Configuring the Text Source block

Properties

Filename:

The fully qualified path of the text file (Note, relative paths are not accepted).

Delimiter:

The character used for delimiting columns in the text file

Consecutive as one:

Set Yes if consecutive delimiters should be treated as one delimiter instance. Set to No if each delimiter should be treated as a separate instance.

Headings:

Set to Yes if the data file contains column headings. Set to No if no column headings are present in the data file. (See example below for leading headers)

Number of header rows:

The number of rows before the data that specifies the heading of a column.

Use row number for headings:

Use this row to determine the headings of each column. This option allows the user to skip a certain number of rows in the text file in order to allow for headings that do not appear in the first row of the text file.

Locale:

The regional settings to use when converting data/time values. If the regional settings should be changed here if it is not the same as set for the PC.

Decimal point:

The character used as a decimal point for values. These regional settings are related to the locale setting and are automatically updated to reflect the selection made for locale. Should a locale use specific settings (non-standard) the user can set these non-standard locale settings individually using these options.

Thousands separator:

The character used as a thousands separator for values. Examples of thousand separators are: (1.635.242,87 here the , is used a the thousands separator and the . as the decimal separator. This is a common European standard where the columns would be separated by a tabular character. Another us the United States standard which is 1,284,729.34 where the , is the thousands separator and the . is the decimal separator also with the columns separated by tabular characters.)

Negative sign symbol:

The character used to indicate negative values

Imported timestamp reference:

Possible values for this property are:

Local – All timestamps will be in local time.
UTC – All timestamps will be in UTC time, taking into consideration Daylight Saving Time.

Blueprints executing in the Server Manager are unaffected by a changeover to Daylight Saving Time. However, blueprints containing this block must have the “Imported timestamp reference” values set to UTC.

Select TAB

Select the fields you wish to import from the specified data set and set the data types. Five data types are supported:

String (S)
Double (D)
Integer (I)
Timestamp (T)
Quality (Q)

By default, Architect automatically selects the data type of the 100th row (or the last row if the dataset has fewer than 100 rows). If, when executing, the block does not read the same data type, the data quality will be marked as bad, and the values will be replaced with zero.

To remedy this, initially when selecting a text source, check the type of data in that row, and that there is not more than one type of data in that particular field. It is important to ensure that the text files are correct and consistent. If you get bad quality data, recheck these data types.

Convert between these data types by selecting the required fields from the list and clicking on the conversion buttons provided. Only valid conversions are supported.

Note: When a continuous text source is used for data preparation in the Troubleshooter s, data type detection is carried out on every field. The 100th row of data in each field will determine the data type used for that field.

Click Refresh to refresh the field list if property changes have been made.

Timestamps TAB

Specify the following properties for timestamping options when reading time series data:

Create timestamp

Allow Architect to create a timestamp when importing data

Sampling Period: The sampling frequency required when create timestamp is selected (in seconds).

Default timestamp field

Select a timestamp from the data source provider to be used as the master (or execution) timestamp. Fields must have the Timestamp data type to appear in this list

Specify individual timestamps by mapping the available timestamps from the Date/Time fields column onto the fields listed in the Configured Fields column. Fields not mapped use the default timestamp specified.

Quality TAB

Specify the following properties for Quality options when configuring the data source:

Default quality field:

Use a quality field from the data as the master quality reference for all fields. Individual fields can be mapped to override the default quality setting by mapping fields from the Quality fields list to the Configured fields list.

All quality is good:

All quality is read as good quality data.

Preview TAB

Provides a sample preview of the data set as read using the currently specified properties.

Summary TAB

The summary TAB provides an overview of the various timestamp, quality, value, field name and data types configured for each field that will be read from the data source.