Report Builder CSV Import

Prepare CSV File

Before the import process can begin, you will need to obtain or create your CSV file. There are some guidelines in place to ensure a compatible file.

Do

1. Column Based - ensure the data in your CSV is stored as columns, with no empty columns or rows at the start of the file (if examining through a spreadsheet tool).
2. Date Format - the date format recognised by Yellowfin is yyyy/MM/dd, so for example: 2014/08/31. If possible, it's a good idea to ensure your dates are stored in this format. Yellowfin does have converters available as part of the import process, but ensuring your dates are in the correct format to start will avoid extra work during import.
3. No Totals - the CSV columns should not have any column or row totals applied, or other calculations and formats that may be lost during import, or mistaken for data values (rather than totals).
4. Consistent Data per Column - ensure that the data contained in each column is the same type throughout the file. This will ensure that Yellowfin can correctly identify and assign the field type for each column. For example, if you have a date column, and all the data is dates, except a few records that have the text "N/A", remove the text and leave that empty. This will mean Yellowfin recognises the field as a date, rather than text.
5. File Format - Yellowfin will only accept CSV files, no XLS, XLSX, or other formats will be accepted.
6. Character Set - Ensure your file uses UTF-8 character set so that Yellowfin recognises all the characters contained in the file.

Don't

1. Crosstab/Pivot - do not attempt to import data that is in crosstab/pivot format as Yellowfin will examine the file as though it was in column format and as such will store the data in an unintended and unusable structure.
2. Totals - do not apply totals to your fields, as Yellowfin will not differentiate them from the rest of your data.
3. XLS - do not store your data in XLS or XLSX formats as Yellowfin will only read CSVs.

Load CSV

Create

To import a CSV file through the Report Builder you will first need to open the builder:

Click to Expand Instructions

1. Click Create in the main navigation menu, and select the Report option.

2. Click the Create button on the Report Initialisation page.

3. Select the Load CSV file option.

Load

From here you will be taken to the CSV File page, where you will need to locate and load the CSV file.

Click to Expand Instructions

1. Either click on the Browse Files link, or the CSV image to locate your file, or drag your file from the file system onto the grey area.

2. Once selected, Yellowfin will confirm that the file has been uploaded.

3. From here, if you have Advanced CSV Settings permissions, you can click on the Advanced Settings link, otherwise progress to step 4.
Advanced Settings include:

• Data Source - this allows you to select the writable data source you wish to import the CSV data into.
• View Category - this allows you to select the view category to store the CSV view, Yellowfin will create, into.
• Field Separator - this allows you to specify which character is used in the CSV to separate values in the case that it's not a comma. If Other is selected, you can type your own character.
• Precision - this allows you to define how many rows of the CSV Yellowfin will examine in order to define the field types and size.
  • Low Precision is fast, and only examines the first 1000 rows of the file.
  • High Precision is slower, depending on the size of the file, as it examines all rows.

4. Once complete, click the Next button to progress to the formatting step.

Format & Configure Data

Once you've selected your file, and defined any settings required, you will be taken to the CSV Data step of the process. This is where you will be able to define several things, including Column Titles, Column Default Formatting Settings, CSV View Security, CSV View Settings, Additional Fields, and converted Fields.

Data Step Options

These options are available outside of the Data Step menus.

Click to Expand Details

Column Titles	By default, Yellowfin assumes that the first row of your CSV contains the text to be used as column titles, rather than data itself. To change this option you can uncheck the First row contains unique titles option at the bottom-left of the page. This will take the first row of the CSV and treat it as data, allowing you to provide your own labels. If you wish to change some or all of the column titles displayed, there are two methods you can use. You can click on the title, which will select it and allow you to enter new text, or You can access the Column Formatting menu and change the Title there.
Rows	This allows you to change the number of rows previewed.
Refresh	This allows you to refresh the data displayed in the preview.

Field Drop Down Menu

This menu is accessed by clicking on the blue arrow on a Column Title.

Click to Expand Details

Convert to Text Field	This allows the contents of the field to be treated as text, changing the functionality that's available to it from numeric or date to text. This option is only displayed on fields not recognised as text natively.
Field Type	This allows you to change the field from a Metric to a Dimension or Geography, or from a Dimension to Geography.
Index	This allows you to add an index to the field in order to increase read performance. Generally, indexes should be added to fields that will be used in joins or filters.
Drill To	This allows you to define a Dimension field to Drill Down to.
Format	This opens the Column Formatting menu, allowing you to apply default formatting options and apply meta data to the field.
Default Aggregation	This allows you to assign a default aggregation to be applied to the Metric field when added to reports. This can be overridden in the Report Builder.
Copy	This allows you to create a duplicate copy of the field, which can then be formatted, converted, or changed separately to the original.

Column Formatting

Defining field meta data and formatting is an important part of View creation and as such, an important part of the CSV import process. The Column Formatting menu provides you with a range of options depending on the field type.

See Field Format for more information.

Security

The CSV needs to have security defined in order to specify who can/cannot access and create reports based on the import. The security options defined here will be applied to the View that Yellowfin creates based on the CSV import. This will effect who can see the View listed on the Create Report page.

Click to Expand Details

Unsecure	All users with functional access to data source the CSV is imported into can write reports against this CSV table.
Edit Restricted	Only specified users will be able to create reports using this CSV table. All other users will be able to read the reports created by other users on this table, as long as they have the correct report and category access permissions. Users will need to be specified either by their name or User Group, along with assigning Read, Edit, or Delete access levels to them.
Restricted	Only specified users will be able to read and/or write reports using this CSV table. Users will need to be specified either by their name or User Group, along with assigning Read, Edit, or Delete access levels to them.

Settings

This menu allows to define meta data and other options relating to the View that Yellowfin will create from the CSV file at the end of the import process.

Click to Expand Details

Name	This will be the name of the CSV View that Yellowfin will create at the end of the import process. This is how report writers will identify it in the list of views on the Create Report step.
Description	This will be the description of the CSV View that Yellowfin will create at the end of the import process. This should contain information about what's contained in the CSV, which report writers will have access to in the list of views on the Create Report step.
Default Cache Period	This will allow you to define the number of hours queried data based on this CSV should be stored in cache for reuse by other users. 0 will result in no queries being cached.
View Row Limit	This will allow you to define the maximum number of rows to be returned in reports based on this CSV.

Add Fields

This menu allows you to choose from one of the available options in order to create a new field, based on existing fields from the CSV. These functions will not change the existing fields, only create new ones to store the result of the calculation or conversion.

Click to Expand Details

Formula Builder	This allows you to create calculations using either the Calculated Field option, or the Grouped Values option.
Formula Templates	This allows you to create advanced calculations based on pre-defined formulas.
Date Conversion	This allows you to convert a non-standard format date field (one Yellowfin doesn't recognise as a date by default) to a recognised date/time field, by specifying its format.
Timestamp Conversion	This allows you to convert values stored in Java time format (milliseconds since midnight January 1, 1970, GMT) to timestamps.
Numeric Conversion	This allows you to convert fields recognised as text by Yellowfin, that contain numeric values, to numeric fields.

Finish or Cancel

Once the formatting and configuration of the CSV data is complete, you will need to do one of the following:

Finish

Clicking on the Finish link will complete the CSV import process, creating the CSV View in the background, and will progress you to the Report Builder Data step. From here you can start creating your first report based on the CSV.

Cancel

Clicking on the X button in the top-right corner of the screen will cancel the import process. The CSV View based on the file will be deleted. Select this option if you don't wish to go ahead with the import.