Custom exports are saved reports that you can run to output specific data that you need. If you go to the 'Saved Exports' tab, you can see some pre-written custom exports that come as standard within Kartris - clicking on edit will allow you to see how these are constructed. An export requires the following information:

 

• Export name (any name will do, it just lets you identify this export in a list)
  
  
• Field delimiter (separator between different data values, normally a comma)
  
  
• String delimiter (the marker around text / non-numeric values - experiment with a single or double-quote and open up the resulting file in your spreadsheet program such as Microsoft Excel - if you see the single or double-quote mark around data, then try using a different delimiter)
  
  
• Database query

The database query is the key part of the export. This uses 'structured query language'  (SQL), which is a standard common language that is largely similar on different types of databases to specify which data is to be exported. A full explanation and grounding in writing SQL queries is beyond the scope of this manual, but there are plenty of books and web sites dedicated to the subject.

Microsoft Access and MS SQL Management Studio also include graphical tools to help you build queries.

Advanced users may also prefer to create stored procedures and then call these from the saved export - our standard 'Products data for data tool' export which is included in a default installation uses this method.