Flat File Adapter Reference

escapeCharacter

Defines the character used for escaping when a reserved character is used within a field value.

any character

/

fillCharacter

Defines a dummy character to fill non-existent values (results in NULL). Used for fixed attribute layout only.

any character

0

quoteCharacter

The quoteCharacter will be ignored by reading field value.

any character

/

recordSeparator

Separator of the different records, normally line feed and carriage return. For serialized files, any other character can be defined.

any character or one of

<newline>

<esc>

<newline>

parses correctly on Unix and Windows platforms

<space>

<tab>

<tabulator>

<unixnewline>

composes newline

<windowsnewline>

composes newline and carriage return

reservedCharacters

Defines a list of characters to be escaped automatically when the file is composed.

any character

{"/", "%", "&", "(", ")"}

pattern

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any character

^Pattern.*

a valid regular expression

condition

A condition that must evaluate true if the record exists. The condition can refer to a self object which represents the current state of the parent.

any valid conditional expression

self.UNS.exists()

evaluationOrder

Defines the order in which the associations starting on same parent class must be processed, see (25.0) Flat File Adapter Parsing Process.

any integer

offset

Define the position of this record in the flat file, starting with 0 for the first record and always relative to the parent element.

any integer

decimals

Replaced by format.

externalLength

Number of characters of the field (only for fixed length records relevant).

any integer

format

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any valid number or dateTime pattern

S9G999G990D00

%Y.%m.%d-%H:%M:%

nativeTyp

deprecated

Replaced by format.

order

The evaluation order of the attributes. If offset is not used, order reflects the field number within the record.

any integer

offset

The character position of this field within the record.

any integer

padding

Defines the padding rule for the field. When parsing, the characters on the left or right side are ignored up to the first different character. When composing, the field is filled on the left or right side with the specified character.

left("<any character>")

left("0")

right("<any character>")

right(" ")

suppressEscaping

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true

attribute values of this attribute will not be un-escaped (parser) or escaped (composer)

false

escaping/un-escaping is not suppressed

parseMacro

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any valid macro expression (see Macro Expressions)

GetCounter(0)

composeMacro

format

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order

The evaluation order of the attributes. If offset is not used, order reflects the field number within the record.

any integer

offset

The relative position of the field in respect of the other fields in the record, e.g. field number 3 has offset = 2.

any integer

suppressEscaping

Boolean value to suppress escaping.

parseMacro

A macro that is executed while parsing/composing a file or complex field.

This macro can contain multiple commands separated by commas or spaces. Macros on classes are executed before the processing of its attributes or associations. The ID represents a counter.

The following counters are available:

• eight automatic counters with ID AUTO0 .. AUTO7

• two automatic line counters with ID LINE0and LINE1 (parsing only)

• unlimited custom counters with ID CUSTOM0 .. CUSTOMx

Automatic counters are increased by 1 for each processed record. Custom counters have to be increased manually using the increase macro. All counters have the initial value of 0 when they process the first record.

For more details on macro commands see Macro Expressions .

any valid macro expression (see Macro Expressions)

GetCounter(0)

composeMacro

attributeLayout

Defines the attribute layout (fixed or separated) of the complex attribute.

• Fixed: For attribute values that are shorter than the maximum length of the field, the field is filled with a fill character. As per default, this is blank space, but you can change the the fill character in tagged value fillCharacter of the <<FlatFile>> class (see Tagged Values of Class <<FlatFile>>).

• Separated: If separated is used, specify the separator using attributeSeparator (see below).

fixed

fixed attribute layout

separated

separated attribute layout

attributeSeparator

Defines the attribute/field separator.

any character

use this character as attribute separator

<Tab>

use tabulator as attribute separator

attributePattern

A RegEx pattern to parse the field content into a complex structure using capture groups.

a valid regular expression

^(.?)(://)([A-Za-z0-9.])(:[0-9])(/.)$

suppressEscaping

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true

attribute values of this attribute will not be un-escaped (parser) or escaped (composer)

false

escaping/un-escaping is not suppressed

parseMacro

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any valid macro expression (see Macro Expressions)

GetCounter(0)

composeMacro

resource

Instead of specifying parameters name or data for the parse flat file action (see section Flat File Adapter Reference#Parameters below), you can import the file to be parsed as a resource to your Builder project (see (25.0) Importing File Resources). Specify the name of this resource here.

Tagged value resource takes precedence over both parameters name and data. When a resource is specified, the service will only try to parse the file specified via the resource. Values that have been provided through parameters will be omitted.

The resource can be replaced changing the resource path in the Flat File Parser/Composer settings of the xUML service. See xUML Service Settings for more information on changing the settings of a service.

any valid imported file resource added to the component diagram