File Collector

Overview

Use a file collector to specify the structure, content, naming patterns and location of files of data. When you run the file collector, PhixFlow imports the data. You can also use a file collector to process files inside compressed file archives such as zip files; see Handling Compressed Files, below.

You can also use a file collector to import email messages and their attached files; see Reading Data From an Email Account for details.

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

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

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

  1. Go to the model toolbar → List group.
  2. Click  File to expand the menu.
  3. Click  File Collector to open the list of available file collectors.
  4. Drag a file collector into the analysis model.

To open a file collector's property tab, double-click on:

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

Uploading Files

Before running a model, you must upload files that do not already exist on the PhixFlow server. These are called managed files. For example you may have CSV or Microsoft Excel files saved to your computer or the network.

  1. In the property tab, set the Input Directory Expression.
  2. In the model, right-click on the file collector icon to open the context toolbar.
  3. Click  Upload File.
  4. PhixFlow opens a file browser. Find and select the file.
  5. Click  Upload File

PhixFlow uploads the managed file to its database in the following location:

directory/tag/date/id/

where

  • directory is configured in System Configuration → File Upload Directory
  • tag is a sub-directory, configured in the file collector → Tag property
    This allows you to group related files.
  • date is the current date when you run the model
  • id is a unique import identifier automatically generated by PhixFlow.

If you want to reference a managed file, use the _fileUploadId internal variable, which references the file import identifier; see Internal Variables.

Archive and Error Folders

When you specify archive and error folder locations, after running the model, PhixFlow moves a managed file:

  • either to the archive directory, after successful processing:
      directory/tag/archive/date/id/
    where directory, tag, date and id are defined above, and
    archive is configured in the file collector → Archive Folder expression.

  • or to the error directory, if PhixFlow cannot process the file:
      directory/tag/error/date/id/
    where directory, tag, date and id are defined above, and
    error is configured in the file collector → Error Folder expression.

If you do not specify the archive or error folder, PhixFlow leaves the file in the original folder.

When PhixFlow moves a managed file to the archive or error folder, it is not available when you next run analysis. If you want to reuse a file in subsequent analysis runs, you must:

  • either upload the file for each run
  • or do not set an archive folder location in the Archive Folder expression.
    The managed file remains in  the directory/tag/in/date/id/ location and PhixFlow can resue it.


 Properties Tab

Property Pane Toolbar

For information about the toolbar options, see the Common Properties page, Toolbars and Controls section.

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

FieldDescription
NameEnter a name for this file collector.
Auto Configuration

This tick box is available for a new file collector that has not been configured. It is ticked by default.

 Tick to load an Excel spreadsheet and automatically configure the file collector and table properties using the data in the spreadsheet; see Easy Loading for Excel Spreadsheets, below.

 Untick to switch off auto-configuration. More file collector properties become available so that you can specify details about the file(s) you want to load. You also need to add the table and pipe to the model.

Enabled Tick to indicate you have completed the properties and the file collector is ready to use.
Source Type
Select whether or not the file is already on the PhixFlow server.

Specified Directory

Use for files that are already stored on the PhixFlow server. By default, PhixFlow assumes files are in the System Configuration → System Directories → Import File Location, or a subdirectory of it. You must also specify the relative path to the file(s) in the Input Directory Expression.

If your file is not in the Import File Location, select Specified directory and tick Ignore base directory. In this case you must also specify the full path to the file(s) in the Input Directory Expression.

See also Input Directory Expression and Ignore base directory, below.

Managed File

Use for files that you have on your local machine or the network. 
 PhixFlow loads the file to its System Configuration → System Directories→ File Upload Directory. You can optionally specify a sub-directory of the File Upload Directory using the Tag property.

For a managed file, you must load the file before running the file collector.

 How to load a managed file
  1. In the analysis model, hover your mouse pointer over the new file collector to display the pop-up toolbar.
  2. Click  Upload File.
  3. In the file explorer, find your file and click Open.
  4. In the Upload Managed File window, click the  Upload button.

If you have selected Auto Configuration, PhixFlow automatically starts the process for loading a managed file; see Easy Loading for Excel Spreadsheets, below.

Number of Header LinesEnter the number of lines in the header of the file. These are ignored when reading the file. (This option is not available for Binary File or XML file types).
File Type
Select one of:
  • Comma Separated Values: fields are delimited by a comma, (or other character).
  • Fixed Length Records: fields have a fixed column width.
  • Binary File: data is extracted from the file using a Binary File Grammar (in XML) specified in the File Format Description tab.
  • File Details Only: only attribute details about the file itself will be available.
  • Excel Spreadsheet: data is extracted from the an excel spreadsheet supporting a .xls or .xlsx extension.

    .xlsx type excel files containing in excess of 10,000 rows are not supported by PhixFlow and should not be imported using a file collector.

  • XML File: data is extracted from an XML file.

For information about the PhixFlow internal variables you can use to specify the attributes you want, see File Collector Attributes, below.

Next Sequence

Available when File Location Strategy is All Files in Folder.

Enter the next sequence number expected to be found within the name of the file being imported.

Allow Non-Scheduled Collection

 Tick to run the file collector as part of any analysis run that requires this data. 

 Untick to only run the file collector as part of a scheduled task.

FTP SiteSpecify the FTP Site on which the import file is stored. If no site is specified then the file is assumed to be 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).

File Location Strategy

Select one of:

  • All Files in Folder: read all files matching the pattern specified in File Pattern Expression.
  • Read File Paths: read in file path names from a collector or table.

This input database collector or table must be attached to the file collector by a lookup pipe with no index set.
The attribute of the input table or file collector that contains the file path names is specified in File Name Attribute. The value entered into this field should be plain text and not in quotes, for example myFilePaths.

Each file path name is interpreted as a pathname relative to the Import Directory. A path name may be a simple file name, or it may have multiple levels of directory. Compressed files are interpreted as directories. On Linux and Windows platforms, the directory separator must be forward-slash /  not  backslash \ . Do not include a leading forward-slash /, for example: 'abc.csv' or 'dir1/dir2.zip/abc.csv'

  • Read Names: This option is deprecated.

Read in file locations from a collector or table. This input collector or table must be attached to the file collector by a pipe. The attribute of the input table or collector which contains the file locations is specified in File Name Attribute.

After a table has attempted to read a file using Read File Paths, the table will not attempt to re-read the contents of that file during another analysis run, even if the original import failed.

This means the table containing the file paths will not run during an analysis run. You must add it to a task plan in order to run it before the file collector table.

Tag 

Available when Source Type field is Managed File.

Specify a sub-directory of System Configuration → System Directories →  File Upload Directory using string literals only. Do not use PhixFlow variables.

PhixFlow loads files into a directory whose full path is a combination of:

  • File Upload Directory, for example  C:\LoadedManagedFiles
  • Tag, for example CVFiles
  •  Input Directory - this is automatically set to in for managed files.

For the example paths above, the file collector looks in the directory C:\LoadedManagedFiles\CVFiles\in

If you are creating a file collector to load email messages and/or attached files, you can specify a tag here if one has been provided in the subject line of the incoming emails. See Reading Data From an Email Account for further details.

Ignore Base Directory 

Available when Source Type is Specified Directory.

The base directory is set in System Configuration → System Directories → Import File Location.

 Untick to automatically prepend the Import File Location directory path to the directories specified in the file collector properties.

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

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

Input Directory
Expression 

Specify the location of the files you want to load.

When Source Type is Managed File

This field contains a read-only value of in.
PhixFlow reads files from the combined path: File Upload Directory + Tag +in

When Source Type is Specified Directory

Specify a path:
  - either to a directory relative to the Import File Location. PhixFlow reads files from the directory whose full path is a combination of Import File Location and the path specified here.
  - or, if Ignore Base Directory is ticked, the full path to the file(s).

 Tips on specifying a directory in an expression

This expression must evaluate to a plain text string.

Use string literals only.

Always use forward-slash / rather than backslash \, even on Windows.

Enclose the string in quotes, for example:

"C:/data/address/input/accountValues"


Optionally include PhixFlow variables, for example:

"C:/data/address/input/" + _inputMultiplier

Do not use wildcards. If you need to include wildcards or some other variable element in the resulting path, use the Directory Pattern Expression.

If File Location Strategy is:

  •  All Files in Folder, PhixFlow looks in this directory to find files matching the pattern specified in File Pattern Expression.
  • Read Names, this is added to the start of the file location read from the file name attribute.

See also System Configuration for File Upload Directory and Import File Location.

Directory
Pattern Expression

Enter a regular expression to specify one or more relative paths from the Input Directory to its sub-directories. PhixFlow looks in the input directory and its sub-directories for files whose names match the File Pattern Expression.

PhixFlow can recognise some compressed file types; see Handling Compressed Files, below. PhixFlow treats these compressed files as a matching sub-directory.

Internal Variables

You can use the following PhixFlow internal variables in this expression:

  • _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.
 Examples

The Input Directory specifies three directories:
    'region1/teamA'; 'region1/teamB'; 'region2/teamA'

To load files from all regions for teamA only, enter:  ".*/teamA/"
To load files for all teams in region 1 only, enter:  "region1/.*"


 Tips on Regular Expressions

As this field takes a regular expression, remember:

  • Directory separators are forward slashes / (not backslashes \)
  • Any character is a full stop (period) .
  • Any string of characters is .* (not just *)
  • A full stop (period) must be escaped like this \\.

More information can be found on the web, such as the Mozilla Regular Expression page.

File
Pattern Expression 

Available when File Location Strategy is All Files in Folder.

Enter a regular expression that will match one or more files in the Input Directory, in order to generate a list of files to load.

PhixFlow uses the File Pattern Expression combined with the fields that specify the directories in which to look. This means PhixFlow:

  • looks in directories specified in the Input Directory
  • and looks in sub-directories specified the Directory Pattern Expression
  • but ignores sub-directories that have been excluded by the Exclude Dir Pattern Expr.

If the specified directories contain no files that match the regular expression, the file collector will not load any files.

Internal Variables

You can use the following PhixFlow internal variables in this expression:

  • _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.
  • %SEQ%: the current sequence number.
 Examples

An Input Directory, inputRecords.txt, contains multiple files. To load:

  • a single file called inputRecords.txt, enter: "inputRecords.txt"
  • all the files, enter:  ".*"
  • files with the extension .txt, enter: ".*\\.txt"
  • files whose names start with teamA, enter: "teamA.*"
  • files with the format record_yyyy-MM-dd.txt, where yyyy-MM-dd is the current date, such as
  • record_2013-03-26.txt, enter:  "record_" + toString(now(),"yyyy-MM-dd") + "\\.txt"

You can also load files with name contained in the list of files uploaded by the table-action that caused the file collector to run. The table-action must it must have a Context Value called 'f' with the value expression '_files'.

In this case, enter the file pattern expression:  "("+listToString(_context.f,"|")+")"


 Tips on Regular Expressions

As this field takes a regular expression, remember:

  • Directory separators are forward slashes / (not backslashes \)
  • Any character is a full stop (period) .
  • Any string of characters is .* (not just *)
  • A full stop (period) must be escaped like this \\.

More information can be found on the web, such as the Mozilla Regular Expression page.

Exclude Dir.
Pattern Expr.

If the Directory Pattern Expression includes some sub-directories that you do not want to search, enter a regular expression that will exclude those sub-directories.

Internal Variables

You can use the following PhixFlow internal variables in this expression:

  • _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.
 Examples

Input Directory has the sub-directories:
    'region1/teamA'; 'region1/teamB'; 'region2/teamA'
Directory Pattern Expression is:  ".*"
This means PhixFlow will load all files from all regions.

To exclude files from teamB, enter the expression:  ".*/teamB/"


 Tips on Regular Expressions

As this field takes a regular expression, remember:

  • Directory separators are forward slashes / (not backslashes \)
  • Any character is a full stop (period) .
  • Any string of characters is .* (not just *)
  • A full stop (period) must be escaped like this \\.

More information can be found on the web, such as the Mozilla Regular Expression page.

Archive Directory Expression

Optionally, enter an expression for a directory path. The expression must resolve to a Regular Expression. See Regular Expressions.

To enter a plain text directory as an expression:

  • enclose the path in quotes
  • use forward-slash / as a separator, even for paths on a Windows platform, for example, "C:/data/address/directory/".

The Archive Directory Expression is the location to which all files processed by the file collector will be written.

The Error Directory Expression is the location to which any files that cause an error during processing will be written.

Error Directory
Expression
Local Archive Directory

Available when FTP Site is specified.

Specify whether the archive directory is on the PhixFlow server (local) or on the original server.

If you have uploaded a file to the file collector, when you run analysis, PhixFlow reads the data into the file collector's table and then archives the loaded data. This means the file collector no longer has any data. If you subsequently run analysis again, the recordset will be empty. To keep the data in the file collector, you must do one of the following:

  • do not specify an archive directory
  • upload the file to the file collector again
  • once the data is in the table, set as static:
    • either the table
    • or the pipe to the table.
Local Error Directory

Available when FTP Site is specified.

Specify whether the error directory is on the PhixFlow server (local) or on the original server.

File Columns

Available when File Type is Comma Separated Values, Fixed Length Records and Excel Spreadsheet. Enter the attributes of the data columns that you want to extract from the input file. The grid has the standard toolbar and the extra buttons:

  •  Populate Attributes Once you have uploaded a file, automatically populate the File Columns grid with the data attributes. PhixFlow samples some rows in the file to determine the values to use.
  •  List Tables Open a repository tab listing all the tables.
  •  File Collector Open a repository tab listing all the file collectors.

To add attributes, click  Create New and to edit an attribute double-click on a row in the grid. PhixFlow opens an attribute form.

FieldDescription
Name

Enter the name of the column, which can contain any combination of letters, numbers and _ the underscore character.

If you use   Populate AttributesPhixFlow uses data in the first row of a file to generate column names. Any invalid characters are stripped out. 

PhixFlow always uses this name to refer to this attribute.

Order

Enter a number that matches the column number in the input file. For example, if you want to extract the third, first and fifth column of data from a file, the three rows in this grid will have the order:

  • 3
  • 1
  • 5
Type
Enter one of the data types:

If you use   Populate Attributes , PhixFlow uses the type it recognises from the data, or String.

Length

Enter the maximum length of the field in the input file

  • For String, the maximum length of the string
  • For Integer, the maximum number of digits.

This is:

  • required when File Type is Fixed Length Records
  • optional when File Type is Comma Separated Values or Excel Spreadsheet, as only the field sizes of the fields in the table that this collector will write to are important.

If you use   Populate Attributes , PhixFlow uses the length of the longest record that PhixFlow has seen. As PhixFlow does not check all the records, longer fields may exist in the CSV file.


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.


Advanced

FieldDescription
Maximum FilesEnter the maximum number of files that PhixFlow will process when the file collector runs.
Minimum FilesEnter the minimum number of files that PhixFlow expects to find when the file collector runs. If fewer files are found then this is treated as an error.
Max Records Per FileEnter the maximum number of records that PhixFlow will read from each file.

Errors Before Rollback

The maximum number of errors PhixFlow will permit during the processing of a file before. Once this number has been exceeded, PhixFlow will abandon the attempted file load; see File Collector Error Handling Summary below.

Parallel ReadersEnter the number of files to process in parallel. If blank, this defaults to 1. If the file collector is configured to read files in sequence, this field is ignored and a single file reader is used.
Unreadable DirectoriesSelect what PhixFlow will do if there are unreadable directories when it is searching a directory hierarchy for files to import.
  • Error: the search fails and the unreadable directories are reported in the log.
  • Warning: the search continues and unreadable directories are reported in the log.
  • Ignore: the search continues and unreadable directories are ignored.
XPath ExpressionAvailable when File Type is XML File.

Enter valid XPath syntax. For information about how to use XPath expressions and how to use the returned data in the corresponding stream attribute expressions, see XPath Examples.

Character SetSelect the character encoding to be used:
  • utf-8
  • utf-16
  • ascii
  • other - see Other Character Set, below
  • cp1252
  • iso-8859-1
Column SeparatorSelect a value from the drop-down list.
  • Comma
  • Space
  • Tab
  • Other -  see Separator Character, below
Separator CharacterAvailable when Column Separator is Other. Enter a custom column separator or a sequence of multiple characters.
Quote Style

Select a value from the drop-down list.

  • Double Quote
  • Single Quote
  • Back Tick
  • Other - see Quote Character below
  • None

Quote CharacterAvailable when Quote Style is Other. Enter a custom quote style character.

Ignore Extra Columns

Available when File Type is Comma Separated Values.

 Tick PhixFlow will not report an error if the record being read  contains more columns than expected.

 Untick PhixFlow report will report an error if there are too many columns; see File Collector Error Handling Summary below.

Ignore Missing Columns

Available when File Type is Comma Separated Values.

 Tick PhixFlow will not report an error if the record being read contains fewer columns than expected.

 Untick PhixFlow will report an error if there are too few columns; see File Collector Error Handling Summary below.

Import Rows MatchingEnter an expression that PhixFlow compares to each line in the file against the expression. Only lines that match are imported.
Replace Text MatchingIn each imported line, find all occurrences of the expression that you enter in Replace Text Matching and replace it with the expression that you enter in With; see Expressions and PhixScripts.
With
Excel Data Range Expression Available when File Type = Excel Spreadsheet.

Leave this field blank or enter an expression for the spreadsheet data range that PhixFlow will look in. The data that PhixFlow extracts from the range is defined below. The expression can specify:

  • blank: PhixFlow looks at the whole first worksheet in the Excel file, even if this is a hidden sheet. 
  • columns on the first worksheet, for example, "A:C"
  • columns and rows on the first worksheet, for example, "A1:G10"
  • the worksheet and data range, with the format "WorksheetName!TopLeftCell:BottomRightCell", for example, "DailyCalls!A1:G100"

You cannot specify:

  • only a worksheet.
  • columns for a specified worksheet.

If the worksheet name contains:

  • spaces, you must enclose the name in single quotes, for example My Sheet is expressed as "'My Sheet'!A1:G10"
  • single quotes, you must
    • enclose the whole name in single quotes
    • and use two single quotes (apostrophes).
      For example Gary'sSheet is expressed as "'Gary''s Sheet'!A1:G100"

Use the internal variable _worksheets to list all worksheets that PhixFlow found in the file.


 Simple Examples

To specify the Daily Calls worksheet, columns A to G, rows 1 to 10:

"'Daily Calls'!A1:G10"

To specify different areas from the same worksheet, or multiple worksheets:

["'Daily Calls'!A1:G100", "A1:B20", "'Monthly Totals'!A1:C100"]


To specify John's Data worksheet, columns A to G, rows 1 to 10, escaping the space and apostrophe:

 "'John''s Data'!A1:G10" 

 Example using _worksheets

To examine the list of worksheets that have been found and specify ranges for only certain sheets, if they exist. The worksheet names contain spaces and/or single quotes.

do (
    $rangeList = [],
    forEach($sheet, _worksheets,
        if ( listContains(["sheet A", "sheet'B"], $sheet),
            do(
                $safeSheet = "'" + replaceAll($sheet, "'", "''") + "'",
                $range = $safeSheet + "!A1:B10",
                addElement($rangeList, $range)
            )
        )
    ),
    $rangeList
)

This expression evaluates to the list of a maximum of two ranges, if both worksheets sheet A and sheet'B exist. If a sheet is not found, the range is not be included.

This is important for error handling. If you specify a range that is not in the Excel file, PhixFlow will error. If you are not sure that a worksheet will always be included, write an expression like this to check, and only specify the range when the sheet is found.

To ensure PhixFlow recognises the generated ranges as valid, you must use $safeSheet, as this doubles any embedded single quotes and wraps the result in single quotes.

Ignore Undefined Values
Available when File Type is Excel Spreadsheet. When importing the file:

 Tick PhixFlow ignores all unsupported Excel values such as #N/A, #REF! #DIV/0 and replaces them with null values. When the import is complete, PhixFlow displays a single warning message stating the number of unsupported cell values with details about the first unsupported cell value.

 Untick PhixFlow attempts to import all the values that it finds. PhixFlow reports individual warning or errors in the console for any unsupported Excel values. If the import exceeds the maximum number of errors/warnings, PhixFlow ends the process and the import will fail.
Maximum Excel File Size (MB)

Specify the maximum file size, in megabytes, to process. This prevents upload attempts on excessively large files from slowing down the server.

The default is 0, which means no restriction. Specify a number greater than 0, for example 500, to prevent the file collector from processing files larger than this size.

File Password

Available if File Type is Excel Spreadsheet.

If you are reading a spreadsheet which is password protected, enter the password here so that the file can be unlocked.

Confirm Password

Available when File Type is Excel Spreadsheet.

If you are reading a spreadsheet which is password protected, confirm the password here so that the file can be unlocked.
Log Traffic

You can set this option when system logging → Allow Logging is ticked; see System Logging Configuration.

  • Log File Collector Traffic : when ticked, PhixFlow always logs the number of records read from files by file collectors, whatever is set here.

To change this property, you must have the Modify System Logging Configuration privilege.

 Untick to prevent logging. Ticking this box has no effect when the system logging option is ticked.

 Tick to log details of communication. Ticking this box has no effect when the system configuration option Allow Logging is not ticked.


XML Namespaces

This section is available when File Type is XML. It has a toolbar with standard optionsThe grid contains a list of the namespaces defined in an XML response.

To add a namespace to the list, click  Create New. PhixFlow opens a new XML Namespace properties tab. To remove a namespace, use the  Delete in the toolbar.

File Format Description

Available when File Type is Binary File. Enter details about the binary input file format and the data you want to extract.

FieldDescription
Validate File Format

Tick to indicate you have completed the properties and the XML description matches the file format.

Stream Item Node

(Stream item is the old term for a record in a table.)

Enter an expression for a string or list of strings. Each string is a node name in the binary file that will generate an output record.

 Examples

For a single output record, enter:

"DATA_RECORD_1"

For a list of output records, enter:

["DATA_RECORD_1","DATA_RECORD_2","DATA_RECORD_3"]

File Format DescriptionEnter an expression, using XML Binary File Grammar, describing the format of data in the file.

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.



Error Handling

All the properties that support error handling are documented individually above; this is a summary of these features, and what to consider when designing the error handling needed for the files you are loading.

Ignore Missing Columns

If you tick Advanced → Ignore Missing Columns  you will still import rows which are missing columns. The missing columns will give you blank values in the table for the missing fields.

However, PhixFlow starts lining columns up from the left, based on the idea that if there are missing columns, they will be missing from the right hand side. This means if columns are missing from somewhere in the middle or at the beginning of the line, the line may fail to import if the data types don't line up. However, this is not an error trap,  it is arbitrary - if you think lines might be missing values in the middle or at the beginning of lines you should be careful about using this option – in any case, you will need further validation.

Ignore Extra Columns

If you tick Advanced → Ignore Extra Columns - again, this assumes that extra columns will appear on the right. If they appear in the middle or at the beginning of the row, the row may or may not import depending on how the data types of the resulting record line up with a standard record. Again, if you think this may occur, you need further validation.

Errors Before Rollback

If you set a number in Advanced → Errors Before Rollback – providing that, across the run (not individual files), the error count is less than the threshold you have set - this will load all records that are not in error. You will get a warning message about any that fail in the console – with the file name, and details of the line that failed. But these are essentially discarded from the import. These files will then be placed in the archive directory.

If, across the run, the threshold is reached – all files that have been processed up to that point will be placed in the error directory, including files don’t contain errors (because these are associated with a failed run). The run will be in error - that is, a red line in the console, the resulting data set for the run (the recordset) will be invalid, and therefore not available to the next step in your process. Any files remaining after the error threshold was reached will remain, untouched, in the input directory.



Supported Formats and Values

Supported Date/Datetime Format Patterns

The following formats are available for use in Date and Datetime type fields:

Valid Date FormatsValid Datetime Formats

dd/MM/yy

dd/MMM/yy

dd/MM/yyyy

dd/MMM/yyyy

dd-MM-yy

dd-MMM-yy

dd-MM-yyyy

dd-MMM-yyyy


MM/dd/yy

MMM/dd/yy

MM/dd/yyyy

MMM/dd/yyyy

MM-dd-yy

MMM-dd-yy

MM-dd-yyyy

MMM-dd-yyyy

yyyyMMdd

yyyy-MM-dd


dd/MM/yy HH:mm:ss

dd/MMM/yy HH:mm:ss

dd/MM/yyyy HH:mm:ss

dd/MMM/yyyy HH:mm:ss

dd-MM-yy HH:mm:ss

dd-MMM-yy HH:mm:ss

dd-MM-yyyy HH:mm:ss

dd-MMM-yyyy HH:mm:ss

MM/dd/yy HH:mm:ss

MMM/dd/yy HH:mm:ss

MM/dd/yyyy HH:mm:ss

MMM/dd/yyyy HH:mm:ss

MM-dd-yy HH:mm:ss

MMM-dd-yy HH:mm:ss

MM-dd-yyyy HH:mm:ss

MMM-dd-yyyy HH:mm:ss

yyyyMMdd.HHmmss


The symbols used in these formats are explained in the following table

SymbolMeaningPresentationExamples
yyearyear1996
Mmonth of yearmonthJul; 07
dday of monthnumber10
Hhour of day (0~23)number0
mminute of hournumber30
ssecond of minutenumber55

The number of letters used in the pattern determines the format.

  • Number: The minimum number of digits. Shorter numbers are zero-padded to this amount.
  • Year: Numeric presentation for the year field are handled specially. For example, if the count of 'y' is 2, the year should be displayed as the zero-based year of the century, which is two digits.
  • Month: 3 or over, use text, otherwise use number.

Supported TrueFalse Values

The following values are available in upper, lower and mixed cases for use in the TrueFalse type field:

Valid True ValuesValid False Values
true,yes,T,Y,1false,no,F,N,0

CSV Files 

A CSV (comma-separated variable) file is a plain text file where each line in the file consists of a number of fields separated by commas ','. If fields may contain spaces, commas or double quotes, they should be enclosed in double quotes '"'. A double quote may be represented by 2 double quotes.

A CSV file is always encoded using a specific character set. On Windows this is typically Cp1282, and on Unix/Linux US7ASCII, though the following are sometimes used: UTF-8, UTF-16, ISO-8859-1.

A CSV file typically has an extension '.csv'.

A CSV file can be created directly in a plain text editor (e.g. Wordpad/Notepad), in Excel (by saving as a CSV), or by some other application.


File Collector Attributes 

You can use the following PhixFlow internal variables to specify the attributes you want to load using a file collector. These attributes are available for all file types.

AttributeDescription
_fileNameThe name of the file.
_lineNumberThe line number of the record within the file it was read from.

The _lineNumber attribute is not available for file collectors of File Type is File Details Only.

_modifiedDateThe datetime of when the file was last modified.

The last modified time of a single file residing within a .gz or a .tgz container can not be determined by phixflow, instead the datetime of when the corresponding gz/tgz container was created will be returned.

_pathThe full path to the file which is the result of concatenating the _rootDirectory and the _subDirectory values.
_rootDirectoryThe root base directory (if specified) concatenated with the value evaluated in the Collectors 'Input Directory Expr' field.
_sizeThe size of the file in bytes.

The size of a single file residing within a .gz or a .tgz container can not be determined by phixflow, instead a size of -1 will be returned.

_subDirectoryThe sub-directory relative to the _rootDirectory in which the corresponding file resides.
_worksheetThe name of the current worksheet of the Excel file. The _worksheet is only available if the File Type is Excel Spreadsheet.
_range

The Excel range expression that was used. The _range attribute is only available if the File Type is Excel Spreadsheet.





Handling Compressed Files

In the majority of cases a compressed file will just contain a single file. For example, simple zip file called DailyCalls.zip would contain a single file named DailyCalls.csv.

However, some compressed files contain directories, sub-directories, files and further compressed files. In such cases the compressed file can be thought of as a directory, and further, any compressed files within the compressed file can be thought of as directories in the directory structure inside the compressed file. Therefore, compressed files are treated like normal directories and obey the same rules when matching the Directory Pattern Expression and the Exclude Dir Pattern Expression. Similarly all directories, sub-directories, and compressed files within a compressed file will also be treated as normal directories when matching the Directory Pattern Expression and the Exclude Dir Pattern Expression. Files contained anywhere inside the directory structure in the compressed file (including files contained in a compressed file within the compressed file) are treated as normal files when matching the File Pattern Expression.

Supported Compressed Files

Compression TypeFiles ending with extensionDescription
zip".zip"

A zip archive created by either windows programs such as winzip etc or unix commands such as zip. For example, to create a compressed zip file called dailyCalls.zip that includes a single file called dailyCalls_20120918.csv:

zip dailyCalls.zip dailyCalls_20120918.csv

tar".tar"

A tar archive created by the unix tar command. For example to create a tar file called dailyCalls.tar that includes a single file called dailyCalls_20120918.csv:

tar -cvf dailyCalls.tar dailyCalls_20120918.csv 

gz".gz"

A gz archive created by the unix gzip command. For example, to create a compressed gz file called dailyCalls_20120918.csv.gz that includes a single file called dailyCalls_20120918.csv

 gzip dailyCalls_20120918.csv

The unix gzip command always assumes the named container has a single file of the same name contained within.

tgz".tgz"

A joint tarred gz archive created by combining both the tar and gzip commands into a single command. For example, to create a compressed tgz file called dailyCalls.tgz that includes a single file called dailyCalls_20120918.csv:

tar -cvzf dailyCalls.tgz dailyCalls_20120918.csv

There is currently no support for rar type compressions.

File Compression Examples

The following table shows how each compressed file found will be treated given the following values for 'File Pattern Expression', 'Directory Pattern Expression' and the 'Exclude Dir Pattern Expression'.

Compressed File NameCompressed File Sub SystemFile Pattern ExpressionDirectory Pattern ExpressionExclude Dir Pattern ExpressionMatching/Processed Files
DailyCalls10.zip/DailyCalls10.csv".*Calls10.*"".*
DailyCalls10.zip/DailyCalls10.csv
DailyCalls.tar/subdir1/calls10.csv
/subdir1/calls20.csv
/subdir2/calls100.csv
/subdir2/calls200.csv
/subdir3/calls1000.csv
/subdir3/calls2000.csv
".*calls10.*"".*".*subdir2.*DailyCalls.tar/subdir1/calls10.csv
DailyCalls.tar/subdir3/calls1000.csv
Outer.zip/subdir1/calls10.csv
/subdir1/calls20.csv
/subdir1/Inner.zip/innerdir/calls100.csv
/subdir1/Inner.zip/subdir2/calls1000.csv

Note that Outer.zip contains a compressed zip file called Inner.zip
".*calls10.*"".*subdir1.*".*subdir2.*Outer.zip/subdir1/calls10.csv
Outer.zip/subdir1/Inner.zip/innerdir/calls100.csv
Outer.tar.gz/Outer.tar/subdir1/calls10.csv
/Outer.tar/innerdir/calls100.csv
/Outer.tar/subdir1/Inner.zip/innerdir/calls1000.csv

Note that Outer.tar.gz contains a tar container which in turn contains a compressed zip file called Inner.zip
".*calls10.*"".*subdir1.*innerdir.*
Outer.tar.gz/Outer.tar/subdir1/Inner.zip/innerdir/calls1000.csv

Easy Loading for Excel Spreadsheets 

With PhixFlow, you can quickly and easily load all the data from a worksheet in an Excel file, without having to set all the different file collector and table properties. 

  1. Drag a file collector into an analysis model.
  2. In the file collector properties, enter a name for the collector. Leave Auto Configure ticked.
  3. Hover your mouse pointer over the file collector and click  Upload File Managed File.
  4. Find and select the Excel spreadsheet you want to load into PhixFlow. Click Open then  Upload. 
  5. For an .xlsx file only, PhixFlow prompts you to specify the worksheet that you want to upload to the file collector.
  6. PhixFlow automatically:
    • uploads the Excel data:
      • from the specified worksheet in an .xlsx file.
      • from the first worksheet in an .xls file.
    • sets the file collector properties
    • creates a table
    • sets the table properties, including adding attributes for each data column in the Excel spreadsheet.

You cannot use the Auto Configure option to:

  • select specific Excel data columns to load
  • always load the latest version of an Excel worksheet when you run analysis on the model
  • load a data file that is not an Excel file.



Sections on this page

Learn More

For links to all pages in this topic, see Analysis Models for Batch Processing Data.



Terminology changes in progress

As part of the redesign of PhixFlow, we are changing the following terms:

dashboard → screen   
stream → table
stream attributes → attributes
stream item → record
stream set → recordset
stream view → view
stream item action → record-action 
stream action → table-action
driver class → database driver