Simulating GeoEvents from a file

Prerequisite:

To complete this task, you must have an input configured using the Receive text from a TCP socket Input Connector. You must also have a text file in CSV format that contains GeoEvents to use as the source data for the simulation.

GeoEvent Simulator can be used to simulate a stream of GeoEvents into GeoEvent using a CSV text file as the data source.

Steps:

1. Open GeoEvent Simulator from your Windows Start menu.
2. Select File from the drop-down list in the upper left corner of GeoEvent Simulator.
3. Click the Load File button to the right of the text box next to the drop-down list to open the Load From File dialog box.
4. Click the button next to the File text box and browse to the location of the CSV text file that you want to simulate GeoEvents from. Click Open to open the file.

   A preview of the contents of the file is shown in the Preview Events list box.

5. Choose the appropriate field number that contains time data values in the Time Field # picker. You can use the preview of data values from the field to select the correct field.

   You can also check the Skip the First X Lines if you want to skip the first line (or few lines) of the text simulation file. This can be useful if the first line of your text file contains field headers.

6. Click Load to load the text file into GeoEvent Simulator.

   The text box at the top of the dialog box is now populated with the location of the simulation file.

7. In the Server text box, enter the name of the server where GeoEvent is running. In the second text box, enter the port number used by the input that is configured to receive GeoEvents as text.
8. Click the Connect button to the right to connect to the input. The button initially shows a disconnected icon to indicate the current state.

   The icon on the button changes after GeoEvent Simulator is successfully connected to the input.

9. The default playback rate is one GeoEvent per second (1,000 milliseconds), but you can change it. To change it, enter the number of GeoEvents that you want to send per burst to the left of the Messages Per label, and set the time interval between bursts (in milliseconds) to the right of the Messages Per label.

   Alternatively, you can choose to use the Real Rate option. This option will simulate the playback of GeoEvents using the actual time intervals between GeoEvents that are represented in the raw data.

10. Click Play to begin simulating GeoEvents into the input. After clicking Play, the icon on the button toggles to Pause.

    Click Pause to stop the playback at any time. You can also click the Step Forward button to send one GeoEvent at a time.