How to import Containers in Excel to Cube-IQ

How to import Containers in Excel to Cube-IQ

Cube-IQ can import Containers from an Excel sheet

Below is an Excel spreadsheet of Sample Containers.

Container Id

Depth

Width

Height

Weight Capacity

Type

Height to be Added

Bottom to Top

Compacting in Height

Sample Medium Box

23

15

7

30

Box

0

FALSE

FALSE

Sample Medium Pallet

48

40

88

2000

Pallet

5.5

TRUE

TRUE

Sample 20' Rectangle

237

92

94

62380

Rectangular

0

FALSE

FALSE

The first 4 columns are required fields. Container Id must be a unique string. Depth, Width, and Height are required and must be a number. Weight Capacity is also required but if left blank will be 9,999,999.

The Type column is not required, it will be Rectangular if Type column is blank.

The Bottom to Top column is not required. It is for the container's loading direction. It is a boolean, TRUE means Products load from bottom to top and FALSE means back to front. It will be FALSE if left blank.

The Compacting in Height is not required. It is also a boolean. TRUE means Container is compacted in height and FALSE compacts along container's length. It will be FALSE if left blank.

You can copy and paste the spreadsheet above into Excel to follow the example below or as a template.

Use the Flexi Data Import feature in Cube-IQ to open an Excel for importing

The Flexi Data Import window is where Excel spreadsheets are opened and imported into Cube-IQ.

The Flexi Data Import, or Flexi window for short, can be launched by: 1) click the main menu, 2) click Import & Export tab, 3) click Import Containers or Products from CSV/Excel


Open the Excel file in the Flexi window by: 1) click Open File, 2) Navigate to and select the Excel file, and 3) click Open



Here is the Excel file opened in the Flexi window. There are three dropdown lists:
  1. First dropdown list is the name of the Excel sheet "Containers", there is 3 other unselected sheets named "Loads", "Products" and "Sheet1" in the Excel file
  2. Second dropdown list is for the type of data to be imported, "Import Products" is listed by default instead of "Import Containers"
  3. Third dropdown list instructs the import to either "Overwrite existing data" or "Overwrite only imported columns" or "Only add new data" or "Erase existing data in Load", this example uses the default "Overwrite existing data".

Map Container columns to Cube-IQ fields in the Flexi Import Data window

Excel sheet columns can be mapped to Cube-IQ fields and header rows can be skipped. 

Row 1 is row 1 in the Container sheet of the "Flexi Import.xlsx" file where column titles are, and rows 2, 3, and 4 are the containers.
 
In this example there is only one header line in row 1; therefore, the # Header rows in the spinner will be set to 1 instead of 4. This is important to ensure headers are not imported as a Container.
 
Here is the # Header set to 1, Row 1 now has a purple tinge as a visual to not import it. Rows 2-4 do not have a purple tinge.



The "Skip" in each of the columns means no Cube-IQ fields are mapped to any of the columns.



Click on a dropdown menu to select the appropriate Cube-IQ field to map for each column. Column A is CONTAINERID in this example.



Here are all the columns' dropdown menus mapped to the appropriate Cube-IQ fields. Column Mapping are automatically listed in the the lower panel after mapped field is selected in the the dropdown menu.



Column A to E mappings to Cube-IQ are straight forward. A maps to CONTAINERID, B maps to DEPTH, C maps to WIDTH, D maps to HEIGHT, and E is MAXWEIGHT.

Column F's "Type" maps to Cube-IQ's TYPE field. There are different Container Types in Cube-IQ such as Rectangular, Truck/Trailer, Pallet, and Carton. The example above will import 3 of these types: 1) Box, 2) Pallet, and 3) Rectangular

Columns G's "Outside Height" in this example is the height of the container's floor; therefore, the mapping for this column G in Cube-IQ is OUTSIDEEXTRAHEIGHT. Cube-IQ's OUSIDEEXTRAHEIGHT field is used for multistage Loads where a container's height is taken into account in the next stage. Only the Pallet has a value in column G, the other containers have 0. The pallet has a value of 5.5 inches, this means 5.5 inches is added to the height of the loaded pallet in the next stage.

Column H's "Bottom to Top" maps to Cube-IQ's BOTTOMTOTOPLOADING. BOTTOMTOTOPLOADING expects a TRUE or FALSE value. TRUE means container is loaded from the bottom to top, while FALSE means the Container is loaded from the back to front.

Column I's "Compacting in Height" maps to PARTIALLOADONFLOOR. PARTIALLOADONFLOOR expects a TRUE or FALSE value, TRUE means compacting in height, while FALSE means compacting along container's length.

Mapped columns can be saved

Mapped columns can be saved and reloaded for future use to save time when another similar Excel sheet needs mapping again. Excel sheet must have header columns in the same order, otherwise column dropdown menus will need to be corrected after loading a mapping configuration file.

Save column mapping in Flexi Window by: 1) click Save Mapping Button, 2) navigate to a folder and enter a filename, and 3) click Save



Begin importing Loads into Cube-IQ


Containers can begin importing after columns are mapped and # Header rows is set. Column mappings for A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, and I are also summarized in the lower panel of the Flexi window.




Complete the importing process from Flexi window by: 1) click Begin import button, 2) click OK when Import is complete, 3) review messages in bottom panel, and 4) click Close.



The bottom panel returns Containers imported. The footer line of the Flexi also returns how many containers are: Imported, New, Updated, Deleted, and the number of Errors. There are 3 new containers imported.

Review Imported Containers in Cube-IQ

Navigate to the Containers menu, and open each Container. Each Container's dimensions are imported as per the Excel sheet. The Loading direction and compacting have also been imported. For example, the 20' Rectangle loads from back to front along length and the Medium Pallet loads bottom to top in height.

Here are the three imported containers. The yellow highlight Container's Dimension and Weight, while the orange highlights are the loading direction and compacting.

The Sample 20' Rectangle Container is imported as loading back to front and compacting along length.

The Sample Medium Box is imported as loading back to front and along its length.


The Medium Pallet is imported as loading bottom to top and compacting in height.






    • Related Articles

    • How to import products in Excel to Cube-IQ

      Cube-IQ can import Products from an Excel sheet Below is an Excel spreadsheet of products . ProductId Length Width Height Weight Description Powder 19.13 13.13 11 36 Crate of powder Chips 15 10.75 8.25 25 Corrugated chips Metal 15.63 10.44 2.75 24 ...

    • How to import Loads in Excel to Cube-IQ

      Cube-IQ can import Loads from an Excel sheet Below is an Excel spreadsheet of a Sample Import Load of Products included in the sample data when Cube-IQ is installed. Load ID Product Id Quantity Sample Import Load prd 1 60 Sample Import Load prd 2 40 ...

    • How to import Custom Orientations

      Products can be imported from Excel to setup Custom Orientations instead of the regular Allowed Orientations Products imported from Excel have their Allowed orientation mapped by default to "All six". All six can be changed to "As defined", or to ".. ...

    • CUBE-IQ V5.X: Flexi Data Import Products & Containers

      1. Click on the "System Menu" icon in the top left.   2. Click on, "Import & Export" 3. Click on, "Import Containers or Products from CSV/Excel" 4. The "Flexi Data Import" window opens. Click on "Import Products", or "Import Containers" from the drop ...

    • CUBE-IQ V5.X: Shortcut Keys

      For users preferring the keyboard over the mouse, Cube-IQ offers the following Shortcut Keys. From any window : Function Shortcuts Shortcut key Product data         F5 Container data F6 Settings F7 In all data screens (Containers, Products, ...