Import deepsee(.dfi) files via IPM
Hello Community,
What is the correct way to import and compile .dfi files when using zpm load? Do .dfi files need to be defined in module.xml?
I have code that imports the .dfi file successfully; however, when I runzpm "load /home/irisowner/dev/ -v"
I get the message: Unknown file type. Skipping file: .pivot.DFI
zpm "install isc-dev"do##class(dev.code).workdir(dir)
do##class(dev.code).import("*.DFI")Thank you!
Comments
No idea about zpm.
Just a guess: if not listed or in a PKG it won't be touched
BUT this loads and compiles it
set tSC=$system.OBJ.Import(fileref,"ck")I take the approach of adding my .DFI items to a class that extends %DeepSee.UserLibrary.Container following
Creating a Business Intelligence Container Class
as this allows me to treat like any other class.
This means I can
- commit to the source control repository just like any other class
- deploy like any other class
- include the Container class in my module definition to be delivered via ZPM/IPM
This capability has been around since 2018 +/-.
Thank you @Stephen Canzano
I'll try myself.
The only "caveat" of the approach is that you should put all of the pivots and dashboards into one big class container. Even you have 100+ of them.
It's like, "let's put all the classes into one big XML and store it in the repo in one file". It's OK for import/export, but not ideal for source control.
Hi Ashok!
Yes, you can use IPM to support DFI files.
"Lazy", aka "dirty" way - introduce the following resource:
<Resource Name="*.DFI" />
like here, which will package everything you have in a src/dfi folder. Convenient but not optimal and can introduce problems while working with more than one IRIS BI packages.
in this case resource will import all the 100+ DFIs (pivots, dashboards) into IRIS (via load command) and package/publish then:
Don't ask me, why DFI is an XML in fact.
You may ask: how to export the file?
There is a special "helper" package "isc dev", once installed via:
zpm "install isc-dev"
and set up then as:
do##class(dev.code).workdir("/home/irisowner/dev/src")it will allow at any moment to export all the DFI at once into your dev folder with the command:
d##class(dev.code).export("*.DFI")Hi @Evgeny Shvarov
Thank you for the details. So, Do I need to keep the files in .xml format in my repo not in .dfi
I'd say xml as it's been working well with IPM packaging and standard import/export.
But if dfi is working for you it'd be great to hear! I kind of like .dfi more as it's more clear what the file is about. But xml is fine too.
Thank you! ZPM load actually skip the .dfi file and eventually failed with " ERROR! Unable to import file '/home/irisowner/dev/Test/Test-UTest.pivot.DFI' as this is not a supported type"
There is a refined version of the app isc-dev: iris-bi-utils. The version is more organize, all methods placed in there categories and it has cool and memorable name 😁.
Thank you, @Dmitrij Vladimirov
And here is an example of "proper" using DFI resources - OEX module, Github.
There is one dashboard and two pivots here:
<Resource Directory="dfi" FilenameExtension="dfi" Name="Potatos-AnnualPotatos.dashboard.DFI" />
<Resource Directory="dfi" FilenameExtension="dfi" Name="Potatos-Totals.pivot.DFI" />
<Resource Directory="dfi" FilenameExtension="dfi" Name="Potatos-Yearly.pivot.DFI" />
Git-source-control "supports" editing in the UI and exporting to files, but it is quite "buggy" - I hope @Timothy Leavitt and Co will introduce 100% support of DFI someday. Today I prefer to use "isc-dev" and export all the DFI from the namespace into the dev folder to commit changes to the individual DFI files.
But still, the question for the iPM/ObjectScript VSCode team is why the Other section (server-side viewer in VSCode ObjectScript) exports DFI in a different format, which cannot be imported later with the system import method, and thus is not being imported by IPM. Maybe @Brett Saviano can comment here:
Also, why is the naming of resources so complex (you need to use "-" as the folder delimiter and follow this in folder structures.
But it works somehow.
@Evgeny Shvarov The Atelier REST API used by VS Code uses the same document representation as $SYSTEM.OBJ.ExportUDL(). It has no trouble saving files that are sent to it in this format. If $SYSTEM.OBJ.Import/ImportDir/Load() can't import that format then I believe that's a bug that should be reported to development.
Hi @Brett Saviano !
I double checked the export format - the format is the same now and is supported both in IPM and VSCode ObjectScript.
The only issue left is file naming: Atelier REST API exports DFI file names with dFI extension as:
Potatos-AnnualPotatos.dashboard.DFI
at the same time IPM can consume DFI resources if they are presented as XML (tested in 0.10.4), e.g.:
Potatos/AnnualPotatos.dashboard.xml
Inviting @Pravin Barton also, maybe there are plans to do something with this in the future.
And it exports files with "-" as a folder delimeter. Imagine if you have 100+pivots and dashboards in folders - in the code repository, they all will be in one folder with 100+ files with "-" as delimiters. Doesn't sound like a convenient approach.
It's like ObjectScript code files will be named as:
/src/package-subpackage-class.cls
and all reside in one folder, instead of being distributed in packages as folders, as it is working now:
src/package/subpackage/class.cls
@Brett Saviano - hope we could fix this too in the future.
Just can confirm that it works for me with a correct structure .../src /DFI /first.DFI /next.DFI /andSoOn.DFI
And in module.xml the relevant part looks like this
<Packaging>module</Packaging> <SourcesRoot>src</SourcesRoot> <Resource Name="DFI.PKG"/>
BINGO
no way. Could you please share the repo?
here is it - work in progress ZPM load DFIAnalytics need manual enable, cube to build still manually
BUT:
all DFI are all there (checked with Studio) and working immedeately
Like the minimalistic setup, but this doesn't work on mac:
12/19/25-12:27:01:978 (467) 0 [Utility.Event] Initializing Interoperability during system startup iris-1 | [INFO] ...started InterSystems IRIS instance IRIS iris-1 | [INFO] Executing command /docker-entrypoint.sh iris-after-start '/ext/ascript.sh'... iris-1 | [ERROR] /docker-entrypoint.sh: line 196: /ext/ascript.sh: Permission denied iris-1 | [ERROR] Command "/docker-entrypoint.sh iris-after-start '/ext/ascript.sh'" exited with status 32256 iris-1 | [FATAL] Error executing post-startup command iris-1 | [INFO] Shutting down InterSystems IRIS instance IRIS...
It indeed works! After providing proper (for Mac) Dockerfile and Docker-compose.yml, and adding DSW, here is what I'm getting:
GREAT,
So the DFI worked. I never have touched MAC until now,
I think what've found is a "hack", or side-effect. Because of ZX.PKG resource line IPM imports "everything" from /src/ZX folder, inlcuding dfi files which happen to be there.
But it's OK. I wonder, if there will be no classes in ZX, or if you include another folder ZY which include only DFI documents inside, will IPM import those as well?
to me *.PKG is imported by $system.OBJ.LoadDir(...) whaever the file name is
one file contained a %ZX.* class.
That one required manual compilation as it didn't match the ZX.* pack
a real class, no DFI
Sounds like that.
Actually, I tried with another proejct and failed going with PKG approach, as DFI are being exported in a shorter form for me, .e.g.:
<?xml version="1.0"?><dashboardxmlns="http://www.intersystems.com/deepsee/library"name="AnnualPotatos"folderName=""title="Annual Potato Analytics"description=""keywords=""owner=""shared="true"public="true"locked="false"resource=""timeCreated="2025-08-26T23:29:13.2Z"createdBy="SuperUser"category=""bookCover=""scheme=""worklistCount="2"snapTo="true"snapGrid="true"gridRows="10"gridCols="10"canResize="true"canModify="true"showTitleBar="true"titleBarOpacity=""titleBarColor=""selectedTitleBarOpacity=""selectedTitleBarColor=""titleBarTextColor=""selectedTitleBarTextColor=""titleBarFont=""companyName=""companyLogo=""companyStyle=""backgroundColor="white"backgroundImage="none"backgroundRepeat="no-repeat"backgroundSize="100% 100%"backgroundOpacity="1"widgetBorders="1px solid #F0F0F0"widgetBordersSwitch="edit"widgetBordersColor="#F0F0F0"widgetBordersStyle="solid"widgetBordersWidth="1"widgetBordersToggle="true"><widgetname="Widget2"type="pivot"subtype="comboChart"subtypeClass="comboChart"title="Potato Sales and Import, Tonnes"dataSource="Potatos/Yearly.pivot"dataLink=""drillDownDataSource=""width="200"height="200"sidebarContent=""showSidebar="false"sidebarWidth=""maximized="false"homeRowL="0"homeColL="0"colSpanL="7"rowSpanL="7"showToolbar="true"showToolbarBottomBorder="true"showToolbarOnlyWhenMaximized="false"colorToolbar="#F0F0F0"opacityToolbar="1"backgroundColor="#F0F0F0"opacity="1"theme=""dataColorList=""><controlname=""action="applyFilter"target=""targetProperty="[Country].[H1].[Country]"location="widget"type="auto"controlClass=""label="Country"title=""value=""text=""readOnly="false"valueList=""displayList=""activeWhen=""><valueRequired>false</valueRequired></control><overridename="comboChart">{legendVisible:'false',xAxis:{_type:'axis'},yAxisList:[{_type:'axis'}],seriesTypes:',bar',_type:'comboChart'}</override></widget></dashboard>In your case there is also an export tag:
<?xml version="1.0"?>
<Export generator="IRIS" version="26" zv="IRIS for Windows (x86-64) 2024.3 (Build 217U)" ts="2025-09-21 16:49:04">
<dashboard xmlns="http://www.intersystems.com/deepsee/library" name="AnnualPotatos" folderName="Potatos" title="Annual Potato Analytics" description="" keywords="" owner="" shared="true" public="true" locked="false" resource="" timeCreated="2025-08-26T23:29:13.2Z" createdBy="SuperUser" category="" bookCover="" scheme="" worklistCount="2" snapTo="true" snapGrid="true" gridRows="10" gridCols="10" canResize="true" canModify="true" showTitleBar="true" titleBarOpacity="" titleBarColor="" selectedTitleBarOpacity="" selectedTitleBarColor="" titleBarTextColor="" selectedTitleBarTextColor="" titleBarFont="" companyName="" companyLogo="" companyStyle="" backgroundColor="white" backgroundImage="none" backgroundRepeat="no-repeat" backgroundSize="100% 100%" backgroundOpacity="1" widgetBorders="1px solid #F0F0F0" widgetBordersSwitch="edit" widgetBordersColor="#F0F0F0" widgetBordersStyle="solid" widgetBordersWidth="1" widgetBordersToggle="true">
<widget name="Widget2" type="pivot" subtype="comboChart" subtypeClass="comboChart" title="Potato Sales and Import, Tonnes" dataSource="Potatos/Yearly.pivot" dataLink="" drillDownDataSource="" width="200" height="200" sidebarContent="" showSidebar="false" sidebarWidth="" maximized="false" homeRowL="0" homeColL="0" colSpanL="7" rowSpanL="7" showToolbar="true" showToolbarBottomBorder="true" showToolbarOnlyWhenMaximized="false" colorToolbar="#F0F0F0" opacityToolbar="1" backgroundColor="#F0F0F0" opacity="1" theme="" dataColorList="">
<control name="" action="applyFilter" target="" targetProperty="[Country].[H1].[Country]" location="widget" type="auto" controlClass="" label="Country" title="" value="" text="" readOnly="false" valueList="" displayList="" activeWhen="">
<valueRequired>false</valueRequired>
</control>
<override name="comboChart">{legendVisible:'false',xAxis:{_type:'axis'},yAxisList:[{_type:'axis'}],seriesTypes:',bar',_type:'comboChart'}</override>
</widget>
</dashboard></Export>And zpm load imports the latter one, but not the first type.
Also, if I save it in VSCode, it removes <export> tag as a result of compiling. But the same doesn't let it be imported via PKG approach.
Interesting observations.
My export came directly out of STUDIO.
InterSystems Studio Client 2024.1.0 Build 262
Server IRIS for Windows (x86-64) 2025.1 (Build 230.2U)
Simple right click + export ..... (+ Windows Directory).
Just straight, no flags, no anything extra
@Evgeny Shvarov you pointed me to the correct place
Did some checks using the most native approach.
set sc=$system.OBJ.Import(file, . . . . .
Removing the Export Tag from the 2nd line in the 'hidden XML' names DFI
<Export generator="IRIS" version="26" zv="IRIS for Windows (x86-64) 2024.3 (Build 217U)" ts="2025-09-21 16:53:05">
ends with unknown flle type !!!
After re-insert of that Export Tag all import works perfect
might be necessary to teach VScode to add that tag
Yes.
It maybe a different thing: the format with <Export generator> is outdated and Studio together with LoadDir both support the outdated format and don't support the "new" one without the <Export> element, which is in Atelier API that VSCode is using (why do we still use this Atelier name? )
So, I'd better ask to support the new format, as the Export tag thing also has an annoying "feature" that it incudes date/time of export and this changes the file with every save/export even there were no changes.
Next is editing and control versioning in VS-Code.
DFI changes in VS-Code are not propagating to connected IRIS automatically after saving. @Brett Saviano - any hints how can this be set up?
In order to make changes in the Dashboard portal to be automatically reflected, one can use git-source-control. After the following lines:
USER> zpm "install git-source-control"
USER> do ##class(%Studio.SourceControl.Interface).SourceControlClassSet("SourceControl.Git.Extension")
changes made in Dashboard Portal editor are being exported into VSCode (into a file), but the location is wrong - git-source-control has created cls/ZXFree folder and dashboard.dfi
But I expected src/ZXfree.dashboard.DFI, as there is no Folder in a dashboard, just title="ZXFree"
@Pravin Barton , @Timothy Leavitt - could you please take a look?
I see.
This didn't happen for me as I just work from Studio
Updated init + load + build of cubes
2025....latest had a minor surprise in init
Hello @Ashok Kumar T,
First of all, thank you for bringing .DFI files into the center stage :)
Can you please elaborate on the use case? Have you created the *.DFI files, or are you trying to import someone else's? Is it a one-time import, or are you looking to programmatically create, package, export and import DFI files?