Files Generated by the Flux Designer

The Flux designer generates several different types of files to preserve data such as flow charts, designer options, and business internal. This article intends to discuss how each file in generated, and the uses that the files have.

.fpr
You can save whole Flux projects consisting of multiple flow charts, business intervals, and directories as a Flux project (fpr) file. This file is only useful to the designer, and has little use in the software development side of Flux. This file is created whenever a project is saved in the designer. By default, fpr files are saved in the directory (user’s home directory)/fluxproject.

Note that project files from previous versions of Flux will work with newer versions, but the inverse of this is not true. .fpr files generated from newer versions of Flux will not work with previous versions.

.fdl
Various aesthetic related options are customizable in the designer; such as dockable frames and skins. These options are preserved in a Flux design layout (.fdl) file. By default fdl files are saved to the directory (user’s home directory)/fluxproject.

Similar to fpr files, the fdl file is only compatible with equal of lower versions of Flux as the version used to generate the file.

ffc
Flow charts can be culled to the essentials – nodes, runtime data mapping, and node properties – without superfluous information just as node placement. Flux uses an xml file, the Flux flow chart (ffc) file, for representing the bare bones flow chart. This file is useful outside of the designer and can be used to instantiate flow charts in code and added to a repository through the Operations Console.

.ffc files are generated in the (user home)/fluxproject folder to sync up with a project, but can be exported to the location of the user’s choosing by using the “Export to xml” option from the Export menu bar.

.ffl
Placement of nodes on a grid is preserved in a Flux flow chart layout (ffl) file. As you will notice if you import a flowchart from an ffc file, Flux will make a best effort attempt to place nodes in aesthetically pleasing fashion, but will not use the layout originally selected. The desktop designer saves all information about placement in .ffl files, which are used in conjunction with .ffc file to completely reproduce the design of a flow chart. This separation is made to reduce the complexity and size of ffc files, which are intended to be concise representations of flow charts in xml.
.ffl files are generated along side .ffc files in the (user home)/fluxproject directory.

.fbi
Similar to ffc files, Flux business interval files save the information necessary to reconstruct business intervals in the designer. However, these files are not able to be used in the code to recreate a business processes made in the designer.

As with all other files, they are generated to the (user’s home)/fluxproject directory when saving a project.