Sample data create and import

Data creation and import is split into two tasks:

• create sample data (issue #29)
• import this data (issue #220)

The import is done via import file. Decision: simple for user.

Keeping the focus: the focus is creating sample data for the database, not import/export.

The above points were decided to be done this way in a phonecall with Timo.

This page aims to act as whiteboard for displaying current state and solving this task. The task itself is tracked in the two issue stated above.

Creating sample data

Goal: creating sample data for the database.

The sample data should have

• many donors
• many recipients
• many donations

Lists of test data generators:

• http://www.webresourcesdepot.com/test-sample-data-generators/
• http://databene.org/databene-benerator/similar-products.html

The majority of the software listed below was extracted from former page.

interest?	Program	creates	area	Output	App-Type	License
*	generatedata.com	Addresses / Cities / Countries	Netherlands, Canada, UK, US	XML, Excel, HTML, CSV, SQL	Webapp (JS,PHP,MySQL)	GPL v2
	DBMonster	generates test data		SQL	Command-Line (Java)	Apache License
	CSV Data generator			CSV?	(Ruby)
	Datagenerator				library / GUI	GPL
	dqMaster			text,xml,db	GUI (extensible)
	Spawner Data Generator	random proper names, terms and connectors		delimited text / SQL	apptype	license
	Test Dictionary				java interface
data only	Fresh Trash Generator	Random Website, Email, Family and First Names, Phone Number, Company, Birthday	Greek Names and Companies, German Streets		java utility package		contains at least some interesting resource data (German Streets, European Cities Zip Codes
*	Geographical Places Database	geographical locations (schools, universities, whitehouse, eiffel tower...)		tab delimited	website, download, libraries (various languages), webservice	creative commons attribution
nn	google api toolkit	nn			Web API
-	Data Science Toolkit	convert address to coordinates, vv, ip to coordinates etc			Web API / VM
-	fakenamegenerator.com	Names,Adresses from many countries			Website / Web API	proprietary for API (kostenlos, but attribution)
* (if this is as good as it claims, it is it!)	benerator	transforms given data to test data (includes various filters)		various databases, xml, csv, excel	Framework	GPL / commercial
	http://www.briandunning.com/sample-data/	Website with real address and company data (US and Canada) but with fake names. This could be useful with testing map services as well since there are real geographic locations.	US, Canada			free
	GEDIS Studio for Test Data	"Realistic Test Data" (not viewed)		CSV, XML, SQL, or HTML	Windows / Scripting	community edition kostenlos / commercial
-	Excel random data generator	Generates sample data, somewhat acclaimed here			MS Excel Plugin	commercial

Coding

Some coding has been done already: See csharp\ICT\PetraTools\GenerateSampleData for transforming sample data into family records etc.

Also see partner import module, which processes csv and yaml files. csharp\ICT\Petra\Client\lib\MPartner\gui\PartnerImport.ManualCode.cs

Importing sample data

The import is done via import file. Decision: simple for user.

Keeping the focus: the focus is creating sample data for the database, not import/export. Import/export is a simple tool - which we put effort into, to keep it nice and simple and easy to understand. But in this case, a tool for sample data only.

Make the import file as simple as possible for the user, e.g. consciously limit the scope of the import files capability (one address per person), but rather not powerful import-file.

Concider data liberation?

Not necessarily - only if useful to keep it simple and make it work quickly.

• Open Petra Data Liberation
• Googles effort

Intended location of data in OpenPetra

Data	Table
Person	p_family
Address	-
Donations	-

p_family will be used for all data, and p_person ignored (This is in line with the attempts to replace p_person by p_family).