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Import time series

Time Series Import Wizard

The Time Series Import Wizard was released with MIKE 2025.0 and improved with following releases.

Opening the Tool

The Time Series Import wizard allows importing of time series files on disk in various types into the MIKE OPERATIONS database using the time series import tools of MIKE OPERATIONS.

Time Series Import wizard can be found in the Data page of the MIKE Workbench ribbon.

Selecting Time Series Import would open up the wizard (MIKE 2025.2 version below)

Workflow

  1. Pick the Import tool to use for the import

  1. Click the Select Files... button and select one or more files to import

  1. Time series are shown in the table

Time series items from all selected files are shown in the table, up to a maximum of 40 for performance reasons.

Use the filter button to decide which time series should be imported. (available since MIKE OPERATIONS 2025.2)

  1. Any parsing errors will be shown in the text box as shown above.

  1. Disable the file(s) that were selected by mistake (available since MIKE OPERATIONS 2025.1)

  1. Select the files options

  1. Press Refresh and make sure the data is parsed properly

Refresh will parse the files using the properties specified, it will either show an error if parsing is not successsful or will show the time series if the files are parsed successfully.

Parsing failed Parsing succeeded
  1. Define other tool parameters

  1. Define where to import the time series to

The path specified will override the path specified in the tool properties.

  1. Click on Import

Once the result in the preview tab or tabs are correct, click on the Import button to import the files into the group path specified in the Import to field.

Note

Note that all files selected are imported using the same properties. This means that e.g., date formats and decimal separators should be the same in the files selected.

Save and load properties

(available since MIKE OPERATIONS 2025.1)

An updated bar in the Properties that allows to Save the settings, Export the settings, Import the Settings and Help for documentation.

After a file has been imported successfully,Variable and its corresponding Unit, Value type can be changed by right clicking on the imported timeseries and selecting Change Unit or Change Value Type option.

Save tool settings button will show a dialog where the name of the selected tool settings can be provided.

Export settings exports the current settings into an xml file.

Import settings imports the already saved settings

File types

The following file types are supported.

Tool File extension(s)
Import from ASCII
  • .txt
  • .csv
    		•
    Import from DFS0
  • .txt
  • .csv (Batch Import)
    		•
    Import from Excel
  • .xls
  • .xlsx
    		•
    Import from GRIB
  • .grb
    		•
    Import from NetCDF
  • .nc
    		•
    Import from Res1D
  • .res1d
    		•

    Batch import of time series

    This section refers to Ordinary time series only.

    Import from DFS0 and Import from ASCII tools both offer a Batch import mode, allowing multiple files to be imported in one operation.

    When selecting Batch the Import specification format can be either CSV or Spreadsheet, meaning a list of input specifications should come for either a comma-separated csv-file or a spreadsheet in the database.

    In both cases the tabular information must include column headings EXACTLY like these for the import to work:

    • File name
    • Item no.
    • Group
    • Feature class (path)
    • Feature (display attribute)

    Other columns may exist but are ignored.

    The first line (in the file or spreadsheet) contains the header.

    An example is shown at the end of this section.

    Each line in the file or spreadsheet contains a specification of which file and item to import and to which group in time series manager and optionally a feature class and feature to associate the file with.

    The feature class field with the feature identifier must be selected as Display attribute for the feature class in GIS Manager for the association to be established.

    Limitations/requirements for the import are:

    • Batch specification
      Feature class (path) and Feature (display) fields are optional.
    • CSV-file
      The file must be comman separated.
    • File name
      Extension must be either .dfs0 or .txt (case sensitive) for the respective tool. The file name should include the absolute path to the file.
    • Item no.
      A positive value larger than or equal to 1
    • Group
      A path in Time Series Explorer starting with /. I will be created if it does not exist If empty the default Group set for the tool will be used.
    • Feature class (path)
      A full path to an existing feature class in GIS Explorer.
    • Feature (display)
      The value of the field selected as Display Attribuute for the feature class.

    ASCII File import requires the Variable, Unit and Value type properties to be specified. These will act as default value for all the imported time series.

    But it is possible to add one to more columns to the import specification and override these settings for the individual time series. The field headings are:

    • Variable
    • Unit
    • ValueType

    The possible values are the same as what is show in the drop-down boxes in the Properties dialog.

    Unit depends on Variable, so if Variable is specified Unit should also be.

    ASCII time series have some additional requirements:

    • Files must have extension .txt (lower case).
    • The header should have a field called Time holding date and time.
    • The data is read following the line with field Time.
    • Data can be comma- or TAB-separated.
    • If Time series overwrite option is CreateAndReplace, item columns should have unique names. In case of non-unique names that last column of the non-unique name will be used.
    • If Time series overwrite option is CreateButRename, non-unique columns/items will be renamed with an index suffix.
    • If Time series overwrite option is DontCreate, non-unique items are handled like for CreateAndReplace, but if the target data series already exists in the database it will eventually be skipped.
    • DateTime is parsed using Current Culture, which means regional settings are used, but using a dateimte in this format : yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss, should ensure proper interpretation.
    • Numbers should be with decimal point.
    • All numbers are interpreted as values.
    • A missing value should be indicated with an empty cell or a text that is not a number.

    Example of a CSV-file for importing ASCII files.

    Example of a similar spreadsheet import specification.