File Exporter
- Former user (Deleted)
- Zoe Baldwin
- Dominic Sandhu (Unlicensed)
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:
- Go to the model's toolbar → Create group.
- Click
File to expand the menu. - Drag a
File Exporter onto the analysis model.
To add an existing file exporter object to an analysis model:
- Go to the model toolbar → List group.
- Click File to expand the menu.
- Click File Exporter to open the list of available file exporters.
- 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.
Property Pane Toolbar
For information about the toolbar options, see the Common Properties page, Toolbars and Controls section.
Properties Tab
Parent Details
If this item is within or belongs to another, its parent name is shown here. See the Parent Details section on the Common Properties page for more details.
Basic Settings
| Field | Description | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Name | Enter a name for this file exporter. | ||||||||||||
| Enabled |  Tick 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:
| ||||||||||||
| Output Directory (Expr) | Optionally, enter an expression to 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. As this is an expression field, you must surround plain text paths with quotes. Directory separators must always be a forward slash /, for example You can use the internal variables:
If you do not enter an expression or if the expression evaluates to blank, when you run the analysis model:
| ||||||||||||
| 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 | The base directory is set in System Configuration → System Directories → Output Directory.
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.
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 file | The 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 File | Enter the maximum number of records that will be written to each file. | ||||||||||||
| Header | Tick to include a header line in the exported files. The header row contains the name of each field. | ||||||||||||
| Character Set | Select the character encoding to be used:
| ||||||||||||
| Other Character Set | Available 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:
| ||||||||||||
| 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.
| ||||||||||||
| Column Separator | Select a value from the drop-down list.
| ||||||||||||
| Separator Character | Available when Column Separator is Other. Enter a custom column separator or a sequence of multiple characters. | ||||||||||||
| Excel Template | Available when Export File As is one of following:
| ||||||||||||
| Convert To PDF | Available when the Export File As is Excel Spreadsheet.
PhixFlow reports on the PDF conversion in the console's PDF Chore tab. 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 | Tick 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 | Select a value from the drop-down list.
| ||||||||||||
| Quote Character | Available when Quote Style is Other. Enter a custom quote style character. |
Input Multiplier
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Input Multiplier | The 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 | You can set this option when system logging → Allow Logging is ticked; see System Logging Configuration.
To change this property, you must have the Modify System Logging Configuration privilege.
|
Inputs
A list of pipes into the file exporter.
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. 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.
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Email From | Enter the email address from which the generated email will appear to be sent. An expression that must evaluate to a plain text string. |
| Subject Expression | Enter an expression to create the email subject. The expression must evaluate to a plain text string. |
| Attach File | Specify 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 |
|
| Message Expression | Enter a PhixFlow expression to create the message body of the email. Email messages can have unlimited characters. When Email as HTML:
|
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.
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Encryption Type | The following encryption types are 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 Password | This must match the main Password. |
User Recipients
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Notification | This table has the standard toolbar plus the extra button To add users to this table, click
To change any of the data, double-click on the row to open the User Notification Rule tab. |
Recipient Expressions
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Protect during import |
|
| 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 individual User Notification Rule on the Email Recipients section.
|
| CC Expression | As in the TO Expression, the list of users returned by this expression will be included on the CC line on the email. |
| BCC Expression | As in the TO Expression, the list of users returned by this expression will be included in the BCC line on the email. |
Analysis Models
If this item is used by an analysis model, its name is listed here. See the Common Properties page, Analysis Model section for more details.
Description
We recommend that you always enter a description to explain the purpose of this item.
Audit Tab
Audit Summary
See the Common Properties page, Audit Summary section.