Data
PA
Administration
5
©
Data
PA
DataPA
Report
(customers.rpa)
DataPAFileConcepts
Database
Application
DataPA
Query
(customers.qpa)
DataPAQueries
Inorder todefine thedata extracts wewill use froma given system,DataPAuses theconceptof a
query. Thequerydefines the following:
Thesystemwewish toextractdata from
The typeof datawewant toextract
Any conditions or parameters used to limit thedatawe receive
Which fields from thedata setwewish to receive
Thesortorder thedatawill be received in
Queries arestoredondisk in the formof qpa files, for examplewemight savea fileas
C:\MyQueries\customer.qpa. This means wecansharequeries between applications such as
MicrosoftExcel andDataPAReports.
DataPAReports
For DataPAReports themodel is slightlydifferent. For a reportweneed to store thedata formatting
and layout information inaddition to thedata extractdefinition. As such,DataPA reports arestored in
a different file format, rpa files. For examplewemight saveour customer reportas
C:\MyReports\customers.rpa. This report filecontains both thequery, and formattingand layout
information for the report.
Wewill see later on in thecoursehowwecanbuild a new reportusinganexistingquery. The existing
querywill havebeen saved todisk as a qpa filewhich couldhavebeen generated inExcel. Wewill
alsoseehowwecan sharea query thatwas created inDataPAReports, so it canbeused inExcel.
