Since an external proprietary file is just an image of the user database content, the costs displayed after opening the stored recipe will be the same as those displayed in the same recipe that was opened from the list or a farm structure. Actually, editing the ingredients costs in the recipe screen will only affect the user database; in order to have them saved in the file you have to save the recipe; this way the file will be synchronized and its data will reflect the changes (e.g. this operation is necessary when the file is given to other NDS users). Once a file is synchronized, all the costs of the feeds related to the recipe and the mixes included in it are saved in the file.
When importing an external file, you can select the option to import the costs stored in the file; before selecting this option, it is strongly recommended to carefully consider if these costs could improperly affect the user database; when the cost of an existing feed is updated, for example, the costs of all the recipes that share this feed as ingredient will also change, according to the related cost origin. Moreover, the costs of the feeds are imported under the following rules:
- The group cost for a feed is imported in the selected group for the import; if the feed replaces an existing one (replace option during import) its cost is imported only if it is more recent than the last cost of the replaced feed;
- The farm cost of a feed is imported only if the farm code is found in the target database. In case of replacement of a feed the cost is imported only if it is more recent than the last cost of the replaced feed;
- The user list cost of a feed is imported only if the user list code is found in the target database. In case of replacement of a feed the cost is imported only if it is more recent than the last cost of the replaced feed.