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

• Create file collectors and streams to read data from files into PhixFlow
• Run analysis on Streams
• View stream data

Create a new

...

file collector

Before starting this exercise, you will need to download a pack of files. These are available here: download train.zipSave these . Extract the files to a convenient location on your local drive, and unzip. Throughout the course, these will be referred to as the input files.

A file containing details of customer addresses can be found in the input files, at: 

[unzipped location]\inputData\AddressCheck\custAddrFiles\input\custAddr_20090322_1.txt

Open this file and have a look at the data in it.
Notice, in particular, that there is a header line in the file with the column names of the data in the file. Add

You will now add a new file collector to your model to read this file into PhixFlow:

...

.

1. In the model toolbar, drag 

   Insert excerpt
   _file_collector _file_collector nopanel true

    onto the modelling pane.
2. In the new file collector

...

1. settings tab that

...

1. opens, enter the Name: Customer Addresses

...

1. .
2. Click 

   Insert excerpt
   _finish _finish nopanel true

   .

3. You will now see the new

...

1. file collector on the

...

1. model.

   In the model toolbar, click Insert excerpt _save _save nopanel true  to make sure that the new file collector will be shown when you re-open this model. Remember to save the model layout every time you add a new modelling component.

   
   

Set up

...

a file collector and stream

1. Hover over your new file collector, and

...

1. click

   Insert excerpt
   _upload_file _upload_file nopanel true

   .
2. In the file explorer, go to: …\inputData\AddressCheck\custAddrFiles\input.
3. Select the file custAddr_20090322_1.txt and

...

1. click Open.
2. In the Upload Managed File

...

1. window, click the 

   Insert excerpt
   _upload_button _upload_button nopanel true

    button.
2. PhixFlow adds a new stream to your model. PhixFlow has automatically configured the file collector and the stream to load the file into PhixFlow.

Pause file data

In this course you will build up a model by adding components and running them. In PhixFlow, running a component causes each of its inputs to also run. This is so that you only need to run the final component in a model and it will, in turn, run everything you need to populate it, all the way back to the raw inputs to PhixFlow (via file collectors and database collectors).

In this case, once you have loaded the file, you will "pause" the file data so that you do not need to reload the file from your computer every time you run the model.
We will cover pausing components in PhixFlow in more detail in the Modelling Concepts course.
To pause the data loaded from the file:

...

1. In your model, hover your mouse pointer over the stream

...

1. icon Image Modified

...

1.  for CustomerAddresses.
2. In the

...

1. pop-up toolbar, click 

   Insert excerpt
   _static _static nopanel true

   .

Run analysis on the stream

You will now run analysis on your new stream. Analysis is the process that does all PhixFlow's data processing.
To run analysis:

...

1. In your model, hover your mouse pointer over the stream

...

1. icon Image Added.
2. In the pop-up toolbar, select the

   Insert excerpt
   _run_analysis _run_analysis nopanel true

   . PhixFlow runs the model, reading in data from the file of customer addresses via the file collector.
3. You will get a confirmation message when this has completed

...

1. . We will look at messages in the console later.

View

...

stream data

To view the data you just loaded:

...

1. In your model, hover your mouse pointer over the stream

...

1. icon Image Added.
2. In the pop-up toolbar, click 

   Insert excerpt
   _stream_views _stream_views nopanel true

   .
3. In the drop-down list,

...

1. select  

   Insert excerpt
   _view_default _view_default nopanel true

   .