Scheduled Exports

With the Scheduled Exports facility it is possible to schedule the regular export of data from Vitalware (the facility was introduced with version 2.1.02). Users are able to define:

  • A set of fields for export.
  • A sort order for the exported records.
  • A TexQL statement to determine which records to export.
  • Dates on which the export is to occur.

Data can be scheduled to be exported on anything from a daily to an annual basis. The export occurs outside working hours (generally early in the morning) and the results are stored on the Vitalware server. A user may then view the results and save / view the export files produced.

The Scheduled Exports facility provides two new modules:

  • Schedules

    Holds one record per Scheduled Export containing the definition of the export (as defined above).

  • Exports

    Holds one record per set of export files produced. When a Scheduled Export is run, a new exports record is created containing the output of the export process.

See The Schedules and Exports modules for more details.

An audit of all Scheduled Exports is produced and these records are not removed from the system, so it is possible to search / view all exports performed by all users (provided that you have sufficient privileges to do so).

When a Scheduled Export is executed, the default output is XML, which is the same format used by the Vitalware reporting facility. A filter may be set to transform the XML produced into another format (CSV for example). System Administrators may define their own filters to produce custom output formats. A custom filter may also be used to:

  • Email export files to users.
  • Print export files.
  • Copy export files to a known location (for collection).
  • Transmit export files to another machine.

See How to create filters for more details on how to create custom filters.

After Export facility

Introduced with Vitalware 2.3, the After Export facility allows a command to be executed once an export has completed. Amongst other things, the command can:

  • Email the export files to a list of users.
  • Email the results of the export to a list of users.
  • Copy the export files to another machine behind a secure firewall.
  • Copy the export files over the internet via a secure transfer mechanism.
  • Send an SMS to a list of telephone numbers.

In fact, an After Export command may perform any number of tasks as it has full access to the Exports record generated. The command runs on the Vitalware server allowing access to the full facilities offered by the server. The After Export facility is designed to allow new commands to be added within the existing framework. In order to simplify the creation of new commands, the KE::Export perl module is provided; this incorporates much of the functionality required by an After Export command.

See After Export facility for details.

Note: Details about Export Schedules in a multi-language environment can be found here.