QPR ProcessAnalyzer ScriptLauncher

QPR ScriptLauncher is a tool to run QPR ProcessAnalyzer scripts, and enable connections to datasources from the local network where ScriptLauncher is running, e.g., on-premise. In practice, the data extraction commands can use the ExecuteInClientSide parameter to run the extraction commands locally in the network where QPR ScriptLauncher is located.

Installing ScriptLauncher

Follow these instructions to install QPR ScriptLauncher:

1. Go to https://dotnet.microsoft.com/en-us/download/dotnet/8.0 (starting from QPR ScriptLauncher 2024.1) or https://dotnet.microsoft.com/en-us/download/dotnet/6.0 (releases earlier than QPR ScriptLauncher 2024.1), and download and install .NET Runtime (x64 version for Windows).
2. Download QPR ScriptLauncher from the downloads page, and extract the package into a suitable location where to store the QPR ScriptLaucher application binary files.
3. If you need to extract data from SAP using the RFC interface, you need to install the SAP NetWeaver RFC Library.
4. Configure QPR ScriptLauncher according to the instructions in chapter Configuring QPR ScriptLauncher.
5. Installation is now completed. Run scripts using QPR ScriptLauncher by following instructions in the chapter below.

Installing SAP NetWeaver RFC Library

Extracting data from SAP using the SAP RFC interface requires SAP NetWeaver RFC Library 7.50 which can be installed with the following steps:

1. Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributable Package 2013 is required and can be downloaded from https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/topic/update-for-visual-c-2013-redistributable-package-d8ccd6a5-4e26-c290-517b-8da6cfdf4f10. Restart the computer after the Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributable Package installation.
2. Download and extract SAP NetWeaver RFC Library 7.50 package by following the instructions in https://launchpad.support.sap.com/#/notes/2573790 (SAP login credentials and permissions needed).
3. In the extracted files, go to folder nwrfcsdk\lib, and copy all .dll files (icudt50.dll, icuin50, icuuc50.dll, libsapucum.dll, sapnwrfc.dll) to the folder containing the ScriptLauncher application files (e.g. Qpr.ProcessAnalyzer.ScriptLauncher.exe).
4. Make sure that the dll files are not in the blocked state as follows: Open each of the dll files Properties and in the General tab in the Security section, check the Unblocked checkbox (if that checkbox exists). (Downloaded files may be blocked by default by Windows, preventing their code from executing.)

More information about connecting to SAP.

Configuring ScriptLauncher

Before you can start running scripts with QPR ScriptLauncher, you need to configure connection and other parameters to the ScriptLauncher's configuration file appsettings.json located in the ScriptLauncher folder. (Note QPR ProcessAnalyzer 2022.5 and earlier releases use file Qpr.ProcessAnalyzer.ScriptLauncher.exe.config)).

To configure the settings, open the appsettings.json file in a text editor. Note that you need to have write access to the ScriptLauncher folder.

The appsettings.json needs to be a correctly formatted json file, and thus the backslashes and quotation marks in string values need to be escaped as follows: \ → \\ and " → \".

There are following settings:

• LogOnName: QPR ProcessAnalyzer username. This setting is mandatory.
• Password: QPR ProcessAnalyzer password. This setting is mandatory.
• ServiceUrl: QPR ProcessAnalyzer server url, including the server name and the application path, e.g. https://processanalyzer.onqpr.com/qprpa. This setting is mandatory.
• ScriptId: Script id to run. You can copy the id from the Scripts tab in the Workspace. This setting is mandatory.
• OutputDirectory: Folder where to store the created CSV export files. If the folder doesn't exist, it will be created. This setting is mandatory.
• LogFilePath: Log file path for the ScriptLauncher log. The containing folder needs to exist before running the ScriptLauncher and you need to have rights to write to that folder. If the log file is not defined, it will be stored in the same folder as the configuration file.
• ProjectId: Project id. This setting is optional.
• ModelId: Model id. This setting is optional.
• UseLegacyClientSideImport: Defines whether to use the legacy mechanism (true) or the new gateway mechanism (false) to process data extractions in the client-side. The gateway mechanism is needed to use the client-side extraction in the expression language.
• Parameters: Defines custom parameters that are passed to the script. The script use corresponding @_Parameter_<ParameterName> variables to read the parameters. Example of configuring parameters:

"Parameters": {
  "parameter1": "value 1",
  "parameter2": "value 2"
}

Hardening ScriptLauncher Security

• Set permissions for the folder containing the QPR ScriptLauncher application files. The user account that is running QPR ScriptLauncher should have following permissions: Read & execute, List folder contents, and Read. Any other user (except administrators) should not have any permissions to this folder. Folder permissions can be changed by right-clicking the folder and from the context menu selecting Properties and from the opening dialog, select Security tab.
• Create a new user account used to run QPR ScriptLauncher. The user account type must be Standard user (not Admministrator). Do not use this user account for any other purpose than running QPR ScriptLauncher.
• Traditional method to improve security is to restrict from which source IP addresses the connection can be established. If taking this method into use, considered what's the effort to maintain the list of allowed IP addresses and compare it with the gained benefit of the restriction.
• After the installation is completed, it's recommended to remove any files that were only needed during the installation and don't have any purpose later.
• If there are different environments for the testing and production, make sure not to use same user accounts in both environments. Also, don't use same passwords in different accounts on purpose.

Running Script using ScriptLauncher

After ScriptLauncher has been configured, Qpr.ProcessAnalyzer.ScriptLauncher.exe executable file can be run which is located in the ScriptLauncher folder. In addition to the configuration file, all parameters can also be specified in the command line when running the ScriptLauncher. The command line parameters will override the settings in the configuration file. The parameter names are case sensitive. To specify a parameter in the command line, use the following format (note that all custom parameters must start with "Parameter_":

-Parameter_<ParameterName>=<SettingValue>

For example:

Qpr.ProcessAnalyzer.ScriptLauncher.exe -ScriptId=123 -ModelId=12345 -Parameter_MyParameter1=myValue1 -Parameter_MyParameter2="my value 2"

Parameters that contain special characters, such as whitespaces, must be escaped by using double quotes. For example:

-LogFilePath="C:\Temp\Path to My Log Files\ScriptLauncherDir\"

Running SQL Script

To get started with the ScriptLauncher, first following the instructions for ScriptLauncher installation and configuration and then instructions for running. The ScriptLauncher is operated in the command line, allowing to pass parameters to the script. Possible results of the script are stored as CSV files to the local disk in the computer where the ScriptLauncher is running.

When a script is run using the ScriptLauncher, its progress can be followed in the UI in the script log.

Running Expression Script

Expression scripts are run by following the same instructions as for SQL scripts. Parameters can be specified as in SQL scripts and the parameters are available as variables in the expression script. Note that in the ScriptLauncher configuration, parameters need to be prefixed with Parameter_, and in the expression script variable names don't have this prefix.

If an expression script returns a DataFrame, it's stored as a CSV file to the local disk (file name is same as the script name). Expression script can also return a dictionary of DataFrames, and all DataFrames are written as CSV files to the disk (file name will be the dictionary key). If the expression script returns any other type of value than mentioned previously, the value is converted into a DataFrame having one column and row and written to the disk.

Example of a dictionary type of return value defined as literal:

return #{
  "File 1": ToDataFrame([["Value 11", "Value 12", "Value 13"], ["Value 21", "Value 22", "Value 23"]], ["Column 1", "Column 2", "Column 3"]),
  "File 2": ToDataFrame([["Value 11", "Value 12", "Value 13"], ["Value 21", "Value 22", "Value 23"]], ["Column 4", "Column 5", "Column 6"]),
  "File 3": ToDataFrame([["Value 11", "Value 12"], ["Value 21", "Value 22"]], ["Column 7", "Column 8"])
};

Connecting through Proxy Server

QPR ScriptLauncher can be used through a manually configured proxy server. Starting from QPR ProcessAnalyzer 2022.6, proxy server is configured using Windows environment variables. Set the proxy server address to environment variable https_proxy. Environment variables can be set in the System Properties dialog in the Advanced tab by clicking Environment variables....

Exporting Script Run Results to CSV

When a QPR ProcessAnalyzer script contains the GetAnalysis command with the Show=TRUE parameter or the ShowReport command, the results are exported into a CSV file. Only tabular analysis types are supported by the CSV export. The exported CSV files have the following formatting:

• Column separator: semicolon

;

• Decimal separator in numeric fields: period

.

• Quotation character for text fields: double quotes (used when the textual value contains semicolon, double quotes, linebreak or tabulator)

"

• Escape character: Double quotes in textual fields are escaped with two double quotes.

""

• Date format for date fields: yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss,fff
• First line: contains column headers