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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 service 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:
    1. From the model toolbar, drag 
      Error rendering macro 'excerpt-include' : No link could be created for '_add_file_collector'.
       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 Channel Package Check file collector to display the context toolbar and click  Upload File.
    4.  Navigate to the directory <path>\train\inputData\ChannelPackages\CustomerCareUpdates.
    5. Select the file CustomerCareUpdates.txt, click Open, then click  Upload.
    6. PhixFlow adds a new stream to the model, called CustomerCareUpdate.
    7. In the model, hover over the new CustomerCareUpdates stream and click   Run Analysis
    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 stream, set the stream to  Static .
  3. Add another file collector to your model and repeat the process described in step 2. 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 stream.
    4. Remember to set the steam to Static.

Snapshot of the Channel Package Check model so far:

Combine the data sets

  1. Create a new stream in your model and populate its attributes.
    1. Hover over CustomerCareUpdates and click 
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    2. In the settings, set the Name to  Combined Updates.
    3. In the model, show the stream attributes for CustomerCareUpdates .
    4. Select all the attributes and drag them into the properties for the Combined Updates stream. Drop them into the Attributes section.
    5. Click  OK.
  2. To save your model, in the model toolbar click  Save. 
  3. Connect the ShopUpdates stream to the Combined Updates stream.
    1. Hover over ShopUpdates and click 
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      .

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

      When you connect streams, 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  OK
  5. In the Combined Updates stream settings tab, click  OK to save and close.
  6. In the model, hover your mouse pointer over Combined Updates and click  Run Analysis.
  7. When the stream has run, check that the stream has:
    • the columns CustomerRef, Sales Date and Package
    • 15 rows
    • all cells have data.
      The stream default view:

Snapshot of the Chanel Package Check model so far:

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 stream to the Combined Updates stream:
    1. In the model, click on the pipe to open its settings tab.
    2. Set Name to CC.
    3. Click  OK to save and close the pipe settings.
  2. Update the name of the pipe from the ShopUpdates file collector to the ShopUpdates stream.
    1. In the model, click on the pipe to open its settings tab.
    2. Set Name to shop
    3. Click  OK to save and close pipe settings.
  3. Double-click the stream Combined Updates to open its settings tab.
  4. In the Attributes section, click
    Error rendering macro 'excerpt-include' : No link could be created for '_add_object'.
     add a new attribute and set:
    1.  Name: Source.

    2. Expression:

      if (_pipeName == "CC",
 "Customer Care"
 ,
 "Shop"
 )
    3. Click  OK to save and close the attribute settings.
  5. To make Source the first attribute in the stream, drag it to the top of the attributes list.
  6. Click  OK to save and close the stream settings.
  7. Run analysis on Combined Updates.
  8. Check the output data set and make sure that the source has been recorded on each record correctly.
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