Next Generation Outline Extractor

The Start page offers 3 options for running an extraction: Start a new one, open an existing extraction file, or load recently opened extraction file.

Create New Extract - Runs through the wizard to set options for a new extraction

Modify Existing Extract - Open an existing extraction file which will be loaded into this extractor

Open Recent Extract - Similar to ‘Modify Existing Extract’, it lists recently opened files, so they are more easily accessible

Once one of these options is selected, click ‘Next’ to continue configuring the extractor

The Login tab provides the ability to log in to Essbase and to select the cube you want to extract.

Type in the name of the Essbase server or the URL to Analytic Provider Services

(ex: essbase11123 OR http://esshost:13080/aps/JAPI)

Type in your essbase login credentials in the Username and Password boxes

Click ‘Login’

After logging in successfully, a list of available cubes will appear, and you must select one in order to continue through the GUI.

Click ‘Next’ to continue to the Dimensions tab

The Dimensions tab allows you to select which dimensions will be processed in the outline extraction, and what filters to apply to each dimension (if any)

Check each dimension that you wish to include in the extraction. A ‘Select All’ button is available as the blue link below the list.

To apply filters to the selected dimensions, one filter must be applied per line where each line corresponds to a selected dimension. (Ex. in the picture above, @DESCENDANTS(“New York”) applies to ‘Market’). If 2 dimensions were selected, 2 lines would need to be included for the filters. On the other hand, including and excluding will be ignored if either filter’s box is blank (i.e. All members will be included if both boxes are left empty)

The syntax for the filters is the same as the calc style rules

The Output Handlers tab is used to select which output formats will be used during extraction

The Next Generation Outline Extractor has the capability of writing to multiple formats in one pass. Each writer has options that will be set in the next tab.

Each output format has its own options that are set in the Options tab which modify what is extracted in each format

For every output format that is selected in the Output Handlers tab, a new node is added to the Options tab that holds all the available options for that particular output format.

The option names are exactly equivalent to how they appear in the resulting .properties file, and are detailed enough to tell you what they are for. For example:

load.file.output.field.formula - If this is checked, the Load File output format will write Formulas into the output. If it is not checked, formulas will not be written to the output

load.file.output.include.headers - If this is checked, the headers (the first row in the output that provides “column names” for each of the delimited values) will be written. If it is not checked, the header row will be skipped entirely.

load.file.output.delimiter - This is the character that will be used to delimit between values in the Load File output format. By default, it is ‘,’

The performance settings are related to an ongoing issue in the Essbase Java API: the Essbase Java API uses a new port on the client machine to connect to Essbase each time it requests information. On large outlines, this causes the client machine to quickly run out of available ports, and as a result not be able to talk to Essbase. The settings provided in the Performance tab help alleviate this issue by forcing the extraction to run at a slower rate, allowing the used ports to become available again.

Member Query Cursor Size - Number of members pulled from Essbase in one call to essbase, this typically does not need to be changed unless bandwidth is extremely low.

Member Query Delay - Delay between processing each member. Typically this is the first setting to increase if the extractor runs into port usage issues

Member Query Delay Increment - If the extractor encounters a port usage error (no ports available to connect to Essbase), the Member Query Delay is increased by this amount and the extractor starts again

TCP/IP Port Exhaustion Wait Time - Number of seconds to wait if a port exhaustion error occurs.

Logger Level - The level of logging information that is printed out in the output log

Replace Line Endings in Formulas - This setting affects how end-line characters in formulas are handled. (Recommended: End line char ‘\n’)

Escape All CSV - This setting causes each individual item being output to be CSV-escaped (enclosed with necessary “‘s or escaping characters with \)

The Finish tab can be accessed at any point during configuration by simply hitting the ‘Finish’ button in the bottom right of the window. The Finish tab is where the current settings can be saved, and/or run as an extraction. It also holds the output window for the extractor’s log console.

To save the current extraction settings, click ‘Save as…​’ and choose a filename and destination folder. This allows the current settings to be loaded again by opening an existing extract file (as seen on the Start tab)

Right-clicking on the output log gives additional options to Clear Output, Select All (so that it may be copied elsewhere), and Popout Log - which opens the log console in a different window.

This is also where the current settings for an extraction are executed. (The settings do not need to be saved to a file in order to execute an extraction)