This document summarizes a Java program called CSVtoXML that converts comma-separated value (CSV) files to XML files compliant with SAP BusinessObjects Dashboards 4.x. The program is command-line driven and platform independent. It can convert single or multiple CSV files to single or merged XML files. The document provides details on the program's usage including available parameters to configure the conversion process and output files.

1. CSV to XML Converter
Converts Comma-Separated-Value
csv
csv
csv files to Xcelsius – SAP BO
Dashboards 4.x compliant XML-
files
XML
XML
XML
Copyright – Gino Scheppers

2. CSVtoXML
 CSVtoXML (CSVtoXML.jar) is a „command-line driven‟
Java-program, it converts one or more CSV-files to one
or more Xcelsius & SAP BO Dashboards 4.x compliant
XML-files.
 The program is platform independent. Runs in Windows,
Sun Solaris, Unix, Linux,…
 CSVtoXML is freeware.
 Requisites:
 Java JRE 1.5 or higher

3. CSVtoXML
 Running the program with the –Help option, will result in an overview of
all the available parameters.
 Cmd: java –jar <installdir>CSVtoXML.jar -Help

4. usage:
CSVtoXML
 The program is a command-line driven java
program, that can run from within a batch-file or
script-file (like *.cmd, *. bat, …).
 Usage:
 java -jar <install dir>CSVtoXML.jar [Options]
 Example:
 java -jar “C:Program FilescsvtoxmlCSVtoXML.jar” -Help
 Important !
 All command-line-options are case-sensitive !

5. Option overview:
CSVtoXML
 Option: -Help
 Shows all parameter options
 Usage:
 java -jar <install dir>CSVtoXML.jar -Help
 Example:
 java -jar “C:Program FilescsvtoxmlCSVtoXML.jar” -Help

6. Option overview:
CSVtoXML
 Option: -cleanDirectory
 This option will clean the source-folder after the conversion process.
 Important: this option will clean the complete folder! In this case, the
output-folder should be different from the source-folder, otherwise you
will end-up with no files!
 Usage:
 java -jar <install dir>CSVtoXML.jar -cleanDirectory -sourceFolder
c:/temp/csv -destinationFolder c:/temp/xml
 The above example will convert all files with extension *.txt and *.csv
(=default behavior) in the source-folder to the destination-folder, after
the conversion, all files in the source-folder will be deleted.

7. Option overview:
CSVtoXML
 Option: -csvFilename <arg>
 Use this option to indicate the file to convert
 Important:
 Use slash instead of backslash in the path definition
 <arg> = <drive:/path/filename>
 <arg> = <//server/share/path/filename>
 Usage:
 java -jar <install dir>CSVtoXML.jar -csvFilename
c:/temp/csv/kpi.csv
 The above example will convert the file kpi.csv to kpi.xml in the folder
c:tempxml.
 java -jar <install dir>CSVtoXML.jar -csvFilename kpi.csv -
sourceFolder c:/temp/csv/ -destionationFolder c:/temp/xml
 In the above example, the converted file will be placed in the folder c:tempxml

8. Option overview:
CSVtoXML
 Option -sourceFolder <arg>
 Use this option to indicate the source path
 Important:
 Use slash instead of backslash in the path definition
 <arg> = <drive:/path/>
 <arg> = <//server/share/path/>
 Using this option without the -csvFilename option will convert all
files in the source-folder
 Usage – example:
 java -jar <install dir>CSVtoXML.jar -sourceFolder c:/temp/csv/
 The above example will convert all files (with extension *.csv and *.txt) in the
folder c:tempcsv. The result will be placed in the same folder

9. Option overview:
CSVtoXML
 Option: -destinationFolder <arg>
 Use this option to indicate the destination path
 Important:
 Use slash instead of backslash in the path definition
 <arg> = <drive:/path/>
 <arg> = <//server/share/path/>
 If you don‟t use this option, all converted files will be placed into
the source-folder
 Tip: if the target-folder doesn‟t exist, it will be created by the
program.
 Usage:
 java -jar <install dir>CSVtoXML.jar -sourceFolder c:/temp/csv/ -
destinationFolder c:/temp/xml
 The above example will convert all files (with extension *.csv and *.txt) in the
folder c:tempcsv. The result will be placed in c:tempxml

10. Option overview:
CSVtoXML
 Option: -xmlFilename <arg>
 Default: the source-file name will be used as destination-file name,
use this option if you want to rename the destination filename into
another filename.
 Important:
 you can use the merge-option (see next slide) if you want to merge all files into
one file.
 Usage:
 java -jar <install dir>CSVtoXML.jar -sourceFolder c:/temp/csv/ -
destionationFolder c:/temp/xml -csvFilename kpi.csv -xmlFilename
myXML.xml
 The above example will convert the file kpi.csv in the folder
c:tempcsv into the xml-file myXML.xml in the directory
c:tempxml

11. Option overview:
CSVtoXML
 Option: -merge
 Use this option to merge all the converted files into one xml-file
 Important:
 Use this option in combination with the –xmlFilename option
 Usage – example:
 java -jar <install dir>CSVtoXML.jar -sourceFolder c:/temp/csv/ -
destionationFolder c:/temp/xml -merge -xmlFilename myXML.xml
 The above example will convert all files (with extension *.csv and
*.txt) in the folder c:tempcsv into one xml-file (myXML.xml)
into the directory c:tempxml
 The source-filename without extension will be used as variable
tag-name.

12. Option oveview:
CSVtoXML
 Option: -variableNameRange <arg>
 Default, the name of the source-file (without extension) will be used as
variable name tag, use this option if you want to change the <variable
name>-tag into another name.
 Important:
 Don‟t use this option in combination with the –merge option
 Usage – example:
 java -jar <install dir>CSVtoXML.jar -sourceFolder c:/temp/csv/ -
destionationFolder c:/temp/xml -csvFilename kpi.csv -
variableNameRange kpi -xmlFilename myXML.xml
 The above example will convert the file kpi.csv in the folder
c:tempcsv into one xml-file (myXML.xml) into the directory
c:tempxml using kpi as variable-name tag.

13. Option overview:
CSVtoXML
 Option: -zipFilename <arg>
 Use this option to indicate the name of the backup-file
 Important:
 Use slash instead of backslash in the path definition
 <arg> = <drive:/path/filename>
 <arg> = <//server/share/path/filename>
 If the target folder doesn‟t exist, it will be created.
 Using #date# or #datetime# in the name to replace it with the current date
(format: yyyyMMdd ) or with the current timestamp (format:
yyyyMMdd_HHmmss)
 Usage – example:
 java -jar <install dir>CSVtoXML.jar -sourceFolder c:/temp/csv/ -
zipFilename c:/temp/zip/myZip#date#.zip
 The above example will convert all files (with extension *.csv and *.txt) in the
folder c:tempzip, and zip into the file myZip20121101.zip

14. Option overview:
CSVtoXML
 Option: -extensionFilter <arg>
 Default all files with extension *.csv and *.txt will be converted, use
this option if you want to specify files with an other extension.
 Important:
 Use ; as delimiter if you want to specify more then one extension.
 Usage – example:
 java -jar <install dir>CSVtoXML.jar -sourceFolder c:/temp/csv/ -
extensionFilter csv;txt;prn
 The above example will convert all files with extension *.csv, *.txt and *.prn in the
folder c:tempcsv, into the same folder
convert

15. Option overview:
CSVtoXML
 Option: -delimiter <arg>
 Default ; is used as delimiter in the csv-file, use this option if you want
to use an other delimiter.
 Usage – example:
 java -jar <install dir>CSVtoXML.jar -sourceFolder c:/temp/csv/ -
delimiter #
 The above example will convert all files with extension *.csv, *.txt in the folder
c:tempcsv, into the same folder, using a crossroad (#) as delimiter.
csv
xml

16. Example: converting two csv-files to one xml-file
 Suppose you want to monitor the number of BO accounts in a three pillar environment (dev,
accept & production) on two different BO installations (Infra. One & Infra. Two)
 On a daily basis you receive two csv-files (InfraOne.csv and InfraTwo.csv) in the C:tmpcsv
folder.
 Create a cmd-file with the following command to convert the two csv‟s to one xml-file.
 java -jar CSVtoXML.jar -sourceFolder "C:/tmp/csv/" -destinationFolder "C:/tmp/xml/" -
merge -xmlFilename MergedXML.xml
 Create a dashboard using the XML-data connector
 read the next slides for more info

17. Example: converting two csv-files to one xml-file
DWH
Query & Export to csv
Convert with CSVtoXML.jar

18. Example: converting two csv-files to one xml-file

19. Example: converting two csv-files to one xml-file
Tip: define two Excel Named Ranges
with the same name of your variable
name – tag
Important: The Import Named Ranges-
button imports the Excel ranges, not the
variable name-section in the xml-file!

20. Example: converting two csv-files to one xml-file
Refreshing your dashboard with new xml-data will result in a ‘Cannot Access External
Data’ error message. You will need to make a trusted version of your swf-file!
Steps
1. Right-click on the swf in the browser and click on Global Settings…
2. Click on the Advanced-tab and click on the Trusted Location Settings-
button
3. Add the name of the swf-file as trusted file
4. Restart your dashboard in the browser

21. Logging Services
 Default „Log4j 1.2.16‟ from apache.org is used to
log the program activity.
 Read http://logging.apache.org/log4j/1.2/ for more
info.
 Tip: replace the original log4j.properties file in
CSVtoXML.jar (use winzip to open the jar) with your own
configuration file to customize the logging output.
 More info:
 http://www.tutorialspoint.com/log4j/log4j_configuration.htm
 http://logging.apache.org/log4j/1.2//apidocs/org/apache/log4j/EnhancedPatternLayout.html