Chapter 3. Exporting the report in CSV format

MTA provides the ability to export the report data, including the classifications and hints, to a flat file on your local file system. The export function currently supports the CSV file format, which presents the report data as fields separated by commas (,).

The CSV file can be imported and manipulated by spreadsheet software such as Microsoft Excel, OpenOffice Calc, or LibreOffice Calc. Spreadsheet software provides the ability to sort, analyze, evaluate, and manage the result data from an MTA report.

3.1. Exporting the report

To export the report as a CSV file, run MTA with the exportCSV argument set to true.

A CSV file is created in the directory specified by the --output argument for each application analyzed. All discovered issues, spanning all the analyzed applications, are included in AllIssues.csv file.

The CSV files are exported to the directory specified by the outputDirectory argument.

3.2. Importing the CSV file into a spreadsheet program

  1. Launch the spreadsheet software, for example, Microsoft Excel.
  2. Choose FileOpen.
  3. Browse to the CSV exported file and select it.
  4. The data is now ready to analyze in the spreadsheet software.

3.3. About the CSV data structure

The CSV formatted output file contains the following data fields:

Rule Id
The ID of the rule that generated the given item.
Problem type
hint or classification
Title
The title of the classification or hint. This field summarizes the issue for the given item.
Description
The detailed description of the issue for the given item.
Links
URLs that provide additional information about the issue. A link consists of two attributes: the link and a description of the link.
Application
The name of the application for which this item was generated.
File Name
The name of the file for the given item.
File Path
The file path for the given item.
Line
The line number of the file for the given item.
Story points
The number of story points, which represent the level of effort, assigned to the given item.