Specification: the bccie extension #

This page is the reference for the bccie extension (1.1.12), "BC CIE", shown as CIE in the admin. It exports the collected information of content objects (the answers sent through a contact form, a poll, a job application) to CSV or SYLK (Excel) files: from the admin, in the background, from the console and by cron. The page lists the module views and policies, the export options and what the files contain, the console commands, the cronjob parts and every setting. The short guide for site owners is the feature page.

In short #

• Admin entry point: /bccie/overview (the CIE tab): a dashboard with the forms that collected information, the last exports, the scheduled export and the problems found, and a list of the forms with filter, sort and paging.
• One form is exported on /bccie/export/<object id>: fields, date range, type (CSV or SYLK), separator and character set. A small export is written while you wait; a large one runs in the background and is offered for download.
• The same work is available as console commands (ext:bccie:export, status, purge) and as two cronjob parts (exportcsv, exportsylk). All use the runner class bccieRunner.
• Every text cell is made safe for a spreadsheet: a cell that starts with =, +, - or @ (or a tab) gets a leading single quote.
• No tables: the extension reads ezinfocollection and ezinfocollection_attribute. Its own state (the last exports) is two rows of ezsite_data; background runs keep files in var/<site>/bccie/jobs/.

Example: export a form from the console and look at the file #

./console ext:bccie:status                                   # which forms have data
./console ext:bccie:export --object=123 --dry-run            # how many collections would be written
./console ext:bccie:export --object=123 --charset=utf8bom --from=2026-10-01 --output=var/export

Open the file in a spreadsheet: the first line is the header with the field names, one line follows per collection, and a cell that started with = shows a leading quote instead of a result.

Module bccie #

Every view uses the navigation part ezbccienavigationpart, so the left menu comes from design/standard/templates/parts/bccie/menu.tpl in every admin design (the links are [Leftmenu_bccie] in menu.ini).

Policy functions: read (every view) and, since 1.1.12, remove (removing collected information, from the list and from the export page; the Admin role has it). The view scripts are thin calls to runnable classes in classes/runnable/views/bccie/; the work is in bccieExportPage, bccieRunner and bccieExportUtils.

Export options #

What the files contain #

• CSV: every cell in double quotes, a double quote inside a cell doubled, cells separated by the separator, no separator after the last cell, one line per collection, a newline inside a cell written as a space. Cells are trimmed.
• SYLK: the format records, a bold header row of the field names, then one row per collection; the collection id is a number, all other cells are text (" doubled, ; doubled).
• Text is UTF-8 and is kept as it is; only the character set handler converts the finished file.
• Formulas: a text cell that starts with =, +, - or @, a tab or a carriage return gets a leading single quote (=1+1 becomes '=1+1). A plain number, also with a sign (+4912345, -5), is left alone because a spreadsheet reads it as a number, not a formula.
• File name: <ExportFileName><object name>-on-<date>.csv (.slk), with the name reduced to letters, digits, dot, dash and underscore.
• A datatype with a handler (see export.ini) is written as that handler says (the option's text, the related object's name, the country's name); any other datatype writes its stored text.

Direct and background exports #

A download is written while the page waits, up to DirectExportLimit collections (2000). Above that, or when "Run in the background" is pressed, bccieJob starts extension/bccie/bin/php/export.php --job=<id> with expProcessTools (setsid, the PHP command line). The page polls bccie/job/<id> for the state, the progress (done of total) and the log, and shows a Download button when the state is finished. The newest 20 jobs and their files are kept. A job that shows no sign of life for ten minutes is reported as failed.

Console commands #

Every command shows its options with --help. One export runs at a time (a lock in the cache directory, whoever starts it). A run records its time and what it wrote for the dashboard and raises the kernel's runnable events, so the audit sees it like any kernel command; a removal is also written to the audit as bccie-purge.

Cronjob parts #

Both files are stubs that call the classes; ext:bccie:export --cron --format=sylk runs the same code by hand. The files are named <object>_export_<date>_<time>.csv, or <object>_<from>_to_<to>.csv with ExportLimitedRange. Every field of the form is written, except the class attributes of ExcludeAttributeID, with the collection id first. With RemoveExported=enabled the collections a file holds are removed after the file was written; nothing is removed when the file could not be written.

Settings #

Scope: extension (extension/bccie/settings/). Override them in settings/override/ or a siteaccess.

Related pages #

• Feature page, behaviour changes of the extensions
• CLI, cronjob and view abstractions, Cronjobs in the console
• Chronicle and release notes