DataFlux Data Management Studio 2.6: User Guide

 

External Program (Delimited Input, Fixed-Width Output) Node

You can add an External Program (Delimited Input, Fixed-Width Output) node to a data job. The node enables you to pass data fields into an STDIN from an executable outside of DataFlux products using a delimited text file. The node then takes data from the STDOUT from the executable and parses the file as a fixed-width text file. Once you have added the node, you can double-click it to open its properties dialog. The properties dialog includes 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.

External program - Specifies the external program that you want to use for this DataFlux Data Management Studio node. For an example of a command call for an external program refer to External Program - FAQ. Note that you can also click Browse to navigate to the external program.

The Input Delimited (Sent to stdlin) tab includes the following elements:

Text Qualifier - Specifies the character that DataFlux Data Management Studio should expect (if any) at the beginning and end of each text field value. The two available qualifiers are a single quotation mark (') and double quotation marks (").

End of line - Specifies the type of action at the end of the line. Select one of the following drop-down items:

Field Delimiter - Specifies the type of separator (delimiter) to use for separating data fields. The drop-down list includes comma, tab, space, semicolon, and other. If you set the delimiter to Other and leave the delimiter blank, it reads the entire row into the first field according to the length specified for the field. If the line is longer than the length, the remaining characters on the line are truncated.

Include header row - When selected, creates a row of field names at the top of your text file to identify each output field.

Encoding - Enables you to set encoding options.

The Fields section of the Input Delimited tab includes the following elements:

Available - Displays the fields that you can make available for the next step in your data job. Items displayed in this list are dependent on your data sources and any preceding steps in your data job.

Selected - Displays the fields that will be made available to the next node in your data job.

Copy to Output - Copies the data in the Fields table to the output.

Export - Exports the file layout as a DFL file.

The Output Fixed Width (Read from stdout) tab contains the following elements:

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

Number of rows to skip - When selected, enables you to specify the number of introductory lines to skip before DataFlux Data Management Studio starts reading the file content as data.

Encoding - Enables you to set encoding options.

Number of rows to read - When selected, enables you to limit the number of rows to be read as input when you work with delimited text files. When selected, you can choose fewer rows as input rather than the entire content. Check this box to set a limit to the number or 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, 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 save the file layout as a .dfl file.

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

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