28. A method for loading data from a spreadsheet dataset, having data in the form of one or more records, into a database comprising: a) creating a control file having rules, each rule including a condition, wherein the rules describe mappings between attributes of the spreadsheet dataset and attributes of a business object; b) inputting the spreadsheet dataset and the control file into a spreadsheet loader; c) evaluating each rule with respect to each record to determine if the condition for the rule is true for that record and if the condition is true, then parsing the record into one or more tokens and referencing values for each of the one or more tokens using a value clause of the rule, wherein each of the values is associated with one of the attributes of the business object; d) sending the parsed, valued data to the database, wherein the parsed, valued data is stored in the database using a data access layer comprising an entity definition and a persistence map, wherein the entity definition defines the business object based on attributes of the database and the persistence map defines how the parsed, valued data is stored in the database.
28. A method for loading data from a spreadsheet dataset, having data in the form of one or more records, into a database comprising: a) creating a control file having rules, each rule including a condition, wherein the rules describe mappings between attributes of the spreadsheet dataset and attributes of a business object; b) inputting the spreadsheet dataset and the control file into a spreadsheet loader; c) evaluating each rule with respect to each record to determine if the condition for the rule is true for that record and if the condition is true, then parsing the record into one or more tokens and referencing values for each of the one or more tokens using a value clause of the rule, wherein each of the values is associated with one of the attributes of the business object; d) sending the parsed, valued data to the database, wherein the parsed, valued data is stored in the database using a data access layer comprising an entity definition and a persistence map, wherein the entity definition defines the business object based on attributes of the database and the persistence map defines how the parsed, valued data is stored in the database. 37. A method as in claim 28 , wherein the set of rules within the control file includes an entity rule.