Data Output

[S_Black]

I am curious about whether the Designer can output data files, and if there is a tutorial, or maybe key rules, on how to do so. I've never attempted it and I'm not sure where to start.

A little background: I have a job that uses a secondary data source. Merging works great and I have my print files, but I would like to output the merged data for quality control purposes.

Any help/guidance would be appreciated.

[Dan Korn]

You can call the SetFieldValue and Save functions on an ExternalDataFileEx object representing a tab-delimited file to update data in an XDF.

[S_Black]

From what I am reading about the ExternalDataFileEx, and correct me if I am wrong, but it is unable to create a new file or add new fields to an existing file.

If I have a Primary Input and a Secondary data source, the ExternalDataFileEx can update records (SetFieldValue) and save data in either of those files, but it is unable to output a file that contains the fields from both files. Is that correct?

As an example. The primary input has contact names and a unique business code. The secondary file has the business code and business addresses. I would like to have a single data file with the name from the primary and the addresses from the secondary.

[Dan Korn]

2 hours ago, S_Black said:

From what I am reading about the ExternalDataFileEx, and correct me if I am wrong, but it is unable to create a new file or add new fields to an existing file.

If I have a Primary Input and a Secondary data source, the ExternalDataFileEx can update records (SetFieldValue) and save data in either of those files, but it is unable to output a file that contains the fields from both files. Is that correct?

Correct.  A data source is input, not output.

Other than the primary composed output, the log (.msg) file, an optional XML log file, and ancillary temp files, a FusionPro composition doesn't write anything to disk.  This is by design, mostly because creating any other files is outside of the intended scope, but also because allowing arbitrary files to be written could be a security issue.

2 hours ago, S_Black said:

As an example. The primary input has contact names and a unique business code. The secondary file has the business code and business addresses. I would like to have a single data file with the name from the primary and the addresses from the secondary.

That seems like something that could be accomplished with a script of some kind, such as PowerShell, Python, VBA, bash, etc.  It's basically a table merge or join in database lingo; apps such as Excel have some functionality like this built in, as do, of course, actual database apps such as Access.  But it's not really in the purview of what FusionPro VDP does directly.