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A File Exporter creates files with a format that matches that of the input stream.

Form: File Exporter Details

The form provides some of the standard list icons.

The following fields are configured on the Details tab:

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  • _fromDate: the start date of the period of the stream being processed.
  • _toDate: the end date of the period of the the stream being processed.
  • _inputMultiplier: the value returned by the input multiplier, if one is being used.

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A number of internal variables are available in this expression:

  • _fromDate: the start date of the period of the stream being processed.
  • _toDate: the end date of the period of the the stream being processed.
  • _inputMultiplier: the value returned by the input multiplier, if one is being used.

If no expression is provided, or the expression evaluates to blank, the generated file will not be saved to disk and PhixFlow will check that the Send By Email tab details are completed.

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The FTP site which the generated file will be moved to.

If no site is specified then the file is assumed to be generated and left on the local machine. If a site is specified then all directory paths specified on this form should be the full path to the file since the base directory specified in system configuration is ignored (since the base directory is specific to the local machine).

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Files can be exported in the following formats:

TypeDescription

Comma Separated Values

Data will be read from a single push pipe and written to CSV files.
Excel Spreadsheet

Data will be read from a single push pipe and written to Excel Spreadsheet files.

Optionally, the push pipe may specify a drilldown view which may in turn specify an Excel template.

Optionally, the file exporter may specify an Excel Template which supersedes any template specified on a drilldown view.

If an Excel template is specified, each output file is generated by copying the Excel template file and overwriting the values in the first worksheet.

In this case, the type of file generated is the same as that of the template.

If no Excel template is specified, each output file is generated by creating a new, empty file and writing values to the first and only worksheet.

In this case, the type of file generated is determined by the extension generated by the the File Name Expression field:

  • .xls will generate a file in Microsoft Office 2003 Excel format
  • .xlsx or .xlsm will generate a file in Microsoft Office 2007 Excel format
  • any other extension will generate a file in the format set as the Default Export Excel Version in System Configuration.
Excel Spreadsheet (Multiple Inputs)

Data will be read from all input pipes and written to Excel spreadsheet files.

At least one input pipe must be a push pipe.

The Excel Template Expression must evaluate to the name of an Excel template file. The Excel template must be annotated with instructions to the exporter to insert data from any of the input pipes into specific ranges of cells. See File Exporter Excel Multi-input.

HTML File

Data will be read from a single push pipe and written to HTML files.

Optionally, the push pipe may specify a Drilldown View which may in turn specify an Excel template.

Optionally, the file exporter may specify an Excel Template which supersedes any template specified on a drilldown view.

If an Excel template is specified, each output file is generated by copying the Excel template file, overwriting the values in the first worksheet, then writing the first worksheet out as HTML.

If no Excel template is specified, each output file is generated by creating a new, empty Excel file, writing values to the first and only worksheet, then writing that worksheet out as HTML.

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  • Windows
  • Unix
  • Other

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This field is only available if Line Separator Style = Other. Allows a custom new line separator to be entered. A sequence of multiple characters is allowed. The characters entered may be the literal characters or a sequence from the table below which may be useful where the required separator character is not valid to be stored in the database.

SequenceDescription
\tTab
\nNewline
\rCarriage return
\fFormfeed
\u + hexadecimal codeUnicode character specified by the hexadecimal code

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If Type is Excel Spreadsheet or HTML File, this is the name of the Excel template to be used.

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Send By Email

In this section you can set up an automated email to be sent when a file is exported, optionally with the exported file attached.

If an input multiplier expression is provided for this exporter then several files may be produced and each file may be assigned to several recipients. The subject and body expressions may also evaluate to different values each time (for example if _inputMultiplier is included in the expression). In this case PhixFlow will try to generate as few emails as possible by applying the following rules.

For each recipient identify the files to be sent to that recipient. If the subject and body message calculated for each file is the same then generate a single email and attach all files to that email. If the subject and body messages for each file are different then create one email for each subject and body message pair and attach to each email all the files for which the subject and body expression evaluated to the same subject and body message.

Emails are generated in an outbound queue and actually sent by a separate email demon process. If it is not possible to send emails immediately, e.g. because the email server is down, the email demon process will try to re-send periodically until either it succeeds or until a timeout period has passed.

Extra buttons:

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Bring up the list of users configured in PhixFlow. A user can be selected from this list and dragged into the list of email recipients.

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This expression is evaluated to give a list of external files that should be be attached to the email.

These files are created outside PhixFlow, and may or may not exist when the File Exporter runs. If the files don't exist, the generated email will be held in the output queue until either they are created by some external process, or a timeout period has passed.

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Zip File

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This specifies whether or not the attached file(s) will be zipped.

This option only appears when the option to Attach File is selected or Future Attachments Expression is set.

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User Recipients

A list of email recipients. The rules to determine whether each recipient will be sent the email are configured in the form User Notification Rule. For each rule, in the list, the following fields are shown:

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Overview

Use a file exporter to create files with a format that matches that of the input table and optionally send an email.

To add a new file exporter object to an analysis model:

  1. Go to the model's toolbar → Create group.
  2. Click
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     to expand the menu.
  3. Drag a 
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     onto the analysis model.

To add an existing file exporter object to an analysis model:

  1. Go to the model toolbar → List group.
  2. Click
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     to expand the menu.
  3. Click 
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     to open the list of available file exporters.
  4. Drag an file exporter into the analysis model.

To open a file exporter's settings tab, double-click on:

  • the file exporter name in the repository
  • the file exporter icon in a model.


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Basic Settings

FieldDescription
NameEnter a name for this file exporter.
Enabled
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 to indicate you have completed the settings and the file exporter is ready to use.
File Name (Expr)Enter an expression to generate the name of the file being exported. It must evaluate to a plain text string. It can include text expressions, see Text Expressions and Escape Characters. You can use the Internal Variables:
  • _fromDate: the start date of the period of the table being processed.
  • _toDate: the end date of the period of the the table being processed.
  • _inputMultiplier: the value returned by the input multiplier, if one is being used.
Output Directory (Expr)

Optionally, enter anexpressionto generate the name of the directory into which generated files should be written. It must evaluate to a plain text string. 

If you have configured a restricted directory for the PhixFlow server, the file exporter creates the output directory there; see Restricted Directory on System Configuration.

Note

As this is an expression field, you must surround plain text paths with quotes.

Directory separators must always be a forward slash /, for example "C:/data/address/export/". Never use a backslash \ even if the output file will be written to a directory on a Windows operating system.

You can use the internal variables:

  • _fromDate: the start date of the period of the table being processed.
  • _toDate: the end date of the period of the the table being processed.
  • _inputMultiplier: the value returned by the input multiplier, if one is being used.

If you do not enter an expression or if the expression evaluates to blank, when you run the analysis model:

  • PhixFlow does not save the generated file to disk
  • PhixFlow checks that you have completed the options in the Send By Email section.
FTP Site

Select an FTP site to which the generated file will be moved. For details about how to add sites to this list, see FTP Site. FTP directory paths must be the full path to the file because PhixFlow ignores the local machine's base directory specified in System Configuration.

If you do not select a site, PhixFlow assumes the output file will be saved on the local machine.

Ignore Base Directory 
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The base directory is set in System Configuration → System Directories → Output Directory.

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 to automatically prepend the Output Directory path to the directories specified in the file exporter properties.

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so that PhixFlow reads directories specified in the file exporter properties as the full path to the file.

Note

For improved security, your administrator can set a System Configuration → System Directories → Restricted Directory. If it is set, PhixFlow will only write files to the Restricted Directory or a sub-directory of it. Even if you tick Ignore base directory, all directories specified in the file exporter properties must be within the Restricted Directory. 


Export File As

You can export files in the following formats:

Comma Separated Values: Data will be read from a single push pipe and written to CSV files.

Excel Spreadsheet: Data will be read from a single push pipe and written to Excel Spreadsheet files.

If the push pipe has a drill-down view with an Excel template specified, this will be used to export the data. Optionally, use the Excel Template field for this file exporter. Specify an Excel template, which will supersede any template specified on the push pipe drill-down view.

If you specify an Excel Template, each output file is generated by copying the Excel template file and overwriting the values in the first worksheet. In this case, the type of file generated is the same as that of the template.

If you do not specify an Excel Template, each output file is generated by creating a new, empty Excel file and writing values to the first and only worksheet. In this case, the file type is the extension generated by the File Name Expression field.

.xls will generate a file in Microsoft Office 2003 Excel format.

.xlsx or .xlsm will generate a file in Microsoft Office 2007 Excel format.

Any other extension will generate a file in the format configured in System Configuration → Default Export Excel Version..

Excel Spreadsheet (Multiple Inputs): Data will be read from all input pipes and written to Excel spreadsheet files. At least one input pipe must be a push pipe.

The Excel Template Expression must evaluate to the name of an Excel template file. The Excel template must be annotated with instructions to the exporter to insert data from any of the input pipes into specific ranges of cells. See Excel Template.

HTML File: Data will be read from a single push pipe and written to HTML files.

If the push pipe has a drill-down view with an Excel template specified, this will be used to export the data. Optionally, use the Excel Template field for this file exporter. Specify an Excel template, which will supersede any template specified on the push pipe drill-down view.

If you specify an Excel Template, each output file is generated by copying the Excel template file and overwriting the values in the first worksheet. In this case, the type of file generated is the same as that of the template.

If you do not specify an Excel Template, each output file is generated by creating a new, empty Excel file and writing values to the first and only worksheet, then writing that worksheet out as HTML.

Overwrite existing fileThe file exporter overwrites existing files with the same name as the file to be generated. This can be useful where you want PhixFlow to replace a file at regular intervals, for example to update the content of an HTML page on an intranet.
Maximum Records per FileEnter the maximum number of records that will be written to each file.
Header
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 to include a header line in the exported files. The header row contains the name of each field.
Character Set
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Other Character SetAvailable when Character Set is Other. Enter a different character set. For the full list of available character sets, see the Oracle Java documentation about encoding; you can use the canonical names from either column.
Line Separator Style

When PhixFlow generates the file, it uses the line separator configured in System Configuration → Advanced section → Line Separator Style. If this is not set, Phixflow uses the default for the operating system on which the PhixFlow server is running.

You may want to generate an export file that uses a different line separator, for example if PhixFlow runs on Linux, but the file will be sent to Windows users. To set a different line separator, select:

  • Windows
  • Unix
  • Other - see Line Separator Chars, below
Line Separator Chars

Available when Line Separator Style is Other. Enter either a single character or multiple characters to use as a new line separator. The characters may be the literal characters or a sequence from the table below. These sequences are useful if the required separator character is not valid to be stored in the database.

SequenceDescription
\ttab
\nnewline
\rcarriage return
\fform feed
\u + hexadecimal codeunicode character specified by the hexadecimal code


Column Separator
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Separator Character
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Excel Template

Available when Export File As is one of following:

  • Excel Spreadsheet (Multiple Inputs): enter an expressionthat evaluates to an Excel template; see Excel Template.
  • Excel Spreadsheet or HTML File: enter the name of the Excel template.
Convert To PDF

Available when the Export File As is Excel Spreadsheet.

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 to convert the Excel file to a PDF. PhixFlow saves the PDF to the location set in:

  • either the Output Directory,
  • or the PDF Target Path.

PhixFlow reports on the PDF conversion in the console's PDF Chore tab.

Note

PhixFlow needs access to LibreOffice to convert Excel files to PDFs; see Configuring PDF Conversion.


PDF Target Path (Expr)

Available when the Export File As is Excel Spreadsheet.

Enter an expression that evaluates to a path where PhixFlow will save the PDF file.

Evaluate Formulae Before Saving File
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 to generate the export file and then to evaluate any formula in the spreadsheet before saving the file. When a user opens the file in Excel, the calculations have already been done.
Quote Style
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Quote Character
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Input Multiplier

FieldDescription
Input MultiplierThe input multiplier expression should evaluate to a list of one or more values. For each value in the list, the internal variable _inputMultiplier will be set to that value and the file export process will be repeated i.e. the pull pipes will be read and the data from those pipes processed to generate file output data, and a new export file will be written.
Log Input Multiplier Messages

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  • Log Input Multiplier Messages: when ticked, PhixFlow writes a message to the log every time the input multiplier value changes during an analysis run, whatever is set here.

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Inputs

A list of pipes into the file exporter.

Send by Email 
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SendByEmail

In this section you can set up an automated email to be sent when a file is exported, optionally with the exported file attached. Create the list of recipients in the User Recipients section.

Emails are generated in an outbound queue and actually sent by a separate email demon process. If the email demon cannot send emails immediately, for example because the email server is down, the email demon process will try to re-send periodically until either it succeeds or the 10s timeout period has passed.

If you specified an Input Multiplier for this file exporter, several export files may be generated, as each record in the input multiplier will send a separate email. Each file can be assigned to several recipients. The subject and body expressions may also evaluate to different values each time (for example if _inputMultiplier is included in the expression). In this case PhixFlow will try to generate as few emails as possible by applying the following rules:

  • For each recipient identify the files to be sent to that recipient.
  • If the subject and body message calculated for each file is the same, generate a single email and attach all files to that email.
  • If the subject and body messages for each file are different, generate one email for each subject and body message pair. Attach to each email all the files for which the subject and body expression evaluated to the same subject and body message.
FieldDescription
Email FromEnter the email address from which the generated email will appear to be sent. Anexpressionthat must evaluate to a plain text string.
Subject ExpressionEnter an expression to create the email subject. The expression must evaluate to a plain text string.
Attach FileSpecify whether or not the exported file should be attached to the email sent.
Future Attachments Expression

Enter an expression that evaluates to a list of external files that should be be attached to the email.

These files are created outside PhixFlow, and may or may not exist when the file exporter runs. If the files don't exist, the generated email will be held in the output queue until either they are created by some external process, or a timeout period has passed.

Zip File

Available when Attach File is selected or Future Attachments Expression is set.

Specify whether or not the attached file(s) will be zipped.

Email as HTML

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Message Expression

Enter a PhixFlowexpression to create the message body of the email. Email messages can have unlimited characters. When Email as HTML:

  • is not ticked the expression must evaluate to a plain text string. 
  • is ticked, the string can include HTML tags, for example to format text or provide links.

Encryption

Available when Send By Email section → Zip File is selected. Set whether exported zip attachments are encrypted, along with the encryption parameters and the password which must then be used to open the files.

FieldDescription
Encryption Type

The following encryption types are supported:

  • leave blank: If the Encryption Type is blank, then the file will not be encrypted.
  • Standard Zip: Standard ZIP 2.0 encryption is the encryption type that is accepted by most applications, and is the weakest supported encryption type.
  • AES 128-bit: All variants of AES encryption are stronger than Standard Zip encryption, but AES encryption is the weakest type of AES encryption supported and is accepted by fewer applications.
  • AES 256-bit: AES 256-bit is the strongest type of AES encryption supported.
Password

Email recipients must enter this password in order to open any exported zipped files.

When setting the password, you should make a note of the password used and communicate it separately to the recipients of the emails to be sent out. It is not possible to display the current password.

Confirm PasswordThis must match the main Password.

User Recipients
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FieldDescription
Notification

This table has the standard toolbar plus the extra button

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.

To add users to this table, click

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 to display a list of users. Select users and drag them into the table. 

  • Name: The user name.
  • Email As: The email send-type.
  • Expression: A PhixFlowexpression.

 To change any of the data, double-click on the row to open the User Notification Rule tab.

Recipient Expressions

FieldDescription
Protect during import

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to allow the recipient expressions to be updated by during import.

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 to retain the current TO, CC and BCC expressions if this file exporter is imported from another PhixFlow instance.

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TO Expression

Enter a PhixFlow expression to calculate the recipients for the email. The recipients returned by this expression will be added to the list of recipients returned by the

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individual User Notification

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Rule on the Email Recipients

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section.

For example to simply enter a list of email addresses, you can enter an expression such as:

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["john.

...

smith@acme.com","jane.doe@corp.com"]
The result of the expression must be:

  • either

...

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  •  that should be a valid email address
  • or a list object

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  • that contains one or more strings, each of which must be a valid email address.
CC ExpressionAs in the TO Expression, the list of users returned by this expression will be included on the CC line on the email.
BCC ExpressionAs in the TO Expression, the list of users returned by this expression will be included in the BCC line on the email.

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Form: Set Encryption Parameters

On this tab you can set whether exported files are encrypted, along with the encryption parameters and the password which must then be used to open the files.

Encryption only applies to zipped email attachments.

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The following Encryption Types are supported:

TypeDescription
BlankIf the Encryption Type is blank, then the file will not be encrypted.
Standard Zip

Standard ZIP 2.0 encryption is the encryption type that is accepted by most applications, and is the weakest supported encryption type.

AES 128-bit

All variants of AES encryption are stronger than Standard Zip encryption, but AES encryption is accepted by fewer applications.

AES 128-bit is the weakest type of AES encryption supported.

AES 256-bitAES 256-bit is the strongest type of AES encryption supported.

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The password that must be supplied in order to open any exported zipped files.

When setting the password, you should make a note of the password used and communicate it separately to the recipients of the emails to be sent out. It is not possible to display the current password.

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See Also

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For links to all pages in this topic, see Analysis Models.