Xceptor Developer Interview | Q & A | Part - 2

#001

The Option-A returns the entire text rather than the initial word. It is because the Start Text is ""(Empty String) whereas in Option-B, FIND function would return the position of first space from the left and by subtracting "1" from it will return the length of the first word in any context.

#002

The Xceptor data automation platform empowers business users to solve a range of complex data automation scenarios, simplifying data extraction, data ingestion, data transformation and end-to-end data-centric process digitization.

#003

Although it requires both components, i.e., Message Processor and Processing Rule, to be filled with the necessary details to send out an email notification, it is only when users check the “Send an email notification” checkbox in the Message Processor that it activates Late Notifications in Xceptor.

#004

Xceptor is designed to be deployed in both on-premises and cloud-based setups.

On-Premise:

The web-based interfaces provided by Xceptor allow users to interact with the platform remotely via web browsers, but the actual hosting and deployment specifics might vary based on the organization's preferences and infrastructure.

Xceptor is typically hosted locally on the organization's own servers or hardware infrastructure (using IIS) and accessed over the internet through web browsers.

The Xceptor product consists of three components:

The Xceptor Engine, an ASP.NET application which runs within IIS on a Windows Server platform.

The Xceptor Database, a SQL Server database used to store all configuration and business data to support the Xceptor Engine.

The Xceptor Message Hub, a .NET Framework 4.7.2 Windows Service application which captures incoming messages from multiple sources including email, FTP and file systems. These are then passed to the Xceptor application for processing.

A web-based app is an on-premise web app not a cloud-based app when it is:

• Deployed on the organization's own servers: This means that the organization has full control over the application and its data.
• Not hosted on a cloud platform: This means that the application is not reliant on the cloud for its infrastructure or services.
• Not scalable or accessible to users outside of the organization: This means that the application is not designed to be used by a large number of users or to be accessed from anywhere in the world.

Cloud-based:

In addition to on-premise deployment, the Xceptor components can be deployed on the major public cloud hosting platforms: Microsoft Azure and Amazon Web Services (AWS).

Cloud deployment options are as follows:

• Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) is similar to an on-premise deployment. In this model, the Xceptor components are installed directly onto virtual machines that are hosted in the cloud.
• Platform as a Service (PaaS) is a flexible deployment option that uses the cloud provider's infrastructure to provide web server and database services, without having to configure and maintain the underlying servers.
• Xceptor as a Service (XaaS) is a Software as a Service (SaaS) based model which enables the Customer to leverage Xceptor’s expertise operating and maintaining its software within a cloud-based environment, allowing the customer to focus on maximizing their benefit from the software without the overhead of managing and maintaining the core software and operating infrastructure.

While Xceptor has web-based components and can be accessed through a browser, its architecture (Xceptor Engine, Database, and Message Hub), deployment flexibility (on-premise or in the cloud), complexity, and targeted use cases differentiate it from traditional web applications. This makes it more of a comprehensive platform rather than a simple web-based application.

#005

You can establish connection between Translation Tables and Data Sets by adding the below mentioned line of code in the Xceptor.config wherein "DSTable" must be replaced with the source table name.

<source name="DSTable" sql="select * from DSTable"/>

This would enable the option of choosing defined Data Set to be used as a "Data Source".

#006

The ability of Xceptor to handle input data size can depend on various factors including:

1. Hardware and Infrastructure: The capabilities of the hardware and infrastructure (e.g., servers, memory, processing power) that Xceptor is running on can influence its capacity to handle large data volumes.
2. Configuration: How Xceptor is configured, including any optimizations and settings, can impact its performance and capacity.
3. Version and Updates: The version of Xceptor you are using and any updates or improvements made to the platform can affect its capabilities.
4. Data Complexity: The complexity of the data being processed can influence the platform's performance. Highly structured or standardized data might be processed more efficiently than unstructured or messy data.
5. Parallel Processing: Whether parallel processing has been used (<concurrencyGroup>) for the input channel can affect its data handling capacity, as it distributes the workload across multiple processing units.

#007

• Web scraping: Web scraping is the process of extracting data from websites. DOWNLOAD SITES in Xceptor can be used to web scrape websites on a schedule basis.
• API request: An API request is a request to a web service. Xceptor can be used to make API requests via Xceptor.config.
• FTP file transfer: FTP file transfer is the process of transferring files over an FTP server. Xceptor can be used to transfer files over an FTP server using Delivery Destination (Details must be added in the Xceptor.config) in the "Generate Output" action.

#008

Here are the benefits of using process orchestration over message processor:

• Process scheduling: Process orchestration allows you to schedule processes to run at specific times or in response to certain events. This can help you to improve the efficiency of your processes and ensure that they are executed in a timely manner.
• Multiple triggers: Process orchestration can be used to set up to trigger the process only if it meets multiple events (input messages), such as the arrival of a message, the completion of a task, or the change of a state. This makes it more flexible and adaptable to changing conditions.
• Action dependency: Process orchestration can be used to define dependencies between actions. This ensures that actions are performed in the correct order and that no action is performed until all of its dependencies are met.

Hence, the benefit of using process orchestration over message processor is All of the above.

#009

Message Processor doesn't incorporate scheduling functionality in it. It is an event based as in the process gets triggered as soon as the input message is received.

#010

No, Xceptor doesn't create a table on the backend whenever a new Translation Table is created.

The data source for a translation table can either be Managed by Xceptor or sourced from data that is stored in a Data Set.

When the data source is Managed by Xceptor, this means that the data for the translation table is stored in a generic database structure that is flexible and stores all the data for Translation Tables that are managed by Xceptor.

#011

One can't immediately stop a running process via the Xceptor frontend UI. It lacks the ability to forcefully end processes in progress.

However, there's a workaround – you can partially achieve this by triggering an application pool recycle in the IIS.

But, there's a catch: To ensure ongoing lengthy processes finish during an application pool recycle, it's recommended (by Xceptor) to set a "Shutdown time limit" of at least 300 seconds. This means that even if you initiate an Application Pool Recycle, Xceptor can't immediately stop a process.

For instant process termination, you can kill the associated w3wp.exe process.

The w3wp.exe process, also known as the IIS worker process, is responsible for handling web requests in IIS. It's associated with individual application pools that host web applications, like Xceptor in this case. When you recycle an application pool or perform an IIS reset, the w3wp.exe processes associated with that pool are restarted.

Hence, killing the w3wp.exe process of a specific application pool will immediately terminate all the web applications hosted within that pool thereby results in a force stop of a running process.

Note: It's important to note that manually terminating w3wp.exe processes should be a last resort and should only be done in exceptional circumstances. Regularly killing processes can lead to a poor user experience, application instability, and potential data corruption.

What is IIS?

Internet Information Services (IIS) is a powerful web server that allows you to host and manage websites, web applications, and web services on Windows OS.

One of the key components of IIS is the Application Pool, which serves as a container for one or more web applications.

It provides isolation, better security, and improved performance for applications within the IIS web server.

Recycling an application pool is an essential maintenance task that can help maintain the stability and health of your IIS web applications.

What is Application Pool Recycling?

• Application pool recycling is the process of restarting an IIS application pool, which effectively restarts the worker process (w3wp.exe) associated with the pool.
• Recycling can help mitigate potential issues such as memory leaks, excessive CPU usage, or unresponsive applications. It can also free up resources, clear caches, and refresh application configurations. This ensures that your web applications continue to run smoothly and efficiently.

There are multiple ways to recycle an IIS Application Pool on Windows OS. Here's the most popular way among the others:

Using IIS Manager to recycle the application pool in the IIS server

#012

Xceptor is a platform that combines elements of both RPA and BPM.

It is a tool that enables businesses to automate their processes, from data capture to validation and processing, in a highly flexible and scalable manner.

Xceptor's capabilities include automating manual and repetitive tasks, such as data entry, validation, and reconciliation, using RPA-like automation. It can also be used to manage complex workflows and integrate with existing systems, which is more in line with BPM.

https://www.dhirubhai.net/pulse/xceptor-rpa-bpm-tool-shivaram-nomula

Edit: However, Xceptor has recently begun to position itself as a Robotic Process Automation platform on its LinkedIn product page. By definition, RPA—Robotic Process Automation is a software technology that enables the building, deployment, and management of software robots that emulate human actions interacting with digital systems. However, Xceptor doesn’t quite align with this definition. Key concepts of RPA include bots and their ability to interact with applications at the front-end UI level, similar to how a human user would. Both of these features are not available in Xceptor.

#013

Xceptor doesn't have the data type - Text instead it has "String".

Here's the list of data types available in Xceptor:

#014

All of the given options can be used to generate multiple output files from an input message.

#015

Data Format is to specify the Data Format to be used while processing the incoming file or message.

We use a Selector Data Format to determine which Input Format should be used to process the incoming file.

For example, if your Message Processor is directed at a channel that receives documents of the same type and file name, but of varied contents and therefore requires different Input Formats to process the message, a Selector Data Format is used.

Job Name - This field is used to enter the Job Name to use as part of a matching criteria for the data to be processed. The Job Name can be specified in the settings for an input channel (in the Xceptor.config) and can be used to identify a particular channel or channels. If it is specified on the backend them it's mandatory to use in the Processing Rule as well.

Hence, the correct answer is Depends on other configuration.

#016

If you think you fall under the category of 46% of the above poll, check out the below article to learn about DOWNLOAD SITES.

https://www.dhirubhai.net/pulse/download-sites-most-overlookedunderutilized-component-shivaram-nomula

#017

A scalar function is a function that takes one or more arguments and returns a single value.

Table-valued functions (TVFs) are database objects in SQL that allow you to encapsulate a query into a function and return the results as a table. These cannot be used in Xceptor, as table-valued functions return results as a table data type, which Xceptor does not handle. However, multiple lines of data can be retrieved by converting the resultant data into XML or JSON format.

#018

Xceptor has three key timeout settings that need to be set so that timeout failures occur in the correct order to allow processes to run effectively and as expected.

The timeouts should cascade as follows:

Message Hub serviceTimeout > Web Application executionTimeout > Database commandTimeout.

#019

Delimited Split functionality allows to split a row of values separated by a delimiter into multiple rows by adding a Reference Data Lookup enrichment to a Translation Table called DelimitedSplit, with the Reference Type option set to "Replace entire values (keep duplicates)".

The Delimited Split feature enables the separation of rows containing values that are divided by a delimiter into multiple rows.

This is achieved by incorporating a Reference Data Lookup enrichment in the Data Format (Translation Table's Data Source: DelimitedSplit).

You should configure the Reference Type option to be "Replace entire values (keep duplicates)."

If you don't find the above mentioned TT in your Xceptor environment add the below mentioned line of code in the Xceptor.config and create a TT using "Delimited Split" as the Data Source.

<source name="DelimitedSplit" sql="" type="WSI.Xceptor.DelimitedSplitTranslationDataSource,XceptorEngine" />

#020

You would encounter the above stated error notification when working with delimited (CSV) files, Xceptor cannot read fields that contain newline characters by default. To address this, you should enable the 'Allow new lines within fields' checkbox in the table details under Input Format.

Click here to check out the part 1 if you haven't already.

Xceptor Developer Interview Q & A | Xceptor Basics | Xceptor | IPA/RPA | Business Process Automation | IPA/RPA Developer | Data Automation Tool | BPA Tool

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