How does the object referencing in Imports work?

[Bloodiko]

Hello,

i've searched far and wide on how to reference objects correctly.

Ive seen multiple issues regarding this, but not an correct statement in those on how its done, neither have i found something in the documentation.

Thus here:

I've been trying to Import devices - but the parent device does not have an name - thus the question:
How can I reference the device ID ( Primary Key ? ) in my import correctly ?

Thanks

[candlerb]

What kind of import: CSV? REST API / pynetbox? Django API / nbshell?

Have you tried using the device ID? Did it work or did you get an error? If so, show the data you submitted and what error you got.

A parent device is normally a blade chassis or some similarly important piece of kit, and therefore it usually makes sense to give it a name and to label it. Otherwise, you have to refer to it as "that HP blade chassis that sits in rack X position Y".

[Bloodiko]

this double bracket i got from the issue, in which was commented by the maintainer that it should work this way - but it has been implemented differently
and I dont know how

I am not importing Devices - I am Importing "Child Devices" in a Housing - thus you cannot find the Parent in the normal import

There is a seperate import at /dcim/devices/import/child-devices/
There you can find the mentioned "Parent" Column

Also , i am not pasting the actual line here - its confidential data - not pasting those.

name,device_role,manufacturer,device_type,asset_tag,status,comments,cluster,parent,device_bay
newDeviceName,Dell Servers,DellEMC,FC630,AssetTag,active,Slot 2,cluster,7570,Slot 2

the field parent is accessed by its name - and i'm trying to figure out how i can tell him to access it with the ID instead.

[candlerb]

this double bracket i got from the issue, in which was commented by the maintainer that it should work this way - but it has been implemented differently

Which issue? Please link to your source. I seem to remember reading somewhere that some columns support JSON, which would be {"id":7570}, but I can't find a reference to that currently.

I am not importing Devices - I am Importing "Child Devices" in a Housing - thus you cannot find the Parent in the normal import

There is a seperate import at /dcim/devices/import/child-devices/

OK, I see there's a tab for that now, thanks.

name,device_role,manufacturer,device_type,asset_tag,status,comments,cluster,parent,device_bay
newDeviceName,Dell Servers,DellEMC,FC630,AssetTag,active,Slot 2,cluster,7570,Slot 2

the field parent is accessed by its name - and i'm trying to figure out how i can tell him to access it with the ID instead.

That's a good enough example. I can now replicate by creating device types "Test Parent" and "Test Child", an unnamed parent device (id 72), adding device bays to device 72 (not to the device type - I hit #6714), and then trying to import a child:

device_role,manufacturer,device_type,status,parent,device_bay
Test,Unknown,Test Child,active,72,bay 1

device_role,manufacturer,device_type,status,parent,device_bay
Test,Unknown,Test Child,active,{"id":72},bay 1

Neither of these find the parent.

It seems to me that you should name your parent devices.

[candlerb]

Found it in Netbox v2.8.2 release notes:

#3147 - Allow specifying related objects by arbitrary attribute during CSV import

(implemented in #4564). This suggests that the parent ought to be selectable by:

device_role,manufacturer,device_type,status,parent,device_bay
Test,Unknown,Test Child,active,{id:72},bay 1

But that doesn't work for me; maybe this attribute doesn't support it. In any case, I can't see any examples of test cases in this format in netbox/dcim/tests/test_views.py

[candlerb]

Aha, got it. This works: put parent.id as the CSV column name.

device_role,manufacturer,device_type,status,parent.id,device_bay
Test,Unknown,Test Child,active,72,bay 1

The posting at the top of #3147 was just a thought, not an actual specification.

[Bloodiko]

Yeah - just figured it out too - that i need to set it as column name
I'll copy paste it into a new Answer to mark it as Solved

overriding single lines probably isnt possible , but this is quite enough

Thx though

[Bloodiko]

###Answer Copy Pasted from
#6718 (reply in thread)

Aha, got it. This works: put parent.id as the CSV column name.

device_role,manufacturer,device_type,status,parent.id,device_bay
Test,Unknown,Test Child,active,72,bay 1

The posting at the top of #3147 was just a thought, not an actual specification.