Importing Files into SADL

Last revised 6/9/2021. Contact us.

Note: for instructions on importing projects into SADL, see Exporting SADL Projects.

The Eclipse-based SADL IDE supports importing two types of files: OWL model files and CSV tabular data files.

Importing OWL Model Files

The Eclipse-based SADL IDE includes an exploratory capability to import OWL models into a SADL project as SADL files. Note that this is NOT the same as using external OWL models within a project. Adding an external OWL model to a project makes that OWL model available to be imported (as is, as an OWL model) into a SADL model.  By contract, importing an OWL model attempts to translate the OWL model into a SADL representation. Since SADL only supports OWL 1 plus qualified cardinality (see Property Restrictions), OWL 2 models may have content which is not translated or is not translated correctly into the SADL grammar.

To import an OWL model into a SADL project, follow these steps.

  1. The OWL model to be translated should be available as an OWL file in a supported format on the file system but NOT in the project to which it is to be imported.
  2. Select File -> Import on the top menu bar



    or right-click on the project and select Import on the resulting context menu.


  3. Select SADL -> Owl Files in the resulting modal dialog window.


  4. Click Next.
  5. In the resulting modal dialog, browse to the folder containing the OWL file, then select the file to be imported. Make sure to set "Into folder" to the project and possibly the subfolder into which the resulting SADL files is to be created.


  6. Click on Finish to complete the import. If there are no errors, a SADL file translation of the OWL file will be placed in the target folder.

Importing CSV Tabular Data Files

Tabular data in the form of a comma-separated-values (CSV) file can also be imported to create either an OWL file or a SADL file. Doing so requires a template file to specify the mappings between the values in the CSV file and the semantic concepts identified in the resulting semantic model. Importing CSV files is covered in detail in The SADL-IDE Import CSV Wizard in the CSV Tabular Data Importer document.