Introduction to Basic Elements

When working with report or text files in the Data Extractor, there are three basic elements to help you accomplish your task. Those basic elements are line style, data field, and field content.

A line style is what you define that tells the Data Extractor how to identify a particular line of text in the report. You want to define each line style in such a way that the Data Extractor can identify that same line of text throughout the report. The trick to defining a good line style is to make the recognition rules specific enough to not include any lines you do not want recognized, yet broad enough to include all lines you do want recognized. See Defining Line Styles.

A data field is what you define that tells the Data Extractor which specific portions of the report you want to extract and assemble into data records. There are options in the Data Extractor that let you determine which data fields are collected and assembled as part of each output data record. For details, see Define Data Fields.

The field content is the data that occupies each defined data field. Any defined data field may contain data or may be blank in any given record. There are options in the Data Extractor that let you determine whether or not the field contents of one data field are carried forward to subsequent data fields that are blank. For details on the Flush Field Contents, Propagate Field Contents, and Flush Field Contents on Accept Default options, see Define Data Fields and Source Options Window.

When using Data Extractor to extract data from a text or report file, you follow some general procedures. It is important to understand that the goal is to define line styles and data fields in such a manner that the Data Extractor is able to assemble records of data out of the information contained in the report.