Export

Exporting a profile

DROID can export all open profiles (which are not currently running) to a CSV file. To export a profile, press the Export button, or select the File / Export menu item. This shows the export dialog. The profiles you have open are listed in the export window. If a profile is empty, or in the process of running, it is greyed out. Select all the profiles you want to export into a single CSV file by checking the boxes next to them. If any of your profiles have active filters, then the results will also be filtered. Each profile can have different filters defined and enabled.

There are two possible ways of exporting the profiles.

Selecting the columns for export
Selecting a predefined Export Template for export

Selecting the columns for export

When the "Use export template" checkbox is unchecked, you are presented with an option to select one or more columns that you wish to export, as shown below:

CSV File Columns

The following table describes the columns which can be exported from DROID.

Column Name Description Notes

ID This is a unique number assigned to each file, folder or archival file processed by DROID.

PARENT_ID This is the id of the archival file or folder in which this file is contained.

URI Uniform Resource Identifier: This provides a standard, cross-platform way of describing where resources are located. URIs are described in more detail in Information collected by DROID

FILE_PATH The file system location of the resource being profiled. If the resource was directly in a file system. Some files are not on the file system - for example, files inside a zip file. In this case, the file paths are written relative to the parent file which exists on the file system. Such paths also include the type of archive as a prefix. File paths are platform-dependent (they are different on Windows and unix). DROID will write out file paths for the system on which it is currently running. This means that if you profile files on a unix machine, then export the profiles on a Windows machine, the file paths will be written out as if they were Windows file paths, and vice versa.

NAME The file name of the resource being profiled.

METHOD This field gives the method by which a resource identification has been made. Possible values:

Extension - the file format was identified only by its filename extension. This method may not be very reliable, as the filename extension may be wrong. It is only used when DROID cannot identify a resource by another method, and cannot usually identify what the version of a file format is, only its broad type.

Signature - the file format was identified by finding a file format signature inside the file itself. This method is more reliable than filename extensions, and can identify the precise version of a file format.

Container - the file format was identified by finding embedded files and patterns within them. This method is as reliable as signature identifications, and can be more reliable.

STATUS This field gives the identification status of a resource. Possible values:

Not done - the resource has not yet been profiled.

Done - the resource was processed with no errors.

Access denied - the operating system refused to give DROID read permissions to the resource.

Not found - the resource was moved or deleted before DROID could read it.

Error - an error occurred while trying to profile a resource. For example, if DROID is prevented from reading a file due to the user not having read permissions to it, this will result in a profiling error for that file.

SIZE The size in bytes of a file. Only files have a size, folders do not have a size. However, some files can contain other files inside them, for example zip files. In this case, the zip file has a size (as it is a file), and so do the files inside it. The size reported in all cases is the uncompressed size of each file, as it would appear if extracted from the container file.

TYPE The type of the resource
DROID categorises the files and folders it profiles as being one of three types:

File

Folder

Archival file (e.g. zip)

EXT The file extension of the resource Extension is the last part of a filename following a full stop. Only files have extensions, as they indicate the type of the file. Even if a folder has a full stop in its name, it will not be assigned an extension.

LAST_MODIFIED The date and time on which a resource was last modified.

EXTENSION_MISMATCH Whether there is a mismatch between the extension of the resource and its identification by signature Possible values:

true - the extension of the file is different from the expected extension as identified by DROID.

false - the extension of the file matches the expected extension as identified by DROID.

HASH Hash is a fixed-size string of characters that is generated by running the contents of a file through a mathematical algorithm. DROID supports MD%, SHA1, SHA256 and SHA512 algorithms If you have enabled hash generation in the preferences, then this column will contain the MD5, SHA1, SHA256 or SHA512 hash for each file and archival file processed. See "Detecting duplicate files" for more information on hashes.

FORMAT_COUNT The number of identifications made to the resource.

PUID The PRONOM Unique Identifier of the resource, which identifies the format The PRONOM Unique IDentifier (PUID) identifies the precise file format of a profiled file. When a resource has been identified, it is assigned a PUID. A unique identifier exists for every file format that DROID can recognise, and these identifiers are maintained in the PRONOM technical registry database, hosted at the UK National Archives.

MIME_TYPE The mime type of the resource where known. The mime-type of an identified file format is a high level format identifier assigned by the Internet Assigned Numbers. It is widely used in email and other internet protocols to identify the type of resource. Not all file formats identified by DROID have an assigned mime-type, and different PUIDs assigned by DROID can have the same mime-type

FORMAT_NAME The name of an identified file format, as listed in the PRONOM technical registry against its PUID.

FORMAT_VERSION The version of an identified file format, as listed in the PRONOM technical registry against its PUID. Not all file formats have a defined version, so this field can be blank even when a file has a PUID.

Column Name	Description	Notes
ID	This is a unique number assigned to each file, folder or archival file processed by DROID.
PARENT_ID	This is the id of the archival file or folder in which this file is contained.
URI	Uniform Resource Identifier: This provides a standard, cross-platform way of describing where resources are located. URIs are described in more detail in Information collected by DROID
FILE_PATH	The file system location of the resource being profiled. If the resource was directly in a file system. Some files are not on the file system - for example, files inside a zip file. In this case, the file paths are written relative to the parent file which exists on the file system. Such paths also include the type of archive as a prefix.	File paths are platform-dependent (they are different on Windows and unix). DROID will write out file paths for the system on which it is currently running. This means that if you profile files on a unix machine, then export the profiles on a Windows machine, the file paths will be written out as if they were Windows file paths, and vice versa.
NAME	The file name of the resource being profiled.
METHOD	This field gives the method by which a resource identification has been made.	Possible values: Extension - the file format was identified only by its filename extension. This method may not be very reliable, as the filename extension may be wrong. It is only used when DROID cannot identify a resource by another method, and cannot usually identify what the version of a file format is, only its broad type. Signature - the file format was identified by finding a file format signature inside the file itself. This method is more reliable than filename extensions, and can identify the precise version of a file format. Container - the file format was identified by finding embedded files and patterns within them. This method is as reliable as signature identifications, and can be more reliable.
STATUS	This field gives the identification status of a resource.	Possible values: Not done - the resource has not yet been profiled. Done - the resource was processed with no errors. Access denied - the operating system refused to give DROID read permissions to the resource. Not found - the resource was moved or deleted before DROID could read it. Error - an error occurred while trying to profile a resource. For example, if DROID is prevented from reading a file due to the user not having read permissions to it, this will result in a profiling error for that file.
SIZE	The size in bytes of a file.	Only files have a size, folders do not have a size. However, some files can contain other files inside them, for example zip files. In this case, the zip file has a size (as it is a file), and so do the files inside it. The size reported in all cases is the uncompressed size of each file, as it would appear if extracted from the container file.
TYPE	The type of the resource	DROID categorises the files and folders it profiles as being one of three types: File Folder Archival file (e.g. zip)
EXT	The file extension of the resource	Extension is the last part of a filename following a full stop. Only files have extensions, as they indicate the type of the file. Even if a folder has a full stop in its name, it will not be assigned an extension.
LAST_MODIFIED	The date and time on which a resource was last modified.
EXTENSION_MISMATCH	Whether there is a mismatch between the extension of the resource and its identification by signature	Possible values: true - the extension of the file is different from the expected extension as identified by DROID. false - the extension of the file matches the expected extension as identified by DROID.
HASH	Hash is a fixed-size string of characters that is generated by running the contents of a file through a mathematical algorithm. DROID supports MD%, SHA1, SHA256 and SHA512 algorithms	If you have enabled hash generation in the preferences, then this column will contain the MD5, SHA1, SHA256 or SHA512 hash for each file and archival file processed. See "Detecting duplicate files" for more information on hashes.
FORMAT_COUNT	The number of identifications made to the resource.
PUID	The PRONOM Unique Identifier of the resource, which identifies the format	The PRONOM Unique IDentifier (PUID) identifies the precise file format of a profiled file. When a resource has been identified, it is assigned a PUID. A unique identifier exists for every file format that DROID can recognise, and these identifiers are maintained in the PRONOM technical registry database, hosted at the UK National Archives.
MIME_TYPE	The mime type of the resource where known.	The mime-type of an identified file format is a high level format identifier assigned by the Internet Assigned Numbers. It is widely used in email and other internet protocols to identify the type of resource. Not all file formats identified by DROID have an assigned mime-type, and different PUIDs assigned by DROID can have the same mime-type
FORMAT_NAME	The name of an identified file format, as listed in the PRONOM technical registry against its PUID.
FORMAT_VERSION	The version of an identified file format, as listed in the PRONOM technical registry against its PUID. Not all file formats have a defined version, so this field can be blank even when a file has a PUID.

Export Templates

If you have configured any export templates for use with DROID, the "Use export template" checkbox is enabled. Checking this checkbox shows you a view to select one of the configured templates to be used for export as shown below:

An export template is a simple text file, with a .template extension, which defines customisations of columns to be exported. Using a template, you can customise headers for the data columns, add new columns to the export, convert the data in a column to be uppercase / lowercase and change the order in which columns appear in the export. You can make an export template available to Droid by copying it into the .droid6\export_templates folder. You can customise the columns listed in the CSV Columns section.

Features

The current syntax for the export template is referred to as version 1.0. This version of the export template, when exporting the data, gives better control for the following

Ordering the columns within the CSV as desired
Changing the header of a column
Adding columns with constant string values
Converting the data from an underlying column to uppercase or lowercase

Syntax

Syntactically, the export template is simple to define. The details for defining various customisations are explained below.

version line: The very first line of the Export Template defines the version number. For now it simply needs to be version 1.0
Modifying a header: If you intend to use a different column header instead of one of the well-known column names used by Droid, you can do so by defining a line such as Identifier: $ID this instruction changes the header of the ID column to be "Identifier"
Adding a column: If you need to add a blank column to the export, it can be done by defining it with a header without any data. e.g. If you want to add a column named "ProcessDate", but the date is actually populated using some other method later in the workflow, you can define a line in the template as ProcessDate:
Adding a column and populating it with some value: If you need to add a column to the export and populate it with some value, it can be done by defining it with a header and the value in double quotes. e.g. If you want to add a column named "Submitter" and populate it with a value of "Librarian", you can define a line in the template as Submitter: "Librarian" Please note that the value is enclosed in double quotes.
Modifying a header and data: If you intend to use same or different column header and want to modify the data that is populated from the profile results, you can do so by defining a modifier line such as: Path: LCASE($FILE_PATH) This line will export the value of FILE_PATH in lowercase.
Please note: In version 1.0 the only supported modifications are conversion to uppercase or lowercase. Please also note that the LCASE or UCASE modifiers can only be used with the profile columns. These modifications are not supported on custom columns.
Order of the columns:
When using an Export Template, Droid exports only those columns which appear in the template and in the same order as they appear in the template. This gives you the control over ordering of columns in the export file.

Putting it all together

Consider the following template

version 1.0
Identifier: $ID
Name: $NAME
LowerName: LCASE($NAME)
Language: "Simplified English"
Submitter: "Government Dept."
Background:
FormatName: $FORMAT_NAME
FormatVersion: $FORMAT_VERSION
Export Tool:

It indicates the following:

The version of the template is 1.0
The desired order of columns in the export file is: Identifier, Name, LowerName, Language, Submitter, Background, FormatName, FormatVersion, Export Tool
Identifier, Name, FormatName and FormatVersion columns are populated with data from the ID, NAME, FORMAT_NAME and FORMAT_VERSION column respectively
LowerName column is populated with the data from NAME column after converting it to lower case.
Language and Submitter columns are populated with the string values of "Simplified English" and "Government Dept." respectively
Background and Export Tool columns are left blank.

The potential output, depending on actual data, may appear as :

Identifier	Name	LowerName	Language	Submitter	FormatName	FormatVersion
2	GP-led-sites-may21.csv	gp-led-sites-may21.csv	Simplified English	Government Dept.	Comma Separated Values
3	Hospital-Hubs-may21.csv	hospital-hubs-may21.csv	Simplified English	Government Dept.	Comma Separated Values
4	Pharmacies-May21.csv	pharmacies-may21.csv	Simplified English	Government Dept.	Comma Separated Values
5	All-Sites.xlsx	all-sites.xlsx	Simplified English	Government Dept.	Microsoft Excel for Windows	2007 onwards

Other options

Once you have selected the columns to export or selected a template that you wish to use, you can also select other options such as whether the values should be enclosed in quotes when exporting. You can also select whether the export should produce one row per file, or one row per format. When exporting one row per file, each row in the CSV file will represent a single file, folder or archival file profiled with DROID. If exporting one row per format, each row in the CSV file will be a single format identification made by DROID. Since a file can be identified as being more than one possible format, this option will produce CSV files with multiple rows for the same file (but with different identifications for it).

The characters of the export will be encoded as UTF-8 by default. If you need to set this to the encoding used on your local machine instead, select 'Platform specific' instead.

When you are happy you want to export your profiles, press the profiles... button. This will bring up a standard file-save dialog, in which you can specify where you want your CSV file to be saved.

JSON output

By default, the export is a CSV file. You can instead select the JSON output button and DROID will save the export as a JSON file. All of the standard filtering and template options work as they do with the CSV output.