient Amount

·        Ingredient Measure


When it comes to Recipes for the Amount and Measure fields, if possible it is best to convert everything into a weight -- perhaps as grams. This is not required, but can make the import more efficient if it is possible.  In other words, if a recipe calls for "2 slices of bread", out put the quantity & unit as the proper gram weight (e.g. "25 grams"), instead of the "2 slices". Volume measures ("gallon", "cup", etc) , as well as "unit" measures (e.g. "slice", "each", etc) are available, but only if the underlying Ingredient has had a Yield/Measure added to reflect the density of those additional, non-weight measures.

In addition to the above 4, one (or both) of the following is very beneficial, if exist:

·        Ingredient ESHACode

·        Ingredient UserCode

If neither exist, the ingredient will still import, but you may be met with a NO DATA message for the item within the Recipe.

Additionally, you may wish to include Serving Size information for that recipe:

·        Serving Size Quantity

·        Serving Size Measure


Finally, a field that is not required, but recommended:

·        ItemDocumentType

This field denotes whether the line item is an Ingredient ("1") in the recipe to be imported, or a SubRecipe ("2").  Often, this is already determined if the Item ESHACode or Item UserCode is included.  If these fields are both absent, the import will try to resolve the item through the name, and along with the ItemDocumentType, finding the ID of the intended imported item is easier.

Attached

you’ll find some files as an example for importing into the ESHA Database.  The *.EPF can be opened in ESHA Port (Import > From File - Open an .epf file...), and references the *.TXT file for importing.

·        ImportRecipe_PBJ.txt is an example delimited.txt file that can be imported through ESHAPort SQL. This uses the suggested tab separators and no text delimiters.
Once imported, this would create a recipe called ‘PBJ Example Import’ in the ESHA Database. This recipe could then be opened by the ESHA Software.

·        ImportRecipe_PBJ.epf is an ESHAPort SQL file. This is a sample configuration file for the purpose of importing the above ImportRecipe_PBJ.txt recipe.


To use these files as an example import:

  1. Save the .txt file and .epf file to a location on your computer.

  1. Launch ESHAPort.

  1. Choose Import.

  1. Choose 'From File - Open an .epf file...

  1. Browse to the .EPF saved in 1 above, and 'Open' it.

You may receive an error related to the import file location (it expects the .txt to be in C:\Temp2\EshaPortExamples\EshaPortSQL folder). OK that.

  1. ESHA Port should appear, but look somewhat blank.  There are some aspects that need be addressed.  Click Edit.

  1. Import Options: under Import File Name, click Browse and point to the proper location of the above saved .txt file.

  1. Selected Fields: click Edit and make the list appear as below screenshot.

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NOTE: you may have to switch lists in the Fields List drop-down.  For this example, all fields are either in "Recipe" or "Items".

  1. OK back out.  You should see a more complete summary screen.

  1. As preliminary test, click the Import File page at left.  You should see a simple spreadsheet-like view outlining the contents of the .txt file to be imported.

The above is to setup the import.  At this point, clicking the Execute button on the ribbon would perform the import.  After completion, in the ESHA Software you should see a Recipe called 'PBJ'.

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