Differences Between Spectre Build and Spectre Flow
Spectre Flow is built on the same Spectre engine as Spectre Build, but has a different script syntax and different objects and tags allowed for use. This topic summarizes the differences between Spectre Build and Spectre Flow.
Text Input Node
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In build scripts, the headers, trim and quote tags have been replaced by no-headers, no-trim and no-quotes, respectively, in flow scripts. The default value for these tags is false.
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The deprecated date-format option in build scripts is not present here. Add a format to individual date columns instead.
cBase Input Node
No major differences.
cPlan Input Node
When compared with the Dive Input in build scripts, many advanced features of inline dives in build scripts are not supported in flow. For instance, you cannot declare aux-tables, parent windows, or window operations. Some of those features can be achieved with other flow nodes, or you can make a .dive script and use the Dive Input Node.
Dive Input Node
When compared with the Dive Input in build scripts, you cannot provide an inline dive tag here. Instead, save the dive as a separate .dive file and reference it from this node.
Tunnel Input Node
No major differences.
ODBC Input Node
When compared with the ODBC Input in build scripts:
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The deprecated allow-datetime option is not present here. Datetimes are always allowed.
List Input Node
No major differences.
Excel Input Node
No major differences.
JSON Input Node
No major differences.
Datagen Input Node
Minimum and maximum values for the date and datetime generators must always be given in the default format.
Alias Process Node
Spectre build scripts do not have a prefix option.
Calc Process Node
No major differences.
Filter Process Node
Spectre build scripts do not use this type of filter.
Filter Expression Process Node
No major differences.
Sort Process Node
No major differences.
Rotate Process Node
No major differences.
Break Process Node
No major differences.
Squash Process Node
In a build script, the sort-by for dimension is set using an expression. In Spectre Flow scripts, you specify a column name for thesort-bytag.
Expand Process Node
No major differences.
Metadata Process Node
No major differences.
Concat Process Node
When given multiple inputs, build scripts automatically concatenate them, while Spectre flow scripts do not. In a build script, however, all concatenation happens at read time. You cannot concatenate an input onto a data flow after other operations have been performed. In a flow script, the Concat Process Node is an explicit operation and can be done at any point in the script.
Join Process Node
No major differences.
Lookup Process Node
No major differences.
Chop Process Node
No major differences.
cBase Output Node
No major differences.