Mars depends on having accurate and up to date data regarding the current status and sales history of all replenishable inventory under its purview. The Mars system can interface with virtually any back-end host system because it allows any system to feed it data through the Mars Agent. In order to get that data into Mars, the Agent uses the transfer file formats defined in
Appendix A.
The Mars Agent (Data Loader) can be run from from the server from the command line or as a scheduled task through a batch file. In order to run the Mars Agent it is necessary to have some definition and Key files on the system to let the loader know what data to input. The Mars Agent is able to automatically load any data into the system on demand.
Definition Files map the Mars data transfer file formats to the current database schema. These files can be customized to accommodate changes and customizations made to a specific customer's Mars installation.
Key Files are metadata files that tell the Mars loader how to process the data transfer files. These files include definitions for primary keys, validation entries, default values, and processing directives.
It must be noted that the Mars Agent is only responsible for loading data into the Mars database. It does not automatically cause the Mars recalculation routines to run. The Mars recalculation must be triggered once the desired dataset is loaded.
The Mars Agent program is MarsAgent8.exe and its usage is as follows:
Usage: MarsAgent8.exe -config <config file> -defFile <definition file> -keyFile <key file> -inFile <input file> [-outFile <output file>]
The parameters can be included in any order and are case sensitive. outFile is the only optional parameter. The Mars Agent will fail with an error if any of the other parameters are missing.
-config <config file> : The config file parameter is the complete path to your Mars 8 configuration file (i.e. C:\inetpub\NBDS\Mars8\Config.ini)
-defFile <definition file> : The definition file parameter is the complete path to the
Definition File that defines the input file mapping.
-keyFile <key file> : The key file parameter is the complete path to the
Key File that will manage the loading process.
-inFile <input file> : The input file parameter is the complete path to the host data file to be loaded.
-outFile <output file> : The output file parameter is the complete path to the file that will receive the output for the data load. This file will be truncated if it already exists.
