By the end of this chapter you will be able to:

You will also learn how to use an internal variable, _pipeName.

In this exercise you will produce a single list of updates to customers' Cable TV packages. Customers can update their packages both through a customer care system and in shops. You will bring all these updates together into a single list.

Read in data sets from files

For this exercise you need two files from the zip file you downloaded in  2 Using Excel Templates, step 5. The files contain updates from the two sources: the customer care system and the shop.

• <path>\train\inputData\ChannelPackages\CustomerCareUpdates\CustomerCareUpdates.txt
• <path>\train\inputData\ChannelPackages\ShopUpdates\ShopUpdates.txt

1. Create a new model with the Name, Channel Package Check.
2. Add a file collector to your model and load the data as follows:
   1. From the model toolbar, drag a 

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      _file_collector _file_collector nopanel true

       into the model.
   2. PhixFlow displays the settings tab for the new file collector. Set the Name to Customer Care Updates.
   3. In the model, hover your mouse pointer over the Customer Care Updates file collector to display the context toolbar and click 

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      .
   4.  Navigate to the directory <path>\train\inputData\ChannelPackages\CustomerCareUpdates.
   5. Select the file CustomerCareUpdates.txt, click Open, then click

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      .
   6. PhixFlow adds a new table to the model, called CustomerCareUpdates.
   7. In the model, hover over the new CustomerCareUpdates table and click  

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      _run_analysis _run_analysis nopanel true

   8. Check the data is loaded. There should be 8 lines of data, with columns for Customer Ref, Sales Date and Package.
   9. Now the data is loaded into the table, set the table to 

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      .
3. Add another file collector to your model and repeat the process described above, this time:
   1. Set the file collector Name to Shop Updates.
   2. Upload <path>\train\inputData\ChannelPackages\ShopUpdates\ShopUpdates.txt.
   3. PhixFlow loads 7 rows of data to this table.
   4. Remember to set the table to 

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      _static _static nopanel true

      .

Screenshot of the Channel Package Check model so far:

Combine the data sets

1. Create a new table in your model and populate its attributes:
   1. Hover over CustomerCareUpdates and click 

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      _table_new _table_new nopanel true

      .
   2. In the settings, set the Name to  Combined Updates.
   3. In the model, show the table attributes for CustomerCareUpdates .
   4. Select all the attributes and drag them into the properties for the Combined Updates table. Drop them into the Attributes section.
   5. Click 

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      .
2. To save your model, in the model toolbar click 

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   _save_saveModel _save_saveModel nopanel true

   . 
3. Connect the ShopUpdates table to the Combined Updates table:
   1. Hover over ShopUpdates and click 

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      _pipe _pipe nopanel true

      .

   2. Click Combined Updates to link the pipe to the table.

      Info
      When you connect tables, PhixFlow automatically adds a reference to the input pipe name. This appears in the attribute expression. To merge this data successfully,  you must update the attribute expressions to remove the in. prefix; see step 4 below.

      
      

4. Fix all the attribute expressions.
   1. Double-click on Combined Updates to open its settings tab. For each attribute:
   2. In the Attributes section, double-click on an attribute to open its settings.
   3. In the Basic Settings section, edit the Expression to remove in. and click 

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      _finish _finish nopanel true

      
      
5. In the Combined Updates table settings tab, click 

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    to save and close.
6. In the model, hover your mouse pointer over Combined Updates and click 

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   _run_analysis _run_analysis nopanel true

   .
7. When the table has run, check that the table has:
   • the columns CustomerRef, Sales Date and Package
   • 15 rows
   • all cells have data.
     The default view:
     

Record the source for each update

You will now update your settings to record the source for each update, in the set of combined updates. To do this:

1. To update the name of the pipe from the CustomerCareUpdates table to the Combined Updates table:
   1. In the model, click on the pipe to open its settings tab.
   2. Set Name to CC.
   3. Click 

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       to save and close the pipe settings.
2. Update the name of the pipe from the ShopUpdates file collector to the ShopUpdates table.
   
   1. In the model, click on the pipe to open its settings tab.
   2. Set Name to shop
   3. Click 

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       to save and close pipe settings.
3. Double-click the table Combined Updates to open its settings tab.
4. In the Attributes section, click

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   _new _new nopanel true

    add a new attribute and set:
   1.  Name: Source.

   2. Expression:

      Code Block
      if (_pipeName == "CC", "Customer Care" , "Shop" )

      
      

   3. Click 

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      _finish _finish nopanel true

       to save and close the attribute settings.
5. To make Source the first attribute in the table, drag it to the top of the attributes list.
6. Click 

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   _finish _finish nopanel true

    to save and close the table settings.
7. Run analysis on Combined Updates.
8. In the model window, click 

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   _save_saveModel _save_saveModel nopanel true

   .
9. Check the output data set and make sure that the source has been recorded on each record correctly.
   

Snapshot of the Chanel Package Check model so far: