Envelopes
At its simplest, a LinXmart Envelope is a dataset paired with a descriptor that tells LinXmart what to do with it. These Envelopes exist as standard zip files containing one or more data files, other metdata files and a manifest file that describes what each file is for. This could be to load data for linkage, extract linkage keys for specified source records, or even modify the groupings of records.
There are several types of Envelopes:
- Linkage Request - to load data for linkage
- Deletion Request - to delete existing records
- Extraction Request - to request linkage keys for specific records
- Probability Estimation - estimation of probabilities
- Batch Quality Review - forced change of groupings of records
LinXmart Simple Envelope Builder
The LinXmart system comes with a standalone Windows application that can be used to create Envelopes for LinXmart. This is called the Simple Envelope Builder.
This application is designed to take a definition file (created in LinXmart) and a source data file, and produce a Envelope, ready to be loaded into the system.
Fields defined in the project definition file can be mapped to columns in the source data file. Additional transformations (for cleaning and standardisation) can be applied at this time as well. When this mapping has been completed, an Envelope can be built.
Currently, only Linkage Requests and Probability Estimations can be created with the Simple Envelope Builder. Extracting data can be triggered through the web UI, but Batch Quality Review Envelopes must be constructed manually.
The full Envelope format is described in detail here.