MarkBook - Maplewood Import File

MarkBook^®

Maplewood Export File for MarkBook

Maplewood produces a Student Information Management System for schools and school districts.

MarkBook schools using the Maplewood system can custom design an export for MarkBook.

STEP 1: STRUCTURING THE MarkBook EXPORT REPORT

This custom designed export may be saved inside Maplewood so that it can be used later for updates and for new terms. The export file may be generated in each school from an administrator's or secretary's terminal. To begin, launch Maplewood, select Reports from the upper menu bar, select Reports for Exporting, and select Present Students as per the following image. Click to get to the next screen.

This Maplewood Export for Students screen following enables the construction of an ascii file export with tabs or commas as the delimiter. Note the selection of Comma at the lower right. Each of the Items will be a field from the data base. Add fields to the Item list by clicking on the Insert Field button at the bottom center of this image:

Maplewood Export for Students Screen

For the first field, we suggest that the user click through the Student Tree in this image to locate and click Surname, Usual Name as per the next image. This will insert that data into Field 1 with the two names separated by a comma. Alternatively, use two fields here, one for Surname and one for Given Name.

Select Fields

Note that Item 1 below is now identified with the data selected in the previous image. Use this same process of clicking on the Insert Field button to continue adding Fields: Student Number in item/field 2, Home Room Number (under Biographics, Homeroom) in field 3, and Gender (under Biographics, Gender) in field 4. Double clicking on the next item row replaces the function of the Insert Field button.

Add More Fields

Note that the four items added from the instructions above are now four lines in the Items window in the next image. Next come the courses. In Maplewood, these are tied to a period. Click Insert Field, select Classes, This year's classes.. then Course and section as per the next image:

Add Courses by Period

A Course and Section box will appear as in the next image. Fill in the Class Order box By Period, select the Semester (1 in this example), select the school's identifier for Section (Letter in this example), select the Day (1 in this example) and the Period (01 in this example). This will put all students' period 1 course and section into the fifth Item/field. Click OK:

Select Period

Repeat Course and section selection for each period. In the following example, Period 02 is being specified for Item/field 6. Click OK. Continue selecting courses and sections for each period of the school day.

Select Another Period

The school in the following image has four periods. Items 5 through 8 are courses for these four periods. The user has continued to add more fields after period 4 (in the eighth Item row) including a numeric Birthdate and a Phone Number. A school could add rows for semester 2 classes, Email addresses, or other items. Very Important: add a Carriage Return / Line Feed (CR/LF) as the last Item/field as shown below AND edit the Length of each field to appropriate sizes. Once complete, click File and Save this export as 'MarkBook'. Once saved, you'll not have to re-build the multi-field structure it to run this MarkBook export from Maplewood again.

Finished Export File Structure

STEP 2: CREATING THE EXPORT FILE

If you are not in the Maplewood Export for Students screen, return there as per the first and second images in Step 1 above. Then, on the Maplewood Export for Students frame, click File, select Open, and select your saved MarkBook Report. Make sure that commas are used as the separator. Click File again and select Export Report. The following image will appear. We recommend using Alphabetical order for the file. Click OK.

Build the Export Data File

The Report Builder - Export Parameters screen now appears as per the following image. The first and last student names should appear. Check the items at the right to make sure that they're correct. You're after ALL students in the school for this export. Click on the Export button, select a name for the file, e.g. 'markbook.txt', and select a safe location to save the file. It will take several minutes to compile. The resulting file is in ascii (plain or flat text) format with commas as the delimiter.

Select Order of Export Data

STEP 3: IMPORTING THE MAPLEWOOD DATA INTO MarkBook

This export file generated in Step 2 above is ready to set up all classes in the school as per the next MarkBook image. We suggest that the data file be posted in a location on the school's network where teachers have access but students do not. Or, copy the file onto a diskette and make a copy in the MarkBook directory on department computers throughout the school. Once teachers have access to the file, they can follow MarkBook's import as described in section 4-4 and section 4-5.

Importing Maplewood data into MarkBook

The first of 1505 students from a school's Maplewood export file is shown here. Conie is taking 4 courses, MFM2P1a in period 1, ENG3C1b in period 2, ZZZMAGb in period 3, and SBI3C1a in Period 4. Suppose the teacher wishes to import all students in SBI3C1a, which the teacher knows is in Period 4. Match the fields from MarkBook's Available Fields list at the right as per the image above. Ignore this field may be used repeatedly as shown for Conie's first three periods. Use Import If #1 on Period 4. Use the format DOB toggle at the lower left to select the Mth/Day/Year format - note that Conie's DOB is in that format. Once all fields are matched, and the proper course code is typed in the Import If #1 contains line, click the Import Students button at the lower right. MarkBook will hunt the whole file and select/import only those students taking SBI3C1a in period 4.

When running the MarkBook Export from Maplewood a second or subsequent time, it's tempting to give the new file a different file name. We recommend against this. Instead, give it the same name as before, e.g. 'markbook.txt', and over write the original file. This makes it much easier for teachers to update their classes from the newer Maplewood export file as described in section 4-8.

If your school is a Maplewood client, and this import-from-Maplewood process is new to the staff, then we recommend copying four sections of this Users' Guide for staff members - this page, section 4-4, section 4-5, section 4-8, and section 11-4. As with any page in our web sites, all of our clients have permission to print and make copies for communication and training purposes.

Manual: Go to section 4-8 to see how to update an imported class from a newer file.