Data File Generator

To generate multiple copies of a file using a data contained in a spreadsheet with on a template(s)

Getting Started

npm install data-file-generator

Set up

To start, data needs to be added into an excel spreadsheet, then the template file(s) will need to be created and marked up, then the config files need to be created.

file structure:

.
+-- data-files
|   +-- config
|       +-- default.json
|       +-- test-sample.json
|   +-- data
|       +-- template
|           +-- basic-template.xml
|       +-- sample.xlsx
+-- datafile.opt

config folder contains all config json files that determine how the templates and spreadsheet data will be used

data folder contains all the templates and test data spreadsheet to be used in the file generation

data/template contains the marked up templates to be used in the file generation

output (folder will be created) contains all the files generated from the template with the data provided in the spreadsheets

datafile.opt file contains location of where data files exists (including config, templates, output)

Preparation

1. Mark up template file
   • Identify all values in your template file that you expect data to be replaced
   • Replace each instance in the template with keyword and braces eg. {KEYWORD}

   <SampleRs>
       <UNIQUE_ID>{UNIQUE_ID_COLUMN}</UNIQUE_ID>
       <VALUE1>{SHEET1_COLUMN_VALUE1}</VALUE1>
       <VALUE2>{SHEET1_COLUMN_VALUE2}</VALUE2>
       <EXISTING_VALUE>some value that can be ignored</EXISTING_VALUE>
   </SampleRs>

   • Save template file into ./data/template folder
2. Setup your spreadsheet, where the first row in your spreadsheet will contain the keyword as a heading
   • Save spreadsheet into ./data folder

UNIQUE_ID_COLUMN	SHEET1_COLUMN_VALUE1	SHEET1_COLUMN_VALUE2
ID_000	AAA	DDD 123
ID_001	BBB	EEE 456

3. Create the config.json

the default.json is used to add in global values that will be shared by other config files, such as the name of the spreadsheet to use (in this case: "inputSheet": "data/sample.xlsx") and also specifies where and what default values for the output folder exist

config files will be merged with the default.json, so any values added to the default.json will be automatically appled to other config files.

config/default.json

{
  "profileName": "default",
  "inputSheet": "data/sample.xlsx",
  "output": {
    "folder": "output/",
    "fileExtension": ".json"
  },
  "useExistingFilenameColumn" : "USE_FILE_NAME",
  "startRow" : 0
}

other config json files added to config folder will apply additional information about what is to be generated, for example the template to be used, filename prefix, unique Id to be applied and file extension

config/test-sample.json

{
  "profileName": "test-sample",
  "sheetName": "Sheet1",
  "startRow": 2,
  "endRow": 500,
  "output": {
    "folder": "output/folder/",
    "fileNamePrefix": "PROFILE-PREFIX",
    "fileIdColumn": "UNIQUE_ID_COLUMN",
    "fileExtension": ".xml"
  },
  "templates": [
    {
      "name": "default",
      "path": "data/template/",
      "fileName": "basic-template.xml"
    }
  ]
}

NOTE: the profileName for each template needs to be unique, as it is this name that will used to determine which template(s) will be used generate test files from

Usage

To generate files run: data-file-gen <profile-name>

or

./node_modules/bin/data-file-gen <profile-name>

to test scripts in repo:

node index.js <profile-name>

where <profile-name> can be a comma delimited list of profiles, eg. test-sample or test-sample1,test-sample2,test-sample3

output files will appear in the output folder

Useful samples

./config/sample/sample.json contains the different combinations and values that can be used for the config json files

./test/ directory contains examples of config files, templates, worsksheets