Using the DataLoader to upsert child records with a parent external id

Question

Well, I just figured it out, but since I wrote it up already, I figured I'd post it here anyways in case anyone else has the same issue.

I have two custom objects Case__c and CaseActivity__c that are related through a look-up field named Case__c. The Case__c object has an external Id field named CaseId__c. The goal is to be able to get an automated script going where I can insert the cases and then the activities right after with just the cases' external id.

The mapping file (which worked in the gui) includes:

Case__r.CaseId__c=Case__r\:CaseId__c

The csv file (which worked in the gui) includes a field named:

Case__r.CaseId__c,
<CASE_ID>,

The process is defined in the process-conf.xml file as:

<bean id="upsertCaseActivityProcess"
      class="com.salesforce.dataloader.process.ProcessRunner"
      singleton="false">
    <description>Upserts Case Activities</description>
    <property name="name" value="upsertCaseActivityProcess"/>
    <property name="configOverrideMap">
        <map>
            <entry key="sfdc.debugMessages" value="true"/>
            <entry key="sfdc.debugMessagesFile" value="C:\Program Files (x86)\salesforce.com\Data Loader\samples\status\accountMasterSoapTrace.log"/>
            <entry key="sfdc.endpoint" value="https://test.salesforce.com"/>
            <entry key="sfdc.username" value="<USER_NAME>"/>
            <entry key="sfdc.password" value="<ENCRYPTED_PASSWORD>"/>
            <entry key="process.encryptionKeyFile" value="C:\Program Files (x86)\salesforce.com\Data Loader\samples\conf\mi.key"/>
            <entry key="sfdc.timeoutSecs" value="600"/>
            <entry key="sfdc.loadBatchSize" value="200"/>
            <entry key="sfdc.externalIdField" value="" />
            <entry key="sfdc.useBulkApi" value="true" />
            <entry key="sfdc.entity" value="CaseActivity__c"/>
            <entry key="process.operation" value="upsert"/>
            <entry key="process.mappingFile" value="c:\Program Files (x86)\salesforce.com\Data Loader\samples\conf\upsertCaseActivityMap.sdl"/>
            <entry key="dataAccess.name" value="C:\Program Files (x86)\salesforce.com\Data Loader\samples\data\caseActivityData.csv"/>
            <entry key="dataAccess.type" value="csvRead"/>
            <entry key="dataAccess.readUTF8" value="true"/>
            <entry key="process.outpuError" value="C:\Program Files (x86)\salesforce.com\Data Loader\samples\status\error.csv" />
            <entry key="process.outputSuccess" value="C:\Program Files (x86)\salesforce.com\Data Loader\samples\status\success.csv" />
            <entry key="process.initialLastRunDate" value="2005-12-01T00:00:00.000-0800"/>
        </map>
    </property>
</bean>

I have been seeing exceptions like:

[AsyncApiException exceptionCode='InvalidJob' exceptionMessage='Field name provided, does not match an External ID for CaseActivity__c']

Answer 1

The solution for me was to change the operation from upsert to insert:

<entry key="process.operation" value="insert"/>

It looks like it's not possible for the command line tool to upsert objects based on salesforce ids.