CSV

Formats

Although “CSV” means “Comma-Separated Values”, Alpana supports other separators than comma :

• Comma : “ , “
• Semicolon : “ ; “
• Space : “ “
• Tab : “ “
  

Selecting Connection Type

In the “Create Connection” dialog change the Connection “Type” by selecting “CSV” :

Connection Parameters

File Path

Click to browse for a CSV file.

!Important :
The path configured here may not be accessible when published in Alpana Server for different reasons (maybe it’s a different machine and the CSV file is not there at the same path, maybe the Windows user doesn’t have access to the path).
When published in Server, the Windows user will be that configured in the IIS site, by default “LocalSystem”, which can correspond to “NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM”.
When the file is not found at the configured path, Alpana uses the copy of the CSV file that is embarked within the Dashboard. If so, then you will not see your data update.

Connection Schema

The CSV Connection presents a single object in the schema : a table with the same name as the file.

Data fields type

Since CSV doesn’t allow to create explicit data types, Alpana has to detect the data types of fields.
If this automatic detection is incorrect, you can always change the data type in the Data Source : Changing Column Type

!Integers have a size limit. If this causes an issue, you can switch to the “Number” data type.

Data refresh and Buffer

The CSV Connector is bufferized.

If you need to get new data, see Chapter The data Buffer