Tradesimple CSV Specification: Catalogue Permissions

Overview

Purchasing (formerly known as Trade Simple) Catalogue permissions control how sites can view and/or order from catalogues. These permissions can be managed from the website when logged in, but there is also the option to upload catalogue permissions for all sites at once with a CSV file. This guide defines the contents and rules governing the sending of a catalogue permission load file.

This article is aimed at the UK-based technical reader who possesses a working familiarity with CSV files.

A full list of articles covering the creation of other CSV files that can be loaded to Purchasing can be found here P2P&I - Purchase to Pay CSV Specification - Contents Page

General Notes on all CSV Documents

File Structure

Each record is one line. A record separator should consist of a line feed (ASCII/LF=0x0A), or a carriage return and line feed pair (ASCII/CRLF=0x0D 0x0A).

Fields are separated with commas.

Restrictions on the Fields Data

• Fields with embedded commas must be delimited with double-quote characters. E.g. Field,Data should be sent across within double quotes as “Field,Data”.
• Fields containing double-quote characters must be surrounded by double-quotes, and the embedded double-quotes must each be represented by a pair of consecutive double-quotes. E.g. Field”Data should be sent across as “Field””Data”.
• Fields with leading or trailing spaces must be delimited with double-quote characters. E.g. FieldData should be sent across within double quotes as “ FieldData ”.
• Fields containing any special characters (characters other than alphabets (a-z or A-Z) and numerals (0-9) should be embedded within double-quotes.
• Fields may always be delimited with double quotes and the delimiters will always be discarded. Please note: The system will not use the quotes to impart type information to fields imported.
• The first record in a CSV file should be data and not a header record containing column (field) names.
• Optional elements at the end of any line and their delimiters can be omitted, but delimiters are necessary when optional elements are omitted within a line.

Mandatory/Optional Fields

Tables in this article use the following fields to indicate whether a field is mandatory, optional, or otherwise. 

• M – Mandatory, must be provided
• O – Optional, should be provided if appropriate
• C – Conditional, should be provided under certain circumstances. The notes next to the field will describe exactly when the field should be provided
• D – The system requires this field but will derive it if not provided

Numeric Data Elements

All numeric data elements must have any decimal point explicitly stated. A negative value may be sent by placing a minus sign before the number, e.g. –1250.02. A decimal point is not needed where the decimal part is equal to zero, e.g. 15.00 may be formatted as 15.

Text Data Elements

The appropriate separator should terminate all variable-length text data elements, without trailing spaces or any other 'padding' character. Double-quotes may be used to define and enclose single text data elements. Please refer to the Restrictions on the Fields Data for more details.

Date Elements

The date field format in these documents must always be YYYYMMDD unless otherwise stated.

Catalogue Permissions

Catalogue permissions can be loaded for all sites at once with this file. This may be used when a new catalogue has been implemented and there are many sites to configure.

Please note: Excel can strip leading zeroes and make date and number format alterations. Always verify the file contents before transmission.

Example:

LDN34,FOOD,FCAT1,Y,Y

LDN35,FOOD,FCAT1,Y,N

LDN36,FOOD,FCAT1,Y,Y