File: Standard import of raw pointings

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Object of the interface

The interface allows importing raw pointings from third-party software into Timesquare. The principle is to make the expected information available in a text file which will be read and interpreted by the interface so as to update the database.

Learn more about setting up this import.

File name

The file can be named in two ways depending on whether the third-party system making it available generates a different file for each day or a single file containing multiple days. The file contains one line per raw pointing.

Undated file (custom label)

File name is free (Text + extension), but once it has been defined in the import setup it should not be changed.

Example 1: the Label field in the configuration and the import file are both named pointings.txt.

Example 2: the Label field in the configuration and the import file are both named
pointings_Timesquare.001

Dated files (with date pattern)

The names of the import files must follow a particular syntax including the date of the proposed data. The File label field must explain the nomenclature chosen. Thus, LabelDDMMYYYY.EXT, LabelDDMMYY.EXT, LabelYYYYMMDD.EXT, LabelYYMMDD.EXT, DDMMYYYYLabel.EXT, DDMMYYLabel.EXT, YYYYMMDDLabel.EXT or YYMMDDLabel.EXT are the names retained where:

• "Label" is an alphanumeric character string that I can customize
• "DD" corresponds to the day, "MM" corresponds to the month, "YY" and "YYYY" corresponds to the year, which can be entered in either 2 or 4 characters
• "EXT" an alphanumeric string of up to three characters that I can customize

Example 1: The Label field in the configuration is called pointings_DDMMYY.txt and the three import files are named pointings_040521.txt, pointings_050521.txt and pointings_060521.txt.

Example 2: The Label field in the configuration is named pointingsYYYYMMDD.001 and the three import files are named pointings20200504.001, pointings20200505.001 and pointings20200506.001.

Example 3: The Label field in the configuration is named YYMMDD.txt and the three import files are named 040520.txt, 050520.txt and 060520.txt.

• If there are several files with the same date and different times, the system retrieves the most recent file, based on the time recorded in the file label.

• If there are several files with different dates, the system retrieves the file with the most recent date.

Format

Text. UTF-8 encoding.

Separator between two information

The separator between two pieces of information is the semicolon (;).

Description of the file content

Order	Field name	Type	Notes
01	Pointing date	Date	JDD/MM/YYYY, DDMMYYYY (configurable)
02	Pointing time	Time	HMM, HH:MM (configurable)
03	Employee concerned	Alphanumerical	Badge, employee ID, payroll number, identification, diverse fields
04	Type of pointing	Alphanumerical	1 for Entry 2 for Output 5 for Pause

Rules

If the badge is selected as the identifier to be used, the internal code is expected in the import file.

Pointing type is an optional field. The column can remain empty if this information does not exist in the system providing the file to be imported. The pointing type is not used during the import.

The pointings are integrated in the order in which they are displayed in the file, on the same day.

Pointings after midnight do not take into account the day change time.

Example: I have a day change time of 06:00. On 03/08/2021, I clock in at 2:13 p.m., then 5:56 p.m., then 8:01 p.m. and finally 12:02 a.m. The associated import file is therefore:

08/03/2021;14:13;MAT001;; 
08/03/2021;17:56;MAT001;; 
08/03/2021;20:01;MAT001;; 
09/03/2021;00:02;MAT001;;

Example of content

File example

13/02/2026;09:04;BRZ04;1;
13/02/2026;17:06;BRZ04;2;
13/02/2026;09:17;BRZ05;1;
13/02/2026;16:49;BRZ05;2;
13/02/2026;09:06;BRZ06;1;
13/02/2026;17:04;BRZ06;2;