When an export activity executes, records are exported in accordance with the export’s selected parent outputs and applied metadata filters. The activity produces export files when executed in Production mode, or in Test mode when:
•Use export template is selected and Create files in Test mode is checked.
•Use extract channel is selected, and the channel's Create files in Test mode property is checked.
If the data extract channel with which the export is configured, or the activity’s export template, is configured to allow duplicates on resolution, if the channel’s export template or the export template is configured with any cross-resolution attributes, deduplication is ignored, and multiple records for a single resolution key can be output in the export file. Note that the activity's bubble count continues to reflect its deduplicated count.
On generation of an export file in Test mode, Offer History and Offer History Meta attribute values are replaced with sandbox equivalents. Note that when the same tables are referenced as aggregation tables, sandbox values are not substituted.
If the export activity’s export template is configured with a custom header, it is displayed in accordance with its definition. Any Record Count text parts reflect the full export file count.
By default, export files are created in accordance with system configuration setting FileExportLocation. Writing of files to a server folder, FTP site or external content provider root folder is supported.
If files are generated at the server, they are by default created in a sub-folder named in accordance with the following:
‘[(Global)FileOutputDirectory]\WFAI[WorkflowInstanceID]\Export files\[Export name]’
Where(Global)FileOutputDirectory is accordant with the configuration setting value defined at the cluster or client, Workflow Instance ID is the unique numerical identifier assigned to the workflow instance at its creation, and Export name is the name by which the export is known within the interaction.
When created at an FTP site or external content provider, ‘(Global)FileOutputDirectory’ is replaced by an ‘Export’ folder.
If configured to write to an external content provider, and no default file export provider has been identified, files are written to the RPI application server instead.
Three files are created:
•actionExport.txt: the main export file. Contains records in a structure defined by the export’s configured export template.
•actionExport.txt_summary.xml: an XML file that summarizes the contents of the main export file. The following elements and attributes are provided:
o exportSummary
§ format
§ headerRow
§ lineDelimiter
§ dateFormat
§ addRowID
§ RowCount
§ File
§ CreationDate
§ CreationTime
o delimiterSettings
§ columnDelimiter
§ otherDelimiter
o Attribute
§ name
§ ordinal
§ start
§ size
§ precision
§ scale
§ dataType
•actionExport_sample: contains a subset of data from the main export file. The number of rows output are defined by system configuration setting ExportSampleSize. The sample file is also accordant with the export’s specified export template.
Following execution of an export, a results bubble is displayed to the top right of the export icon. It shows a rounded summary of the number of records in the export’s results set. Results are shown to a single decimal place, e.g.:
1,203,492 = 1.2M
75,854 = 75.9K
Full results are available in the Results Window.
When executing an export activity, note that offer history details are recorded prior to the data’s being exported. This means that, if you include within the activity’s export template attributes based on metadata, they can be exported without incident.
Behavior of an export downstream from an interactive activity configured with an audience depends on its and its channel’s configuration. If the file to which data is to be written is local to the RPI server, rows are appended to the output file dynamically as they are targeted by the audience. If the export path has been specified, a new file is written at the arrival of new records.
If an export activity is configured to produce a file with a specific name, and the file in question exists already within the folder where due to be created, RPI creates the new file anyway, with its name’s uniqueness ensured by the appending of an integer (which can be incremented if necessary).
If configuration setting InteractionDaysToPersistExportTempTables is greater than 0, the temporary table generated during export activity execution is persisted for a number of days specified by the setting. This occurs both in Production mode, and in Test mode when Create files... is checked. Persisted temporary tables can be tracked in the ExportTempTableLookup table, which can be found in the Interaction Audit database. The Dataflow housekeeper removes temporary tables, and matching rows from the table, after the specified number of days.
When PGP encryption is configured at an export activity, full export files generated using the channel are encrypted. Sample and summary files are not encrypted. PGP encryption is also applied when files are generated in Test mode, and when file compression is enabled.
If the export uses the Database Table extract location, data is persisted within a data warehouse table in accordance with activity or data extract channel settings. If using default settings, the table will be named ‘RPI_Export_[GUID]’ (the actual table name may be discerned within the export activity’s execution log). If the table already exists, it is dropped and re-created. If a lengthy custom table name has been specified, it is truncated in accordance with the maximum number of characters permitted by the database. The table is deleted by RPI Housekeeping in accordance with the relevant Days To Persist Table setting.