Use of UPDATEIGNOREBLANK Command when Processing Data Import

Since version 10.2 there are new commands for use in the DEF file that allow for more efficient updating of existing records.
One command is the UPDATEIGNOREBLANK command which works in conjunction with the existing UPDATEITEM command. It is useful in imported updated information to some Items in the Maintain Menu as well as Purchase Orders.

Use and Functionality of the UPDATEIGNOREBLANK:
To update information to an existing record via import you would include the UPDATEITEM command in the file statement. Your statement would look something like:
FILE,VENDOR,C:\MIP Share\Import\CSV Samples\Vndr.csv,UPDATEITEM
When you import information to update an existing record (i.e. Vendor Information) the program would go field by field and replace the information that was there. This worked but it required you to have ALL information for the vendor every field. If the file you were importing from was missing a field (i.e. zip code), that field would be overwritten with a blank. This required a lot of overhead management in importing to make sure you had all the information.
This has been improved since version 10.2. There is a new command to add into the Context Block of the DEF file. The command is UPDATEIGNOREBLANK. It can be put anywhere in the context block. For example:
CONTEXTIDPOSITION,1
DISCARDFIRSTNRECORDS,2
FILETYPE,CSV

UPDATEIGNOREBLANK
With the inclusion of the UPDATEIGNOREBLANK command the import will behave slightly different. When it is updating an existing record, it will only replace the fields that exist in the data that is being imported. The other fields will be left alone. So when you are doing an import to update vendor information (i.e. to change vendor names), you only need to have the key information (i.e. Vendor ID in this case) and the information you wish to change. The import will update the information in the data file and it will not change or blank out any other information.
The UPDATEIGNOREBLANK command works in conjunction with the UPDATEITEM command. If you do not have the UPDATEITEM command in your DEF file, the UPDATEIGNOREBLANK will not work. This command is useful for importing some items from the Maintain menu. For example, Vendor and Customer information, Charge codes, Chart of Accounts, Assets, and etc.
It does not really help with normal transaction entry (API, JV, CD, and etc.) because you are not updating information against unique existing records.
One exception to this is using the command to improve the importing of purchase orders. When entering PO’s, it is common to have default information pull in. The UPDATEIGNOREBLANK command prevents you from overwriting this default information with a blank.