Maintaining User Columns

Problem

You want to define your own columns. These user columns can be used to store interim values during the parse process or they can be added to the target table on the Target Table tab.
Specifically, the users columns often serve the following purposes:
  • holding values determined by user-defined rules on the Rules tab
  • storing values from clickstream parameters defined on the Clickstream Parameters tab.

Solution

You can use the User Columns tab in the properties window for the Clickstream Parse transformation. Each row in the table on the User Columns contains the metadata for a user column.
The row for each user column consists of the following columns:
Name
specifies the name of the column in the table.
Description
specifies a description for the contents of the column.
Type
specifies the data type of the column.
Length
specifies the length of the column.
Format
specifies the SAS FORMAT used (if needed) to specify formats for the selected column.
Is Nullable
if present, indicates whether a column can contain null or missing values.
Perform the following tasks

Tasks

Create a New User Column

Perform the following tasks to create a new user column:
  1. Click New column to add a row to the user columns table.
  2. Enter appropriate values in the Name, Description, Type, Length, Format, and Is Nullable columns.

Reuse User-Defined Columns in Other Clickstream Jobs

The User Columns tab lists the metadata for any user-defined output columns that have been defined for the Clickstream Log transformation or the Clickstream Parse transformation. You cannot export user-defined columns from the User Columns tab and then import them into other jobs. However, you can use the background pop-up menu on any output table in the job that contains the user columns and then register the output table. Any user-defined columns in these tables can then be imported onto the User Columns tab, using the Import Columns option on that tab.

Other Tasks for Managing User Columns

For information about other ways to manage user columns, such as copying, importing, or modifying a parameter, see the Help for the User Columns tab.
Copyright © SAS Institute Inc. All rights reserved.