About the STAR and CSV Data File Formats

All default message streams are available in either the STAR tag/value format or the CSV format, unless otherwise noted. With the STAR format, each default message stream shows a sample of one data record along with a data table layout. The Tag # – Tag Name column of these data tables is representative of the tag within the actual record.

For the STAR tag/value format, you must follow these guidelines:

1. Set up data records using a tag/value format.
2. Use a colon (:) as the separator.
3. Use a tilde (~) as an end-of-line indicator.

With the CSV format, a header record is required for message streams processing, using the letter F preceding the Tag # for the column represented. For example, Entity ID (tag 1163) is represented as F1163 in the header row. All subsequent rows in that column represent the value to be sent for Entity ID. For the CSV streams, the message stream reads the column header, not the column number. This allows the CSV format to include only those columns that are needed.

For the CSV format, you must follow these guidelines:

1. Set up the data file to contain a header record with the STAR tag number that each column represents. Use the letter F to precede the tag in the header row.
2. Separate the data record values with a comma ( , ). You can also change the RuleSet rule in the default message stream to use any suitable delimiter, such as the pipe delimiter (|).
3. If the value contains a comma, enclose it in quotation marks.

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