# IBM Visualization Data Explorer User's Reference

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### Export

Category

Import and Export

Function

Writes an external data file.

Syntax

    Export(object, name, format);

Inputs

Name | Type | Default | Description
--- | --- | --- | ---
`object` | object | none | object to write
`name` | string | none | file name to write to
`format` | string | "dx" | format in which to write the file

Functional Details

The Export module writes `object` to the file `name` in the specified `format`.

You can specify `format` as `dx`, `array`, or `vrml`.

If `format` = `dx`, this specification can be followed by one or more of the following modifiers:

byteorder | Can be "msb" or "lsb" for most significant byte first or least significant byte first, respectively.
dxformat | Can be "ieee," or "text" for IEEE floating point or ASCII format, respectively. You can also specify "ascii" as a synonym for "text", and "binary" as a synonym for "ieee".
where | Can be one of the following three keywords:
"follows" | The data for each object follows the header for that object.
"1" | The data for each object is contained in a separate data section in the file.
"2" | The data for each object is contained in a separate file.
For "follows" and "1," the module writes a single file with the file name (name`.dx`). For "2," the module writes files. The object headers are written to name`.dx`; the data are written to name`.bin` (binary data) or name`.data` (text data). For more information, see Appendix B. "Importing Data: File Formats" in IBM Visualization Data Explorer User's Guide.

If `format` = `"array,"` this specification can be followed by one or both of the following modifiers:

quotes | Puts quotation marks around string data.
headers | Puts a header of descriptive information at the top of the file.

The data are written out in ASCII spreadsheet format (in columns). Only position-dependent data are supported. All position-dependent data are written to the output file. The first column will contain the positions themselves.

If `object` contains a group of fields, these are written out one after the other.

If `format` = "vrml", or the extension of the filename is .wrl, then a VRML 2.0 format file will be written. Because VRML files are written out in ASCII they can be very large, so you should reduce the number of polygons before exporting if possible, for example by using SimplifySurface. The object exported must be a field or group with two- or three-dimensional positions. Data Explorer objects are exported using VRML geometry nodes IndexFaceSet, IndexLineSet, PointSet, or ElevationGrid depending on the connections element type and regularity of positions. Colors and normals are exported with each object, if they exist.

Example Visual Program

    UsingSwitchAndRoute.net

    SimplifySurface.net

See Also

Import, SimplifySurface

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