Symptom

If input data to a free text field contains special characters like embedded commas (,) or embedded new lines (\n) or carriage return (\r), BIX extracts these characters to a CSV file by adding unwanted rows, and/or columns. Sometimes, special characters are encoded as different symbols such as question mark (?) in the generated CSV file.

Explanation

This is the expected behavior in applications like Microsoft Excel that read CSV files. Since BIX generates CSV files that conform to RFC-4180 standard, it is necessary to use applications that conform to RFC-4180 standard to read and process these CSV files.

Environments

The problem was reported in the following environments:

• Pega Platform™ 8.5.2 on-premises
• Pega Platform 8.6.3 in Client Cloud
• Pega Platform 8.7.2 on-premises
• Pega Platform 8.7.3 in Pega Cloud® services 2.23.4
• Pega Platform 8.7.4 in Pega Cloud services 2.24.4

Suggested Approaches

• Use a downstream application like Notepad++ to open CSV files.
• Check large input data for special characters such as embedded commas or embedded new lines. Avoid special characters in free text fields if they are not necessary.
• Perform BIX extract as XML output.

Related content

Pega Documentation

BIX extraction overview

Extract rules overview

Procedures for BIX extractions in Pega Cloud environments

Overview of BIX extractions in on-premises systems

Pega Support Documents

Troubleshooting BIX for Cloud environments

Troubleshooting BIX for on-premises environments