DataFlux Data Management Studio 2.5: User Guide

Fixed Width File Input Node

A Fixed Width File Input node specifies a fixed-width text file as an input in a data job. Before you add this node to a job, you should be familiar with the format of the text file so you can load it properly. The properties dialog for this node contains the following elements:

Name - Specifies a name for the node.

Notes - Enables you to open the Notes dialog. You use the dialog to enter optional details or any other relevant information for the input.

Input file - Enables you to specify the path and name of your text file data source (for example, c:\myinput.txt), or click Browse to navigate to the file.

Record length - Enables you to specify the number of bytes in the line that contains each record.

Number of rows to skip - When selected, specifies the number of lines to skip before the file content is read as data. Check this box if your text file has introductory or header information at the top.

Encoding - Enables you to specify the type of encoding used. Click the drop-down list for encoding options.

Number of rows to read - Sets a limit to the number of rows that can be retrieved.

Truncate record at line terminator - When selected, enables you to handle exceptions that do not follow the specified fixed length for a row.

The Fields section of the properties dialog includes the following elements:

Fields Table - Enables you to define each field in your text file, including Field Name, Field Type, Start Position, and Field Length. You can click Add to define a new field and use the up and down arrows to change the order of fields. Finally, you can click Delete to remove field definitions.

Import - Enables you to restore a file layout from a DFL file that you have exported.

Export - Enables you to store a given file layout that can be shared for parsing other input files. In this case you can set the text qualifier and the delimiter and store the file layout to create. The Export option lets you save the file layout as a DFL file.

Advanced - Displays the Column Selection dialog. This dialog enables you to set the demarcations for field lengths, permits interactive sizing of input fields. The dialog contains the following fields:

• Record Length - Specifies the number of characters in the line that contains each record. 
• Suggest - Provides a guess of the demarcation for each field as it is separated within a row.
• Settings - Sets the number of rows to skip before sampling.
• Apply - Updates the screen to reflect your latest changes.

You can access the following advanced properties by right-clicking the Fixed Width File Input node:

• BYTE_ORDER_MARK
• CRLF_TERMINATE
• ENCODING
• FIELDS
• FILENAME
• FILENAME_FIELD
• MAX_OUTPUT_ROWS
• RECORDWIDTH
• REPLACE_NULLS
• SKIPROWS