IBM WebSphere DataStage and QualityStage

Version 8 Release 1

Designer Client Guide

LC18-9893-01

IBM WebSphere DataStage and QualityStage

Version 8 Release 1

Designer Client Guide

LC18-9893-01

Note Before using this information and the product that it supports, read the information in Notices on page 245.

Ascential Software Corporation 1997, 2005. Copyright International Business Machines Corporation 2006, 2008. All rights reserved. US Government Users Restricted Rights Use, duplication or disclosure restricted by GSA ADP Schedule Contract with IBM Corp.

Contents
Chapter 1. Your first job . . . . . . . . 1
Setting up the exercise . . . . . . Starting the Designer client . . . . Lesson checkpoint . . . . . . Setting up your project . . . . . . Lesson checkpoint . . . . . . Creating a new job . . . . . . . Lesson checkpoint . . . . . . Adding stages and links to your job . Adding stages . . . . . . . . Adding links . . . . . . . . Renaming stages and links . . . Lesson checkpoint . . . . . . Configuring your job . . . . . . Configuring the data source stage . Configuring the Transformer stage. Configuring the target file stage . Lesson checkpoint . . . . . . Compiling your job . . . . . . . Lesson checkpoint . . . . . . Running your job and viewing results Running the job . . . . . . . Viewing results . . . . . . . Lesson checkpoint . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 . 4 . 5 . 5 . 7 . 7 . 8 . 8 . 8 . 10 . 10 . 11 . 11 . 12 . 13 . 15 . 16 . 16 . 16 . 16 . 16 . 17 . 19 The Job Run Options dialog box Parameters page . . . . . Limits page . . . . . . General Page . . . . . . Creating jobs by using Assistants . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39 39 40 40 40

Chapter 3. Setting up your data connections . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

Creating a data connection object . . . . . . Creating a data connection object manually . . Creating a Data Connection object from a metadata import . . . . . . . . . . . Creating a Data Connection object from a stage Using a Data Connection object. . . . . . . Using a Data Connection object with a stage . Using a Data Connection object for a metadata import . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41 . 41 . 42 44 . 45 . 45 . 46

Chapter 4. Defining your data . . . . . 49

Table Definition window . . . . . . . . . . General page . . . . . . . . . . . . . Columns page . . . . . . . . . . . . Format page . . . . . . . . . . . . . NLS page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Relationships page . . . . . . . . . . . Parallel page . . . . . . . . . . . . . Layout page . . . . . . . . . . . . . Locator page . . . . . . . . . . . . . Analytical Information page . . . . . . . . Importing a table definition . . . . . . . . . Using the Data Browser . . . . . . . . . Sharing metadata between projects . . . . . . Shared metadata . . . . . . . . . . . . Importing metadata to the shared repository . . Creating a table definition from shared metadata Synchronizing metadata . . . . . . . . . Managing shared metadata . . . . . . . . Manually entering a table definition . . . . . . Creating a table definition . . . . . . . . Viewing or modifying a table definition . . . . . Editing column definitions . . . . . . . . Deleting column definitions . . . . . . . . Finding Column Definitions . . . . . . . . Propagating values . . . . . . . . . . . Stored procedure definitions . . . . . . . . . Importing a stored procedure definition . . . . The Table Definition dialog box for stored procedures . . . . . . . . . . . . . Manually entering a stored procedure definition Viewing or modifying a stored procedure definition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49 49 50 51 52 52 53 53 53 54 54 55 56 56 57 58 59 59 61 61 76 76 76 77 77 77 77 78 79 80

Chapter 2. Sketching your job designs

Getting started with jobs . . . . . . Creating a job . . . . . . . . Opening an existing job . . . . . Saving a job . . . . . . . . . Naming a job . . . . . . . . . Stages . . . . . . . . . . . . Parallel job stages . . . . . . . Server job stages . . . . . . . . Mainframe job stages . . . . . . Naming stages and shared containers. Links . . . . . . . . . . . . Linking parallel jobs . . . . . . Linking server stages . . . . . . Linking mainframe stages . . . . Link ordering . . . . . . . . . Naming links . . . . . . . . . Developing the job design . . . . . Adding Stages . . . . . . . . Moving stages . . . . . . . . Renaming stages. . . . . . . . Deleting stages . . . . . . . . Linking stages . . . . . . . . Moving links . . . . . . . . . Editing stages . . . . . . . . Cutting or copying and pasting stages Pre-configured stages . . . . . . Using the Data Browser . . . . . Using the Performance Monitor . . Running server jobs and parallel jobs .
Copyright IBM Corp. 2006, 2008

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Chapter 5. Making your jobs adaptable

Specifying a job parameter for parallel jobs . Using job parameters in parallel jobs . . . . . .

83
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Environment variables . . . . . . . . Specifying a job parameter for server jobs . . Using job parameters in server jobs . . . Environment variables . . . . . . . . Creating a parameter set . . . . . . . . Parameter Set dialog box - General page. . Parameter Set dialog box - Parameters page Parameter Set dialog box - Values page . . Using parameter sets in job designs . . . . Adding a parameter set to a job design . . Viewing a parameter set . . . . . . . Using a parameter from a parameter set in a Using parameter sets in shared containers . Specifying parameter values at run time . . . Running a job from the Designer or Director clients . . . . . . . . . . . . . Running a job from the command line . . Running a job from within a job sequence .

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84 85 86 87 88 88 88 90 90 90 91 91 . 91 . 91

Setting National Language Support properties Optimizing job performance . . . . . . Configuring Mainframe jobs . . . . . . . Specifying general options . . . . . . . Specifying a job parameter in a mainframe job Controlling code generation . . . . . . Supplying extension variable values . . . . Configuring operational metadata . . . .

146 . 147 . 148 . 148 149 . 150 . 150 . 151

Chapter 9. Comparing objects . . . . 153

Comparing objects in the same project . Comparing objects in different projects . Compare command line tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155 . 155 . 155

. 92 . 92 . 93

Chapter 10. Searching and impact analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159

Find facilities . . Quick find . . Advanced find . Impact analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159 159 160 164

Chapter 6. Making parts of your job design reusable . . . . . . . . . . . 95

Local containers . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95 Creating a local container . . . . . . . . . 95 Viewing or modifying a local container . . . . 96 Using input and output stages . . . . . . . 96 Deconstructing a local container . . . . . . 96 Shared containers . . . . . . . . . . . . 97 Creating a shared container . . . . . . . . 98 Naming shared containers . . . . . . . . 98 Viewing or modifying a shared container definition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98 Editing shared container definition properties . . 99 Using a shared container in a job . . . . . . 100 Pre-configured components . . . . . . . . 102 Converting containers . . . . . . . . . . 102

Chapter 11. Sharing and moving your designs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175

Importing objects . . . . . . . . . . . Importing previously exported objects . . . Importing external function definitions . . . Importing web service function definitions . Importing Metadata via bridges . . . . . Importing IMS definitions . . . . . . . Exporting objects . . . . . . . . . . . Exporting WebSphere DataStage components Exporting from the export menu . . . . . Specifying job dependencies . . . . . . Using export from the command line . . . dsexport command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175 175 179 179 180 181 183 183 185 186 187 187

Chapter 7. Defining special components . . . . . . . . . . . . 105

Special components for parallel jobs . . Parallel routines . . . . . . . Custom stages for parallel jobs . . Special components for server jobs . . Server routines . . . . . . . . Custom transforms . . . . . . Data elements . . . . . . . . Special components for mainframe jobs. Mainframe routines . . . . . . Machine profiles . . . . . . . IMS Databases and IMS Viewsets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105 105 107 121 122 127 129 133 133 137 138

Chapter 12. Documenting your designs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189

Generating a job report . . . . . . . . . Requesting a job report from the command line . 190 191

Chapter 13. Getting jobs ready to run

Compiling server jobs and parallel jobs . . Compilation Checks - Server Jobs . . Successful compilation . . . . . . Compiling from the client command line Viewing generated OSH code . . . . Generating code for mainframe jobs . . . Job validation . . . . . . . . . Code generation . . . . . . . . Job upload . . . . . . . . . . JCL templates . . . . . . . . . Code customization . . . . . . . Compiling multiple jobs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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Chapter 8. Configuring your designs

Configuring parallel jobs . . . . . . Specifying general options . . . . . Enabling runtime column propagation . NLS page . . . . . . . . . . Setting runtime options for your job . . Specifying default time and date formats Selecting a local message handler. . . Configuring server jobs . . . . . . . Specifying general options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

141
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Chapter 14. Building job sequences

Creating a job sequence . . Naming job sequences . Activity stages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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Designer Client Guide

Triggers . . . . . . . . . . . Expressions . . . . . . . . . . Job sequence properties . . . . . . General page . . . . . . . . Parameters page . . . . . . . Job Control page . . . . . . . Dependencies page . . . . . . Activity properties . . . . . . . Job activity properties . . . . . Routine activity properties . . . . Email Notification activity properties Wait-For-File activity properties . . ExecCommand activity properties . Exception activity properties . . . Nested Condition activity properties Sequencer activity properties . . . Terminator activity properties . . . Start Loop activity properties . . . End Loop activity properties . . . User Variables activity properties . . Compiling the job sequence . . . . Restarting job sequences . . . . . .

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202 203 204 204 205 206 206 207 208 209 210 211 212 212 212 213 215 216 219 219 221 221

Managing data sets . . . . . . . Structure of data sets . . . . . . Starting the Data Set Manager . . . Data set viewer . . . . . . . . Creating and editing configuration files Message Handler Manager . . . . . Using the Message Handler Manager Message Handler file format . . . JCL templates . . . . . . . . .

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227 227 228 228 230 231 231 232 233

Chapter 17. Creating Repository tree objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 235

Repository tree . . . . . . . . . . Creating new objects . . . . . . . . Create a new object on startup . . . . Create a new object from the repository tree Create a new object from the main menu . Create a new object from the toolbar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 235 236 236 236 236 237

Product documentation . . . . . . . 239

Contacting IBM . . . . . . . . . . . . 239

Chapter 15. Job control routine

. . . 223

How to read syntax diagrams . . . . 241 Product accessibility . . . . . . . . 243 Notices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 245
Trademarks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 247

Chapter 16. Tools for managing and administering jobs . . . . . . . . . 225

Intelligent Assistants . . . . . . Creating a template from a job . Creating a job from a template . Using the Data Migration Assistant . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225 225 226 226

Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 249

Contents

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Designer Client Guide

Chapter 1. Your first job

This exercise walks you through the creation of a simple job. The aim of the exercise is to get you familiar with the Designer client, so that you are confident to design more complex jobs. There is also a dedicated tutorial for parallel jobs, which goes into more depth about designing parallel jobs. In this exercise you design and run a simple parallel job that reads data from a text file, changes the format of the dates that the file contains, and writes the transformed data back to another text file. The source text file contains data from a wholesaler who deals in car parts. It contains details of the wheels they have in stock. The data is organized in a table that contains approximately 255 rows of data and four columns. The columns are as follows: CODE The product code for each type of wheel. DATE The date new wheels arrived in stock (given as year, month, and day). PRODUCT A text description of each type of wheel. QTY The number of wheels in stock.

The job that you create will perform the following tasks: 1. Extract the data from the file. 2. Convert (transform) the data in the DATE column from a complete date (YYYY-MM-DD) to a year and month (YYYY, MM) stored as two columns. 3. Write the transformed data to a new text file that is created when you run the job. The following table shows a sample of the source data that the job reads.

Copyright IBM Corp. 2006, 2008

Figure 1. Source data for exercise

The following table shows the same data after it has been transformed by the job.

Designer Client Guide

Figure 2. Data after transformation by the job

Learning objectives
As you work through the exercise, you will learn how to do the following tasks: v Set up your project. v Create a new job. v Develop the job by adding stages and links and editing them. v Compile the job. v Run the job.

Time required
This exercise takes approximately 60 minutes to finish. If you explore other concepts related to this exercise, it could take longer to complete.

Chapter 1. Your first job

Audience
New user of IBM Information Server.

System requirements
The exercise requires the following hardware and software: v IBM WebSphere DataStage clients installed on a Windows XP platform. v Connection to a WebSphere DataStage server on a Windows or UNIX platform (Windows servers can be on the same computer as the clients).

Prerequisites
Complete the following tasks before starting the exercise: v Obtain DataStage developer privileges from the WebSphere DataStage administrator. v Find out the name of the project that the administrator has created for you to work in. v Set up the exercise data as described in the first lesson.

Setting up the exercise

Before you begin the exercise, you must copy the data that you will use to a folder. To set up the exercise: 1. Insert the Installation CD into the CD drive or DVD drive of the client computer. 2. Create a new folder on your client computer and name it exercise. 3. Copy the file on the CD named \TutorialData\DataStage\Example1.txt to the folder that you created on the client computer. You are now ready to start the exercise.

Starting the Designer client

The first step is to start the Designer client. The Designer client is the tool that you use to set up your project, and to create and design your job. The Designer client provides the tools for creating jobs that extract, transform, load, and check the quality of data. The Designer client is like a workbench or a blank canvas that you use to build jobs. The Designer client palette contains the tools that form the basic building blocks of a job: v Stages connect to data sources to read or write files and to process data. v Links connect the stages along which your data flows. The Designer client uses a repository in which you can store the objects that you create during the design process. These objects can be reused by other job designers. To start the Designer client: 1. Select Start Programs IBM Information Server IBM WebSphere DataStage and QualityStage Designer. 2. In the Attach window, type your user name and password.

Designer Client Guide

3. Select your project from the Project list, and then click OK. 4. Click Cancel to close the New window. (You will create your job later in this exercise.) The Designer client is now ready for you to start work. The following figure shows the Designer client.

Figure 3. Designer client

Lesson checkpoint
In this lesson, you started the Designer client. You learned the following tasks: v How to enter your user name and password in the Attach window. v How to select the project to open.

Setting up your project

The next step is to set up your project by defining the data that you will use.
Chapter 1. Your first job

Before you create your job, you must set up your project by entering information about your data. This information includes the name and location of the tables or files that contain your data, and a definition of the columns that the tables or files contain. The information, also referred to as metadata, is stored in table definitions in the repository. The easiest way to enter a table definition is to import it directly from the source data. In this exercise you will define the table definition by importing details about the data directly from the data file. To define your table definition: 1. In the Designer client, select Import Table definitions Sequential File Definitions. 2. In the Import Metadata (Sequential) window, do the following steps: a. In the Directory field type, or browse for the exercise directory name. b. Click in the Files section. In the Files section, select Example1.txt. Click Import. the Define Sequential Metadata window, do the following tasks: In the Format page, select the First line is column names option. Click the Define tab. In the Define page, examine the column definitions. This is the metadata that will populate your table definition. d. Click OK. 4. In the Import Metadata (Sequential) window, click Close. 5. In the repository tree, open the Table Definitions\Sequential\Root folder. c. d. 3. In a. b. c. 6. Double-click the table definition object named Example1.txt to open it. 7. In the Table Definition, window, click the Columns tab. 8. Examine the column definitions in the Columns page. Note that these are the same as the column definitions that you looked at in the Define Sequential Metadata window. The following figure shows the column definitions. Compare these to the columns shown in the Figure 1 on page 2 figure.

Designer Client Guide

Figure 4. The column definition for the source data

9. Click OK to close the Table Definition window.

Lesson checkpoint
In this lesson you defined a table definition. You learned the following tasks: v How to import metadata from a data file to create a table definition object in the repository. v How to open the table definition that you created it and examine it.

Creating a new job

The first step in designing a job is to create an empty job and save it to a folder in the repository. When a new project is installed, it is empty and you must create the jobs that you need. Each job can read, transform, and load data, or cleanse data. The number of jobs that you have in a project depends on your data sources and how often you want to manipulate data. In this lesson, you create a parallel job named Exercise and save it to a new folder in the Jobs folder in the repository tree. To create a new job: 1. In the Designer client, select File New.
Chapter 1. Your first job

2. In the New window, select the Jobs folder in the left pane, and then select the parallel job icon in the right pane. 3. Click OK to open a new empty job design window in the design area. 4. Select File Save. 5. In the Save Parallel Job As window, right-click the Jobs folder and select New Folder from the menu. 6. Type a name for the folder, for example, My Folder, and then move the cursor to the Item name field. 7. Type the name of the job in the Item name field. Name the job Exercise. 8. Confirm that the Folder path field contains the path \Jobs\My Jobs, and then click Save. You have created a new parallel job named Exercise and saved it in the folder Jobs\My Jobs in the repository.

Lesson checkpoint
In this lesson you created a job and saved it to a specified place in the repository. You learned the following tasks: v How to create a job in the Designer client. v How to name the job and save it to a folder in the repository tree.

Adding stages and links to your job

You add stages and links to the job that you created. Stages and links are the building blocks that determine what the job does when it runs. Ensure that the job named Exercise that you created in the previous lesson is open and active in the job design area. A job is active when the title bar is dark blue (if you are using the default Windows colors). A job consists of stages linked together that describe the flow of data from a data source to a data target. A stage is a graphical representation of the data itself, or of a transformation that will be performed on that data. The job that you are designing has a stage to read the data, a stage to transform the data, and a stage to write the data.

Adding stages
To add stages to your job: 1. In the Designer client palette area, click the File bar to open the file section of the palette. 2. In the file section of the palette, select the Sequential File stage icon and drag the stage to your open job. Position the stage on the right side of the job window. The figure shows the file section of the palette.

Designer Client Guide

Figure 5. File section of palette

3. In the file section of the palette, select another Sequential File stage icon and drag the stage to your open job. Position the stage on the left side of the job window. 4. In the Designer client palette area, click the Processing bar to open the Processing section of the palette. 5. In the processing section of the palette, select the Transformer stage icon and drag the stage to your open job. Position the stage between the two Sequential File stages. The figure shows the Processing section of the palette.

Chapter 1. Your first job

Figure 6. Processing section of palette

6. Select File Save to save the job.

Adding links
To add links to your job: 1. Right-click on the Sequential File stage on the left of your job and hold the right button down. A target is displayed next to the mouse pointer to indicate that you are adding a link. 2. Drag the target to the Transformer stage and release the mouse button. A black line, which represents the link, joins the two stages. Note: If the link is displayed as a red line, it means that it is not connected to the Transformer stage. Select the end of the link and drag it to the Transformer stage and release the link when it turns black. 3. Repeat steps 1 and 2 to connect the Transformer stage to the second Sequential File stage. 4. Select File Save to save the job.

Renaming stages and links

It is good design practice to give your links and stages names rather than to accept the default names. Specifying names makes your job easier to document and maintain. You are going to rename your stages and links with the names suggested in the table. To name your stages and links:

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Designer Client Guide

1. Select each stage or link. 2. Right-click and select Rename. 3. Type the new name:
Stage Left Sequential File Stage Transformer Stage Right Sequential File Stage Left link Right link Suggested name Data_source Transform Data_target data_in data_out

Your job should look like the one in the following diagram:

Figure 7. Example job with renamed stages and links

Lesson checkpoint
You have now designed you first job. You learned the following tasks: v How to add stages to your job. v How to link the stages together. v How to give the stages and links meaningful names.

Configuring your job

The next step is configuring your job and defining what tasks it will perform. You configure the job by opening the stage editors for each of the stages that you added in the previous lesson and adding details to them. You specify the following information: v The name and location of the text file that contains the source data. v The format of the data that the job will read. v Details of how the data will be transformed. v A name and location for the file that the job writes the transformed data to. You will configure the Sequential File stage so that it will read the data from the data file and pass it to the Transformer stage.

Chapter 1. Your first job

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Configuring the data source stage

Ensure that the job is open in the Designer client. To configure the Sequential File stage named Data_source: 1. Double-click the Sequential File stage named Data_source to open the stage editor. 2. In the Properties tab of the Output page, select the property named File in the Source category. 3. In the File field on the right of the Properties tab, type C:\Exercise\Example1.txt and press Enter. 4. Select the First Line is Column Names property in the Options folder. 5. In the First Line is Column Names field on the right of the Properties tab, select True. 6. Click the Columns tab. 7. In the Columns tab, click Load. 8. In the Table Definitions window, browse the tree to open the Table Definitions/Sequential/Root folder and select the Example1.txt table definition. 9. Click OK. 10. In the Select Columns window, verify that all four column definitions are displayed in the Selected Columns list, and click OK. 11. Click View Data in the top right of the stage editor. 12. In the Data Browser window, click OK. The Data Browser shows you the data that the source file contains. It is a good idea to view the data when you have configured a source stage, because if you can view the data from the stage you know that the stage can read the data when you run the job. The figure shows the data that is displayed by the Data Browser.

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Designer Client Guide

Figure 8. The data before transformation

13. Click Close to close the Data Browser and OK to close the stage editor.

Configuring the Transformer stage

To configure the Transformer stage: 1. Double-click the Transformer stage to open the Transformer stage editor. 2. In the top left pane of the transformer editor, click the CODE column and hold the mouse button down. 3. Drag the CODE column to the table in the right pane that represents the data_out link. 4. Release the mouse button. A CODE column appears on the data_out link. 5. Repeat these steps to copy the PRODUCT and the QTY columns from the data_in link to the data_out link.
Chapter 1. Your first job

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6. In the bottom left pane of the Transformer stage editor, add a new column to the data_out link by doing the following tasks: a. Double-click in the Column name field beneath the QTY column to add a new row. b. In the empty Column name field, type YEAR. c. In the SQL type field, select Integer from the list. d. In the Length field, type 10. e. Repeat these steps to add another new column named MONTH, also with an SQL type of Integer and a Length of 10. The two new columns named YEAR and MONTH are displayed in red in the data_out link in the top right pane. They are red because you have not yet defined where the data to write into them will come from. 7. To define the source data for the YEAR column, do the following tasks: a. Double-click the Derivation field to the left of YEAR in the data_out link to open the expression editor. b. In the expression editor, type YearFromDate(data_in.DATE). c. Click outside the expression editor to close it. You have specified that the YEAR column is populated by taking the data from the DATE column and using the predefined function YearFromDate to strip the year from it. The YEAR column is now black to indicate that it has a valid derivation. 8. To define the source data for the MONTH column, do the following tasks: a. Double-click the Derivation field to the left of MONTH in the data_out link to open the expression editor. b. In the expression editor, type MonthFromDate(data_in.DATE). c. Click outside the expression editor to close it. You have specified that the MONTH column is populated by taking the data from the DATE column and using the predefined function MonthFromDate to strip the month from it. The MONTH column is now black to indicate that it has a valid derivation.

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Designer Client Guide

Figure 9. Transformer stage editor

9. Click OK to close the Transformer stage editor. You have configured the Transformer stage to read the data passed to it from the Sequential File stage, and transform the data to split it into separate month and year fields, and then pass the data to the target Sequential File stage.

Configuring the target file stage

To configure the Sequential File stage named Data_target: 1. Double-click the Sequential File stage named Data_target to open the stage editor. 2. In the Properties tab of the Input page, select the property named File in the Target folder. 3. In the File field on the right of the Properties tab, type C:\Exercise\ data_out.txt and press Enter. 4. Select the First Line is Column Names property in the Options folder. 5. In the First Line is Column Names field on the right of the Properties tab, select True. 6. Click the Columns tab, you can see that this has been populated with the metadata that you defined in the Transformer stage. The Designer client automatically propagates column definitions from stage to stage along the connecting links. 7. Click OK to close the stage editor. 8. Select File Save to save your job.
Chapter 1. Your first job

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You have configured the Sequential File stage to write the data passed to it from the Transformer stage to a new text file.

Lesson checkpoint
In this lesson, you configured your job. You learned the following tasks: v How to edit a Sequential File stage. v How to import metadata into a stage. v How to edit a Transformer stage.

Compiling your job

You compile the job to prepare it to run on your system. Ensure that the job named Exercise that you created in the previous lesson is open and active in the job design area. To compile your job: 1. Select File Compile. The Compile Job window opens. As the job is compiled, the window is updated with messages from the compiler. 2. When the Compile Job window displays a message that the job is compiled, click OK. The job is now compiled and ready to run.

Lesson checkpoint
In this lesson you compiled your job.

Running your job and viewing results

In this lesson, you use the Director client to run the job and to view the log that the job produces as it runs. You also use the Designer client to look at the data that is written by the sample job. You run the job from the Director client. The Director client is the operating console. You use the Director client to run and troubleshoot jobs that you are developing in the Designer client. You also use the Director client to run fully developed jobs in the production environment. You use the job log to help debug any errors you receive when you run the job.

Running the job

To run the job: 1. In the Designer client, select Tools Run Director. Because you are logged in to the tutorial project through the Designer client, you do not need to start the Director from the start menu and log on to the project. In the Director client, your job has a status of compiled, which means that the job is ready to run.

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Figure 10. Director client

2. Select your job in the right pane of the Director client, and select Job Run Now 3. In the Job Run Options window, click Run. 4. When the job status changes to Finished, select View Log. 5. Examine the job log to see the type of information that the Director client reports as it runs a job. The messages that you see are either control or information type. Jobs can also have Fatal and Warning messages. The following figure shows the log view of the job.

Figure 11. The job log

6. Select File Exit to close the Director client.

Viewing results
To view the results of your job:
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1. In the job in the Designer client, double-click the Sequential File stage named Data_target to open the stage editor. 2. In the stage editor, click View Data. 3. Click OK in the Data Browser window to accept the default settings. A window opens that shows up to 100 rows of the data written to the data set (if you want to view more than 100 rows in a data browser, change the default settings before you click OK). 4. Examine the data and observe that there are now five columns in the data named CODE, PRODUCT, QTY, MONTH, and YEAR.

Figure 12. The transformed data

5. Click Close to close the Data Browser window. 6. Click OK to close the Sequential File stage.

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Lesson checkpoint
In this lesson you ran your job and looked at the results. You learned the following tasks: v How to start the Director client from the Designer client. v How to run a job and look at the log file. v How to view the data written by the job.

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Chapter 2. Sketching your job designs

Start your job designs by sketching out the data flow. You can then fill in the details later. A job design contains: v Stages to represent the processing steps required v Links between the stages to represent the flow of data There are three different types of job in WebSphere DataStage, depending on what edition or editions you have installed: v Parallel jobs. These run on WebSphere DataStage servers that are SMP, MPP, or cluster systems. v Server jobs. They run on the WebSphere DataStage Server, connecting to other data sources as necessary. v Mainframe jobs. Mainframe jobs are uploaded to a mainframe, where they are compiled and run. There are two other entities that are similar to jobs in the way they appear in the Designer, and are handled by it. These are: v Shared containers. These are reusable job elements. They typically comprise a number of stages and links. Copies of shared containers can be used in any number of server jobs and parallel jobs and edited as required. Shared containers are described in Shared containers on page 97. v Job Sequences. A job sequence allows you to specify a sequence of WebSphere DataStage server or parallel jobs to be executed, and actions to take depending on results. Job sequences are described in Chapter 14, Building job sequences, on page 199.

Getting started with jobs

Before you can start designing jobs, you must learn how to create new jobs or open existing jobs.

Creating a job
To 1. 2. 3. create a job: Choose File New from the Designer menu. The New dialog box appears. Choose the Jobs folder in the left pane. Select one of the icons, depending on the type of job or shared container you want to create. 4. Click OK. The Diagram window appears, in the right pane of the Designer, along with the palette for the chosen type of job. You can now save the job and give it a name.

Opening an existing job

If you have previously worked on the job you want to open, then you can select it from the list of most recently used jobs in the File menu in the Designer window.
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Otherwise, to open a job, do one of the following: v Choose File Open... . v Click the Open button on the toolbar. The Open dialog box is displayed. This allows you to open a job (or any other object) currently stored in the repository. To open a job: 1. Select the folder containing the job (this might be the Job folder, but you can store a job in any folder you like). 2. Select the job in the tree. 3. Click OK. You can also find the job in the Repository tree and double-click it, or select it and choose Edit from its shortcut menu, or drag it onto the background to open it. The updated Designer window displays the chosen job in a Diagram window.

Saving a job
To 1. 2. 3. save the job: Choose File Save. The Save job as dialog box appears: Enter the name of the job in the Item name field. Select a folder in which to store the job from the tree structure by clicking it. It appears in the Folder path box. By default jobs are saved in the pre-configured Job folder, but you can store it in any folder you choose. 4. Click OK. If the job name is unique, the job is created and saved in the Repository. If the job name is not unique, a message box appears. You must acknowledge this message before you can enter an alternative name (a job name must be unique within the entire repository, not just the selected folder). To save an existing job with a different name choose File Save As... and fill in the Save job as dialog box, specifying the new name and the folder in which the job is to be saved. Organizing your jobs into folders gives faster operation of the WebSphere DataStage Director when displaying job status.

Naming a job
The following rules apply to the names that you can give WebSphere DataStage jobs: v Job names can be any length. v They must begin with an alphabetic character. v They can contain alphanumeric characters and underscores. Job folder names can be any length and consist of any characters, including spaces.

Stages
A job consists of stages linked together which describe the flow of data from a data source to a data target (for example, a final data warehouse).

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A stage usually has at least one data input or one data output. However, some stages can accept more than one data input, and output to more than one stage. The different types of job have different stage types. The stages that are available in the Designer depend on the type of job that is currently open in the Designer.

Parallel job stages

WebSphere DataStage has several built-in stage types for use in parallel jobs. These stages are used to represent data sources, data targets, or transformation stages. Parallel stages are organized into different groups on the palette: v General v Data Quality v Database v v v v v Development/Debug File Processing Real Time Restructure

Stages and links can be grouped in a shared container. Instances of the shared container can then be reused in different parallel jobs. You can also define a local container within a job; this groups stages and links into a single unit, but can only be used within the job in which it is defined. Each stage type has a set of predefined and editable properties. These properties are viewed or edited using stage editors. A stage editor exists for each stage type.

Server job stages

WebSphere DataStage has several built-in stage types for use in server jobs. These stages are used to represent data sources, data targets, or conversion stages. These stages are either passive or active stages. A passive stage handles access to databases for the extraction or writing of data. Active stages model the flow of data and provide mechanisms for combining data streams, aggregating data, and converting data from one data type to another. The Palette organizes stage types into different groups, according to function: v General v Database v File v Processing v Real Time Stages and links can be grouped in a shared container. Instances of the shared container can then be reused in different server jobs (such shared containers can also be used in parallel jobs as a way of leveraging server job functionality). You can also define a local container within a job, this groups stages and links into a single unit, but can only be used within the job in which it is defined. Each stage type has a set of predefined and editable properties. These properties are viewed or edited using stage editors. A stage editor exists for each stage type.
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Mainframe job stages

WebSphere DataStage offers several built-in stage types for use in mainframe jobs. These are used to represent data sources, data targets, or conversion stages. The Palette organizes stage types into different groups, according to function: v General v Database v File v Processing Each stage type has a set of predefined and editable properties. Some stages can be used as data sources and some as data targets. Some can be used as both. Processing stages read data from a source, process it and write it to a data target. These properties are viewed or edited using stage editors. A stage editor exists for each stage type.

Naming stages and shared containers

The following rules apply to the names that you can give WebSphere DataStage stages and shared containers: v Names can be any length. v They must begin with an alphabetic character. v They can contain alphanumeric characters and underscores.

Links
Links join the various stages in a job together and are used to specify how data flows when the job is run.

Linking parallel jobs

File and database stages in parallel jobs (for example., Data Set stages, Sequential File stages, DB2 Enterprise stages), are used to read or write data from a data source. The read/write link to the data source is represented by the stage itself, and connection details are given in the stage properties. Input links connected to the stage generally carry data to be written to the underlying data target. Output links carry data read from the underlying data source. The column definitions on an input link define the data that will be written to a data target. The column definitions on an output link define the data to be read from a data source. Processing stages generally have an input link carrying data to be processed, and an output link passing on processed data. An important point to note about linking stages in parallel jobs is that column definitions actually belong to, and travel with, the links as opposed to the stages. When you define column definitions for a stages output link, those same column definitions will appear at the other end of the link where it is input to another stage. If you move either end of a link to another stage, the column definitions will appear on the new stage. If you change the details of a column definition at one end of a link, those changes will appear in the column definitions at the other end of the link.

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There are rules covering how links are used, depending on whether the link is an input or an output and what type of stages are being linked. WebSphere DataStage parallel jobs support three types of link: v Stream. A link representing the flow of data. This is the principal type of link, and is used by all stage types. v Reference. A link representing a table lookup. Reference links can only be input to Lookup stages, they can only be output from certain types of stage. v Reject. Some parallel job stages allow you to output records that have been rejected for some reason onto an output link. Note that reject links derive their metadata from the associated output link and this cannot be edited. You can usually only have an input stream link or an output stream link on a File or Database stage, you cant have both together. The three link types are displayed differently in the Designer Diagram window: stream links are represented by solid lines, reference links by dotted lines, and reject links by dashed lines.

Link marking
For parallel jobs, metadata is associated with a link, not a stage. If you have link marking enabled, a small icon attaches to the link to indicate if metadata is currently associated with it. Link marking also shows you how data is partitioned or collected between stages, and whether data is sorted. The following diagram shows the different types of link marking. If you double click on a partitioning/collecting marker the stage editor for the stage the link is input to is opened on the Partitioning tab.

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Auto partition marker

Repartitioning marker

Specific partition marker

Same partition marker

Collection marker

Link marking is enabled by default. To disable it, click on the link mark icon in the Designer toolbar, or deselect it in the Diagram menu, or the Diagram shortcut menu.

Unattached links
You can add links that are only attached to a stage at one end, although they will need to be attached to a second stage before the job can successfully compile and run. Unattached links are shown in a special color (red by default - but you can change this using the Options dialog). By default, when you delete a stage, any attached links and their metadata are left behind, with the link shown in red. You can choose Delete including links from the Edit or shortcut menus to delete a selected stage along with its connected links.

Linking server stages

Passive stages in server jobs (for example, ODBC stages, Sequential File stages, UniVerse stages), are used to read or write data from a data source. The read/write link to the data source is represented by the stage itself, and connection details are given on the Stage general tabs.

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Input links connected to the stage generally carry data to be written to the underlying data target. Output links carry data read from the underlying data source. The column definitions on an input link define the data that will be written to a data target. The column definitions on an output link define the data to be read from a data source. An important point to note about linking stages in server jobs is that column definitions actually belong to, and travel with, the links as opposed to the stages. When you define column definitions for a stages output link, those same column definitions will appear at the other end of the link where it is input to another stage. If you move either end of a link to another stage, the column definitions will appear on the new stage. If you change the details of a column definition at one end of a link, those changes will appear in the column definitions at the other end of the link. There are rules covering how links are used, depending on whether the link is an input or an output and what type of stages are being linked. WebSphere DataStage server jobs support two types of input link: v Stream. A link representing the flow of data. This is the principal type of link, and is used by both active and passive stages. v Reference. A link representing a table lookup. Reference links are only used by active stages. They are used to provide information that might affect the way data is changed, but do not supply the data to be changed. The two link types are displayed differently in the Designer Diagram window: stream links are represented by solid lines and reference links by dotted lines. There is only one type of output link, although some stages permit an output link to be used as a reference input to the next stage and some do not.

Link marking
For server jobs, metadata is associated with a link, not a stage. If you have link marking enabled, a small icon attaches to the link to indicate if metadata is currently associated with it. Link marking is enabled by default. To disable it, click on the link mark icon in the Designer toolbar, or deselect it in the Diagram menu, or the Diagram shortcut menu.

Unattached links
You can add links that are only attached to a stage at one end, although they will need to be attached to a second stage before the job can successfully compile and run. Unattached links are shown in a special color (red by default - but you can change this using the Options dialog). By default, when you delete a stage, any attached links and their metadata are left behind, with the link shown in red. You can choose Delete including links from the Edit or shortcut menus to delete a selected stage along with its connected links.

Linking mainframe stages

Target stages in Mainframe jobs are used to write data to a data target. Source stages are used to read data from a data source. Some stages can act as a source or
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a target. The read/write link to the data source is represented by the stage itself, and connection details are given on the Stage general tabs. Links to and from source and target stages are used to carry data to or from a processing or post-processing stage. For source and target stage types, column definitions are associated with stages rather than with links. You decide what appears on the outputs link of a stage by selecting column definitions on the Selection page. You can set the Column Push Option to specify that stage column definitions be automatically mapped to output columns (this happens if you set the option, define the stage columns then click OK to leave the stage without visiting the Selection page). There are rules covering how links are used, depending on whether the link is an input or an output and what type of stages are being linked. Mainframe stages have only one type of link, which is shown as a solid line. (A table lookup function is supplied by the Lookup stage, and the input links to this which acts as a reference is shown with dotted lines to illustrate its function.)

Link marking
For mainframe jobs, metadata is associated with the stage and flows down the links. If you have link marking enabled, a small icon attaches to the link to indicate if metadata is currently associated with it. Link marking is enabled by default. To disable it, click on the link mark icon in the Designer toolbar, or deselect it in the Diagram menu, or the Diagram shortcut menu.

Unattached links
Unlike server and parallel jobs, you cannot have unattached links in a mainframe job; both ends of a link must be attached to a stage. If you delete a stage, the attached links are automatically deleted too.

Link ordering
The Transformer stage in server jobs and various processing stages in parallel jobs allow you to specify the execution order of links coming into or going out from the stage. When looking at a job design in WebSphere DataStage, there are two ways to look at the link execution order: v Place the mouse pointer over a link that is an input to or an output from a Transformer stage. A ToolTip appears displaying the message:
Input execution order = n

for input links, and:

Output execution order = n

for output links. In both cases n gives the links place in the execution order. If an input link is no. 1, then it is the primary link. Where a link is an output from the Transformer stage and an input to another Transformer stage, then the output link information is shown when you rest the pointer over it.

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v Select a stage and right-click to display the shortcut menu. Choose Input Links or Output Links to list all the input and output links for that Transformer stage and their order of execution.

Naming links
The following rules apply to the names that you can give WebSphere DataStage links: v Link names can be any length. v They must begin with an alphabetic character. v They can contain alphanumeric characters and underscores.

Developing the job design

Jobs are designed and developed in the Diagram window. Stages are added and linked together using the palette. The stages that appear in the palette depend on whether you have a server, parallel, or mainframe job, or a job sequence open, and on whether you have customized the palette. You can add, move, rename, delete, link, or edit stages in a job design.

Adding Stages
There is no limit to the number of stages you can add to a job. We recommend you position the stages as follows in the Diagram window: v Parallel Jobs Data sources on the left Data targets on the right Processing stages in the middle of the diagram v Server jobs Data sources on the left Data targets on the right Transformer or Aggregator stages in the middle of the diagram v Mainframe jobs Source stages on the left Processing stages in the middle Target stages on the right There are a number of ways in which you can add a stage: v Click the stage icon on the tool palette. Click in the Diagram window where you want to position the stage. The stage appears in the Diagram window. v Click the stage icon on the tool palette. Drag it onto the Diagram window. v Select the desired stage type in the repository tree and drag it to the Diagram window. When you insert a stage by clicking (as opposed to dragging) you can draw a rectangle as you click on the Diagram window to specify the size and shape of the stage you are inserting as well as its location. Each stage is given a default name which you can change if required.
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If you want to add more than one stage of a particular type, press Shift after clicking the button on the tool palette and before clicking on the Diagram window. You can continue to click the Diagram window without having to reselect the button. Release the Shift key when you have added the stages you need; press Esc if you change your mind.

Moving stages
After they are positioned, stages can be moved by clicking and dragging them to a new location in the Diagram window. If you have the Snap to Grid option activated, the stage is attached to the nearest grid position when you release the mouse button. If stages are linked together, the link is maintained when you move a stage.

Renaming stages
There are a number of ways to rename a stage: v You can change its name in its stage editor. v You can select the stage in the Diagram window, press Ctrl-R, choose Rename from its shortcut menu, or choose Edit Rename from the main menu and type a new name in the text box that appears beneath the stage. v Select the stage in the diagram window and start typing. v You can select the stage in the Diagram window and then edit the name in the Property Browser (if you are displaying it).

Deleting stages
Stages can be deleted from the Diagram window. Choose one or more stages and do one of the following: v Press the Delete key. v Choose Edit Delete. v Choose Delete from the shortcut menu. A message box appears. Click Yes to delete the stage or stages and remove them from the Diagram window. (This confirmation prompting can be turned off if required.) When you delete stages in mainframe jobs, attached links are also deleted. When you delete stages in server or parallel jobs, the links are left behind, unless you choose Delete including links from the edit or shortcut menu.

Linking stages
You can link stages in three ways: v Using the Link button. Choose the Link button from the tool palette. Click the first stage and drag the link to the second stage. The link is made when you release the mouse button. v Using the mouse. Select the first stage. Position the mouse cursor on the edge of a stage until the mouse cursor changes to a circle. Click and drag the mouse to the other stage. The link is made when you release the mouse button. v Using the mouse. Point at the first stage and right click then drag the link to the second stage and release it.

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Each link is given a default name which you can change.

Moving links
Once positioned, a link can be moved to a new location in the Diagram window. You can choose a new source or destination for the link, but not both. To move a link: 1. Click the link to move in the Diagram window. The link is highlighted. 2. Click in the box at the end you want to move and drag the end to its new location. In server and parallel jobs you can move one end of a link without reattaching it to another stage. In mainframe jobs both ends must be attached to a stage.

Deleting links
Links can be deleted from the Diagram window. Choose the link and do one of the following: v Press the Delete key. v Choose Edit Delete. v Choose Delete from the shortcut menu. A message box appears. Click Yes to delete the link. The link is removed from the Diagram window. Note: For server jobs, metadata is associated with a link, not a stage. If you delete a link, the associated metadata is deleted too. If you want to retain the metadata you have defined, do not delete the link; move it instead.

Renaming links
There are a number of ways to rename a link: v You can select it and start typing in a name in the text box that appears. v You can select the link in the Diagram window and then edit the name in the Property Browser. v You can select the link in the Diagram window, press Ctrl-R, choose Rename from its shortcut menu, or choose Edit Rename from the main menu and type a new name in the text box that appears beneath the link. v Select the link in the diagram window and start typing.

Dealing with multiple links

If you have multiple links from one stage to another, you might want to resize the stages in order to make the links clearer by spreading them out. Resize stages by selecting each stage and dragging on one of the sizing handles in the bounding box.

Editing stages
After you add the stages and links to the Diagram window, you must edit the stages to specify the data you want to use and any aggregations or conversions required.

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Data arrives into a stage on an input link and is output from a stage on an output link. The properties of the stage and the data on each input and output link are specified using a stage editor. To edit a stage, do one of the following: v Double-click the stage in the Diagram window. v Select the stage and choose Properties... from the shortcut menu. v Select the stage and choose Edit Properties. A dialog box appears. The content of this dialog box depends on the type of stage you are editing. See the individual stage descriptions for details. The data on a link is specified using column definitions. The column definitions for a link are specified by editing a stage at either end of the link. Column definitions are entered and edited identically for each stage type.

Specifying column definitions

Each stage editor has a page for data inputs or data outputs (depending on stage type and what links are present on the stage). The data flowing along each input or output link is specified using column definitions. The column definitions are displayed in a grid on the Columns tab for each link. The Columns grid has a row for each column definition. The columns present depend on the type of stage. Some entries contain text (which you can edit) and others have a drop-down list containing all the available options for the cell. You can edit the grid to add new column definitions or change values for existing definitions. Any changes are saved when you save your job design. The Columns tab for each link also contains the following buttons which you can use to edit the column definitions: v Save... . Saves column definitions as a table definition in the Repository. v Load... . Loads (copies) the column definitions from a table definition in the Repository. Details of how to import or manually enter column definitions in the Repository are given in Chapter 14, Building job sequences, on page 199.

Editing column definitions

To edit a column definition in the grid, click the cell you want to change then choose Edit cell... from the shortcut menu or press Ctrl-E to open the Edit Column Metadata dialog box.

Inserting column definitions

If you want to create a new output column or write to a table that does not have a table definition, you can manually enter column definitions by editing the Columns grid. To add a new column at the bottom of the grid, edit the empty row. To add a new column between existing rows, position the cursor in the row below the desired position and press the Insert key or choose Insert row... from the shortcut menu.

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After you define the new row, you can right-click on it and drag it to a new position in the grid.

Naming columns
The rules for naming columns depend on the type of job the table definition will be used in:

Parallel and Server Jobs

Column names can be any length. They must begin with an alphabetic character or $ and contain alphanumeric, underscore, period, and $ characters.

Mainframe Jobs
Column names can be any length. They must begin with an alphabetic character and contain alphanumeric, underscore, #, @, and $ characters.

Deleting column definitions

If, after importing or defining a table definition, you subsequently decide that you do not want to read or write the data in a particular column you must delete the corresponding column definition. Unwanted column definitions can be easily removed from the Columns grid. To delete a column definition, click any cell in the row you want to remove and press the Delete key or choose Delete row from the shortcut menu. Click OK to save any changes and to close the Table Definition dialog box. To delete several column definitions at once, hold down the Ctrl key and click in the row selector column for the rows you want to remove. Press the Delete key or choose Delete row from the shortcut menu to remove the selected rows.

Saving column definitions

If you edit column definitions or insert new definitions, you can save them in a table definition in the repository. You can then load the definitions into other stages in your job design. Each table definition has an identifier which uniquely identifies it in the repository. This identifier is derived from: v Data source type. This describes the type of data source holding the actual table the table definition relates to. v Data source name. The DSN or equivalent used when importing the table definition (or supplied by the user where the table definition is entered manually). v Table definition name. The name of the table definition. In previous releases of WebSphere DataStage all table definitions were located in the Table Definitions category of the repository tree, within a subcategory structure derived from the three-part identifier. For example, the table definition tutorial.FACTS is a table definition imported from a UniVerse database table called FACTS into the tutorial project using the localuv connection. It would have been located in the category Table definitions\UniVerse\localuv. Its full identifier would have been UniVerse\localuv\tutorial.FACTS.

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With WebSphere DataStage Release 8.0, the table definition can be located anywhere in the repository that you choose. For example, you might want a top level folder called Tutorial that contains all the jobs and table definitions concerned with the server job tutorial. To save the column definitions: 1. Click Save... . The Save Table Definition dialog box appears. 2. Enter a folder name or path in the Data source type field. The name entered here determines how the definition will be stored in the repository. By default, this field contains Saved. 3. Enter a name in the Data source name field. This forms the second part of the table definition identifier and is the name of the branch created under the data source type branch. By default, this field contains the name of the stage you are editing. 4. Enter a name in the Table/file name field. This is the last part of the table definition identifier and is the name of the leaf created under the data source name branch. By default, this field contains the name of the link you are editing. 5. Optionally enter a brief description of the table definition in the Short description field. By default, this field contains the date and time you clicked Save... . The format of the date and time depend on your Windows setup. 6. Optionally enter a more detailed description of the table definition in the Long description field. 7. Click OK. The column definitions are saved under the specified branches in the Repository.

Naming table definitions

When you save your column definitions as a table definition, the following naming rules apply: v Table names can be any length. v They must begin with an alphabetic character. v They can contain alphanumeric, period, and underscore characters.

Loading column definitions

You can load column definitions from a table definition in the Repository. For a description of how to create or import table definitions, see Table Definitions. Most stages allow you to selectively load columns, that is, specify the exact columns you want to load. To load column definitions: 1. Click Load... . The Table Definitions dialog box appears. This window displays the repository tree to enable you to browse for the required table definition. 2. Double-click the appropriate folder. 3. Continue to expand the folders until you see the table definition you want. 4. Select the table definition you want. Note: You can use Quick Find to enter the name of the table definition you want. The table definition is selected in the tree when you click OK.

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5. Click OK. One of two things happens, depending on the type of stage you are editing: v If the stage type does not support selective metadata loading, all the column definitions from the chosen table definition are copied into the Columns grid. v If the stage type does support selective metadata loading, the Select Columns dialog box appears, allowing you to specify which column definitions you want to load. Use the arrow keys to move columns back and forth between the Available columns list and the Selected columns list. The single arrow buttons move highlighted columns, the double arrow buttons move all items. By default all columns are selected for loading. Click Find... to open a dialog box which lets you search for a particular column. The shortcut menu also gives access to Find... and Find Next. Click OK when you are happy with your selection. This closes the Select Columns dialog box and loads the selected columns into the stage. For mainframe stages and certain parallel stages where the column definitions derive from a CFD file, the Select Columns dialog box can also contain a Create Filler check box. This happens when the table definition the columns are being loaded from represents a fixed-width table. Select this to cause sequences of unselected columns to be collapsed into filler items. Filler columns are sized appropriately, their data type set to character, and name set to FILLER_XX_YY where XX is the start offset and YY the end offset. Using fillers results in a smaller set of columns, saving space and processing time and making the column set easier to understand. If you are importing column definitions that have been derived from a CFD file into server or parallel job stages, you are warned if any of the selected columns redefine other selected columns. You can choose to carry on with the load or go back and select columns again. 6. Click OK to proceed. If the stage you are loading already has column definitions of the same name, you are prompted to confirm that you want to overwrite them. The Merge Column Metadata check box is selected by default and specifies that, if you confirm the overwrite, the Derivation, Description, Display Size and Field Position from the existing definition will be preserved (these contain information that is not necessarily part of the table definition and that you have possibly added manually). Note that the behavior of the merge is affected by the settings of the Metadata options in the Designer Options dialog box. 7. Click Yes or Yes to All to confirm the load. Changes are saved when you save your job design.

Importing or entering column definitions

If the column definitions you want to assign to a link are not held in the repository, you might be able to import them from a data source into the repository and then load them. You can import definitions from a number of different data sources. Alternatively you can define the column definitions manually. You can import or enter table definitions from the Designer. For instructions, see Chapter 4, Defining your data, on page 49.

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Browsing server directories

When you edit certain parallel or server stages (that is, stages that access files), you might need to specify a directory path on the WebSphere DataStage server where the required files are found. You can specify a directory path in one of three ways: v Enter a job parameter in the respective text entry box in the stage dialog box. v Enter the directory path directly in the respective text entry box in the Stage dialog box. v Use Browse... or Browse for file... . If you choose to browse, the Browse directories or Browse files dialog box appears. v Look in. Displays the name of the current directory (or can be a drive if browsing a Windows system). This has a drop down that shows where in the directory hierarchy you are currently located. v Directory/File list. Displays the directories and files on the chosen directory. Double-click the file you want, or double-click a directory to move to it. v File name. The name of the selected file. You can use wildcards here to browse for files of a particular type. v Files of type. Select a file type to limit the types of file that are displayed. v Back button. Moves to the previous directory visited (is disabled if you have visited no other directories). v Up button. Takes you to the parent of the current directory. v View button. Offers a choice of different ways of viewing the directory/file tree. v OK button. Accepts the file in the File name field and closes the Browse files dialog box. v Cancel button. Closes the dialog box without specifying a file. v Help button. Invokes the Help system.

Cutting or copying and pasting stages

You can cut or copy stages and links from one job and paste them into another. You can paste them into another job canvas of the same type. This can be in the same Designer, or another one, and you can paste them into different projects. You can also use Paste Special to paste stages and links into a new shared container. Note: Be careful when cutting from one context and pasting into another. For example, if you cut columns from an input link and paste them onto an output link they could carry information that is wrong for an output link and needs editing. To cut a stage, select it in the canvas and select Edit Cut (or press CTRL-X). To copy a stage, select it in the canvas and select Edit Copy (or press CTRL-C). To paste the stage, select the destination canvas and select Edit Paste (or press CTRL-V). Any links attached to a stage will be cut and pasted too, complete with metadata. If there are name conflicts with stages or links in the job into which you are pasting, WebSphere DataStage will automatically update the names.

Pre-configured stages
There is a special feature that you can use to paste components into a shared container and add the shared container to the palette.

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This feature allows you to have pre-configured stages ready to drop into a job. To paste a stage into a new shared container, select Edit Paste Special Into new Shared Container. The Paste Special into new Shared Container dialog box appears. This allows you to select a folder and name for the new shared container, enter a description and optionally add a shortcut to the palette. If you want to cut or copy metadata along with the stages, you should select source and destination stages, which will automatically select links and associated metadata. These can then be cut or copied and pasted as a group.

Using the Data Browser

Use the Data Browser to view the actual data that will flow through a server job or parallel stage. You can browse the data associated with the input or output links of any server job built-in passive stage or with the links to certain parallel job stages The Data Browser is invoked by clicking the View Data... button from a stage Inputs or Outputs page, or by choosing the View link Data... option from the shortcut menu. For parallel job stages a supplementary dialog box lets you select a subset of data to view by specifying the following: v Rows to display. Specify the number of rows of data you want the data browser to display. v Skip count. Skip the specified number of rows before viewing data. v Period. Display every Pth record where P is the period. You can start after records have been skipped by using the Skip property. P must equal or be greater than 1. If your administrator has enabled the Generated OSH Visible option in the WebSphere DataStage Administrator, the supplementary dialog box also has a Show OSH button. Click this to open a window showing the OSH that will be run to generate the data view. It is intended for expert users. The Data Browser displays a grid of rows in a window. If a field contains a linefeed character, the field is shown in bold, and you can, if required, resize the grid to view the whole field. The Data Browser window appears. The Data Browser uses the metadata defined for that link. If there is insufficient data associated with a link to allow browsing, the View Data... button and shortcut menu command used to invoke the Data Browser are disabled. If the Data Browser requires you to input some parameters before it can determine what data to display, the Job Run Options dialog box appears and collects the parameters (see The Job Run Options Dialog Box). Note: You cannot specify $ENV or $PROJDEF as an environment variable value when using the data browser. The Data Browser grid has the following controls:

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v You can select any row or column, or any cell within a row or column, and press CTRL-C to copy it. v You can select the whole of a very wide row by selecting the first cell and then pressing SHIFT+END. v If a cell contains multiple lines, you can expand it by left-clicking while holding down the SHIFT key. Repeat this to shrink it again. You can view a row containing a specific data item using the Find... button. The Find dialog box will reposition the view to the row containing the data you are interested in. The search is started from the current row. The Display... button invokes the Column Display dialog box. This allows you to simplify the data displayed by the Data Browser by choosing to hide some of the columns. For server jobs, it also allows you to normalize multivalued data to provide a 1NF view in the Data Browser. This dialog box lists all the columns in the display, all of which are initially selected. To hide a column, clear it. For server jobs, the Normalize on drop-down list box allows you to select an association or an unassociated multivalued column on which to normalize the data. The default is Un-normalized, and choosing Un-normalized will display the data in NF2 form with each row shown on a single line. Alternatively you can select Un-Normalized (formatted), which displays multivalued rows split over several lines. In the example, the Data Browser would display all columns except STARTDATE. The view would be normalized on the association PRICES.

Using the Performance Monitor

The Performance monitor is a useful diagnostic aid when designing WebSphere DataStage parallel jobs and server jobs. When you turn it on and compile a job it displays information against each link in the job. When you run the job, either through the WebSphere DataStage Director or the Designer, the link information is populated with statistics to show the number of rows processed on the link and the speed at which they were processed. The links change color as the job runs to show the progress of the job. To use the performance monitor: 1. With the job open and compiled in the Designer choose Diagram Show performance statistics. Performance information appears against the links. If the job has not yet been run, the figures will be empty. 2. Run the job (either from the Director or by clicking the Run button. Watch the links change color as the job runs and the statistics populate with number of rows and rows/sec. If you alter anything on the job design you will lose the statistical information until the next time you compile the job. The colors that the performance monitor uses are set via the Options dialog box. Chose Tools Options and select Graphical Performance Monitor under the

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Appearance branch to view the default colors and change them if required. You can also set the refresh interval at which the monitor updates the information while the job is running.

Running server jobs and parallel jobs

You can run server jobs and parallel jobs from within the Designer by clicking on the Run button in the toolbar. The job currently in focus will run, provided it has been compiled and saved.

The Job Run Options dialog box

Before you can run a job from the Designer client, you must supply information in the Job Run Options dialog box. The Job Run Options dialog box has three pages: v The Parameters page collects any parameters the job requires v The Limits page allows you to specify any run-time limits. v The General page allows you to specify settings for collecting operational metadata and message handling settings. This dialog box can appear when you are: v running a job v using the Data Browser v specifying a job control routine v using the debugger (server jobs only)

Parameters page
The Parameters page lists any parameters or parameter sets that have been defined for the job. If default values have been specified, these are displayed too. You can enter a value in the Value column, edit the default, or accept the default as it is. Click Set to Default to set a parameter to its default value, or click All to Default to set all parameters to their default values. Click Property Help to display any help text that has been defined for the selected parameter (this button is disabled if no help has been defined). Click OK when you are satisfied with the values for the parameters. When setting a value for an environment variable, you can specify one of the following special values: v $ENV. Instructs WebSphere DataStage to use the current setting for the environment variable. v $PROJDEF. The current setting for the environment variable is retrieved and set in the jobs environment (so that value is used wherever in the job the environment variable is used). If the value of that environment variable is subsequently changed in the Administrator client, the job will pick up the new value without the need for recompiling. v $UNSET. Instructs WebSphere DataStage to explicitly unset the environment variable.

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Note that you cannot use these special values when viewing data on Parallel jobs. You will be warned if you try to do this.

Limits page
The Limits page allows you to specify whether stages in the job should be limited in how many rows they process and whether run-time error warnings should be ignored.

To specify a rows limits:

1. Click the Stop stages after option button. 2. Select the number of rows from the drop-down list box.

To specify that the job should abort after a certain number of warnings:
1. Click the Abort job after option button. 2. Select the number of warnings from the drop-down list box.

General Page
Use the General page to specify that the job should generate operational metadata. You can also disable any message handlers that have been specified for this job run.

Creating jobs by using Assistants

Use the Assistants to help you create basic job designs. Use Assistants to perform the following tasks: v Create a template from a server, parallel, or mainframe job. You can subsequently use this template to create new jobs. New jobs will be copies of the original job. v Create a new job from a previously created template. v Create a simple parallel data migration job. This extracts data from a source and writes it to a target.

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Chapter 3. Setting up your data connections

If your job will read or write an external data source, then you must set up data connections. You can save the details of these connections as data connection objects. Data connection objects store the information needed to connect to a particular database in a reusable form. You use data connection objects together with related connector stages to define a connection to a data source in a job design. You can also use data connection objects when you import metadata. If you change the details of a data connection when designing a job, these changes are reflected in the job design. When you compile your job, however, the data connection details are fixed in the executable version of the job. Subsequent changes to the job design will once again link to the data connection object.

Creating a data connection object

There are three ways of creating a data connection object: v Create the object manually by entering details directly into WebSphere DataStage. v Create the object by saving the connection details you use when importing metadata from a data source. v Create the object by saving the connection details you have defined when using a connector stage in a job design.

Creating a data connection object manually

To create a data connection object: 1. Choose File New to open the New dialog box. 2. Open the Other folder, select the Data Connection icon, and click OK. 3. The Data Connection dialog box appears. Enter the required details on each of the pages as detailed in the following sections.

Data Connection dialog box - General page

Use the General page to specify a name for your data connection object and to provide descriptions of it. The Data Connection name must start with an alphabetic character and comprise alphanumeric and underscore characters. The maximum length is 255 characters.

Data Connection dialog box - Parameters page

Use the Parameters page to specify what type of data connection object that you are creating. All data connection objects are associated with a particular type of stage. The parameters associated with that stage are displayed and you can choose whether to supply values for them as part of the data connection object. You can choose to
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leave out some parameters; for example, you might not want to specify a password as part of the object. In this case you can specify the missing property when you design a job using this object. You can create data connection objects associated with the following types of stage: v Connector stages. You can create data connection objects associated with any of the connector stages. v Parallel job stages. You can create data connection objects associated with any of the following types of parallel job stages: DB2/UDB Enterprise stage Oracle Enterprise stage Informix Enterprise stage Teradata Enterprise stage v Server job stages. You can create data connection objects associated with any of the following types of server job stages: ODBC stage UniData 6 and UniData stages Universe stage v Supplementary stages. You can create data connection objects associated with any of the following types of supplementary stages: DRS stage DB2/UDB API stage Informix CLI stage MS OLEDB stage Oracle OCI 9i stage Sybase OC stage Teradata API stage To specify the data connection object parameters: 1. Choose the type of stage that the object relates to in the Connect using Stage Type field by clicking the browse button and selecting the stage type object from the repository tree. The Connection parameters list is populated with the parameters that the connector stage requires in order to make a connection. 2. For each of the parameters, choose whether you are going to supply a value as part of the object, and if so, supply that value. You can also specify that the values for the parameters will be supplied via a parameter set object. To specify a parameter set in this way, step 2 is as follows: v Click the arrow button next to the Parameter set field, then choose Create from the menu. The Parameter Set window opens. For more details about parameter set objects, see Parameter Sets.

Creating a Data Connection object from a metadata import

When you import metadata from a data source you can choose to save the connection information that you used to connect to that data source as a data connection object. You can choose to do this when performing the following types of metadata import:

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v Import via connectors v Import via supplementary stages (Import Table Definitions Plug-in Metadata Definitions) v Import via ODBC definitions (Import Table Definitions ODBC Table Definitions) v Import from UniVerse table (Import Table Definitions UniVerse Table Definitions) v Import from UniData 6 table (Import Table Definitions UniData 6 Table Definitions) v Import from Orchestrate Schema (Import Table Definitions Orchestrate Schema Definitions) In some of these cases WebSphere DataStage provides a wizard to guide you through the import, in others the import is via a simple dialog box. The method for creating a data connection object from the import varies according to the import type.

Importing via connectors

When you import metadata via a connector, a wizard guides you through the process. The wizard offers different properties depending on which connector you are using for the import. In order to share imported metadata with other components, you must specify a Data Connection. You can do this either by loading one that was created earlier, or saving the current connection details as a new Data Connection. If you continue the import without having specified a Data Connection, imported metadata may not be visible or usable outside of WebSphere DataStage. To create a data connection object during the import: 1. On the Connections page of the wizard (where you specify information such as user name and password), click the Save link. The Data Connection dialog box appears with connection details already filled in. 2. Fill in the remaining details such as name and description, and folder to store the object in. 3. Click OK to close the Data Connection dialog box, and continue with the import wizard.

Importing via supplementary stages

When you import via a supplementary stage, a wizard guides you through the process. The wizard is slightly different depending on which supplementary stage you are using for the import. To create a data connection object during the import: 1. On the page that appears after the connection to the data source has been made, click the Save Data Connection button. The Data Connection dialog box appears with connection details already filled in. 2. Fill in the remaining details such as name and description, and folder to store the object in. 3. Click OK to close the Data Connection dialog box, and continue with the import wizard.

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Importing via ODBC Definitions or from UniVerse or UniData 6 tables

You import table definitions from all three of these sources by filling in a dialog box. The dialog box is similar in all three cases. To create a data connection object during the import: 1. After you have made a connection to the data source, the dialog box expands to list all the tables that are candidates for import. Click the Save Connection button. The Data Connection dialog box appears with connection details already filled in. 2. Fill in the remaining details such as name and description, and folder to store the object in. 3. Click OK to close the Data Connection dialog box, and continue with the import dialog box.

Importing via Orchestrate schemas

When you choose to import table definitions using the Import Table Definitions Orchestrate Schema Definitions, a wizard offer you the choice of importing from an Orchestrate schema file, or using a parallel job stage to make a connection to one of the following types of database: v DB2 v Informix v Informix XPS v Oracle If you choose to import from a database, you can save the connection details you use to a data connection object as follows: 1. Supply the required database connection details and click the Save Data Connection button. The Data Connection dialog box appears with connection details already filled in. 2. Fill in the remaining details such as name and description, and folder to store the object in. 3. Click OK to close the Data Connection dialog box, and continue with the import wizard.

Creating a Data Connection object from a stage

When you use certain types of stages in your job designs, you supply connection details for connecting to underlying data sources. In most cases you can save these connection details as a data connection object. The method for creating a data connection object from a stage varies according to whether you are creating it from a Connector stage, or any of the other supported stages.

Creating a Data Connection object from a connector stage

To create a data connection object from any of the Connector stages: 1. Specify the required connection details in the connector stage editor (required details vary with type of connector). 2. Click the Save button. The Data Connection dialog box appears with connection details already filled in.

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3. Fill in the remaining details such as name and description, and folder to store the object in. 4. Click OK to close the Data Connection dialog box, and continue with your job design.

Creating a Data Connection object from any other stage

To create a data connection object from any supported stage, other than a connector stage, either: 1. Fill in the required connection details in the stage editor and then close it. 2. Select the stage icon on the job design canvas. 3. Right click and choose Save Data Connection from the shortcut menu. The Data Connection dialog box appears with connection details already filled in. 4. Fill in the remaining details such as name and description, and folder to store the object in. 5. Click OK to close the Data Connection dialog box, and continue with your job design. or: 6. Fill in the required connection details in the stage editor. 7. Go to the Stage page of the stage editor. 8. Click the arrow next to the Data Connection field and choose Save. The Data Connection dialog box appears with connection details already filled in. 9. Fill in the remaining details such as name and description, and folder to store the object in. 10. Click OK to close the Data Connection dialog box, and continue with your job design.

Using a Data Connection object

You can use data connection objects in your job designs as follows: v To supply connection details to a stage in your job design. v To supply connection details for a metadata import. Where you have previously imported a table definition using a data connection object, you can use the table definition as follows: v Drag table definition object to canvas to create a stage of the associated kind with connection details filled in together with link carrying the table definition. v Drag table definition to an existing link on the canvas. The Designer client will ask if you want to use the connection details for the associated stage. You can also drag a data connection object directly to the canvas. A stage of the associated type is created.

Using a Data Connection object with a stage

The method of using a data connection object from a stage varies according to whether you are using it in a Connector stage, or any of the other supported stages.

Using a Data Connection object in a connector stage

To use a data connection object to supply connection details in a connector stage: 1. In the connector stage editor click Load Connection.
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2. Choose from the data connection objects that you have currently defined for this type of connector stage. 3. Click OK. The data connection details are loaded. If the data connection object only supplies some of the connection properties required you will have to supply the rest yourself. For example, the password might be deliberately left out of the data connection object, in which case you can supply it in the job design or specify a job parameter and specify it at run time.

Using a Data Connection object in any other stage

To use a data connection object to supply connection details in a connector stage, either: 1. Select the stage icon on the job design canvas. 2. Right click and choose Load Data Connection from the shortcut menu. 3. Choose from the data connection objects that you have currently defined for this type of stage. 4. Click OK. The data connection details are loaded. or: 5. Open the stage editor. 6. Click the arrow next to the Data Connection box on the Stage page and choose Load from the menu. A browse dialog box opens showing the repository tree. 7. Choose the data connection object you want to use and click Open. The name of the data connection object appears in the Data Connection field and the connection information for the stage is filled in from the object. If the data connection object only supplies some of the connection properties required you will have to supply the rest yourself. For example, the password might be deliberately left out of the data connection object, in which case you can supply it in the job design or specify a job parameter and specify it at run time.

Using a Data Connection object for a metadata import

You can use a data connection object to supply connection details for metadata import via connectors. When you import via a connector, a wizard guides you through the process. The wizard is slightly different depending on which connector you are using for the import. To use a data connection object during the import: 1. On the Connections page of the wizard (where you specify information such as user name and password), click the Load link. 2. Choose from the data connection objects that you have currently defined for this type of connector stage. 3. Click OK to proceed with the metadata import.

Importing directly from a data connection

You can also import metadata directly from a data connection object. 1. Select the data connection object in the repository tree. 2. Right-click and select Import metadata from the shortcut menu.

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The appropriate imported wizard opens and guides you through the process of importing metadata.

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Chapter 4. Defining your data

When transforming or cleansing data, you must define the data that you are working with. You define the data by importing or defining table definitions. You can save the table definitions for use in your job designs. Table definitions are the key to your WebSphere DataStage project and specify the data to be used at each stage of a WebSphere DataStage job. Table definitions are stored in the repository and are shared by all the jobs in a project. You need, as a minimum, table definitions for each data source and one for each data target in the data warehouse. When you develop a job you will typically load your stages with column definitions from table definitions held in the repository. You do this on the relevant Columns tab of the stage editor. If you select the options in the Grid Properties dialog box, the Columns tab will also display two extra fields: Table Definition Reference and Column Definition Reference. These show the table definition and individual columns that the columns on the tab were derived from. You can import, create, or edit a table definition using the Designer.

Table Definition window

When you create, edit, or view a table definition using the Designer, the Table Definition window is displayed. This window has up to eight pages: v General v Columns v Format v NLS v Relationships v Parallel v Layout v Locator v Analytical Information

General page
The General page contains general information about the table definition. The following fields are on this page: v Data source type. The type of data source, for example, UniVerse. v Data source name. If you imported the table definition, this contains a reference to where the original data is found. For UniVerse and ODBC data sources, this is the data source name. For hashed file data sources, this is an account name. For sequential file sources, this is the last component of the directory path where the sequential file is found.
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v Table definition. The name of the table definition. v Mainframe platform type. The type of mainframe platform that the table definition applies to. Where the table definition does not apply to a mainframe data source, it displays <Not applicable>. v Mainframe access type. Where the table definition has been imported from a mainframe or is applicable to a mainframe, this specifies the type of database. If it is not a mainframe-type table definition, the field is set to <Not applicable>. v Metadata supports Multi-valued fields. Select this check box if the metadata supports multivalued data. If the check box is selected, three extra grid columns used for multivalued data support will appear on the Columns page. The check box is disabled for ODBC, mainframe, and stored procedure table definitions. v Fully Qualified Table Name. This read-only field shows the fully qualified table name, as derived from the locator (see Locator Page). v ODBC quote character. Allows you to specify what character an ODBC data source uses as a quote character. Specify 000 to suppress the quote character. v Short description. A brief description of the data. v Long description. A full description of the data. The combination of the data source type, data source name, and table or file name forms a unique identifier for the table definition. The entire identifier is shown at the top of the General page. No two table definitions can have the same identifier. The table definition can be located anywhere in the repository that you choose. For example, you might want a top level folder called Tutorial that contains all the jobs and table definitions concerned with the server job tutorial.

Columns page
The Columns page contains a grid displaying the column definitions for each column in the table definition. The grid has these columns: v Column name. The name of the column. v Name alias. This field appears if it is enabled in the Grid Properties window (it is not visible by default). It displays a the name alias for the column, if one has been defined. Name aliases are only available in table definitions that are linked to tables in the shared repository. v Key. Indicates whether the column is part of the primary key. v SQL type. The SQL data type. v Length. The data precision. This is the length for CHAR data and the maximum length for VARCHAR data. v Scale. The data scale factor. v Nullable. Specifies whether the column can contain null values. This is set to indicate whether the column is subject to a NOT NULL constraint. It does not itself enforce a NOT NULL constraint. v Display. The maximum number of characters required to display the column data. v Data element. The type of data in the column. v Description. A text description of the column. The following columns appear if you selected the Meta data supports Multi-valued fields check box on the General page:

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v Association. The name of the association (if any) that the column belongs to. v Position. The field number. v Type. The nesting type, which can be S, M, MV, or MS. The following column might appear if NLS is enabled: v NLS Map. This property is visible only if NLS is enabled and Allow per-column mapping has been selected on the NLS page of the Table Definition dialog box. It allows you to specify a separate character set map for a column (which overrides the map set for the project or table). The following columns appear if the table definition is derived from a COBOL file definition mainframe data source: v Level number. The COBOL level number. Mainframe table definitions also have the following columns, but due to space considerations, these are not displayed on the columns page. To view them, choose Edit Row... from the Columns page shortcut menu, the Edit Column Metadata dialog appears, displaying the following field in the COBOL tab: v Occurs. The COBOL OCCURS clause. v Sign indicator. Indicates whether the column can be signed or not. v Sign option. If the column is signed, gives the location of the sign in the data. v Sync indicator. Indicates whether this is a COBOL-synchronized clause or not. v Usage. The COBOL USAGE clause. v Redefined field. The COBOL REDEFINED clause. v Depending on. A COBOL OCCURS-DEPENDING-ON clause. v Storage length. Gives the storage length in bytes of the column as defined. v Picture. The COBOL PICTURE clause. The Columns page for each link also contains a Clear All and a Load... button. The Clear All button deletes all the column definitions. The Load... button loads (copies) the column definitions from a table definition elsewhere in the Repository. A shortcut menu available in grids allows you to edit a cell, delete a row, or add a row.

Format page
The Format page contains file format parameters for sequential files used in server jobs. These fields are automatically set when you import a table definition from a sequential file. There are three check boxes on this page: v Fixed-width columns. Specifies whether the sequential file contains fixed-width fields. This check box is cleared by default, that is, the file does not contain fixed-width fields. When this check box is selected, the Spaces between columns field is enabled. v First line is column names. Specifies whether the first line in the file contains the column names. This check box is cleared by default, that is, the first row in the file does not contain the column names.

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v Omit last new-line. Specifies whether the last newline character in the file is ignored. By default this check box is cleared, that is, if a newline character exists in the file, it is used. The rest of this page contains five fields. The available fields depend on the settings for the check boxes. v Spaces between columns. Specifies the number of spaces used between the columns in the file. This field appears when you select Fixed-width columns. v Delimiter. Contains the delimiter that separates the data fields. By default this field contains a comma. You can enter a single printable character or a decimal or hexadecimal number to represent the ASCII code for the character you want to use. Valid ASCII codes are in the range 1 to 253. Decimal values 1 through 9 must be preceded with a zero. Hexadecimal values must be prefixed with &h. Enter 000 to suppress the delimiter v Quote character. Contains the character used to enclose strings. By default this field contains a double quotation mark. You can enter a single printable character or a decimal or hexadecimal number to represent the ASCII code for the character you want to use. Valid ASCII codes are in the range 1 to 253. Decimal values 1 through 9 must be preceded with a zero. Hexadecimal values must be prefixed with &h. Enter 000 to suppress the quote character. v NULL string. Contains characters that are written to the file when a column contains SQL null values. v Padding character. Contains the character used to pad missing columns. This is # by default. The Sync Parallel button is only visible if your system supports parallel jobs. It causes the properties set on the Parallel tab to mirror the properties set on this page when the button is pressed. A dialog box appears asking you to confirm this action, if you do the Parallel tab appears and lets you view the settings.

NLS page
If NLS is enabled, this page contains the name of the map to use for the table definitions. The map should match the character set used in the definitions. By default, the list box shows all the maps that are loaded and ready to use with server jobs. Show all Server maps lists all the maps that are shipped with WebSphere DataStage. Show all Parallel maps lists the maps that are available for use with parallel jobs Note: You cannot use a server map unless it is loaded into WebSphere DataStage. You can load different maps using the Administrator client. Select Allow per-column mapping if you want to assign different character set maps to individual columns.

Relationships page
The Relationships page shows you details of any relationships this table definition has with other tables, and allows you to define new relationships. The page contains two grids: v Foreign Keys. This shows which columns in the table definition are foreign keys and which columns and tables they reference. You can define foreign keys manually by entering the information yourself. The table you reference does not

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have to exist in the WebSphere DataStage Repository, but you will be informed if it doesnt. Referencing and referenced table do have to be in the same category. v Tables which reference this table. This gives details of where other table definitions in the Repository reference this one using a foreign key. You cannot edit the contents of this grid.

Parallel page
This page is used when table definitions are used in parallel jobs and gives detailed format information for the defined meta data. The information given here is the same as on the Format tab in one of the following parallel job stages: v Sequential File Stage v v v v v File Set Stage External Source Stage External Target Stage Column Import Stage Column Export Stage

The Defaults button gives access to a shortcut menu offering the choice of: v Save current as default. Saves the settings you have made in this dialog box as the default ones for your table definition. v Reset defaults from factory settings. Resets to the defaults that WebSphere DataStage came with. v Set current from default. Set the current settings to the default (this could be the factory default, or your own default if you have set one up). Click the Show schema button to open a window showing how the current table definition is generated into an OSH schema. This shows how WebSphere DataStage will interpret the column definitions and format properties of the table definition in the context of a parallel job stage.

Layout page
The Layout page displays the schema format of the column definitions in a table. Select a button to view the data representation in one of three formats: v Parallel. Displays the OSH record schema. You can right-click to save the layout as a text file in *.osh format. v COBOL. Displays the COBOL representation, including the COBOL picture clause, starting and ending offsets, and column storage length. You can right-click to save the file view layout as an HTML file. v Standard. Displays the SQL representation, including SQL type, length, and scale.

Locator page
Use the Locator page to view and edit the data resource locator associated with the table definition.

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The data resource locator is a property of the table definition that describes the real world object that the table definition was imported from. Note the following points: v Table definitions are only visible in the SQL Builder if they have a locator defined. v When capturing process metadata, you define a table containing the locator information in the source or target database. This table provides some of the information displayed in the Locator page. v Locators are completed when table definitions are imported using metadata import, and locators are changed when table definitions are copied, renamed, or moved. The fields can be edited in the Locator page. v Locators are used by the Shared Table Creation wizard when comparing table definitions in the DataStage repository with tables in the shared repository. The labels and contents of the fields in this page vary according to the type of data source/target the locator originates from. If the import data connection details were saved in a data connection object when the table definition was created, then the data connection object is identified by the Data Connection field. If the table definition is related to a shared table, the name of the shared table is given in the Created from Data Collection field. If the table definition is related to a shared table with a Name Alias, then the alias is listed in the Name alias field.

Analytical Information page

This page shows information about the table definition that has been generated by Information Analyzer.

Importing a table definition

The easiest way to specify a table definition is to import it directly from the source or target database. A new table definition is created and the properties are automatically filled in with the details of your data source or data target. You can import table definitions from the following data sources: v Assembler files v COBOL files v DCLGen files v ODBC tables v Orchestrate schema definitions v PL/1 files v Data sources accessed using certain connectivity stages. v Sequential files v Stored procedures v UniData files v UniData 6 tables

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v v v v

UniVerse files UniVerse tables Web services WSDL definitions XML table definitions

WebSphere DataStage connects to the specified data source and extracts the required table definition metadata. You can use the Data Browser to view the actual data in data sources from which you are importing table definitions. To import table definitions in this way: 1. Choose Import Table Definitions Data Source Type from the main menu. For most data source types, a dialog box appears enabling you to connect to the data source (for some sources, a wizard appears and guides you through the process). 2. Fill in the required connection details and click OK. Once a connection to the data source has been made successfully, the updated dialog box gives details of the table definitions available for import. 3. Select the required table definitions and click OK. The table definition metadata is imported into the repository. Specific information about importing from particular types of data source is in WebSphere DataStage Developers Help.

Using the Data Browser

When importing table definitions from a data source, you can view the actual data in the tables using the Data Browser. The Data Browser can be used when importing table definitions from the following sources: v ODBC table v UniVerse table v Hashed (UniVerse) file v Sequential file v UniData file v Some types of supplementary stages The Data Browser is opened by clicking the View Data... button on the Import Metadata dialog box. The Data Browser window appears. The Data Browser uses the metadata defined in the data source. If there is no data, a Data source is empty message appears instead of the Data Browser. The Data Browser grid has the following controls: v You can select any row or column, or any cell with a row or column, and press CTRL-C to copy it. v You can select the whole of a very wide row by selecting the first cell and then pressing SHIFT+END. v If a cell contains multiple lines, you can double-click the cell to expand it. Single-click to shrink it again.

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You can view a row containing a specific data item using the Find... button. The Find dialog box repositions the view to the row containing the data you are interested in. The search is started from the current row. The Display... button opens the Column Display dialog box. It allows you to simplify the data displayed by the Data Browser by choosing to hide some of the columns. It also allows you to normalize multivalued data to provide a 1NF view in the Data Browser. This dialog box lists all the columns in the display, and initially these are all selected. To hide a column, clear it. The Normalize on drop-down list box allows you to select an association or an unassociated multivalued column on which to normalize the data. The default is Un-Normalized, and choosing Un-Normalized will display the data in NF2 form with each row shown on a single line. Alternatively you can select Un-Normalize (formatted), which displays multivalued rows split over several lines.

Sharing metadata between projects

You import metadata from a data source through a connector to have that metadata available to the local project and to other projects and suite components. You can also make table definitions in the WebSphere DataStage repository available to other suite components.

Shared metadata
You can share metadata between the local project repository and the suite-wide shared repository. When you are working in a project repository, the metadata that is displayed in the repository tree is local to that project. The metadata cannot be used by another project or another suite component unless you make the metadata available as a table in the shared repository. You can share metadata across the suite in a number of ways: v You can import metadata by using connectors and store it in the shared repository where it can be shared by projects and suite components. This metadata can be made available as table definitions within the projects local repositories. You can use the advanced find facilities to find all the table definitions in a project that are derived from the same source. v You can create table definitions in projects from metadata held in the shared repository. v You can make table definitions in your project tree available as metadata in the shared repository. You can manage shared metadata using a tool in the Designer client. The shared metadata is stored in a hierarchy of objects that reflect the data sources from which the metadata was derived. The hierarchy has one of the following structures:

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Repository Host System Database Schema Table

Repository Host System Data file Sequential

The table object in the hierarchy can represent a relational table, an IMS table, or a table from an object oriented database. The sequential object in the hierarchy can represent a sequential file or an XML file. Related tasks Finding shared table definitions on page 163 If you have table definitions that are derived from shared metadata, you can use advanced find to locate all the table definitions in your project that are derived from the same shared table.

Importing metadata to the shared repository

To place table definitions in the shared repository where they can be used by other projects or suite components, you import metadata through a connector. Ensure that the Share metadata when importing from Connectors option is set for the current project in the Administrator client. This option is selected by default. If this option is not set, only the table definition in the project repository is created when you import metadata by using a connector. You can subsequently associate a table definition with a table in the shared repository by using the shared metadata feature. The metadata is imported from the external data source. A table is created in the shared repository, and a table definition is created in your project repository tree. To import metadata: 1. From the Designer client, open the Import Connector Metadata wizard. 2. On the Connector selection page, select the connector for the import process. The connector that you want depends on the type of data source that you are importing the metadata from. 3. On the Connection details page, enter the connection details for the data source, and click Next. The next pages collect information that is specific to the type of connector that you are using for the import process. 4. Specify the details for the type of connector that you selected, and click Next.
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5. On the Data source location page, select the host name and database to identify where you want to store the metadata in the shared repository. If the lists are not populated, click New location to start the Shared Metadata Management tool so that you can create host and database objects in the repository that correspond to the data source that you are importing metadata from. 6. Click Next. 7. Confirm the import details and click Import. 8. Browse the repository tree and select the location in the project repository for the table definition that you are creating, and then click OK.

Opening the Import Connector Metadata wizard

You use this wizard to import metadata by using a connector. To open the wizard, take one of the following actions: v Select Import Table Definitions Start connector import wizard from the main menu. v Select Import Table Definition Start connector import wizard from the repository tree shortcut menu. v From a stage editor Columns tab, click Load, and then select Import Table Definition Start connector import wizard from the repository tree shortcut menu in the Table Definitions window.

Creating a table definition from shared metadata

You can create table definitions in your project from tables that have been placed in the shared repository by other projects or suite components. The table definitions that are created from metadata in the shared repository have a different icon from the table definitions that have been imported or created locally in the project. Information about the source of the table definition is shown in the Locator page of the Table Definition window. Table definitions that are linked to tables in the shared repository are identified by the following icon:

Table definitions can be linked for any of the following reasons: v Because the table definition was used to create a table in the shared repository. v Because the table definition was imported using a connector and a table in the shared repository was created automatically at the same time. v Because the table definition was created from a table in the shared repository. Table definitions that are local to the project are identified by the following icon:

To create a table definition in your project from a table in the shared repository: 1. In the Designer client, select Repository Metadata Sharing Create Table Definition from Table from the main menu. 2. Browse the tree in the Create Table Definition from Table window and select the tables from which you want to build table definitions in your project. You can select individual tables or select a schema, database, or host that is higher in the tree to select all the contained tables.

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3. In the Folder in which to create Table Definitions field, specify the folder in your project repository where you want to store the table definitions. 4. Click Create.

Synchronizing metadata
You can check that the table definition in your project repository is synchronized with the table in the shared repository. A table definition is in the synchronized state when its modification time and date match the modification time and date of the table in the shared repository to which it is linked. The synchronization state is checked whenever the project repository view is refreshed. You can also check the synchronization state manually to ensure that no changes have occurred since the last repository refresh. A table definition that is no longer synchronized is identified by the following icon:

You can check the synchronization state manually to ensure that no changes have occurred since the last repository refresh: 1. Select one or more table definitions in the project repository tree. 2. Select Repository Metadata Sharing Update table definition from shared table from the main menu. 3. If any of the table definitions are not synchronized with the tables, you can do one of the following actions for that table definition. You can perform these actions on multiple tables if required: v Click Update or Update All to update the table definition or table definitions from the table or tables. v Click Remove or Remove All to remove the link between the table definition or table definitions and the table or tables. 4. If the table definitions are synchronized with the tables, you can either close the window or click Remove to remove the link between the table definition and the table.

Managing shared metadata

You can use the Shared Metadata Management tool to manage the objects that represent tables in the shared repository. Use the Shared Metadata Management tool to add a new host system, add a new database or data file, or add a new schema. You can also use the tool to delete items from the shared repository. You can open the quick find tool from the Shared Metadata Management tool to search for objects in the shared repository.

Adding a new host system

You can use the Shared Metadata Management tool to add a new host system to the shared repository tree.

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The new host system object is shown in the tree in the Shared Metadata Management tool. The details that you enter are shown in the right pane of the Shared Metadata Management tool whenever this host system object is selected in the tree. To add a new host system to the tree: 1. Select Repository Metadata Sharing Management from the main menu to open the Shared Metadata Management tool. 2. Click the repository icon at the top of the tree. 3. Select Add Add new host system. 4. In the Add new host system window, specify information about your host system. The Name field and Network Node fields are mandatory; the other fields are optional. 5. Click OK.

Adding a new database

You use the Shared Metadata Management tool to add a new database to the shared repository tree. The new database object is shown in the tree in the Shared Metadata Management tool. The details that you enter are shown in the right pane of the Shared Metadata Management tool whenever this database object is selected in the tree. Click the Columns tab to view the table columns. To add a new database to the tree: 1. Select Repository Metadata Sharing Management from the main menu to open the Shared Metadata Management tool. 2. Select the host system where you want to add a database. 3. Select Add Add new database. 4. In the Add new database window, specify information about your database. The Name field is mandatory; the other fields are optional. 5. Click OK.

Adding a new schema

You use the Shared Metadata Management tool to add a new schema to the shared repository tree. The new schema object is shown in the tree in the Shared Metadata Management tool. The details that you enter are shown in the right pane of the Shared Metadata Management tool whenever this schema object is selected in the tree. To add a new schema to the tree: 1. Select Repository Metadata Sharing Management from the main menu to open the Shared Metadata Management tool. 2. Select the database where you want to add a schema. 3. Select Add Add new schema. 4. In the Add new schema window, specify information about your schema. The Name field is mandatory, the other fields are optional. 5. Click OK.

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Adding a new data file

You use the Shared Metadata Management tool to add a new data file to the shared repository tree. The new data file object is shown in the tree in the Shared Metadata Management tool. The details that you enter are shown in the right pane of the Shared Metadata Management tool whenever this object is selected in the tree. Click the Columns tab to view the data columns in the file. To add a new data file to the tree: 1. Select Repository Metadata Sharing Management from the main menu to open the Shared Metadata Management tool. 2. Select the host system where you want to add a data file. 3. Select Add Add new data file. 4. In the Add new data file window, specify information about your data file. The Name field is mandatory, the other fields are optional. 5. Click OK.

Manually entering a table definition

If you are unable to import the table definitions for your source or target data, you must enter this information manually. To manually enter table definition properties, you must first create a new table definition. You can then enter suitable settings for the general properties before specifying the column definitions. You only need to specify file format settings for a sequential file table definition.

Creating a table definition

To 1. 2. 3. create a table definition: Choose File New to open the New dialog box. Open the Other folder, select the Table definition icon, and click OK. TheTable Definition dialog box appears. You must enter suitable details for each page appropriate to the type of table definition you are creating. At a minimum you must supply identification details on the General page and column definitions on the Columns page. Details are given in the following sections.

Entering General page details

1. Enter the type of data source in the Data source type field. The name entered here determines how the definition appears under the Table Definitions branch. 2. Enter the name of the data source in the Data source name field. This forms the second part of the table definition identifier and is the name of the branch created under the data source type branch. 3. Enter the name of the table or file containing the data in the Table name field. This is the last part of the table definition identifier and is the name of the leaf created under the data source branch. The rules for name table definitions are as follows: v Table names can be any length. v They must begin with an alphabetic character. v They can contain alphanumeric, period, and underscore characters.
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4. Where the Data source type specifies a relational database, type the name of the database owner in Owner. 5. If you are entering a mainframe table definition, choose the platform type from the Mainframe platform type drop-down list, and the access type from the Mainframe access type drop-down list. Otherwise leave both of these items set to <Not applicable>. 6. Select the Metadata supports Multi-valued fields check box if the metadata supports multivalued data. 7. If required, specify what character an ODBC data source uses as a quote character in ODBC quote character. 8. Enter a brief description of the data in the Short description field. This is an optional field. 9. Enter a more detailed description of the data in the Long description field. This is an optional field. 10. Click the Columns tab. The Columns page appears at the front of the Table Definition dialog box. You can now enter or load column definitions for your data.

Entering column definitions

You can enter column definitions directly in the Columns grid using the standard controls or you can use the Edit Column Metadata dialog box to add one row at a time. To use the dialog box: 1. Do one of the following: v Right-click in the column area and choose Edit row... from the shortcut menu. v Press Ctrl-E. v Double-click on the row number cell at the left of the grid. The Edit Column Metadata dialog box appears. It has a general area containing fields that are common to all data source type, plus three tabs containing fields specific to metadata used in server jobs and information specific to COBOL data sources and information about formats used in parallel jobs. The exact fields that appear in this dialog box depend on the type of table definition as set on the General page of the Table Definition dialog box. 2. Enter the general information for each column you want to define as follows: v Column name. Type in the name of the column. This is the only mandatory field in the definition. v Key. Select Yes or No from the drop-down list. v Native type. For data sources with a platform type of OS390, choose the native data type from the drop-down list. The contents of the list are determined by the Access Type you specified on the General page of the Table Definition dialog box. (The list is blank for non-mainframe data sources.) v SQL type. Choose from the drop-down list of supported SQL types. If you are a adding a table definition for platform type OS390, you cannot manually enter an SQL type, it is automatically derived from the Native type. v Length. Type a number representing the length or precision of the column. v Scale. If the column is numeric, type a number to define the number of decimal places.

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v Nullable. Select Yes or No from the drop-down list. This is set to indicate whether the column is subject to a NOT NULL constraint. It does not itself enforce a NOT NULL constraint. v Date format. Choose the date format that the column uses from the drop-down list of available formats. v Description. Type in a description of the column.

Entering column definitions for server jobs

If you are specifying metadata for a server job type data source or target, then the Edit Column Metadata dialog bog box appears with the Server tab on top. Enter any required information that is specific to server jobs: v Data element. Choose from the drop-down list of available data elements. v Display. Type a number representing the display length for the column. v Position. Visible only if you have specified Meta data supports Multi-valued fields on the General page of the Table Definition dialog box. Enter a number representing the field number. v Type. Visible only if you have specified Meta data supports Multi-valued fields on the General page of the Table Definition dialog box. Choose S, M, MV, MS, or blank from the drop-down list. v Association. Visible only if you have specified Meta data supports Multi-valued fields on the General page of the Table Definition dialog box. Type in the name of the association that the column belongs to (if any). v NLS Map. Visible only if NLS is enabled and Allow per-column mapping has been selected on the NLS page of the Table Definition dialog box. Choose a separate character set map for a column, which overrides the map set for the project or table. (The per-column mapping feature is available only for sequential, ODBC, or generic plug-in data source types.) v Null String. This is the character that represents null in the data. v Padding. This is the character used to pad missing columns. Set to # by default.

Entering column definitions for mainframe jobs

If you are specifying metadata for a mainframe job type data source, then the Edit Column Metadata dialog box appears with the COBOL tab on top. Enter any required information that is specific to mainframe jobs: v Level number. Type in a number giving the COBOL level number in the range 02 - 49. The default value is 05. v Occurs. Type in a number giving the COBOL occurs clause. If the column defines a group, gives the number of elements in the group. v Usage. Choose the COBOL usage clause from the drop-down list. This specifies which COBOL format the column will be read in. These formats map to the formats in the Native type field, and changing one will normally change the other. Possible values are: COMP - Binary COMP-1 - single-precision Float COMP-2 - packed decimal Float COMP-3 - packed decimal COMP-5 - used with NATIVE BINARY native types DISPLAY - zone decimal, used with Display_numeric or Character native types
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 DISPLAY-1 - double-byte zone decimal, used with Graphic_G or Graphic_N v Sign indicator. Choose Signed or blank from the drop-down list to specify whether the column can be signed or not. The default is blank. v Sign option. If the column is signed, choose the location of the sign in the data from the drop-down list. Choose from the following: LEADING - the sign is the first byte of storage TRAILING - the sign is the last byte of storage LEADING SEPARATE - the sign is in a separate byte that has been added to the beginning of storage TRAILING SEPARATE - the sign is in a separate byte that has been added to the end of storage Selecting either LEADING SEPARATE or TRAILING SEPARATE will increase the storage length of the column by one byte. v Sync indicator. Choose SYNC or blank from the drop-down list to indicate whether this is a COBOL-synchronized clause or not. v Redefined field. Optionally specify a COBOL REDEFINES clause. This allows you to describe data in the same storage area using a different data description. The redefining column must be the same length, or smaller, than the column it redefines. Both columns must have the same level, and a column can only redefine the immediately preceding column with that level. v Depending on. Optionally choose a COBOL OCCURS-DEPENDING ON clause from the drop-down list. v Storage length. Gives the storage length in bytes of the column as defined. The field cannot be edited. v Picture. Gives the COBOL PICTURE clause, which is derived from the column definition. The field cannot be edited. The Server tab is still accessible, but the Server page only contains the Data Element and Display fields. The following table shows the relationships between native COBOL types and SQL types:
Table 1. Relationships between native COBOL types and SQL types Native Data Type BINARY Native Length (bytes) 248 COBOL Usage Representation SQL Type PIC S9 to S9(4) SmallInt COMP PIC Integer S9(5) to S9(9) Decimal COMP PIC S9(10) to S9(18) COMP n PIC X(n) PIC S9(p)V9(s) COMP-3 PIC S9(p)V9(s) PIC COMP-1 PIC COMP-2 PIC G(n) DISPLAY-1 PIC N(n) Char Decimal Decimal Decimal Decimal NChar NChar Precision (p) Scale (s) Storage Length (bytes) 248

1 to 4 5 to 9 10 n/a n/a n/a to 18

CHARACTER DECIMAL DISPLAY_ NUMERIC

n (p+s)/2+1 p+s

n p+s p+s p+s (default 18) p+s (default 18) n n

n/a s s s (default 4) s (default 4) n/a n/a

n (p+s)/2+1 (p+s)/2+1 4 8 n*2 n*2

FLOAT (single) 4 (double) 8 GRAPHIC_G GRAPHIC_N n*2 n*2

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Table 1. Relationships between native COBOL types and SQL types (continued) Native Data Type GROUP Native Length (bytes) n (sum of all the column lengths that make up the group) 248 COBOL Usage Representation SQL Type Char Precision (p) n Scale (s) n/a Storage Length (bytes) n

NATIVE BINARY

PIC S9 to S9(4) SmallInt COMP-5 PIC Integer S9(5) to S9(9) Decimal COMP-5 PIC S9(10) to S9(18) COMP-5 PIC S9(4) COMP PIC X(n) PIC S9(4) COMP PIC G(n) DISPLAY-1 PIC S9(4) COMP PIC N(n) VarChar

1 to 4 5 to 9 10 n/a n/a n/a to 18

248

VARCHAR

n+2

n+2

n/a

n+2

VARGRAPHIC (n*2)+2 _G

NVarChar

n+2

n/a

(n*2)+2

VARGRAPHIC (n*2)+2 _N

NVarChar

n+2

n/a

(n*2)+2

Entering column definitions for parallel jobs

If you are specifying metadata for a parallel job type data source or target, then the Edit Column Metadata dialog bog box appears with the Parallel tab on top. This allows you to enter detailed information about the format of the column. Field Level This has the following properties: v Bytes to Skip. Skip the specified number of bytes from the end of the previous column to the beginning of this column. v Delimiter. Specifies the trailing delimiter of the column. Type an ASCII character or select one of whitespace, end, none, null, comma, or tab. v whitespace. Any whitespace characters (space, tab, or newline) at the end of a column are skipped. v end. The end of a field is taken as the delimiter, that is, there is no separate delimiter. This is not the same as a setting of `None which is used for fields with fixed-width columns. none. No delimiter (used for fixed-width). null. ASCII Null character is used. comma. ASCII comma character used. tab. ASCII tab character used. Delimiter string. Specify a string to be written at the end of the column. Enter one or more characters. This is mutually exclusive with Delimiter, which is the default. For example, specifying `, ` (comma space - you do not need to enter the inverted commas) would have the column delimited by `, `. v Drop on input. Select this property when you must fully define the metadata for a data set, but do not want the column actually read into the data set. v v v v v
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v Prefix bytes. Specifies that this column is prefixed by 1, 2, or 4 bytes containing, as a binary value, either the columns length or the tag value for a tagged column. You can use this option with variable-length fields. Variable-length fields can be either delimited by a character or preceded by a 1-, 2-, or 4-byte prefix containing the field length. WebSphere DataStage inserts the prefix before each field. This property is mutually exclusive with the Delimiter, Quote, and Final Delimiter properties, which are used by default. v Print field. This property is intended for use when debugging jobs. Set it to have WebSphere DataStage produce a message for each of the columns it reads. The message has the format: Importing N: D where: N is the column name. D is the imported data of the column. Non-printable characters contained in D are prefixed with an escape character and written as C string literals; if the column contains binary data, it is output in octal format. v Quote. Specifies that variable length columns are enclosed in single quotes, double quotes, or another ASCII character or pair of ASCII characters. Choose Single or Double, or enter a character. v Start position. Specifies the starting position of a column in the record. The starting position can be either an absolute byte offset from the first record position (0) or the starting position of another column. v Tag case value. Explicitly specifies the tag value corresponding to a subfield in a tagged subrecord. By default the fields are numbered 0 to N-1, where N is the number of fields. (A tagged subrecord is a column whose type can vary. The subfields of the tagged subrecord are the possible types. The tag case value of the tagged subrecord selects which of those types is used to interpret the columns value for the record.) String Type This has the following properties: v Character Set. Choose from ASCII or EBCDIC (not available for ustring type (Unicode)). v Default. The default value for a column. This is used for data written by a Generate stage. It also supplies the value to substitute for a column that causes an error (whether written or read). v Export EBCDIC as ASCII. Select this to specify that EBCDIC characters are written as ASCII characters (not available for ustring type (Unicode)). v Is link field. Selected to indicate that a column holds the length of another, variable-length column of the record or of the tag value of a tagged record field. v Import ASCII as EBCDIC. Select this to specify that ASCII characters are read as EBCDIC characters (not available for ustring type (Unicode)). v Field max width. The maximum number of bytes in a column represented as a string. Enter a number. This is useful where you are storing numbers as text. If you are using a fixed-width character set, you can calculate the length exactly. If you are using variable-length character set, calculate an adequate maximum width for your fields. Applies to fields of all data types except date, time, timestamp, and raw; and record, subrec, or tagged if they contain at least one field of this type.

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v Field width. The number of bytes in a column represented as a string. Enter a number. This is useful where you are storing numbers as text. If you are using a fixed-width charset, you can calculate the number of bytes exactly. If its a variable length encoding, base your calculation on the width and frequency of your variable-width characters. Applies to fields of all data types except date, time, timestamp, and raw; and record, subrec, or tagged if they contain at least one field of this type. v Pad char. Specifies the pad character used when strings or numeric values are written to an external string representation. Enter a character (single-byte for strings, can be multi-byte for ustrings) or choose null or space. The pad character is used when the external string representation is larger than required to hold the written field. In this case, the external string is filled with the pad character to its full length. Space is the default. Applies to string, ustring, and numeric data types and record, subrec, or tagged types if they contain at least one field of this type. Date Type This has the following properties: v Byte order. Specifies how multiple byte data types are ordered. Choose from: little-endian. The high byte is on the right. big-endian. The high byte is on the left. native-endian. As defined by the native format of the machine. v Character Set. Choose from ASCII or EBCDIC. v Days since. Dates are written as a signed integer containing the number of days since the specified date. Enter a date in the form %yyyy-%mm-%dd or in the default date format if you have defined a new one on an NLS system. v Data Format. Specifies the data representation format of a column. Choose from: binary text For dates, binary is equivalent to specifying the julian property for the date field, text specifies that the data to be written contains a text-based date in the form %yyyy-%mm-%dd or in the default date format if you have defined a new one on an NLS system. v Default. The default value for a column. This is used for data written by a Generate stage. It also supplies the value to substitute for a column that causes an error (whether written or read). v Format string. The string format of a date. By default this is %yyyy-%mm-%dd. The Format string can contain one or a combination of the following elements: %dd: A two-digit day. %mm: A two-digit month. %year_cutoffyy: A two-digit year derived from yy and the specified four-digit year cutoff, for example %1970yy. %yy: A two-digit year derived from a year cutoff of 1900. %yyyy: A four-digit year. %ddd: Day of year in three-digit form (range of 1- 366). %mmm: Three-character month abbreviation. The format_string is subject to the following restrictions: It cannot have more than one element of the same type, for example it cannot contain two %dd elements.
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 It cannot have both %dd and %ddd. It cannot have both %yy and %yyyy. It cannot have both %mm and %ddd. It cannot have both %mmm and %ddd. It cannot have both %mm and %mmm. If it has %dd, it must have %mm or %mmm. It must have exactly one of %yy or %yyyy. When you specify a date format string, prefix each component with the percent symbol (%). Separate the strings components with any character except the percent sign (%). If this format string does not include a day, it is set to the first of the month in the destination field. If the format string does not include the month and day, they default to January 1. Note that the format string must contain a month if it also contains a day; that is, you cannot omit only the month. The year_cutoff is the year defining the beginning of the century in which all twodigit years fall. By default, the year cutoff is 1900; therefore, a two-digit year of 97 represents 1997. You can specify any four-digit year as the year cutoff. All two-digit years then specify the next possible year ending in the specified two digits that is the same or greater than the cutoff. For example, if you set the year cutoff to 1930, the two-digit year 30 corresponds to 1930, and the two-digit year 29 corresponds to 2029. v Is Julian. Select this to specify that dates are written as a numeric value containing the Julian day. A Julian day specifies the date as the number of days from 4713 BCE January 1, 12:00 hours (noon) GMT. Time Type This has the following properties: v Byte order. Specifies how multiple byte data types are ordered. Choose from: little-endian. The high byte is on the right. big-endian. The high byte is on the left. native-endian. As defined by the native format of the machine. v Character Set. Choose from ASCII or EBCDIC. v Default. The default value for a column. This is used for data written by a Generate stage. It also supplies the value to substitute for a column that causes an error (whether written or read). v Data Format. Specifies the data representation format of a column. Choose from: binary text For time, binary is equivalent to midnight_seconds, text specifies that the field represents time in the text-based form %hh:%nn:%ss or in the default date format if you have defined a new one on an NLS system. v Format string. Specifies the format of columns representing time as a string. By default this is %hh-%mm-%ss. The possible components of the time format string are: %hh: A two-digit hours component. %nn: A two-digit minute component (nn represents minutes because mm is used for the month of a date). %ss: A two-digit seconds component.

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 %ss.n: A two-digit seconds plus fractional part, where n is the number of fractional digits with a maximum value of 6. If n is 0, no decimal point is printed as part of the seconds component. Trailing zeros are not suppressed. You must prefix each component of the format string with the percent symbol. Separate the strings components with any character except the percent sign (%). v Is midnight seconds. Select this to specify that times are written as a binary 32-bit integer containing the number of seconds elapsed from the previous midnight. Timestamp Type This has the following properties: v Byte order. Specifies how multiple byte data types are ordered. Choose from: little-endian. The high byte is on the right. big-endian. The high byte is on the left. native-endian. As defined by the native format of the machine. v Character Set. Choose from ASCII or EBCDIC. v Data Format. Specifies the data representation format of a column. Choose from: binary text For timestamp, binary specifies that the first integer contains a Julian day count for the date portion of the timestamp and the second integer specifies the time portion of the timestamp as the number of seconds from midnight. A binary timestamp specifies that two 32-but integers are written. Text specifies a text-based timestamp in the form %yyyy-%mm-%dd %hh:%nn:%ss or in the default date format if you have defined a new one on an NLS system. v Default. The default value for a column. This is used for data written by a Generate stage. It also supplies the value to substitute for a column that causes an error (whether written or read). v Format string. Specifies the format of a column representing a timestamp as a string. Defaults to %yyyy-%mm-%dd %hh:%nn:%ss. Specify the format as follows: For the date: %dd: A two-digit day. %mm: A two-digit month. %year_cutoffyy: A two-digit year derived from yy and the specified four-digit year cutoff. %yy: A two-digit year derived from a year cutoff of 1900. %yyyy: A four-digit year. %ddd: Day of year in three-digit form (range of 1 - 366) For the time: %hh: A two-digit hours component. %nn: A two-digit minute component (nn represents minutes because mm is used for the month of a date). %ss: A two-digit seconds component. %ss.n: A two-digit seconds plus fractional part, where n is the number of fractional digits with a maximum value of 6. If n is 0, no decimal point is printed as part of the seconds component. Trailing zeros are not suppressed.

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You must prefix each component of the format string with the percent symbol (%). Separate the strings components with any character except the percent sign (%). Integer Type This has the following properties: v Byte order. Specifies how multiple byte data types are ordered. Choose from: little-endian. The high byte is on the right. big-endian. The high byte is on the left. native-endian. As defined by the native format of the machine. v Character Set. Choose from ASCII or EBCDIC. v C_format. Perform non-default conversion of data from a string to integer data. This property specifies a C-language format string used for reading/writing integer strings. This is passed to sscanf() or sprintf(). v Default. The default value for a column. This is used for data written by a Generate stage. It also supplies the value to substitute for a column that causes an error (whether written or read). v Data Format. Specifies the data representation format of a column. Choose from: binary text v Field max width. The maximum number of bytes in a column represented as a string. Enter a number. Enter a number. This is useful where you are storing numbers as text. If you are using a fixed-width character set, you can calculate the length exactly. If you are using variable-length character set, calculate an adequate maximum width for your fields. Applies to fields of all data types except date, time, timestamp, and raw; and record, subrec, or tagged if they contain at least one field of this type. v Field width. The number of bytes in a column represented as a string. Enter a number. This is useful where you are storing numbers as text. If you are using a fixed-width charset, you can calculate the number of bytes exactly. If its a variable length encoding, base your calculation on the width and frequency of your variable-width characters. Applies to fields of all data types except date, time, timestamp, and raw; and record, subrec, or tagged if they contain at least one field of this type. v In_format. Format string used for conversion of data from string to integer. This is passed to sscanf(). By default, WebSphere DataStage invokes the C sscanf() function to convert a numeric field formatted as a string to either integer or floating point data. If this function does not output data in a satisfactory format, you can specify the in_format property to pass formatting arguments to sscanf(). v Is link field. Selected to indicate that a column holds the length of another, variable-length column of the record or of the tag value of a tagged record field. v Out_format. Format string used for conversion of data from integer to a string. This is passed to sprintf(). By default, WebSphere DataStage invokes the C sprintf() function to convert a numeric field formatted as integer data to a string. If this function does not output data in a satisfactory format, you can specify the out_format property to pass formatting arguments to sprintf(). v Pad char. Specifies the pad character used when the integer is written to an external string representation. Enter a character (single-bye for strings, can be multi-byte for ustrings) or choose null or space. The pad character is used when

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the external string representation is larger than required to hold the written field. In this case, the external string is filled with the pad character to its full length. Space is the default. Decimal Type This has the following properties: v Allow all zeros. Specifies whether to treat a packed decimal column containing all zeros (which is normally illegal) as a valid representation of zero. Select Yes or No. v Character Set. Choose from ASCII or EBCDIC. v Decimal separator. Specify the character that acts as the decimal separator (period by default). v Default. The default value for a column. This is used for data written by a Generate stage. It also supplies the value to substitute for a column that causes an error (whether written or read). v Data Format. Specifies the data representation format of a column. Choose from: binary text For decimals, binary means packed. Text represents a decimal in a string format with a leading space or - followed by decimal digits with an embedded decimal point if the scale is not zero. The destination string format is: [+ | -]ddd.[ddd] and any precision and scale arguments are ignored. v Field max width. The maximum number of bytes in a column represented as a string. Enter a number. Enter a number. This is useful where you are storing numbers as text. If you are using a fixed-width character set, you can calculate the length exactly. If you are using variable-length character set, calculate an adequate maximum width for your fields. Applies to fields of all data types except date, time, timestamp, and raw; and record, subrec, or tagged if they contain at least one field of this type. v Field width. The number of bytes in a column represented as a string. Enter a number. This is useful where you are storing numbers as text. If you are using a fixed-width charset, you can calculate the number of bytes exactly. If its a variable length encoding, base your calculation on the width and frequency of your variable-width characters. Applies to fields of all data types except date, time, timestamp, and raw; and record, subrec, or tagged if they contain at least one field of this type. v Packed. Select an option to specify what the decimal columns contain, choose from: v Yes to specify that the decimal columns contain data in packed decimal format (the default). This has the following sub-properties: v Check. Select Yes to verify that data is packed, or No to not verify. v Signed. Select Yes to use the existing sign when writing decimal columns. Select No to write a positive sign (0xf) regardless of the columns actual sign value. v No (separate) to specify that they contain unpacked decimal with a separate sign byte. This has the following sub-property: v Sign Position. Choose leading or trailing as appropriate. v No (zoned) to specify that they contain an unpacked decimal in either ASCII or EBCDIC text. This has the following sub-property: v Sign Position. Choose leading or trailing as appropriate.

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v No (overpunch) to specify that the field has a leading or end byte that contains a character which specifies both the numeric value of that byte and whether the number as a whole is negatively or positively signed. This has the following sub-property: v Sign Position. Choose leading or trailing as appropriate. v Precision. Specifies the precision where a decimal column is represented in text format. Enter a number. When a decimal is written to a string representation, WebSphere DataStage uses the precision and scale defined for the source decimal field to determine the length of the destination string. The precision and scale properties override this default. When they are defined, WebSphere DataStage truncates or pads the source decimal to fit the size of the destination string. If you have also specified the field width property, WebSphere DataStage truncates or pads the source decimal to fit the size specified by field width. v Rounding. Specifies how to round the source field to fit into the destination decimal when reading a source field to a decimal. Choose from: up (ceiling). Truncate source column towards positive infinity. This mode corresponds to the IEEE 754 Round Up mode. For example, 1.4 becomes 2, -1.6 becomes -1. down (floor). Truncate source column towards negative infinity. This mode corresponds to the IEEE 754 Round Down mode. For example, 1.6 becomes 1, -1.4 becomes -2. nearest value. Round the source column towards the nearest representable value. This mode corresponds to the COBOL ROUNDED mode. For example, 1.4 becomes 1, 1.5 becomes 2, -1.4 becomes -1, -1.5 becomes -2. truncate towards zero. This is the default. Discard fractional digits to the right of the right-most fractional digit supported by the destination, regardless of sign. For example, if the destination is an integer, all fractional digits are truncated. If the destination is another decimal with a smaller scale, truncate to the scale size of the destination decimal. This mode corresponds to the COBOL INTEGER-PART function. Using this method 1.6 becomes 1, -1.6 becomes -1. v Scale. Specifies how to round a source decimal when its precision and scale are greater than those of the destination. By default, when the WebSphere DataStage writes a source decimal to a string representation, it uses the precision and scale defined for the source decimal field to determine the length of the destination string. You can override the default by means of the precision and scale properties. When you do, WebSphere DataStage truncates or pads the source decimal to fit the size of the destination string. If you have also specified the field width property, WebSphere DataStage truncates or pads the source decimal to fit the size specified by field width. Specifies how to round a source decimal when its precision and scale are greater than those of the destination. Float Type This has the following properties: v C_format. Perform non-default conversion of data from a string to floating-point data. This property specifies a C-language format string used for reading floating point strings. This is passed to sscanf(). v Character Set. Choose from ASCII or EBCDIC. v Default. The default value for a column. This is used for data written by a Generate stage. It also supplies the value to substitute for a column that causes an error (whether written or read). v Data Format. Specifies the data representation format of a column. Choose from:

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v v

binary text Field max width. The maximum number of bytes in a column represented as a string. Enter a number. Enter a number. This is useful where you are storing numbers as text. If you are using a fixed-width character set, you can calculate the length exactly. If you are using variable-length character set, calculate an adequate maximum width for your fields. Applies to fields of all data types except date, time, timestamp, and raw; and record, subrec, or tagged if they contain at least one field of this type. Field width. The number of bytes in a column represented as a string. Enter a number. This is useful where you are storing numbers as text. If you are using a fixed-width charset, you can calculate the number of bytes exactly. If its a variable length encoding, base your calculation on the width and frequency of your variable-width characters. Applies to fields of all data types except date, time, timestamp, and raw; and record, subrec, or tagged if they contain at least one field of this type. In_format. Format string used for conversion of data from string to floating point. This is passed to sscanf(). By default, WebSphere DataStage invokes the C sscanf() function to convert a numeric field formatted as a string to floating point data. If this function does not output data in a satisfactory format, you can specify the in_format property to pass formatting arguments to sscanf(). Is link field. Selected to indicate that a column holds the length of a another, variable-length column of the record or of the tag value of a tagged record field. Out_format. Format string used for conversion of data from floating point to a string. This is passed to sprintf(). By default, WebSphere DataStage invokes the C sprintf() function to convert a numeric field formatted as floating point data to a string. If this function does not output data in a satisfactory format, you can specify the out_format property to pass formatting arguments to sprintf(). Pad char. Specifies the pad character used when the floating point number is written to an external string representation. Enter a character (single-bye for strings, can be multi-byte for ustrings) or choose null or space. The pad character is used when the external string representation is larger than required to hold the written field. In this case, the external string is filled with the pad character to its full length. Space is the default.

Nullable This appears for nullable fields. v Actual field length. Specifies the number of bytes to fill with the Fill character when a field is identified as null. When WebSphere DataStage identifies a null field, it will write a field of this length full of Fill characters. This is mutually exclusive with Null field value. v Null field length. The length in bytes of a variable-length field that contains a null. When a variable-length field is read, a length of null field length in the source field indicates that it contains a null. When a variable-length field is written, WebSphere DataStage writes a length value of null field length if the field contains a null. This property is mutually exclusive with null field value. v Null field value. Specifies the value given to a null field if the source is set to null. Can be a number, string, or C-type literal escape character. For example, you can represent a byte value by \ooo, where each o is an octal digit 0 - 7 and the first o is < 4, or by \xhh, where each h is a hexadecimal digit 0 - F. You must use this form to encode non-printable byte values.

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This property is mutually exclusive with Null field length and Actual length. For a fixed width data representation, you can use Pad char (from the general section of Type defaults) to specify a repeated trailing character if the value you specify is shorter than the fixed width of the field. On reading, specifies the value given to a field containing a null. On writing, specifies the value given to a field if the source is set to null. Can be a number, string, or C-type literal escape character. Generator If the column is being used in a Row Generator or Column Generator stage, this allows you to specify extra details about the mock data being generated. The exact fields that appear depend on the data type of the column being generated. They allow you to specify features of the data being generated, for example, for integers they allow you to specify if values are random or whether they cycle. If they cycle you can specify an initial value, an increment, and a limit. If they are random, you can specify a seed value for the random number generator, whether to include negative numbers, and a limit. Vectors If the row you are editing represents a column which is a variable length vector, tick the Variable check box. The Vector properties appear, these give the size of the vector in one of two ways: v Link Field Reference. The name of a column containing the number of elements in the variable length vector. This should have an integer or float type, and have its Is Link field property set. v Vector prefix. Specifies 1-, 2-, or 4-byte prefix containing the number of elements in the vector. If the row you are editing represents a column which is a vector of known length, enter the number of elements in the Vector Occurs box. Subrecords If the row you are editing represents a column which is part of a subrecord the Level Number column indicates the level of the column within the subrecord structure. If you specify Level numbers for columns, the column immediately preceding will be identified as a subrecord. Subrecords can be nested, so can contain further subrecords with higher level numbers (that is, level 06 is nested within level 05). Subrecord fields have a Tagged check box to indicate that this is a tagged subrecord. Extended For certain data types the Extended check box appears to allow you to modify the data type as follows: v Char, VarChar, LongVarChar. Select to specify that the underlying data type is a ustring. v Time. Select to indicate that the time field includes microseconds. v Timestamp. Select to indicate that the timestamp field includes microseconds.

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v TinyInt, SmallInt, Integer, BigInt types. Select to indicate that the underlying data type is the equivalent uint field. Use the buttons at the bottom of the Edit Column Metadata dialog box to continue adding or editing columns, or to save and close. The buttons are: v Previous and Next. View the metadata in the previous or next row. These buttons are enabled only where there is a previous or next row enabled. If there are outstanding changes to the current row, you are asked whether you want to save them before moving on. v Close. Close the Edit Column Metadata dialog box. If there are outstanding changes to the current row, you are asked whether you want to save them before closing. v Apply. Save changes to the current row. v Reset. Remove all changes made to the row since the last time you applied changes. Click OK to save the column definitions and close the Edit Column Metadata dialog box. Remember, you can also edit a columns definition grid using the general grid editing controls .

Loading column definitions

Instead of entering column definitions, you can load (copy) the column definitions from an existing table definition. To load column definitions: 1. Click Load... . The Table Definitions dialog box appears: This dialog box displays the repository tree, allowing you to browse for the table definition whose contents you want to copy. Note: You can click Open quick find to enter the name of the table definition you want. The table definition is automatically highlighted in the tree when you click OK. You can use the Import button to import a table definition from a data source. 2. When you locate the table definition whose contents you want to copy, select it and click OK. The Select Columns dialog box appears. It allows you to specify which column definitions from the table definition you want to load. Use the arrow keys to move columns back and forth between the Available columns list and the Selected columns list. The single arrow buttons move highlighted columns, the double arrow buttons move all items. By default all columns are selected for loading. Click Find... to open a dialog box which lets you search for a particular column. The shortcut menu also gives access to Find... and Find Next. Click OK when you are happy with your selection. This closes the Select Columns dialog box and loads the selected columns into the stage. For mainframe stages and certain parallel stages where the column definitions derive from a CFD file, the Select Columns dialog box might also contain a Create Filler check box. This happens when the table definition the columns are being loaded from represents a fixed-width table. Select this to cause sequences of unselected columns to be collapsed into filler items. Filler columns are sized appropriately, their data type set to character, and name set to FILLER_XX_YY where XX is the start offset and YY the end offset. Using fillers

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results in a smaller set of columns, saving space and processing time and making the column set easier to understand. If you are importing column definitions that have been derived from a CFD file into server or parallel job stages, you are warned if any of the selected columns redefine other selected columns. You can choose to carry on with the load or go back and select columns again. 3. Save the table definition by clicking OK. You can edit the table definition to remove unwanted column definitions, assign data elements, or change branch names.

Rules for name column definitions

The rules for naming columns depend on the type of job the table definition will be used in. v Server and Parallel Jobs. Column names can be any length. They must begin with an alphabetic character or $ and contain alphanumeric, underscore, period, and $ characters. v Mainframe Jobs. Column names can be any length. They must begin with an alphabetic character and contain alphanumeric, underscore, #, @, and $ characters.

Viewing or modifying a table definition

You can view or modify any table definition in your project. To view a table definition, select it in the repository tree and do one of the following: v Choose Properties... from the shortcut menu. v Double-click the table definition in the display area. The Table Definition dialog box appears. You can edit any of the column definition properties or delete unwanted definitions.

Editing column definitions

To edit a column definition in the grid, click the cell you want to change then choose Edit cell... from the shortcut menu or press Ctrl-E to open the Edit Column Metadata dialog box.

Deleting column definitions

If, after importing or defining a table definition, you subsequently decide that you do not want to read or write the data in a particular column you must delete the corresponding column definition. Unwanted column definitions can be easily removed from the Columns grid. To delete a column definition, click any cell in the row you want to remove and press the Delete key or choose Delete row from the shortcut menu. Click OK to save any changes and to close the Table Definition dialog box. To delete several column definitions at once, hold down the Ctrl key and click in the row selector column for the rows you want to remove. Press the Delete key or choose Delete row from the shortcut menu to remove the selected rows.

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Finding Column Definitions

Use the find facility to locate a particular column definition in a table definition. To find a particular column definition, choose Find row... from the shortcut menu. The Find dialog box appears, allowing you to enter a string to be searched for in the specified column.

Propagating values
You can propagate the values for the properties set in a column to several other columns. Select the column whose values you want to propagate, then hold down shift and select the columns you want to propagate to. Choose Propagate values... from the shortcut menu to open the dialog box. In the Property column, click the check box for the property or properties whose values you want to propagate. The Usage field tells you if a particular property is applicable to certain types of job only (for example server, mainframe, or parallel) or certain types of table definition (for example COBOL). The Value field shows the value that will be propagated for a particular property.

Stored procedure definitions

You can access data in a database using a stored procedure, if required. To do so, you use an ODBC stage in a server job, or the STP stage in a server or parallel job (the STP stage has its own documentation, which is available when you install the stage). A stored procedure can: v Have associated parameters, which might be input or output v Return a value (like a function call) v Create a result set in the same way as an SQL SELECT statement Note: ODBC stages support the use of stored procedures with or without input arguments and the creation of a result set, but do not support output arguments or return values. In this case a stored procedure might have a return value defined, but it is ignored at run time. A stored procedure might not have output parameters. The definition for a stored procedure (including the associated parameters and metadata) can be stored in the Repository. These stored procedure definitions can be used when you edit an ODBC stage or STP stage in your job design. You can import, create, or edit a stored procedure definition using the Designer.

Importing a stored procedure definition

The easiest way to specify a definition for a stored procedure is to import it directly from the stored procedure on the source or target database using an ODBC connection. A new definition for the stored procedure is created and stored in the Repository. To import a definition for a stored procedure via an ODBC connection:
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1. ChooseImport Table Definitions Stored Procedure Definitions... from the main menu. A dialog box appears enabling you to connect to the data source containing the stored procedures. 2. Fill in the required connection details and click OK. Once a connection to the data source has been made successfully, the updated dialog box gives details of the stored procedures available for import. 3. Select the required stored procedures and click OK. The stored procedures are imported into the WebSphere DataStage Repository. Specific information about importing stored procedures is in WebSphere DataStage Developers Help.

The Table Definition dialog box for stored procedures

When you create, edit, or view a stored procedure definition, the Table Definition dialog box is displayed. This dialog box is described in The Table Definition Dialog Box. The dialog box for stored procedures has additional pages, having up to six pages in all: v General. Contains general information about the stored procedure. The Data source type field on this page must contain StoredProcedures to display the additional Parameters page. v Columns. Contains a grid displaying the column definitions for each column in the stored procedure result set. You can add new column definitions, delete unwanted definitions, or edit existing ones. For more information about editing a grid, see Editing Column Definitions. v Parameters. Contains a grid displaying the properties of each input parameter. Note: If you cannot see the Parameters page, you must enter StoredProcedures in the Data source type field on the General page. The grid has the following columns: Column name. The name of the parameter column. Key. Indicates whether the column is part of the primary key. SQL type. The SQL data type. Extended. This column gives you further control over data types used in parallel jobs when NLS is enabled. Selecting a value from the extended drop-down list is the equivalent to selecting the Extended option in the Edit Column Metadata dialog box Parallel tab. The available values depend on the base data type I/O Type. Specifies the type of parameter. Can be one of IN, INOUT, OUT, or RETURN. Note that the ODBC stage only supports IN and INOUT parameters. The STP stage supports all parameter types. Length. The data precision. This is the length for CHAR data and the maximum length for VARCHAR data. Scale. The data scale factor. Nullable. Specifies whether the column can contain null values. This is set to indicate whether the column is subject to a NOT NULL constraint. It does not itself enforce a NOT NULL constraint. Display. The maximum number of characters required to display the column data.

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 Data element. The type of data in the column. Description. A text description of the column. v Format. Contains file format parameters for sequential files. This page is not used for a stored procedure definition. v NLS. Contains the name of the character set map to use with the table definitions. v Error codes. The Error Codes page allows you to specify which raiserror calls within the stored procedure produce a fatal error and which produce a warning. This page has the following fields: Fatal errors. Enter the raiserror values that you want to be regarded as a fatal error. The values should be separated by a space. Warnings. Enter the raiserror values that you want to be regarded as a warning. The values should be separated by a space.

Manually entering a stored procedure definition

If you are unable to import the definition for your stored procedure, you must enter this information manually. To manually enter a stored procedure definition, first create the definition. You can then enter suitable settings for the general properties, before specifying definitions for the columns in the result set and the input parameters. Note: You do not need to edit the Format page for a stored procedure definition. To create a table definition: 1. Choose File New to open the New dialog box. 2. Open the Other folder, select the Table definition icon, and click OK. 3. TheTable Definition dialog box appears. You must enter suitable details for each page appropriate to the type of table definition you are creating. At a minimum you must supply identification details on the General page and column definitions on the Columns page. Details are given in the following sections.

Entering General page details

1. Enter StoredProcedures in the Data source type field. This specifies that the new definition relates to a stored procedure. The additional pages appear in the Table Definition dialog box. 2. Enter the name of the data source in the Data source name field. This forms the second part of the table definition identifier. 3. Enter the name of the procedure in the Procedure name field. This is the last part of the table definition identifier. 4. Optionally enter a brief description of the data in the Short description field. 5. Optionally enter a detailed description of the data in the Long description field.

Specifying column definitions for the result set

To specify the column definitions for the result set, click the Columns tab in the Table Definition dialog box. The Columns page appears at the front of the Table Definition dialog box. You can now enter or load column definitions. For more information, see Entering Column Definitions and Loading Column Definitions.

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Note: You do not need a result set if the stored procedure is used for input (writing to a database). However, in this case, you must have input parameters.

Specifying input parameters

To specify input parameters for the stored procedure, click the Parameters tab in the Table Definition dialog box. The Parameters page appears at the front of the Table Definition dialog box. You can enter parameter definitions are entered directly in the Parameters grid using the general grid controls or you can use the Edit Column Metadata dialog box. To use the dialog box:. 1. Do one of the following: v Right-click in the column area and choose Edit row... from the shortcut menu. v Press Ctrl-E. The Edit Column Metadata dialog box appears. The Server tab is on top, and only contains a Data Element and a Display field. In the main page, specify the SQL data type by choosing an appropriate type from the drop-down list in the SQL type cell. Enter an appropriate value for the data precision in the Length cell. Enter an appropriate data scale factor in the Scale cell. Specify whether the parameter can contain null values by choosing an appropriate option from the drop-down list in the Nullable cell. Enter text to describe the column in the Description cell. This cell expands to a drop-down text entry box if you enter more characters than the display width of the column. You can increase the display width of the column if you want to see the full text description. In the Server tab, enter the maximum number of characters required to display the parameter data in the Display cell. In the Server tab, choose the type of data the column contains from the drop-down list in the Data element cell. This list contains all the built-in data elements supplied with WebSphere DataStage and any additional data elements you have defined. You do not need to edit this cell to create a column definition. You can assign a data element at any point during the development of your job. Click APPLY and CLOSE to save and close the Edit Column Metadata dialog box. You can continue to add more parameter definitions by editing the last row in the grid. New parameters are always added to the bottom of the grid, but you can select and drag the row to a new position in the grid.

2. 3. 4. 5. 6.

7. 8.

9. 10.

Specifying error handling

1. Enter the raiserror values that you want to be regarded as a fatal error. The values should be separated by a space. 2. Enter the raiserror values that you want to be regarded as a warning. The values should be separated by a space.

Viewing or modifying a stored procedure definition

You can view or modify any stored procedure definition in your project.

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To view a stored procedure definition, select it in the repository tree and do one of the following: v Choose Properties... from the shortcut menu. v Double-click the stored procedure definition in the display area. The Table Definition dialog box appears. You can edit or delete any of the column or parameter definitions.

Editing column or parameter definitions

You can edit the settings for a column or parameter definition by editing directly in the Columns or Parameters grid. To edit a definition, click the cell you want to change. The way you edit the cell depends on the cell contents. If the cell contains a drop-down list, choose an alternative option from the drop-down list. If the cell contains text, you can start typing to change the value, or press F2 or choose Edit cell... from the shortcut menu to put the cell into edit mode. Alternatively you can edit rows using the Edit Column Meta Data dialog box.

Deleting column or parameter definitions

If, after importing or defining stored procedure columns, you subsequently decide that you do not want to read or write the data in a particular column you must delete the corresponding column definition. Unwanted column or parameter definitions can be easily removed from the Columns or Parameters grid. To delete a column or parameter definition, click any cell in the row you want to remove and press the Delete key or choose Delete row from the shortcut menu. (You can delete all the rows by clicking Clear All). Click OK to save any changes and to close the Table Definition dialog box. To delete several column or parameter definitions at once, hold down the Ctrl key and click in the row selector column for the rows you want to remove. Press the Delete key or choose Delete row from the shortcut menu to remove the selected rows.

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Chapter 5. Making your jobs adaptable

You can specify some of the information that your job needs when your run the job. You use job parameters to do this. Use job parameters to design flexible, reusable jobs. If you want to process data based on the results for a particular week, location, or product, you can include these settings as part of your job design. However, when you want to use the job again for a different week or product, you must edit the design and recompile the job. Instead of entering variable factors as part of the job design, you can set up parameters which represent processing variables. For parallel jobs and server jobs, you are prompted for values when you run or schedule the job. For mainframe jobs the parameter values are placed in a file that is accessed when the job is compiled and run on the mainframe. You can specify job parameters on a per-job basis using the Parameters page of the Job Properties window. But for parallel and server jobs, and job sequences, you can also create parameter set objects and store them in the repository. Use parameter set objects to define job parameters that you are likely to use over and over again in different jobs, for example connection details for a particular database. Then, whenever you need this set of parameters in a job design, you can insert them into the job properties from the parameter set object. You can also define different sets of values for each parameter set. These are stored as files in the WebSphere DataStage server install directory, and are available for you to use when you run jobs that use these parameter sets. If you make any changes to a parameter set object, these changes will be reflected in job designs that use this object up until the time the job is compiled. The parameters that a job is compiled with are the ones that will be available when the job is run (although if you change the design after compilation the job will once again link to the current version of the parameter set).

Specifying a job parameter for parallel jobs

Use the Parameters page of the Job properties window to specify one or more parameters for your job. For parallel jobs, you are prompted for values when you run or schedule the job. All job parameters are defined by editing the empty row in the Job Parameters grid. Note: Before you remove a job parameter definition, you must make sure that you remove the references to this parameter in your job design. If you do not do this, your job might fail to run. You can also use the Parameters page to set different values for environment variables while the job runs. The settings only take effect at run-time, they do not affect the permanent settings of environment variables. The Parameters page contains the Job Parameters grid, which has the following columns:
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v v v v v

Parameter name. The name of the parameter. Prompt. Text used as the field name in the run-time dialog box. Type. The type of the parameter (to enable validation). Default Value. The default setting for the parameter. Help text. The text that appears if a user clicks Property Help in the Job Run Options dialog box when running the job.

Specify the type of the parameter by choosing one of the following from the drop-down list in the Type column: v String. The default type. v Encrypted. Used to specify a password. The default value is set by double-clicking the Default Value cell to open the Setup Password dialog box. Type the password in the Encrypted String field and retype it in the Confirm Encrypted String field. It is displayed as asterisks. v Integer. Long int (-2147483648 to +2147483647). v Float. Double (1.79769313486232E308 to -4.94065645841247E-324 and 4.94065645841247E-324 to -1.79769313486232E308). v Pathname. Enter a default pathname or file name by typing it into Default Value or double-click the Default Value cell to open the Browse dialog box. v List. A list of valid string variables. To set up a list, double-click the Default Value cell to open the Setup List and Default dialog box. Build a list by typing in each item into the Value field, then clicking Add. The item then appears in the List box. To remove an item, select it in the List box and click Remove. Select one of the items from the Set Default drop-down list box to be the default. v Date. Date in the ISO format yyyy-mm-dd. v Time. Time in the format hh:mm:ss. WebSphere DataStage uses the parameter type to validate any values that are subsequently supplied for that parameter, be it in the Director or the Designer. You can supply default values for parameters, which are used unless another value is specified when the job is run. For most parameter types, you simply type an appropriate default value into the Default Value cell. When specifying a password or a list variable, double-click the Default Value cell to open further dialog boxes which allow you to supply defaults.

Using job parameters in parallel jobs

You can use the defined parameters by specifying them in place of properties in a parallel job stage editor. Properties that you can substitute a job parameter for have a right arrow next to the property value field. Click on this arrow to open a menu and click the Job Parameter item, then choose a parameter from the list of defined job parameters.

Environment variables
You can define a environment variable as a job parameter. When you run the job, you specify a value for the environment variable. To set a runtime value for an environment variable:

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1. Click Add Environment Variable... at the bottom of the Parameters page. The Choose environment variable list appears. This shows a list of the available environment variables. 2. Click on the environment variable you want to override at runtime. It appears in the parameter grid, distinguished from job parameters by being preceded by a $. You can also click New... at the top of the list to define a new environment variable. A dialog box appears allowing you to specify name and prompt. The new variable is added to the Choose environment variable list and you can click on it to add it to the parameters grid. 3. Set the required value in the Default Value column. This is the only field you can edit for an environment variable. Depending on the type of variable, a further dialog box might appear to help you enter a value. When you run the job and specify a value for the environment variable, you can specify one of the following special values: v $ENV. Instructs WebSphere DataStage to use the current setting for the environment variable. v $PROJDEF. The current setting for the environment variable is retrieved and set in the jobs environment (so that value is used wherever in the job the environment variable is used). If the value of that environment variable is subsequently changed in the Administrator client, the job will pick up the new value without the need for recompiling. v $UNSET. Instructs WebSphere DataStage to explicitly unset the environment variable. Environment variables are set up using the Administrator client.

Specifying a job parameter for server jobs

Use the Parameters page of the Job properties window to specify one or more parameters for your job. For server jobs, you are prompted for values when you run or schedule the job. All job parameters are defined by editing the empty row in the Job Parameters grid. Note: Before you remove a job parameter definition, you must make sure that you remove the references to this parameter in your job design. If you do not do this, your job might fail to run. You can also use the Parameters page to set different values for environment variables while the job runs. The settings only take effect at run-time, they do not affect the permanent settings of environment variables. The server job Parameters page has a Job Parameters grid, which has the following columns: v Parameter name. The name of the parameter. v Prompt. Text used as the field name in the run-time dialog box. v Type. The type of the parameter (to enable validation). v Default Value. The default setting for the parameter.

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v Help text. The text that appears if a user clicks Property Help in the Job Run Options dialog box when running the job. Specify the type of the parameter by choosing one of the following from the drop-down list in the Type column: v String. The default type. v Encrypted. Used to specify a password. The default value is set by double-clicking the Default Value cell to open the Setup Password dialog box. Type the password in the Encrypted String field and retype it in the Confirm Encrypted String field. It is displayed as asterisks. v Integer. Long int (-2147483648 to +2147483647). v Float. Double (1.79769313486232E308 to -4.94065645841247E-324 and 4.94065645841247E-324 to -1.79769313486232E308). v Pathname. Enter a default pathname or file name by typing it into Default Value or double-click the Default Value cell to open the Browse dialog box. v List. A list of valid string variables. To set up a list, double-click the Default Value cell to open the Setup List and Default dialog box. Build a list by typing in each item into the Value field, then clicking Add. The item then appears in the List box. To remove an item, select it in the List box and click Remove. Select one of the items from the Set Default drop-down list box to be the default. v Date. Date in the ISO format yyyy-mm-dd. v Time. Time in the format hh:mm:ss. WebSphere DataStage uses the parameter type to validate any values that are subsequently supplied for that parameter, be it in the Director or the Designer. You can supply default values for parameters, which are used unless another value is specified when the job is run. For most parameter types, you simply type an appropriate default value into the Default Value cell. When specifying a password or a list variable, double-click the Default Value cell to open further dialog boxes which allow you to supply defaults.

Using job parameters in server jobs

To use the defined job parameters, you must specify them when you edit a stage. When you edit a field that you wish to use a parameter for, enter # Param #, where Param is the name of the job parameter. The string #Param# is replaced by the value for the job parameter when the job is run. (For more details about editing stages, see Editing Stages.) A job parameter can be used in any stage or link property, for example: v In Transformer stages. You can use job parameters in the following fields when you edit a Transformer stage: Key Expression cell of a reference input link Constraint on an output link Derivation cell of an output link You can use the Expression Editor to insert a job parameter in these fields. v In Sequential File stages. You can use job parameters in the following fields in the Sequential File Stage dialog box: File name field on the Inputs or Outputs page

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v In ODBC or UniVerse stages. You can use job parameters in the following fields in the stage dialog box: Data source name field on the General tab on the Stage page User name and Password fields on the General tab on the Stage page Account name or Use directory path fields on the Details tab on the Stage page (UniVerse stage only) Table name field on the General tab on the Inputs or Outputs page WHERE clause field on the Selection tab on the Outputs page Value cell on the Parameters tab, which appears in the Outputs page when you use a stored procedure (ODBC stage only) Expression field on the Derivation dialog box, opened from the Derivation column in the Outputs page of a UniVerse or ODBC Stage dialog box v In Hashed File stages. You can use job parameters in the following fields in the Hashed File Stage dialog box: Use account name or Use directory path fields on the Stage page File name field on the General tab on the Inputs or Outputs page v In UniData stages. You can use job parameters in the following fields in the UniData Stage dialog box: Server, Database, User name, and Password fields on the Stage page File name field on the General tab on the Inputs or Outputs page v In Folder stages. You can use job parameters in the following fields in the Folder stage dialog box: Properties in the Properties tab of the Stage page Properties in the Properties tab of the Outputs page v Before and after subroutines. You can use job parameters to specify argument values for before and after subroutines.

Environment variables
You can define a environment variable as a job parameter. When you run the job, you specify a value for the environment variable. To set a runtime value for an environment variable: 1. Click Add Environment Variable... at the bottom of the Parameters page. The Choose environment variable list appears. This shows a list of the available environment variables. 2. Click on the environment variable you want to override at runtime. It appears in the parameter grid, distinguished from job parameters by being preceded by a $. You can also click New... at the top of the list to define a new environment variable. A dialog box appears allowing you to specify name and prompt. The new variable is added to the Choose environment variable list and you can click on it to add it to the parameters grid. 3. Set the required value in the Default Value column. This is the only field you can edit for an environment variable. Depending on the type of variable, a further dialog box might appear to help you enter a value. When you run the job and specify a value for the environment variable, you can specify one of the following special values: v $ENV. Instructs WebSphere DataStage to use the current setting for the environment variable.
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v $PROJDEF. The current setting for the environment variable is retrieved and set in the jobs environment (so that value is used wherever in the job the environment variable is used). If the value of that environment variable is subsequently changed in the Administrator client, the job will pick up the new value without the need for recompiling. v $UNSET. Instructs WebSphere DataStage to explicitly unset the environment variable. Environment variables are set up using the Administrator client.

Creating a parameter set

To create a parameter set: 1. Choose File New to open the New dialog box. 2. Open the Other folder, select the Parameter Set icon, and click OK. 3. The Parameter Set dialog box appears. 4. Enter the required details on each of the pages as detailed in the following sections.

Parameter Set dialog box - General page

Use the General page to specify a name for your parameter set and to provide descriptions of it. The Parameter Set name must start with an alphabetic character and comprise alphanumeric and underscore characters. The maximum length is 255 characters.

Parameter Set dialog box - Parameters page

Use this page to specify the actual parameters that are being stored in the parameter set. To add a parameter: 1. Enter the name of the parameter in the Parameter name field. This is the name by which it will be referred to in any job design. The name must start with an alphabetic character and comprise alphanumeric and underscore characters. The maximum length is 255 characters. 2. Enter a prompt for the parameter in the Prompt field. This is displayed whenever someone running a job using this parameter is asked to provide values for job parameters. 3. Select the data type of the parameter from the Type drop-down list. Choose from one of the following: v String. The default type. v Encrypted. Used to specify a password. The default value is set by double-clicking the Default Value cell to open the Setup Password dialog box. Type the password in the Encrypted String field and retype it in the Confirm Encrypted String field. It is displayed as asterisks. v Integer. Long int (-2147483648 to +2147483647). v Float. Double (1.79769313486232E308 to -4.94065645841247E-324 and 4.94065645841247E-324 to -1.79769313486232E308). v Pathname. Enter a default pathname or file name by typing it into Default Value or double-click the Default Value cell to open the Browse dialog box.

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v List. A list of valid string variables. To set up a list, double-click the Default Value cell to open the Setup List and Default dialog box. Build a list by typing in each item into the Value field, then clicking Add. The item then appears in the List box. To remove an item, select it in the List box and click Remove. Select one of the items from the Set Default drop-down list box to be the default. v Date. Date in the ISO format yyyy-mm-dd. v Time. Time in the format hh:mm:ss. 4. Optionally enter a default value for the parameter in the Default Value field. When someone runs a job using this parameter they can accept the default value for the parameter, pick up a value from a value set file (see Parameter Set Dialog Box - Values Page), or specify a new one. For most parameter types you can type directly into this field. When specifying an encrypted string or a list variable, double-click the Default Value field to open further dialog boxes which allow you to supply defaults. 5. Optionally provide some help text for the parameter in the Help Text field. When someone runs a job that uses this parameter, they can click Help when prompted for a value. The text you enter here will be displayed.

Setting values for environment variables

You can also specify runtime values for environment variable in a parameter set. When the job is run, the environment variable will be set accordingly. To set a runtime value for an environment variable: 1. Click Add Environment Variable... at the bottom of the Parameters page. The Choose environment variable list appears. This shows a list of the available environment variables. 2. Click on the environment variable you want to override at runtime. It appears in the parameter grid, distinguished from job parameters by being preceded by a $. You can also click New... at the top of the list to define a new environment variable. A dialog box appears allowing you to specify name and prompt. The new variable is added to the Choose environment variable list and you can click on it to add it to the parameters grid. 3. Set the required value in the Default Value column. This is the only field you can edit for an environment variable. Depending on the type of variable a further dialog box can appear to help you enter a value. When you run the job and specify a value for the environment variable, you can specify one of the following special values: v $ENV. Instructs WebSphere DataStage to use the current setting for the environment variable. v $PROJDEF. The current setting for the environment variable is retrieved and set in the jobs environment (so that value is used wherever in the job the environment variable is used). If the value of that environment variable is subsequently changed in the Administrator client, the job will pick up the new value without the need for recompiling. v $UNSET. Instructs WebSphere DataStage to explicitly unset the environment variable. Environment variables are set up using the Administrator client.

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Parameter Set dialog box - Values page

Use this page to optionally specify sets of values to be used for the parameters in this parameter set when a job using it is designed or run. Each set of values is given a name and stored in a file of that name when you save the parameter set. At runtime, the names of one of these files can be specified and will provide the values for all the parameters. One file containing parameter values is created for each row you specify on the Values page. The files are stored in a directory called ParameterSets in the project directory in the server install directory. For example, if the files CarlMonday and CarlFriday were specified for the parameter set Runschedule in the project dayrun, they would be stored as follows:
C:\IBM\InformationServer\Server\Projects\dayrun\ParameterSets\Runschedule\CarlMonday C:\IBM\InformationServer\Server\Projects\dayrun\ParameterSets\Runschedule\CarlFriday

(Assuming the server install directory is C:\IBM\InformationServer\Server.) To specify a value file: 1. Enter the name of the value file in the Value File name field. The name must start with an alphabetic character and comprise alphanumeric and underscore characters. The maximum length is 255 characters. 2. The remaining fields are the parameters you specified on the Parameters page. For each file you specify, enter a value for each of the parameters. You will be offered the default values you specified on the Parameters page and can accept these if you want. 3. Repeat for each value file you want to specify.

Using parameter sets in job designs

You specify that a job uses a parameter set on the Parameters page of the Job Properties window. You can only add an entire parameter set, you cannot select one of the individual parameters that a set contains. When you actually use one of the parameters from a parameter set in your job design, you refer to it in the form parameter_set.parameter_name. For example, if you want your job to use the value of the parameter DayOfWeek from the parameter set Runschedule, you refer to it in the job as #Runschedule.DayOfWeek#.

Adding a parameter set to a job design

To add a parameter set to a job design: 1. Open the Job Properties dialog box for that job and click on the Parameters tab to open the Parameters page. 2. Click Add Parameter Set. WebSphere DataStage opens a tree view showing the currently available parameter sets. 3. Click a parameter set name to add it to the parameters grid. It is added as a parameter with a Type of `parameter set and a Prompt of `paramsetname parameters. The Help Text contains the parameter sets short description and its Default Value contains `(As pre-defined) (the Prompt and Help text are the only fields that you can change).

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Viewing a parameter set

After you add a parameter set to the grid, you can view its details. To view parameter set details: 1. Select the parameter set in the grid. 2. Click View Parameter Set. The parameter set dialog appears in read-only mode, so you can view, but not alter, the parameter set.

Using a parameter from a parameter set in a job

You can use the parameters defined in a parameter set within a job design just as you would use an ordinary job parameter. See Using Job Parameters in Parallel Jobs and Using Job Parameters in Server Jobs for guidance on this. To specify a job parameter from a parameter set, specify it in the form #parameter_set.parameter_name#. For example, if you want your job to use the value of the parameter DayOfWeek from the parameter set Runschedule, you refer to it in the job as #Runschedule.DayOfWeek#. Where WebSphere DataStage offers a list of currently defined job parameters for you to choose from, the list will include all the parameters from any parameter sets that have been included in your job design. For example, you might see the following list:
modspec Runschedule.DayOfWeek Runschedule.Operator Runschedule.Password Runschedule.$TMPDIR

Using parameter sets in shared containers

You can use parameter sets when you design shared containers in the same way as you would use them in a job. You add them on the Parameters tab of the Container Properties dialog box using the Add Parameter Set button (see Adding a Parameter Set to a Job Design ). When using parameter sets in a shared container you should also add the same parameter sets as job parameters to the job that uses the container. The parameter set in the shared container will automatically be set to use the same value as the one in the job. Note that the Properties tab only shows the parameter set name, it does not show the individual parameters within that set.
When the job is run, parameter values are specified in the normal way for the job and passed on to the shared container.

Specifying parameter values at run time

You specify the actual values that parameters will take when you run a job. There are a number of different ways you can do this, depending on how a job is run.
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Running a job from the Designer or Director clients

When you run a job from the Designer or Director clients, the Job Run Options dialog box collects information needed about how to run the job, including values for its job parameters. If you have specified a parameter set in the job design, these will appear in the dialog box. Each individual parameter in the set is listed and you can accept the default value offered or specify a new one. Here is the dialog box that would appear if you ran an example job: All the parameters take their default values. Clicking the drop-down list next to the parameter set name will allow the user to select the default values or any value files that exist for that parameter set. For example, if the value file named valuefile2 was selected, the parameter values for that file will be shown:

Any of these individual parameter values can be overridden if required. If you want to use the values in a different value file, you can choose from a drop-down list of available files.

Running a job from the command line

When running a job that uses parameter sets from the command line, you can choose to accept the default settings, pick up values from a value file, or you can override the values for individual examples. In this example you run the job Build_Mart_OU in the project dstage using the default parameters by using the command:
dsjob -run dstage Build_Mart_OU

The job would run with the default values specified with the parameter set Runschedule:

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DayOfWeek = Mon Operator = DAad Password - ****** Temporary Directory = undefined

If the Default Value for the parameter set is set to CarlMonday then the job would run with the default values defined in the file CarlMonday:
DayOfWeek = Mon Operator = Carl Password - ****** Temporary Directory = c:\temp

You can specify a new value file or override individual parameters if required. If you wanted to use the values specified in the BethWed file, but override the setting of the DayOfWeek parameter, then you would start the job on the command line using the following command:
dsjob -run -param Runschedule=BethWed -param Runschedule.DayOfWeek = sat dstage Build_Mart_OU

Running a job from within a job sequence

If you run a job from within a job sequence, and that job requires parameter values in order to run successfully, then you have two choices. v You can specify the actual values in the job activity. These are then compiled into the job sequence and are available to the job when it runs. v You can specify the same parameter in the job sequence properties and then map them onto the parameters of the individual job. You will then be prompted for values for these parameters when you run the job sequence. (See Job Sequence Properties for more details.) How do you use parameter sets in these contexts?

Specifying values in job activities

When you add a job to a sequence, you specify details about that job in the Job Activity dialog box. The Parameters grid on this page only displays the parameter set, it does not expand it. The value of the parameter set can be set to (As pre-defined) or any of the value files that exist for that parameter set. Alternatively, if the job sequence itself uses the same parameter set, then you can choose to pick up the same values as the job sequence by clicking the Insert parameter value button.

Specifying values using job sequence parameters

If you want to specify the values for job parameters when the job sequence is actually run then you need to specify these parameters in the properties of the job sequence itself. The Parameters page of the job sequence Properties dialog box is the same as that for an ordinary job. You can specify a parameter set in exactly the same way as you would for a job design (as described in Adding a Parameter Set to a Job Design ). You then need to map the values of the parameters in this parameter set onto the equivalent parameters of the job activity itself. To do this: 1. Open the Job Activity dialog box for the job.

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2. Select the parameter set in the grid and click Insert Parameter Value. The parameter set value will be filled in for you.

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Chapter 6. Making parts of your job design reusable

You can use containers to make parts of your job design reusable. A container is a group of stages and links. Containers enable you to simplify and modularize your job designs by replacing complex areas of the diagram with a single container stage. Containers are available in parallel jobs and server jobs. WebSphere DataStage provides two types of container: v Local containers. These are created within a job and are only accessible by that job. A local container is edited in a tabbed page of the jobs Diagram window. Local containers can be used in server jobs or parallel jobs. Their main use is to tidy up a job design. v Shared containers. These are created separately and are stored in the Repository in the same way that jobs are. They can be inserted into job design. There are two types of shared container: Server shared container. Used in server jobs (can also be used in parallel jobs). Parallel shared container. Used in parallel jobs. You can also include server shared containers in parallel jobs as a way of incorporating server job functionality into a parallel stage.

Local containers
The main purpose of using a WebSphere DataStage local container is to simplify a complex design visually to make it easier to understand in the Diagram window. If the job has lots of stages and links, it might be easier to create additional containers to describe a particular sequence of steps. Containers are linked to other stages or containers in the job by input and output stages. You can create a local container from scratch, or place a set of existing stages and links within a container. A local container is only accessible to the job in which it is created.

Creating a local container

If your job design is becoming complex, you can modularize the design by grouping stages and links into a container.

To save an existing group of stages and links in a local container:

1. Choose the stages and links by doing one of the following: a. Click and drag the mouse over all the stages you want in the container. b. Select a stage. Press Shift and click the other stages you want to add to the container. All the chosen stages are highlighted in the system highlight color. 2. Choose Edit Construct Container Local The group is replaced by a Local Container stage in the Diagram window. A new tab appears in the Diagram window containing the contents of the new Local Container stage. You are
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warned if any link naming conflicts occur when the container is constructed. The new container is opened and focus shifts onto its tab.

To insert an empty local container:

click the Container icon in the General group on the tool palette and click on the Diagram window, or drag it onto the Diagram window. A Container stage is added to the Diagram window, double-click on the stage to open it, and add stages and links to the container. You can rename, move, and delete a container stage in the same way as any other stage in your job design.

Viewing or modifying a local container

To view or modify the stages or links in a container, do one of the following: v v v v Double-click the container stage in the Diagram window. Click the tab of the Container window to bring it to the front. Select the container and choose Edit Properties... . Select the container and choose Properties... from the shortcut menu.

You can edit the stages and links in a container in the same way you do for a job. See Using Input and Output Stages for details on how to link the container to other stages in the job.

Using input and output stages

When you use a local container in a job design, a link is displayed going into or out of the container. In the container itself, you cannot have a link hanging in mid-air, so input and output stages are used to represent the stages in the main job to which the container connects. The way in which the Container Input and Output stages are used depends on whether you construct a local container using existing stages and links or create a new one. v If you construct a local container from an existing group of stages and links, the input and output stages are automatically added. The link between the input or output stage and the stage in the container has the same name as the link in the main job Diagram window. v If you create a new container, you must add stages to the container Diagram window between the input and output stages. Link the stages together and edit the link names to match the ones in the main Diagram window. You can have any number of links into and out of a local container, all of the link names inside the container must match the link names into and out of it in the job. Once a connection is made, editing meta data on either side of the container edits the metadata on the connected stage in the job.

Deconstructing a local container

If required you can convert a local container back into a group of discrete stages and links in the job where it is used.

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You can do this regardless of whether you created it from a group in the first place. To deconstruct a local container, do one of the following: v Select the container stage in the Job Diagram window and choose Deconstruct from the shortcut menu. v Select the container stage in the Job Diagram window and choose Edit Deconstruct Container from the main menu. WebSphere DataStage prompts you to confirm the action (you can disable this prompt if required). Click OK and the constituent parts of the container appear in the Job Diagram window, with existing stages and links shifted to accommodate them. If any name conflicts arise during the deconstruction process between stages from the container and existing ones, you are prompted for new names. You can click the Use Generated Names checkbox to have WebSphere DataStage allocate new names automatically from then on. If the container has any unconnected links, these are discarded. Connected links remain connected. Deconstructing a local container is not recursive. If the container you are deconstructing contains other containers, they move up a level but are not themselves deconstructed.

Shared containers
Shared containers help you to simplify your design but, unlike local containers, they are reusable by other jobs. You can use shared containers to make common job components available throughout the project. You can create a shared container from a stage and associated metadata and add the shared container to the palette to make this pre-configured stage available to other jobs. You can also insert a server shared container into a parallel job as a way of making server job functionality available. For example, you could use it to give the parallel job access to the functionality of a server transform function. (Note that you can only use server shared containers on SMP systems, not MPP or cluster systems.) Shared containers comprise groups of stages and links and are stored in the Repository like WebSphere DataStage jobs. When you insert a shared container into a job, WebSphere DataStage places an instance of that container into the design. When you compile the job containing an instance of a shared container, the code for the container is included in the compiled job. You can use the WebSphere DataStage debugger on instances of shared containers used within server jobs. When you add an instance of a shared container to a job, you will need to map metadata for the links into and out of the container, as these can vary in each job in which you use the shared container. If you change the contents of a shared container, you will need to recompile those jobs that use the container in order for the changes to take effect. For parallel shared containers, you can take advantage of runtime column propagation to avoid the need to map the metadata. If you enable runtime column propagation, then, when the jobs runs, metadata will be automatically propagated across the boundary between the shared container and the stage(s) to which it connects in the job.

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Note that there is nothing inherently parallel about a parallel shared container although the stages within it have parallel capability. The stages themselves determine how the shared container code will run. Conversely, when you include a server shared container in a parallel job, the server stages have no parallel capability, but the entire container can operate in parallel because the parallel job can execute multiple instances of it. You can create a shared container from scratch, or place a set of existing stages and links within a shared container. Note: If you encounter a problem when running a job which uses a server shared container in a parallel job, you could try increasing the value of the DSIPC_OPEN_TIMEOUT environment variable in the Parallel Operator specific category of the environment variable dialog box in the WebSphere DataStage Administrator.

Creating a shared container

To save an existing group of stages and links in a shared container: 1. Choose the stages and links by doing one of the following: v Click and drag the mouse over all the stages you want in the container. v Select a stage. Press Shift and click the other stages and links you want to add to the container. All the chosen stages are highlighted in the system highlight color. 2. Choose Edit Construct Container Shared. You are prompted for a name for the container by the Create New dialog box. The group is replaced by a Shared Container stage of the appropriate type with the specified name in the Diagram window. You are warned if any link naming conflicts occur when the container is constructed. Any parameters occurring in the components are copied to the shared container as container parameters. The instance created has all its parameters assigned to corresponding job parameters. To create an empty shared container, to which you can add stages and links, choose File New from the Designer menu. The New dialog box appears, open the Shared Container folder and choose the parallel shared container icon or server shared container icon as appropriate and click OK. A new Diagram window appears in the Designer, along with a Tool palette which has the same content as for parallel jobs or server jobs, depending on the type of shared container. You can now save the shared container and give it a name. This is exactly the same as saving a job (see Saving a Job).

Naming shared containers

The following rules apply to the names that you can give WebSphere DataStage shared containers: v Container names can be any length. v They must begin with an alphabetic character. v They can contain alphanumeric characters.

Viewing or modifying a shared container definition

You can open a shared container for viewing or modifying by doing one of the following:

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v v v v

Select its icon in the repository tree and select Edit from the shortcut menu. Drag its icon from the Designer repository tree to the diagram area. Select its icon in the job design and select Open from the shortcut menu. Choose File Open from the main menu and select the shared container from the Open dialog box.

A Diagram window appears, showing the contents of the shared container. You can edit the stages and links in a container in the same way you do for a job. Note: The shared container is edited independently of any job in which it is used. Saving a job, for example, will not save any open shared containers used in that job.

Editing shared container definition properties

A shared container has properties in the same way that a job does. To edit the properties, ensure that the shared container diagram window is open and active and choose Edit Properties. If the shared container is not currently open, select it in the Repository window and choose Properties from the shortcut menu. The Shared Container Properties dialog box appears. This has two pages, General and Parameters. The General page contains these fields: v Version. The version number of the shared container. A version number has several components: The version number N.n.n. This number checks the compatibility of the shared container with the version of WebSphere DataStage installed. This number is automatically set when WebSphere DataStage is installed and cannot be edited. The bug fix number n.n.N. This number reflects minor changes to the shared container design or properties. To change this number, select it and enter a new value directly or use the arrow buttons to increase the number. v Enable Runtime Column Propagation for new links. This check box appears for parallel shared containers if you have selected Enable Runtime Column propagation for Parallel jobs for this project in the Administrator client. Check it to enable runtime column propagation by default for all new links in this shared container. v Short Container Description. An optional brief description of the shared container. v Full Container Description. An optional detailed description of the shared container. Shared containers use parameters to ensure that the container is reusable in different jobs. Any properties of the container that are likely to change between jobs can be supplied by a parameter, and the actual value for that parameter specified in the job design. Container parameters can be used in the same places as job parameters. The Parameters page contains these fields and controls: v Parameter name. The name of the parameter. v Type. The type of the parameter.

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v Help text. The text that appears in the Job Container Stage editor to help the designer add a value for the parameter in a job design (see Using a Shared Container in a Job). v View parameter set. This button is available when you have added a parameter set to the grid and selected it. Click this button to open a window showing details of the selected parameter set. v Add parameter set. Click this button to add a parameters set to the container.

Using a shared container in a job

You can insert a shared container into a job design by dragging its icon from the Shared Container branch in the Repository window to the jobs Diagram window. WebSphere DataStage inserts an instance of that shared container into the job design. This is the same for both server jobs and parallel jobs. The stages in the job that connect to the container are represented within the container by input and output stages, in the same way as described for local containers (see Using Input and Output Stages). Unlike on a local container, however, the links connecting job stages to the container are not expected to have the same name as the links within the container. Once you have inserted the shared container, you need to edit its instance properties by doing one of the following: v Double-click the container stage in the Diagram window. v Select the container stage and choose Edit Properties... . v Select the container stage and choose Properties... from the shortcut menu. The Shared Container Stage editor appears: This is similar to a general stage editor, and has Stage, Inputs, and Outputs pages, each with subsidiary tabs.

Stage page
v Stage Name. The name of the instance of the shared container. You can edit this if required. v Shared Container Name. The name of the shared container of which this is an instance. You cannot change this. The General tab enables you to add an optional description of the container instance. The Properties tab allows you to specify values for container parameters. You need to have defined some parameters in the shared container properties for this tab to appear. v Name. The name of the expected parameter. v Value. Enter a value for the parameter. You must enter values for all expected parameters here as the job does not prompt for these at run time. (You can leave string parameters blank, an empty string will be inferred.) v Insert Parameter. You can use a parameter from a parent job (or container) to supply a value for a container parameter. Click Insert Parameter to be offered a list of available parameters from which to choose.

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The Advanced tab appears when you are using a server shared container within a parallel job. It has the same fields and functionality as the Advanced tab on all parallel stage editors.

Inputs page
When inserted in a job, a shared container instance already has metadata defined for its various links. This metadata must match that on the link that the job uses to connect to the container exactly in all properties. The inputs page enables you to map metadata as required. The only exception to this is where you are using runtime column propagation (RCP) with a parallel shared container. If RCP is enabled for the job, and specifically for the stage whose output connects to the shared container input, then metadata will be propagated at run time, so there is no need to map it at design time. In all other cases, in order to match, the metadata on the links being matched must have the same number of columns, with corresponding properties for each. The Inputs page for a server shared container has an Input field and two tabs, General and Columns. The Inputs page for a parallel shared container, or a server shared container used in a parallel job, has an additional tab: Partitioning. v Input. Choose the input link to the container that you want to map. The General page has these fields: v Map to Container Link. Choose the link within the shared container to which the incoming job link will be mapped. Changing the link triggers a validation process, and you will be warned if the metadata does not match and are offered the option of reconciling the metadata as described below. v Validate. Click this to request validation of the metadata on the two links. You are warned if validation fails and given the option of reconciling the metadata. If you choose to reconcile, the metadata on the container link replaces that on the job link. Surplus columns on the job link are removed. Job link columns that have the same name but different properties as a container column will have the properties overwritten, but derivation information preserved. Note: You can use a Transformer stage within the job to manually map data between a job stage and the container stage in order to supply the metadata that the container requires. v Description. Optional description of the job input link. The Columns page shows the metadata defined for the job stage link in a standard grid. You can use the Reconcile option on the Load button to overwrite metadata on the job stage link with the container link metadata in the same way as described for the Validate option. The Partitioning tab appears when you are using a server shared container within a parallel job. It has the same fields and functionality as the Partitioning tab on all parallel stage editors. The Advanced tab appears for parallel shared containers and when you are using a server shared container within a parallel job. It has the same fields and functionality as the Advanced tab on all parallel stage editors.

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Outputs page
The Outputs page enables you to map metadata between a container link and the job link which connects to the container on the output side. It has an Outputs field and a General tab, Columns tab, and Advanced tab, that perform equivalent functions as described for the Inputs page. The columns tab for parallel shared containers has a Runtime column propagation check box. This is visible provided RCP is enabled for the job. It shows whether RCP is switched on or off for the link the container link is mapped onto. This removes the need to map the metadata.

Pre-configured components
You can use shared containers to make pre-configured stages available to other jobs. To do this: 1. Select a stage and relevant input/output link (you need the link too in order to retain metadata). 2. Choose Copy from the shortcut menu, or select Edit Copy. 3. Select Edit Paste special Into new shared container... . The Paste Special into new Shared Container dialog box appears). 4. Choose to create an entry for this container in the palette (the dialog will do this by default). To use the pre-configured component, select the shared container in the palette and Ctrl+drag it onto canvas. This deconstructs the container so the stage and link appear on the canvas.

Converting containers
You can convert local containers to shared containers and vice versa. By converting a local container to a shared one you can make the functionality available to all jobs in the project. You might want to convert a shared container to a local one if you want to slightly modify its functionality within a job. You can also convert a shared container to a local container and then deconstruct it into its constituent parts as described in Deconstructing a Local Container. To convert a container, select its stage icon in the job Diagram window and do one of the following: v Choose Convert from the shortcut menu. v Choose Edit Convert Container from the main menu. WebSphere DataStage prompts you to confirm the conversion. Containers nested within the container you are converting are not affected. When converting from shared to local, you are warned if link name conflicts occur and given a chance to resolve them.

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A shared container cannot be converted to a local container if it has a parameter with the same name as a parameter in the parent job (or container) which is not derived from the parents corresponding parameter. You are warned if this occurs and must resolve the conflict before the container can be converted. Note: Converting a shared container instance to a local container has no affect on the original shared container.

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Chapter 7. Defining special components

You can define special components for use in your job designs.

Special components for parallel jobs

You can specify custom objects to help you design parallel jobs that transform or cleanse data. You can define these types of object: v Parallel routines v Custom Parallel stage types v QualityStage objects

Parallel routines
Parallel jobs can execute routines before or after a processing stage executes (a processing stage being one that takes input, processes it then outputs it in a single stage). These routines are defined and stored in the repository, and then called in the Triggers page of the particular Transformer stage Properties dialog box. These routines must be supplied in a UNIX shared library or an object file, and do not return a value (any values returned are ignored). Example parallel routines are supplied on the WebSphere DataStage Installation CD in the directory Samples/TrxExternalFunctions. The readme file explains how to use the examples on each platform.

Creating a parallel routine

To create a new parallel routine: 1. Do one of: a. Choose File New from the Designer menu. The New dialog box appears. b. Open the Routine folder and select the Parallel Routine icon. c. Click OK. The Parallel Routine dialog box appears, with the General page on top. Or: d. Select a folder in the repository tree. e. Choose New Parallel Routine from the shortcut menu. The Parallel Routine dialog box appears, with the General page on top. 2. Enter general information about the routine as follows: v Routine name. Type the name of the routine. Routine names can be any length. They must begin with an alphabetic character and can contain alphanumeric and period characters. v Type. Choose External Function if this routine is calling a function to include in a transformer expression. Choose External Before/After Routine if you are defining a routine to execute as a transformer stage before/after routine. v Object Type. Choose Library or Object. This specifies how the C function is linked in the job. If you choose Library, the function is not linked into the job
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and you must ensure that the shared library is available at run time. For the Library invocation method the routine must be provided in a shared library rather than an object file. If you choose Object the function is linked into the job, and so does not need to be available at run time. The routine can be contained in a shared library or an object file. Note that, if you use the Object option, and subsequently update the function, the job will need to be recompiled to pick up the update. If you choose the Library option, you must enter the pathname of the shared library file in the Library path field. If you choose the Object option you must enter the pathname of the object file in the Library path field. v External subroutine name. The C function that this routine is calling (must be the name of a valid routine in a shared library). v Return Type. Choose the type of the value that the function will return. The drop-down list offers a choice of native C types. This is unavailable for External Before/After Routines, which do not return a value. Note that the actual type definitions in function implementations might vary depending on platform type. This particularly applies to `long and `unsigned long C native types. These can be defined as `long and `unsigned long on Tru64 platforms, but for all other platforms should be defined as `long long and `unsigned long long in the actual code. Similarly a return type of `char should be defined as `signed char in the code on all platforms. v Library path. If you have specified the Library option, type or browse on the server for the pathname of the shared library that contains the function. This is used at compile time to locate the function. The pathname should be the exact name of the library or object file, and must have the prefix lib and the appropriate suffix, for example, /disk1/userlibs/libMyFuncs.so, /disk1/userlibs/MyStaticFuncs.o. Suffixes are as follows: Solaris .so or .a AIX .so or .a HPUX .a or .sl Tru64 .so or .a If you have specified the Object option, enter the pathname of the object file. Typically the file will be suffixed with .o. This file must exist and be a valid object file for the linker. v Short description. Type an optional brief description of the routine. v Long description. Type an optional detailed description of the routine. 3. Next, select the Creator page to enter creator information: The Creator page allows you to specify information about the creator and version number of the routine, as follows: v Vendor. Type the name of the company who created the routine. v Author. Type the name of the person who created the routine. v Version. Type the version number of the routine. This is used when the routine is imported. The Version field contains a three-part version number, for example, 3.1.1. The first part of this number is an internal number used to check compatibility between the routine and the WebSphere DataStage system, and cannot be changed. The second part of this number represents the release number. This number should be incremented when major changes are made to the routine definition or the underlying code. The new release of the routine supersedes any previous release. Any jobs using the routine use the new release. The last part of this number marks intermediate releases when a minor change or fix has taken place. v Copyright. Type the copyright information. 4. The last step is to define routine arguments by selecting the Arguments page. The underlying functions for External Functions can have any number of arguments, with each argument name being unique within the function

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definition. The underlying functions for External Before/After routines can have up to eight arguments, with each argument name being unique within the function definition. In both cases these names must conform to C variable name standards. Expected arguments for a routine appear in the expression editor, or on the Triggers page of the transformer stage Properties dialog box, delimited by % characters (for example, %arg1%). When actually using a routine, substitute the argument value for this string. Fill in the following fields: v Argument name. Type the name of the argument to be passed to the routine. v I/O type. All arguments are input arguments, so the I/O type can only be set to I. v Native type. Offers a choice of the C native types in a drop-down list. Note that the actual type definitions in function implementations might vary depending on platform type. This particularly applies to `long and `unsigned long C native types. These can be defined as `long and `unsigned long on Tru64 platforms, but for all other platforms should be defined as `long long and `unsigned long long in the actual code. Similarly a return type of `char should be defined as `signed char in the code on all platforms. v Description. Type an optional description of the argument. 5. When you are happy with your routine definition, Click OK. The Save As dialog box appears. 6. Select the folder in the repository tree where you want to store the routine and click OK.

Custom stages for parallel jobs

In addition to the wide range of parallel stage types available, the Designer allows you to define your own stage types, which you can then use in parallel jobs. There are three different types of stage that you can define: v Custom. This allows knowledgeable Orchestrate users to specify an Orchestrate operator as a WebSphere DataStage stage. This is then available to use in Parallel jobs. v Build. This allows you to design and build your own operator as a stage to be included in Parallel Jobs. v Wrapped. This allows you to specify a UNIX command to be executed by a stage. You define a wrapper file that in turn defines arguments for the UNIX command and inputs and outputs. The Designer client provides an interface that allows you to define a new Parallel job stage of any of these types.

Naming parallel stage types

The rules for naming parallel stage types are as follows: v Stage type names can be any length. v They must begin with an alphabetic character. v They can contain alphanumeric, period, and underscore characters.

Defining Custom stages

You can define a custom stage in order to include an Orchestrate operator in a stage which you can then include in a job.

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The stage will be available to all jobs in the project in which the stage was defined. You can make it available to other projects using the Designer Export/Import facilities. The stage is automatically added to the job palette. To define a custom stage type: 1. Do one of: a. Choose File New from the Designer menu. The New dialog box appears. b. Open the Other folder and select the Parallel Stage Type icon. c. Click OK. The Parallel Routine dialog box appears, with the General page on top. Or: d. Select a folder in the repository tree. e. Choose New Other Parallel Stage Custom from the shortcut menu. The Stage Type dialog box appears, with the General page on top. 2. Fill in the fields on the General page as follows: v Stage type name. This is the name that the stage will be known by to WebSphere DataStage. Avoid using the same name as existing stages. v Parallel Stage type. This indicates the type of new Parallel job stage you are defining (Custom, Build, or Wrapped). You cannot change this setting. v Execution Mode. Choose the execution mode. This is the mode that will appear in the Advanced tab on the stage editor. You can override this mode for individual instances of the stage as required, unless you select Parallel only or Sequential only. v Mapping. Choose whether the stage has a Mapping tab or not. A Mapping tab enables the user of the stage to specify how output columns are derived from the data produced by the stage. Choose None to specify that output mapping is not performed, choose Default to accept the default setting that WebSphere DataStage uses. v Preserve Partitioning. Choose the default setting of the Preserve Partitioning flag. This is the setting that will appear in the Advanced tab on the stage editor. You can override this setting for individual instances of the stage as required. v Partitioning. Choose the default partitioning method for the stage. This is the method that will appear in the Inputs page Partitioning tab of the stage editor. You can override this method for individual instances of the stage as required. v Collecting. Choose the default collection method for the stage. This is the method that will appear in the Inputs page Partitioning tab of the stage editor. You can override this method for individual instances of the stage as required. v Operator. Enter the name of the Orchestrate operator that you want the stage to invoke. v Short Description. Optionally enter a short description of the stage. v Long Description. Optionally enter a long description of the stage. 3. Go to the Links page and specify information about the links allowed to and from the stage you are defining. Use this to specify the minimum and maximum number of input and output links that your custom stage can have, and to enable the ViewData feature for target data (you cannot enable target ViewData if your stage has any output links). When the stage is used in a job design, a ViewData button appears on

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the Input page, which allows you to view the data on the actual data target (provided some has been written there). In order to use the target ViewData feature, you have to specify an Orchestrate operator to read the data back from the target. This will usually be different to the operator that the stage has used to write the data (that is, the operator defined in the Operator field of the General page). Specify the reading operator and associated arguments in the Operator and Options fields. If you enable target ViewData, a further field appears in the Properties grid, called ViewData. 4. Go to the Creator page and optionally specify information about the stage you are creating. We recommend that you assign a version number to the stage so you can keep track of any subsequent changes. You can specify that the actual stage will use a custom GUI by entering the ProgID for a custom GUI in the Custom GUI Prog ID field. You can also specify that the stage has its own icon. You need to supply a 16 x 16 bit bitmap and a 32 x 32 bit bitmap to be displayed in various places in the WebSphere DataStage user interface. Click the 16 x 16 Bitmap button and browse for the smaller bitmap file. Click the 32 x 32 Bitmap button and browse for the large bitmap file. Note that bitmaps with 32-bit color are not supported. Click the Reset Bitmap Info button to revert to using the default WebSphere DataStage icon for this stage. 5. Go to the Properties page. This allows you to specify the options that the Orchestrate operator requires as properties that appear in the Stage Properties tab. For custom stages the Properties tab always appears under the Stage page. 6. Fill in the fields as follows: v Property name. The name of the property. v Data type. The data type of the property. Choose from: Boolean Float Integer String Pathname List Input Column Output Column If you choose Input Column or Output Column, when the stage is included in a job a drop-down list will offer a choice of the defined input or output columns. If you choose list you should open the Extended Properties dialog box from the grid shortcut menu to specify what appears in the list. Prompt. The name of the property that will be displayed on the Properties tab of the stage editor. Default Value. The value the option will take if no other is specified. Required. Set this to True if the property is mandatory. Repeats. Set this true if the property repeats (that is, you can have multiple instances of it). Use Quoting. Specify whether the property will haves quotes added when it is passed to the Orchestrate operator.
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v Conversion. Specifies the type of property as follows: -Name. The name of the property will be passed to the operator as the option value. This will normally be a hidden property, that is, not visible in the stage editor. -Name Value. The name of the property will be passed to the operator as the option name, and any value specified in the stage editor is passed as the value. -Value. The value for the property specified in the stage editor is passed to the operator as the option name. Typically used to group operator options that are mutually exclusive. Value only. The value for the property specified in the stage editor is passed as it is. Input Schema. Specifies that the property will contain a schema string whose contents are populated from the Input page Columns tab. Output Schema. Specifies that the property will contain a schema string whose contents are populated from the Output page Columns tab. None. This allows the creation of properties that do not generate any osh, but can be used for conditions on other properties (for example, for use in a situation where you have mutually exclusive properties, but at least one of them must be specified). v Schema properties require format options. Select this check box to specify that the stage being specified will have a Format tab. If you have enabled target ViewData on the Links page, the following property is also displayed: v ViewData. Select Yes to indicate that the value of this property should be used when viewing data. For example, if this property specifies a file to write to when the stage is used in a job design, the value of this property will be used to read the data back if ViewData is used in the stage. If you select a conversion type of Input Schema or Output Schema, you should note the following: v Data Type is set to String. v Required is set to Yes. v The property is marked as hidden and will not appear on the Properties page when the custom stage is used in a job design. If your stage can have multiple input or output links there would be a Input Schema property or Output Schema property per-link. When the stage is used in a job design, the property will contain the following OSH for each input or output link:
-property_name record {format_props} ( column_definition {format_props}; ...)

Where: v property_name is the name of the property (usually `schema) v format_properties are formatting information supplied on the Format page (if the stage has one). v there is one column_definition for each column defined in the Columns tab for that link. The format_props in this case refers to per-column format information specified in the Edit Column Metadata dialog box. Schema properties are mutually exclusive with schema file properties. If your custom stage supports both, you should use the Extended Properties

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dialog box to specify a condition of schemafile= for the schema property. The schema property is then only valid provided the schema file property is blank (or does not exist). 7. If you want to specify a list property, or otherwise control how properties are handled by your stage, choose Extended Properties from the Properties grid shortcut menu to open the Extended Properties dialog box. The settings you use depend on the type of property you are specifying: v Specify a category to have the property appear under this category in the stage editor. By default all properties appear in the Options category. v Specify that the property will be hidden and not appear in the stage editor. This is primarily intended to support the case where the underlying operator needs to know the JobName. This can be passed using a mandatory String property with a default value that uses a DS Macro. However, to prevent the user from changing the value, the property needs to be hidden. v If you are specifying a List category, specify the possible values for list members in the List Value field. v If the property is to be a dependent of another property, select the parent property in the Parents field. v Specify an expression in the Template field to have the actual value of the property generated at compile time. It is usually based on values in other properties and columns. v Specify an expression in the Conditions field to indicate that the property is only valid if the conditions are met. The specification of this property is a bar | separated list of conditions that are ANDed together. For example, if the specification was a=b|c!=d, then this property would only be valid (and therefore only available in the GUI) when property a is equal to b, and property c is not equal to d. 8. If your custom stage will create columns, go to the Mapping Additions page. It contains a grid that allows for the specification of columns created by the stage. You can also specify that column details are filled in from properties supplied when the stage is used in a job design, allowing for dynamic specification of columns. The grid contains the following fields: v Column name. The name of the column created by the stage. You can specify the name of a property you specified on the Property page of the dialog box to dynamically allocate the column name. Specify this in the form #property_name#, the created column will then take the value of this property, as specified at design time, as the name of the created column. v Parallel type. The type of the column (this is the underlying data type, not the SQL data type). Again you can specify the name of a property you specified on the Property page of the dialog box to dynamically allocate the column type. Specify this in the form #property_name#, the created column will then take the value of this property, as specified at design time, as the type of the created column. (Note that you cannot use a repeatable property to dynamically allocate a column type in this way.) v Nullable. Choose Yes or No to indicate whether the created column can contain a null. v Conditions. Allows you to enter an expression specifying the conditions under which the column will be created. This could, for example, depend on the setting of one of the properties specified in the Property page.

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You can propagate the values of the Conditions fields to other columns if required. Do this by selecting the columns you want to propagate to, then right-clicking in the source Conditions field and choosing Propagate from the shortcut menu. A dialog box asks you to confirm that you want to propagate the conditions to all columns. 9. Click OK when you are happy with your custom stage definition. he Save As dialog box appears. 10. Select the folder in the repository tree where you want to store the stage type and click OK.

Defining Build stages

You define a Build stage to enable you to provide a custom operator that can be executed from a Parallel job stage. The stage will be available to all jobs in the project in which the stage was defined. You can make it available to other projects using the WebSphere DataStage Export facilities. The stage is automatically added to the job palette. When defining a Build stage you provide the following information: v Description of the data that will be input to the stage. v Whether records are transferred from input to output. A transfer copies the input record to the output buffer. If you specify auto transfer, the operator transfers the input record to the output record immediately after execution of the per record code. The code can still access data in the output buffer until it is actually written. v Any definitions and header file information that needs to be included. v Code that is executed at the beginning of the stage (before any records are processed). v Code that is executed at the end of the stage (after all records have been processed). v Code that is executed every time the stage processes a record. v Compilation and build details for actually building the stage. Note that the custom operator that your build stage executes must have at least one input data set and one output data set. The Code for the Build stage is specified in C++. There are a number of macros available to make the job of coding simpler. There are also a number of header files available containing many useful functions. See WebSphere DataStageParallel Job Advanced Developer Guide. When you have specified the information, and request that the stage is generated, WebSphere DataStage generates a number of files and then compiles these to build an operator which the stage executes. The generated files include: v Header files (ending in .h) v Source files (ending in .c) v Object files (ending in .so)

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Pre-loop code executed before any records are processed Per-record code. Used to process each record

Post-loop code executed after all records are processed

Input buffer Input port records from input link

Output buffer Output port records to output link

Transfer directly copies records from input buffer to output buffer. Records can still be accessed by code while in the buffer.

Build Stage
The following shows a build stage in diagrammatic form: To define a Build stage: 1. Do one of: a. Choose File New from the Designer menu. The New dialog box appears. b. Open the Other folder and select the Parallel Stage Type icon. c. Click OK. The Parallel Routine dialog box appears, with the General page on top. Or: d. Select a folder in the repository tree. e. Choose New Other Parallel Stage Build from the shortcut menu. The Stage Type dialog box appears, with the General page on top. 2. Fill in the fields on the General page as follows: v Stage type name. This is the name that the stage will be known by to WebSphere DataStage. Avoid using the same name as existing stages. v Class Name. The name of the C++ class. By default this takes the name of the stage type. v Parallel Stage type. This indicates the type of new parallel job stage you are defining (Custom, Build, or Wrapped). You cannot change this setting. v Execution mode. Choose the default execution mode. This is the mode that will appear in the Advanced tab on the stage editor. You can override this mode for individual instances of the stage as required, unless you select Parallel only or Sequential only. v Preserve Partitioning. This shows the default setting of the Preserve Partitioning flag, which you cannot change in a Build stage. This is the setting that will appear in the Advanced tab on the stage editor. You can override this setting for individual instances of the stage as required. v Partitioning. This shows the default partitioning method, which you cannot change in a Build stage. This is the method that will appear in the Inputs Page Partitioning tab of the stage editor. You can override this method for individual instances of the stage as required.
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v Collecting. This shows the default collection method, which you cannot change in a Build stage. This is the method that will appear in the Inputs Page Partitioning tab of the stage editor. You can override this method for individual instances of the stage as required. v Operator. The name of the operator that your code is defining and which will be executed by the WebSphere DataStage stage. By default this takes the name of the stage type. v Short Description. Optionally enter a short description of the stage. v Long Description. Optionally enter a long description of the stage. 3. Go to the Creator page and optionally specify information about the stage you are creating. We recommend that you assign a release number to the stage so you can keep track of any subsequent changes. You can specify that the actual stage will use a custom GUI by entering the ProgID for a custom GUI in the Custom GUI Prog ID field. You can also specify that the stage has its own icon. You need to supply a 16 x 16 bit bitmap and a 32 x 32 bit bitmap to be displayed in various places in the WebSphere DataStage user interface. Click the 16 x 16 Bitmap button and browse for the smaller bitmap file. Click the 32 x 32 Bitmap button and browse for the large bitmap file. Note that bitmaps with 32-bit color are not supported. Click the Reset Bitmap Info button to revert to using the default WebSphere DataStage icon for this stage. 4. Go to the Properties page. This allows you to specify the options that the Build stage requires as properties that appear in the Stage Properties tab. For custom stages the Properties tab always appears under the Stage page. Fill in the fields as follows: v Property name. The name of the property. This will be passed to the operator you are defining as an option, prefixed with `- and followed by the value selected in the Properties tab of the stage editor. v Data type. The data type of the property. Choose from: Boolean Float Integer String Pathname List Input Column Output Column If you choose Input Column or Output Column, when the stage is included in a job a drop-down list will offer a choice of the defined input or output columns. If you choose list you should open the Extended Properties dialog box from the grid shortcut menu to specify what appears in the list. Prompt. The name of the property that will be displayed on the Properties tab of the stage editor. Default Value. The value the option will take if no other is specified. Required. Set this to True if the property is mandatory. Conversion. Specifies the type of property as follows: -Name. The name of the property will be passed to the operator as the option value. This will normally be a hidden property, that is, not visible in the stage editor.

v v v v

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-Name Value. The name of the property will be passed to the operator as the option name, and any value specified in the stage editor is passed as the value. -Value. The value for the property specified in the stage editor is passed to the operator as the option name. Typically used to group operator options that are mutually exclusive. Value only. The value for the property specified in the stage editor is passed as it is. 5. If you want to specify a list property, or otherwise control how properties are handled by your stage, choose Extended Properties from the Properties grid shortcut menu to open the Extended Properties dialog box. The settings you use depend on the type of property you are specifying: v Specify a category to have the property appear under this category in the stage editor. By default all properties appear in the Options category. v If you are specifying a List category, specify the possible values for list members in the List Value field. v If the property is to be a dependent of another property, select the parent property in the Parents field. v Specify an expression in the Template field to have the actual value of the property generated at compile time. It is usually based on values in other properties and columns. v Specify an expression in the Conditions field to indicate that the property is only valid if the conditions are met. The specification of this property is a bar | separated list of conditions that are ANDed together. For example, if the specification was a=b|c!=d, then this property would only be valid (and therefore only available in the GUI) when property a is equal to b, and property c is not equal to d. Click OK when you are happy with the extended properties. 6. Click on the Build page. The tabs here allow you to define the actual operation that the stage will perform. The Interfaces tab enable you to specify details about inputs to and outputs from the stage, and about automatic transfer of records from input to output. You specify port details, a port being where a link connects to the stage. You need a port for each possible input link to the stage, and a port for each possible output link from the stage. You provide the following information on the Input sub-tab: v Port Name. Optional name for the port. The default names for the ports are in0, in1, in2 ... . You can refer to them in the code using either the default name or the name you have specified. v Alias. Where the port name contains non-ascii characters, you can give it an alias in this column (this is only available where NLS is enabled). v AutoRead. This defaults to True which means the stage will automatically read records from the port. Otherwise you explicitly control read operations in the code. v Table Name. Specify a table definition in the WebSphere DataStage Repository which describes the metadata for the port. You can browse for a table definition by choosing Select Table from the menu that appears when you click the browse button. You can also view the schema corresponding to this table definition by choosing View Schema from the same menu. You do not have to supply a Table Name. If any of the columns in your table definition have names that contain non-ascii characters, you should choose
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v v

Column Aliases from the menu. The Build Column Aliases dialog box appears. This lists the columns that require an alias and let you specify one. RCP. Choose True if runtime column propagation is allowed for inputs to this port. Defaults to False. You do not need to set this if you are using the automatic transfer facility. You provide the following information on the Output sub-tab: Port Name. Optional name for the port. The default names for the links are out0, out1, out2 ... . You can refer to them in the code using either the default name or the name you have specified. Alias. Where the port name contains non-ascii characters, you can give it an alias in this column. AutoWrite. This defaults to True which means the stage will automatically write records to the port. Otherwise you explicitly control write operations in the code. Once records are written, the code can no longer access them.

v Table Name. Specify a table definition in the WebSphere DataStage Repository which describes the metadata for the port. You can browse for a table definition. You do not have to supply a Table Name. A shortcut menu accessed from the browse button offers a choice of Clear Table Name, Select Table, Create Table,View Schema, and Column Aliases. The use of these is as described for the Input sub-tab. v RCP. Choose True if runtime column propagation is allowed for outputs from this port. Defaults to False. You do not need to set this if you are using the automatic transfer facility. The Transfer sub-tab allows you to connect an input buffer to an output buffer such that records will be automatically transferred from input to output. You can also disable automatic transfer, in which case you have to explicitly transfer data in the code. Transferred data sits in an output buffer and can still be accessed and altered by the code until it is actually written to the port. You provide the following information on the Transfer tab: v Input. Select the input port to connect to the buffer from the list. If you have specified an alias, this will be displayed here. v Output. Select an output port from the list. Records are transferred from the output buffer to the selected output port. If you have specified an alias for the output port, this will be displayed here. v Auto Transfer. This defaults to False, which means that you have to include code which manages the transfer. Set to True to have the transfer carried out automatically. v Separate. This is False by default, which means this transfer will be combined with other transfers to the same port. Set to True to specify that the transfer should be separate from other transfers. The Logic tab is where you specify the actual code that the stage executes. The Definitions sub-tab allows you to specify variables, include header files, and otherwise initialize the stage before processing any records. The Pre-Loop sub-tab allows you to specify code which is executed at the beginning of the stage, before any records are processed. The Per-Record sub-tab allows you to specify the code which is executed once for every record processed. The Post-Loop sub-tab allows you to specify code that is executed after all the records have been processed.

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v v v v

You can type straight into these pages or cut and paste from another editor. The shortcut menu on the Pre-Loop, Per-Record, and Post-Loop pages gives access to the macros that are available for use in the code. The Advanced tab allows you to specify details about how the stage is compiled and built. Fill in the page as follows: Compile and Link Flags. Allows you to specify flags that are passed to the C++ compiler. Verbose. Select this check box to specify that the compile and build is done in verbose mode. Debug. Select this check box to specify that the compile and build is done in debug mode. Otherwise, it is done in optimize mode. Suppress Compile. Select this check box to generate files without compiling, and without deleting the generated files. This option is useful for fault finding.

v Base File Name. The base filename for generated files. All generated files will have this name followed by the appropriate suffix. This defaults to the name specified under Operator on the General page. v Source Directory. The directory where generated .c files are placed. This defaults to the buildop folder in the current project directory. You can also set it using the DS_OPERATOR_BUILDOP_DIR environment variable in the Administrator client. v Header Directory. The directory where generated .h files are placed. This defaults to the buildop folder in the current project directory. You can also set it using the DS_OPERATOR_BUILDOP_DIR environment variable environment variable in the Administrator client. v Object Directory. The directory where generated .so files are placed. This defaults to the buildop folder in the current project directory. You can also set it using the DS_OPERATOR_BUILDOP_DIR environment variable environment variable in the Administrator client. v Wrapper directory. The directory where generated .op files are placed. This defaults to the buildop folder in the current project directory. You can also set it using the DS_OPERATOR_BUILDOP_DIR environment variable environment variable in the Administrator client. 7. When you have filled in the details in all the pages, click Generate to generate the stage. A window appears showing you the result of the build.

Defining Wrapped stages

You define a Wrapped stage to enable you to specify a UNIX command to be executed by a WebSphere DataStage stage. You define a wrapper file that handles arguments for the UNIX command and inputs and outputs. The Designer provides an interface that helps you define the wrapper. The stage will be available to all jobs in the project in which the stage was defined. You can make it available to other projects using the Designer Export facilities. You can add the stage to your job palette using palette customization features in the Designer. When defining a Wrapped stage you provide the following information: v Details of the UNIX command that the stage will execute. v Description of the data that will be input to the stage. v Description of the data that will be output from the stage. v Definition of the environment in which the command will execute.
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The UNIX command that you wrap can be a built-in command, such as grep, a utility, such as SyncSort, or your own UNIX application. The only limitation is that the command must be `pipe-safe (to be pipe-safe a UNIX command reads its input sequentially, from beginning to end). You need to define metadata for the data being input to and output from the stage. You also need to define the way in which the data will be input or output. UNIX commands can take their inputs from standard in, or another stream, a file, or from the output of another command via a pipe. Similarly data is output to standard out, or another stream, to a file, or to a pipe to be input to another command. You specify what the command expects. WebSphere DataStage handles data being input to the Wrapped stage and will present it in the specified form. If you specify a command that expects input on standard in, or another stream, WebSphere DataStage will present the input data from the jobs data flow as if it was on standard in. Similarly it will intercept data output on standard out, or another stream, and integrate it into the jobs data flow. You also specify the environment in which the UNIX command will be executed when you define the wrapped stage. To define a Wrapped stage: 1. Do one of: a. Choose File New from the Designer menu. The New dialog box appears. b. Open the Other folder and select the Parallel Stage Type icon. c. Click OK. The Parallel Routine dialog box appears, with the General page on top. Or: d. Select a folder in the repository tree. 2. Choose New Other Parallel Stage Wrapped from the shortcut menu. The Stage Type dialog box appears, with the General page on top. 3. Fill in the fields on the General page as follows: v Stage type name. This is the name that the stage will be known by to WebSphere DataStage. Avoid using the same name as existing stages or the name of the actual UNIX command you are wrapping. v Category. The category that the new stage will be stored in under the stage types branch. Type in or browse for an existing category or type in the name of a new one. The category also determines what group in the palette the stage will be added to. Choose an existing category to add to an existing group, or specify a new category to create a new palette group. v Parallel Stage type. This indicates the type of new Parallel job stage you are defining (Custom, Build, or Wrapped). You cannot change this setting. v Wrapper Name. The name of the wrapper file WebSphere DataStage will generate to call the command. By default this will take the same name as the Stage type name. v Execution mode. Choose the default execution mode. This is the mode that will appear in the Advanced tab on the stage editor. You can override this mode for individual instances of the stage as required, unless you select Parallel only or Sequential only. v Preserve Partitioning. This shows the default setting of the Preserve Partitioning flag, which you cannot change in a Wrapped stage. This is the

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setting that will appear in the Advanced tab on the stage editor. You can override this setting for individual instances of the stage Advanced Tabas required. v Partitioning. This shows the default partitioning method, which you cannot change in a Wrapped stage. This is the method that will appear in the Inputs Page Partitioning tab of the stage editor. You can override this method for individual instances of the stage as required. See in WebSphere DataStage Parallel Job Developer Guide for a description of the partitioning methods. v Collecting. This shows the default collection method, which you cannot change in a Wrapped stage. This is the method that will appear in the Inputs Page Partitioning tab of the stage editor. You can override this method for individual instances of the stage as required. v Command. The name of the UNIX command to be wrapped, plus any required arguments. The arguments that you enter here are ones that do not change with different invocations of the command. Arguments that need to be specified when the Wrapped stage is included in a job are defined as properties for the stage. v Short Description. Optionally enter a short description of the stage. v Long Description. Optionally enter a long description of the stage. 4. Go to the Creator page and optionally specify information about the stage you are creating. We recommend that you assign a release number to the stage so you can keep track of any subsequent changes. You can specify that the actual stage will use a custom GUI by entering the ProgID for a custom GUI in the Custom GUI Prog ID field. You can also specify that the stage has its own icon. You need to supply a 16 x 16 bit bitmap and a 32 x 32 bit bitmap to be displayed in various places in the WebSphere DataStage user interface. Click the 16 x 16 Bitmap button and browse for the smaller bitmap file. Click the 32 x 32 Bitmap button and browse for the large bitmap file. Note that bitmaps with 32-bit color are not supported. Click the Reset Bitmap Info button to revert to using the default WebSphere DataStage icon for this stage. 5. Go to the Properties page. This allows you to specify the arguments that the UNIX command requires as properties that appear in the stage Properties tab. For wrapped stages the Properties tab always appears under the Stage page. Fill in the fields as follows: v Property name. The name of the property that will be displayed on the Properties tab of the stage editor. v Data type. The data type of the property. Choose from: Boolean Float Integer String Pathname List Input Column Output Column If you choose Input Column or Output Column, when the stage is included in a job a list will offer a choice of the defined input or output columns. If you choose list you should open the Extended Properties dialog box from the grid shortcut menu to specify what appears in the list.
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v Prompt. The name of the property that will be displayed on the Properties tab of the stage editor. v Default Value. The value the option will take if no other is specified. v Required. Set this to True if the property is mandatory. v Repeats. Set this true if the property repeats (that is you can have multiple instances of it). v Conversion. Specifies the type of property as follows: -Name. The name of the property will be passed to the command as the argument value. This will normally be a hidden property, that is, not visible in the stage editor. -Name Value. The name of the property will be passed to the command as the argument name, and any value specified in the stage editor is passed as the value. -Value. The value for the property specified in the stage editor is passed to the command as the argument name. Typically used to group operator options that are mutually exclusive. Value only. The value for the property specified in the stage editor is passed as it is. 6. If you want to specify a list property, or otherwise control how properties are handled by your stage, choose Extended Properties from the Properties grid shortcut menu to open the Extended Properties dialog box. The settings you use depend on the type of property you are specifying: v Specify a category to have the property appear under this category in the stage editor. By default all properties appear in the Options category. v If you are specifying a List category, specify the possible values for list members in the List Value field. v If the property is to be a dependent of another property, select the parent property in the Parents field. v Specify an expression in the Template field to have the actual value of the property generated at compile time. It is usually based on values in other properties and columns. v Specify an expression in the Conditions field to indicate that the property is only valid if the conditions are met. The specification of this property is a bar | separated list of conditions that are ANDed together. For example, if the specification was a=b|c!=d, then this property would only be valid (and therefore only available in the GUI) when property a is equal to b, and property c is not equal to d. Click OK when you are happy with the extended properties. 7. Go to the Wrapped page. This allows you to specify information about the command to be executed by the stage and how it will be handled. The Interfaces tab is used to describe the inputs to and outputs from the stage, specifying the interfaces that the stage will need to function. Details about inputs to the stage are defined on the Inputs sub-tab: v Link. The link number, this is assigned for you and is read-only. When you actually use your stage, links will be assigned in the order in which you add them. In this example, the first link will be taken as link 0, the second as link 1 and so on. You can reassign the links using the stage editors Link Ordering tab on the General page. v Table Name. The metadata for the link. You define this by loading a table definition from the Repository. Type in the name, or browse for a table definition. Alternatively, you can specify an argument to the UNIX command

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which specifies a table definition. In this case, when the wrapped stage is used in a job design, the designer will be prompted for an actual table definition to use. v Stream. Here you can specify whether the UNIX command expects its input on standard in, or another stream, or whether it expects it in a file. Click on the browse button to open the Wrapped Stream dialog box. In the case of a file, you should also specify whether the file to be read is given in a command line argument, or by an environment variable. Details about outputs from the stage are defined on the Outputs sub-tab: v Link. The link number, this is assigned for you and is read-only. When you actually use your stage, links will be assigned in the order in which you add them. In this example, the first link will be taken as link 0, the second as link 1 and so on. You can reassign the links using the stage editors Link Ordering tab on the General page. v Table Name. The metadata for the link. You define this by loading a table definition from the Repository. Type in the name, or browse for a table definition. v Stream. Here you can specify whether the UNIX command will write its output to standard out, or another stream, or whether it outputs to a file. Click on the browse button to open the Wrapped Stream dialog box. In the case of a file, you should also specify whether the file to be written is specified in a command line argument, or by an environment variable. The Environment tab gives information about the environment in which the command will execute. Set the following on the Environment tab: v All Exit Codes Successful. By default WebSphere DataStage treats an exit code of 0 as successful and all others as errors. Select this check box to specify that all exit codes should be treated as successful other than those specified in the Failure codes grid. v Exit Codes. The use of this depends on the setting of the All Exits Codes Successful check box. If All Exits Codes Successful is not selected, enter the codes in the Success Codes grid which will be taken as indicating successful completion. All others will be taken as indicating failure. If All Exits Codes Successful is selected, enter the exit codes in the Failure Code grid which will be taken as indicating failure. All others will be taken as indicating success. v Environment. Specify environment variables and settings that the UNIX command requires in order to run. 8. When you have filled in the details in all the pages, click Generate to generate the stage.

Special components for server jobs

You can specify custom objects to help you design server jobs. You can define these types of object: v Server routines v Transforms v Data elements

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Server routines
The designer also allows you to define your own custom routines that can be used in various places in your server job designs. Server routines are stored in the repository, where you can create, view, or edit them using the Routine dialog box. The following program components are classified as routines: v Transform functions. These are functions that you can use when defining custom transforms. WebSphere DataStage has a number of built-in transform functions but you can also define your own transform functions in the Routine dialog box. v Before/After subroutines. When designing a job, you can specify a subroutine to run before or after the job, or before or after an active stage. WebSphere DataStage has a number of built-in before/after subroutines but you can also define your own before/after subroutines using the Routine dialog box. v Custom UniVerse functions. These are specialized BASIC functions that have been defined outside WebSphere DataStage. Using the Routine dialog box, you can get WebSphere DataStage to create a wrapper that enables you to call these functions from within WebSphere DataStage. These functions are stored under the Routines branch in the Repository. You specify the category when you create the routine. If NLS is enabled, you should be aware of any mapping requirements when using custom UniVerse functions. If a function uses data in a particular character set, it is your responsibility to map the data to and from Unicode. v ActiveX (OLE) functions. You can use ActiveX (OLE) functions as programming components within WebSphere DataStage. Such functions are made accessible to WebSphere DataStage by importing them. This creates a wrapper that enables you to call the functions. After import, you can view and edit the BASIC wrapper using the Routine dialog box. By default, such functions are located in the Routines Class name branch in the Repository, but you can specify your own category when importing the functions. v Web Service routines. You can use operations imported from a web service as programming components within WebSphere DataStage. Such routines are created by importing from a web service WSDL file. When using the Expression Editor in the server job, all of these components appear under the DS Routines... command on the Suggest Operand menu.

Creating a server routine

To create a new server routine: 1. Do one of: a. Choose File New from the Designer menu. The New dialog box appears. b. Open the Routine folder and select the Server Routine Type icon. c. Click OK. The Server Routine dialog box appears, with the General page on top. Or: d. Select a folder in the repository tree. e. Choose New Server Routine from the shortcut menu. The Server Routine dialog box appears, with the General page on top: 2. Enter general information about the routine as follows:

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v Routine name. The name of the function or subroutine. Routine names can be any length. They must begin with an alphabetic character and can contain alphanumeric and period characters. v Type. The type of routine. There are three types of routine: Transform Function, Before/After Subroutine, or Custom UniVerse Function. v External Catalog Name. This is only visible if you have chosen Custom UniVerse Function from the Type box. Enter the cataloged name of the external routine. v Short description. An optional brief description of the routine. v Long description. An optional detailed description of the routine. 3. Next, select the Creator page to enter creator information: The Creator page allows you to specify information about the creator and version number of the routine, as follows: v Vendor. Type the name of the company who created the routine. v Author. Type the name of the person who created the routine. v Version. Type the version number of the routine. This is used when the routine is imported. The Version field contains a three-part version number, for example, 3.1.1. The first part of this number is an internal number used to check compatibility between the routine and the WebSphere DataStage system, and cannot be changed. The second part of this number represents the release number. This number should be incremented when major changes are made to the routine definition or the underlying code. The new release of the routine supersedes any previous release. Any jobs using the routine use the new release. The last part of this number marks intermediate releases when a minor change or fix has taken place. v Copyright. Type the copyright information. 4. Next, select the Arguments page to define any arguments for your routine: The default argument names and whether you can add or delete arguments depends on the type of routine you are editing: v Before/After subroutines. The argument names are InputArg and Error Code. You can edit the argument names and descriptions but you cannot delete or add arguments. v Transform Functions and Custom UniVerse Functions. By default these have one argument called Arg1. You can edit argument names and descriptions and add and delete arguments. There must be at least one argument, but no more than 255. 5. Next, select the Code page to define the code for your routine: The Code page is used to view or write the code for the routine. The toolbar contains buttons for cutting, copying, pasting, and formatting code, and for activating Find (and Replace). The main part of this page consists of a multiline text box with scroll bars. For more information on how to use this page, see Entering Code. Note: This page is not available if you selected Custom UniVerse Function on the General page. 6. When you are happy with your code, you should save, compile and test it (see Saving Code, Compiling Code, and Testing a Routine). 7. Select the Dependencies page to define the dependencies of your routine. The Dependencies page allows you to enter any locally or globally cataloged functions or routines that are used in the routine you are defining. This is to

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ensure that, when you package any jobs using this routine for deployment on another system, all the dependencies will be included in the package. The information required is as follows: v Type. The type of item upon which the routine depends. Choose from the following: Local Locally cataloged BASIC functions and subroutines. Global Globally cataloged BASIC functions and subroutines. File A standard file. ActiveX An ActiveX (OLE) object (not available on UNIX- based systems). Web service A web service. v Name. The name of the function or routine. The name required varies according to the type of dependency: Local The catalog name. Global The catalog name. File The file name. ActiveX The Name entry is actually irrelevant for ActiveX objects. Enter something meaningful to you (ActiveX objects are identified by the Location field). v Location. The location of the dependency. A browse dialog box is available to help with this. This location can be an absolute path, but it is recommended you specify a relative path using the following environment variables: %SERVERENGINE% - WebSphere DataStage engine account directory (normally C:\IBM\InformationServer\Server\DSEngine on Windows and /opt/IBM/InformationServer/Server/DSEngine on UNIX). %PROJECT% - Currentproject directory. %SYSTEM% - System directory on Windows or /usr/lib on UNIX. Entering code: You can enter or edit code for a routine on the Code page in the Server Routine dialog box. The first field on this page displays the routine name and the argument names. If you want to change these properties, you must edit the fields on the General and Arguments pages. The main part of this page contains a multiline text entry box, in which you must enter your code. To enter code, click in the box and start typing. You can use the following standard Windows edit functions in this text box: v Delete using the Del key v Cut using Ctrl-X v Copy using Ctrl-C v Paste using Ctrl-V v Go to the end of the line using the End key v Go to the beginning of the line using the Home key v Select text by clicking and dragging or double-clicking Some of these edit functions are included in a shortcut menu which you can display by right clicking. You can also cut, copy, and paste code using the buttons in the toolbar.

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Your code must only contain BASIC functions and statements supported by WebSphere DataStage. If NLS is enabled, you can use non-English characters in the following circumstances: v In comments v In string data (that is, strings contained in quotation marks) The use of non-English characters elsewhere causes compilation errors. If you want to format your code, click the Format button on the toolbar. The return field on this page displays the return statement for the function or subroutine. You cannot edit this field. Saving code: When you have finished entering or editing your code, the routine must be saved. A routine cannot be compiled or tested if it has not been saved. To save a routine, click Save in the Server Routine dialog box. The routine properties (its name, description, number of arguments, and creator information) and the associated code are saved in the Repository. Compiling code: When you have saved your routine, you must compile it. To compile a routine, click Compile... in the Server Routine dialog box. The status of the compilation is displayed in the lower window of the Server Routine dialog box. If the compilation is successful, the routine is marked as built in the Repository and is available for use. If the routine is a Transform Function, it is displayed in the list of available functions when you edit a transform. If the routine is a Before/After Subroutine, it is displayed in the drop-down list box of available subroutines when you edit an Aggregator, Transformer, or plug-in stage, or define job properties. To troubleshoot any errors, double-click the error in the compilation output window. WebSphere DataStage attempts to find the corresponding line of code that caused the error and highlights it in the code window. You must edit the code to remove any incorrect statements or to correct any syntax errors. If NLS is enabled, watch for multiple question marks in the Compilation Output window. This generally indicates that a character set mapping error has occurred. When you have modified your code, click Save then Compile... . If necessary, continue to troubleshoot any errors, until the routine compiles successfully. Once the routine is compiled, you can use it in other areas of WebSphere DataStage or test it. Testing a routine: Before using a compiled routine, you can test it using the Test... button in the Server Routine dialog box.
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The Test... button is activated when the routine has been successfully compiled. Note: The Test... button is not available for a Before/After Subroutine. Routines of this type cannot be tested in isolation and must be executed as part of a running job. When you click Test..., the Test Routine dialog box appears: This dialog box contains a grid and buttons. The grid has a column for each argument and one for the test result. You can add and edit rows in the grid to specify the values for different test cases. To run a test with a chosen set of values, click anywhere in the row you want to use and click Run. If you want to run tests using all the test values, click Run All. The Result... column is populated as each test is completed. To see more details for a particular test, double-click the Result... cell for the test you are interested in. The Test Output window appears, displaying the full test results: Click Close to close this window. If you want to delete a set of test values, click anywhere in the row you want to remove and press the Delete key or choose Delete row from the shortcut menu. When you have finished testing the routine, click Close to close the Test Routine dialog box. Any test values you entered are saved when you close the dialog box.

Viewing and editing a routine

You can view and edit any user-written server routines in your project. To view or modify a routine, do one of the following: v Select it in the repository tree and choose Properties... from the shortcut menu. v Double-click it in the repository tree. The Server Routine dialog box appears. You can edit any of the fields and options on any of the pages. If you make any changes to a server routine, you must save, compile, and test the code before closing the Server Routine dialog box. See Saving Code for more information. As well as editing routines that you have created yourself, you can also edit routines that were created by WebSphere DataStage when you imported ActiveX functions or Web services routines. You can edit the BASIC wrapper code that was created to run these routines as part of a WebSphere DataStage job (to edit the routines themselves, you would need to edit them outside of WebSphere DataStage and re-import them).

Copying a routine
You can copy an existing routine using the Designer. To copy a routine: 1. Select it in the repository tree 2. Choose Create copy from the shortcut menu.

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The routine is copied and a new routine is created in the same folder in the project tree. By default, the name of the copy is called CopyOfXXX, where XXX is the name of the chosen routine. An edit box appears allowing you to rename the copy immediately. The new routine must be compiled before it can be used.

Custom transforms
You can create, view or edit custom transforms for server jobs using the Transform dialog box. Transforms specify the type of data transformed, the type it is transformed into, and the expression that performs the transformation. The WebSphere DataStage Expression Editor helps you to enter correct expressions when you define custom transforms in the WebSphere DataStage Director. The Expression Editor can: v Facilitate the entry of expression elements v Complete the names of frequently used variables v Validate variable names and the complete expression When you are entering expressions, the Expression Editor offers choices of operands and operators from context-sensitive shortcut menus. WebSphere DataStage is supplied with a number of built-in transforms (which you cannot edit). You can also define your own custom transforms, which are stored in the repository and can be used by other WebSphere DataStage server jobs (or by parallel jobs using server shared containers or BASIC transformer stages). When using the Expression Editor, the transforms appear under the DS Transform... command on the Suggest Operand menu. Transforms are used in the Transformer stage to convert your data to a format you want to use in the final data mart. Each transform specifies the BASIC function used to convert the data from one type to another. There are a number of built-in transforms supplied with WebSphere DataStage, but if these are not suitable or you want a specific transform to act on a specific data element, you can create custom transforms in the Designer. The advantage of creating a custom transform over just entering the required expression in the Transformer Editor is that, once defined, the transform is available for use from anywhere within the project. It can also be easily exported to other WebSphere DataStage projects. To provide even greater flexibility, you can also define your own custom routines and functions from which to build custom transforms. There are three ways of doing this: v Entering the code within WebSphere DataStage (using BASIC functions). v Creating a reference to an externally cataloged routine. v Importing external ActiveX (OLE) functions or web services routines. (See Server Routines.)

Creating a custom transform

To create a custom transform: 1. Do one of: a. Choose File New from the Designer menu. The New dialog box appears.
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2.

3. 4. 5. 6.

b. Open the Other folder and select the Transform icon. c. Click OK. The Transform dialog box appears, with the General page on top. Or: d. Select a folder in the repository tree. e. Choose New Other Transform from the shortcut menu. The Transform dialog box appears, with the General page on top. This dialog box has two pages: f. General. Displayed by default. Contains general information about the transform. g. Details. Allows you to specify source and target data elements, the function, and arguments to use. Enter the name of the transform in the Transform name field. The name entered here must be unique; as no two transforms can have the same name. Also note that the transform should not have the same name as an existing BASIC function; if it does, the function will be called instead of the transform when you run the job. Optionally enter a brief description of the transform in the Short description field. Optionally enter a detailed description of the transform in the Long description field. Once this page is complete, you can specify how the data is converted. Click the Details tab. The Details page appears at the front of the Transform dialog box. Optionally choose the data element you want as the target data element from the Target data element list box. (Using a target and a source data element allows you to apply a stricter data typing to your transform. See Data Elements for a description of data elements.)

7. Specify the source arguments for the transform in the Source Arguments grid. Enter the name of the argument and optionally choose the corresponding data element from the drop-down list. 8. Use the Expression Editor in the Definition field to enter an expression which defines how the transform behaves. The Suggest Operand menu is slightly different when you use the Expression Editor to define custom transforms and offers commands that are useful when defining transforms. 9. Click OK to save the transform and close the Transform dialog box. You can then use the new transform from within the Transformer Editor. Note: If NLS is enabled, avoid using the built-in Iconv and Oconv functions to map data unless you fully understand the consequences of your actions.

Viewing and editing a custom transform

You can view and edit any user-written custom transforms in your project. To view or modify a transform, do one of the following: v Select it in the repository tree and choose Properties... from the shortcut menu. v Double-click it in the repository tree. The Transform dialog box appears. You can edit any of the fields and options on either of the pages.

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Copying a custom transform

You can copy an existing transform by using the Designer client. To copy a transform: 1. Select it in the repository tree 2. Choose Create copy from the shortcut menu. The transform is copied and a new transform is created in the same folder in the project tree. By default, the name of the copy is called CopyOfXXX, where XXX is the name of the chosen transform. An edit box appears allowing you to rename the copy immediately.

Data elements
Each column within a table definition can have a data element assigned to it. A data element specifies the type of data a column contains, which in turn determines the transforms that can be applied in a Transformer stage. The use of data elements is optional. You do not have to assign a data element to a column, but it enables you to apply stricter data typing in the design of server jobs. The extra effort of defining and applying data elements can pay dividends in effort saved later on when you are debugging your design. You can choose to use any of the data elements supplied with WebSphere DataStage, or you can create and use data elements specific to your application. For a list of the built-in data elements, see Built-In Data Elements. Application-specific data elements allow you to describe the data in a particular column in more detail. The more information you supply to WebSphere DataStage about your data, the more WebSphere DataStage can help to define the processing needed in each Transformer stage. For example, if you have a column containing a numeric product code, you might assign it the built-in data element Number. There is a range of built-in transforms associated with this data element. However, all of these would be unsuitable, as it is unlikely that you would want to perform a calculation on a product code. In this case, you could create a new data element called PCode. Each data element has its own specific set of transforms which relate it to other data elements. When the data elements associated with the columns of a target table are not the same as the data elements of the source data, you must ensure that you have the transforms needed to convert the data as required. For each target column, you should have either a source column with the same data element, or a source column that you can convert to the required data element. For example, suppose that the target table requires a product code using the data element PCode, but the source table holds product data using an older product numbering scheme. In this case, you could create a separate data element for old-format product codes called Old_PCode, and you then create a custom transform to link the two data elements; that is, its source data element is Old_PCode, while its target data element is PCode. This transform, which you could call Convert_PCode, would convert an old product code to a new product code.

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A data element can also be used to stamp a column with SQL properties when you manually create a table definition or define a column definition for a link in a job.

Creating data elements

To create a data element: 1. Do one of: a. Choose File New from the Designer menu. The New dialog box appears. b. Open the Other folder and select the Data Element icon. c. Click OK. The Parallel Routine dialog box appears, with the General page on top. Or: d. Select a folder in the repository tree. e. Choose New Other Data Element from the shortcut menu. The Data Element dialog box appears, with the General page on top. This dialog box has four pages: f. General. Displayed by default. Contains general information about the data element. g. SQL Properties. Contains fields that describe the properties of the associated SQL data type. This page is used when this data element is used to manually create a new column definition for use with an SQL data source. If you import the column definition from an SQL data source, the SQL properties are already defined. h. Generated From. Lists the transforms that result in this data element. You cannot edit the field in this page, it is populated when you define the transforms that use the data element. i. Converts To. Lists the transforms that can be used to convert this data element into another data element. You cannot edit the field in this page, it is populated when you define the transforms that use the data element. 2. Enter the name of the data element in the Data element name field. This name is used to create an icon under the category branch. The name entered here must be unique as no two data elements can have the same name. 3. Choose the most appropriate base data type from the Base type drop-down list box. The base types are the fundamental data types used internally by WebSphere DataStage for processing. There are five base types: v Date. The column contains a date, represented in WebSphere DataStage internal format. There are many built-in transforms available to convert dates to character strings. v Number. The column contains a numeric value. v String. The column contains data as a string of characters. WebSphere DataStage interprets the string as a number if needed. v Time. The column contains data as a time. v Default. The data has an SQL data type already assigned and the most appropriate base type is used. 4. Optionally enter a brief description of the data in the Short description field. 5. Optionally enter a detailed description of the data in the Long description field. This description is displayed only when you view the properties of a data element.

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6. Click OK to save the data element and to close the Data Element dialog box. You must edit your table definition to assign this new data element. Naming Data Elements: The rules for naming data elements are as follows: v Data element names can be any length. v They must begin with an alphabetic character. v They can contain alphanumeric, period, and underscore characters. Data element category names can be any length and consist of any characters, including spaces.

Assigning data elements in table definitions

If you created a new data element or you want to use one of the data elements supplied with WebSphere DataStage, you need to assign it. Data elements are assigned by editing the column definitions which are then used in your WebSphere DataStage job, or you can assign them in individual stages as you design your job. If you want to set up the data elements before you develop your job, you can edit the column definitions in the table definition. To assign a data element in a table definition: 1. Select the table definition you want in the repository tree, and do one of the following: v Choose Properties... from the shortcut menu. v Double-click the table definition in the tree. The Table Definition dialog box appears. 2. Click the Columns tab. The Columns page appears at the front of the Table Definition dialog box. 3. Click the Data element cell for the column definition you want to edit. 4. Choose the data element you want to use from the drop-down list. This list contains all the built-in data elements supplied with WebSphere DataStage and any data elements you created. For a description of the built-in data elements supplied with WebSphere DataStage, see Built-In Data Elements. 5. Click OK to save the column definition and to close the Table Definition dialog box.

Viewing or editing data elements

You can view the properties of any data element in your project. To view the properties of a data element, select it in the repository tree and do one of the following: v Choose Properties... from the shortcut menu. v Double-click on it. The Data Element dialog box appears. Click OK to close the dialog box. If you are viewing the properties of a data element that you created, you can edit any of the fields on the General or SQL Properties page. The changes are saved when you click OK. If you are viewing the properties of a built-in data element, you cannot edit any of the settings on the General or SQL Properties page.
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Copying a data element

You can copy an existing data element by using the Designer client. To copy a data element: 1. Select it in the repository tree 2. Choose Create copy from the shortcut menu. The data element is copied and a new transform is created in the same folder in the project tree. By default, the name of the copy is called CopyOfXXX, where XXX is the name of the chosen data element. An edit box appears allowing you to rename the copy immediately.

Built-In data elements

WebSphere DataStage has a number of built-in data elements. There are six data elements that represent each of the base types used internally by WebSphere DataStage: v Date. The column contains a date, represented in WebSphere DataStage internal format. There are many built-in transforms available to convert dates to character strings. v Number. The column contains a numeric value. v String. The column contains data as a string of characters. WebSphere DataStage interprets the string as a number if needed. v Time. The column contains data as a time. v Default. The data has an SQL data type already assigned and the most appropriate base type is used. v Timestamp. The column contains a string that represents a combined date/time: YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS In addition, there are some data elements that are used to express dates in alternative ways: v DATE.TAG. The data specifies a date and is stored in the following format: 1993-02-14 (February 14, 1993) v WEEK.TAG. The data specifies a week and is stored in the following format: 1993W06 (week 6 of 1993) v MONTH.TAG. The data specifies a month and is stored in the following format: 1993-02 (February 1993) v QUARTER.TAG. The data specifies a quarter and is stored in the following format: 1993Q1 (quarter 1, 1993) v YEAR.TAG. The data specifies a year and is stored in the following format: 1993 Each of these data elements has a base type of String. The format of the date complies with various ISO 8601 date formats. You can view the properties of these data elements. You cannot edit them.

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Special components for mainframe jobs

You can specify custom objects to help you design parallel jobs that transform or cleanse data. You can define these types of object: v Mainframe routines v Machine profiles v IMS Database definitions v IMS Viewsets

Mainframe routines
There are three types of mainframe routine: v External Routine. Calls a COBOL library function. v External Source Routine. Calls a user-supplied program that allows a WebSphere DataStage job to access an external data source as the job runs on the mainframe. v External Target Routine. Calls a user-supplied program that allows a WebSphere DataStage job to write to an external data source as the job runs on the mainframe. The External Routine stage in a WebSphere DataStage mainframe job enables you to call a COBOL subroutine that exists in a library external to WebSphere DataStage in your job. You must first define the routine, details of the library, and its input and output arguments. The routine definition is stored in the WebSphere DataStage Repository and can be referenced from any number of External Routine stages in any number of mainframe jobs. The External Source stage in a WebSphere DataStage mainframe job allows you to read data from file types that are not supported in Enterprise MVS Edition. After you write an external source program, you create an external source routine in the WebSphere DataStage Repository. The external source routine specifies the attributes of the external source program. The External Target stage in a mainframe job allows you to write data to file types that are not supported in Enterprise MVS Edition. After you write an external target program, you create an external target routine in the WebSphere DataStage Repository. The external target routine specifies the attributes of the external target program.

Working with mainframe routines

In mainframe jobs, routines allow you to incorporate complex processing or functionality specific to your environment in the COBOL programs generated by WebSphere DataStage. Some possible uses of an external routine could include a call to a statistical analysis program, an interface to a database type not supported by Enterprise MVS Edition, or a call to an existing COBOL program that performs a specialized function. Such a routine can be written in any language that can be called by a COBOL program, such as COBOL, Assembler, or C.

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When you create, view, or edit a mainframe routine, the Mainframe Routine dialog box appears. This dialog box has up to four pages: General, Creator, and Arguments, plus a JCL page if you are editing an External Source or External Target routine. There are three buttons in the Mainframe Routine dialog box: v Close. Closes the Routine dialog box. If you have any unsaved changes, you are prompted to save them. v Save. Saves the routine. v Help. Starts the Help system. Naming routines: Routine names can be one to eight characters in length. They must begin with an alphabetic character.

Creating a routine
To create a new routine: 1. Do one of: a. Choose File New from the Designer menu. The New dialog box appears. b. Open the Routines folder and select the Mainframe Routine icon.Click OK. The Mainframe Routine dialog box appears, with the General page on top. Or: c. Select a folder in the repository tree. d. Choose New Mainframe Routine from the shortcut menu. The Mainframe Routine dialog box appears, with the General page on top. 2. Enter general information about the routine, as follows: v Routine name. Type the name (up to 8 characters) of the function or subroutine. In mainframe terms, the routine name is the name of an entry point in a member of a load or object library. The library member might also contain other entry points with other names. The routine name must match the external subroutine name if dynamic invocation (the default) is selected, and automatically appears in the External subroutine name field. v Type. Choose External Routine, External Source Routine or External Target Routine from the drop-down list. v Platform. Select the operating system that the COBOL subroutine will run on. (OS/390 is the only platform currently supported.) v External subroutine name. Type the name of the load or object library member that contains the subroutine or function entry point. If dynamic invocation is selected, then the external subroutine name must match the routine name and is entered automatically. If the invocation method is static, then the two names need not match. v Library path. Type the pathname of the library that contains the routine member. v Invocation method. Select the invocation method for the routine. Dynamic invocation calls the routine at runtime. Static invocation embeds the routine within a program. Dynamic is the default. v Short description. Type an optional brief description of the routine. The text entered in this field appears in the External Routine stage editor. v Long description. Type an optional detailed description of the routine. 3. Select the Creator page:

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Enter information as follows: v Vendor. Type the name of the company who created the routine. v Author. Type the name of the person who created the routine. v Version. Type the version number of the routine. This is used when the routine is imported. The Version field contains a three-part version number, for example, 3.1.1. The first part of this number is an internal number used to check compatibility between the routine and the WebSphere DataStage system, and cannot be changed. The second part of this number represents the release number. This number should be incremented when major changes are made to the routine definition or the underlying code. The new release of the routine supersedes any previous release. Any jobs using the routine use the new release. The last part of this number marks intermediate releases when a minor change or fix has taken place. v Copyright. Type the copyright information. 4. Next define any required routine arguments on the Arguments page: Arguments are optional for mainframe routines. To load arguments from an existing table definition, click Load. To create a new argument, type directly in the Arguments page grid or, if you need to specify COBOL attributes, do one of the following: v Right-click in the column area and select Edit row... from the shortcut menu. v Press Ctrl-E. The Edit Routine Argument Metadata dialog box appears. The top pane contains the same fields that appear on the Arguments page grid. Enter the information for each argument you want to define as follows: v Argument name. Type the name of the argument to be passed to the routine. v I/O type. Only appears for External routines. Select the direction to pass the data. There are three options: Input. A value is passed from the data source to the external routine. The value is mapped to an input row element. Output. A value is returned from the external routine to the stage. The value is mapped to an output column. Both. A value is passed from the data source to the external routine and returned from the external routine to the stage. The value is mapped to an input row element, and later mapped to an output column. v Native type. Select the native data type of the argument value from the drop-down list. v Length. Type a number representing the length or precision of the argument. v Scale. If the argument is numeric, type a number to define the number of decimal places. v Nullable. Only appears for External Source and Target routines. Select Yes, No, or Unknown from the drop-down list to specify whether the argument can contain null values. The default is No on the Edit Routine Argument Meta Data dialog box. v Date Format. Only appears for External Source and Target routines. Choose the date format from the drop-down list of available formats. v Description. Type an optional description of the argument. The bottom pane of the Edit Routine Argument Metadata dialog box displays the COBOL page by default. Use this page to enter any required COBOL information for the mainframe argument:

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v Level Number. Only appears for External Source routines. Type in a number giving the COBOL level number in the range 02 - 49. The default value is 05. v Occurs. Only appears for External Source routines. Type in a number giving the COBOL occurs clause. If the argument defines a group, gives the number of elements in the group. v Usage. Select the COBOL usage clause from the drop-down list. v Sign indicator. Select Signed or blank from the drop-down list to specify whether the argument can be signed or not. The default is blank. v Sign option. If the argument is signed, select the location of the sign in the data from the drop-down list. v Sync indicator. Select SYNC or blank from the drop-down list to indicate whether this is a COBOL-synchronized clause or not. The default is blank. v Redefined Field. Only appears for External Source routines. Optionally specify a COBOL REDEFINES clause. This allows you to describe data in the same storage area using a different data description. v Depending on. Only appears for External Source routines. Optionally choose a COBOL OCCURS-DEPENDING ON clause from the drop-down list. v Storage length. Gives the storage length in bytes of the argument as defined. This field is derived and cannot be edited. v Picture. Gives the COBOL PICTURE clause, which is derived from the argument definition and cannot be edited. 5. If you are editing an External Source or Target routine, click the JCL tab to go to the JCL page. This allows you to supply any additional JCL that your routine might require. Type in the JCL or click Load JCL to load it from a file. 6. Click Save when you are finished to save the routine definition.

Viewing and editing a routine

You can view and edit any mainframe routines in your project. To view or modify a routine, select it in the repository tree and do one of the following: v Choose Properties... from the shortcut menu. v Double-click on it. The Routine dialog box appears. You can edit any of the fields and options on any of the pages.

Copying a routine
You can copy an existing routine using the Designer. To copy a routine: 1. Select it in the repository tree 2. Choose Create copy from the shortcut menu. The routine is copied and a new routine is created in the same folder in the project tree. By default, the name of the copy is called CopyOfXXX, where XXX is the name of the chosen routine. An edit box appears allowing you to rename the copy immediately.

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Renaming a routine
You can rename any user-written routines using the Designer. To rename an item, select it in the repository tree and do one of the following: v Click the routine again. An edit box appears and you can enter a different name or edit the existing one. Save the new name by pressing Enter or by clicking outside the edit box. v Choose Rename from the shortcut menu. An edit box appears and you can enter a different name or edit the existing one. Save the new name by pressing Enter or by clicking outside the edit box. v Double-click the routine. The Mainframe Routine dialog box appears and you can edit the Routine name field. Click Save, then Close.

Machine profiles
Mainframe machine profiles are used when WebSphere DataStage uploads generated code to a mainframe. They are also used by the mainframe FTP stage. They provide a reuseable way of defining the mainframe WebSphere DataStage is uploading code or FTPing to. You can create mainframe machine profiles and store them in the WebSphere DataStage repository. You can create, copy, rename, move, and delete them in the same way as other repository objects. To create a machine profile: 1. Do one of: a. Choose File New from the Designer menu. The New dialog box appears. b. Open the Other folder and select the Machine Profile icon. c. Click OK. The Machine Profile dialog box appears, with the General page on top. Or: d. Select a folder in the repository tree. e. Choose New Other Machine Profile from the shortcut menu. The Machine Profile dialog box appears, with the General page on top. 2. Supply general details as follows: a. Enter the name of the machine profile in the Machine profile name field. The name entered here must be unique as no two machine profiles can have the same name. b. Choose the type of platform for which you are defining a profile from the Platform type drop-down list. c. Optionally enter a brief description of the profile in the Short description field. d. Optionally enter a detailed description of the data in the Long description field. This description is displayed only when you view the properties of a machine profile. 3. Click the Connection tab to go to the Connection page. Fill in the fields as follows: v Specify the IP Host name/address for the machine. v Specify the Port to connect to. The default port number is 21. v Choose an Ftp transfer type of ASCII or Binary.

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v Specify a user name and password for connecting to the machine. The password is stored in encrypted form. v Click Active or Passive as appropriate for the FTP service. v If you are generating process metadata from mainframe jobs, specify the target directory and dataset name for the XML file which will record the operational metadata. 4. Click the Libraries tab to go to the Libraries page. Fill in the fields as follows: v In Source library specify the destination for the generated code. v In Compile JCL library specify the destination for the compile JCL file. v In Run JCL library specify the destination for the run JCL file. v In Object library specify the location of the object library. This is where compiler output is transferred. v In DBRM library specify the location of the DBRM library. This is where information about a DB2 program is transferred. v In Load library specify the location of the Load library. This is where executable programs are transferred. v In Jobcard accounting information specify the location of identification information for the jobcard. 5. Click OK to save the machine profile and to close the Machine Profile dialog box.

IMS Databases and IMS Viewsets

WebSphere DataStage can store information about the structure of IMS Databases and IMS Viewsets which can then be used by Mainframe jobs to read IMS databases, or use them as lookups. These facilities are available if you have Enterprise MVS Edition installed along with the IMS Source package. The information is stored in the following repository objects: v IMS Databases (DBDs). Each IMS database object describes the physical structure of an IMS database. v IMS Viewsets (PSBs/PCBs). Each IMS viewset object describes an applications view of an IMS database.

Importing IMS definitions

You can import IMS definitions into the WebSphere DataStage repository from Data Base Description (DBD) files and Program Specification Block (PSB) files. A DBD file defines the physical structure of an IMS database. A PSB file defines an applications view of an IMS database. Details about how to do this are given in Importing IMS Definitions.

Editing IMS Definitions

To open an IMS database or viewset for editing, select it in the repository tree and do one of the following: v Choose Properties from the shortcut menu. v Double-click the item in the tree.

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Depending on the type of IMS item you selected, either the IMS Database dialog box appears or the IMS Viewset dialog box appears. Remember that, if you edit the definitions, this will not affect the actual database it describes. IMS database editor: The IMS Database editor allows you to view, edit, or create IMS database objects. This dialog box is divided into two panes. The left pane displays the IMS database, segments, and datasets in a tree, and the right pane displays the properties of selected items. Depending on the type of item selected, the right pane has up to two pages: v Database. There are two pages for database properties: General. Displays the general properties of the database including the name, version number, access type, organization, and short and long descriptions. All of these fields are read-only except for the short and long descriptions. Hierarchy. Displays the segment hierarchy of the database. You can right-click to view the hierarchy in detailed mode. This diagram is read-only. v Segment. There are two pages for segment properties: General. Displays the segment name, the parent segment, its minimum and maximum size in bytes, and a description. All of these fields are read-only except for the description. Fields. Displays the fields of the selected segment. The field descriptions are read-only. v Dataset. Properties are displayed on one page and include the DD names that are used in the JCL to read the file. These names are read-only. You can optionally enter a description of the dataset. IMS viewset editor: The IMS Viewset editor allows you to view, edit, or create IMS viewset objects. This dialog box is divided into two panes. The left pane contains a tree structure displaying the IMS viewset (PSB), its views (PCBs), and the sensitive segments. The right pane displays the properties of selected items. It has up to three pages depending on the type of item selected: v Viewset. Properties are displayed on one page and include the PSB name. This field is read-only. You can optionally enter short and long descriptions. v View. There are two pages for view properties: General. Displays the PCB name, DBD name, type, and an optional description. If you did not create associated tables during import or you want to change which tables are associated with PCB segments, click the Segment/Table Mapping... button. The Segment/Associated Table Mapping dialog box appears. To create a table association for a segment, select a table in the left pane and drag it to the segment in the right pane. The left pane displays available tables in the Repository which are of type QSAM_SEQ_COMPLEX. The right pane displays the segment names and the tables currently associated with them; you can right-click to clear one or all of the current table mappings. Click OK when you are done with the mappings, or click Cancel to discard any changes you have made and revert back to the original table associations. Hierarchy. Displays the PCB segment hierarchy in a read-only diagram. You can right-click to view the hierarchy in detailed mode.
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v Sensitive Segment. There are three pages for sensitive segment properties: General. Displays the segment name and its associated table. If you want to change the associated table, click the browse button next to the Associate table field to select another table. Sen Fields. Displays the sensitive fields associated with the sensitive segment. These fields are read-only. Columns. Displays the columns of the associated table. The column descriptions are read-only.

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Chapter 8. Configuring your designs

After you have sketched out your job designed, and defined the data and any special components that you need, you must configure the job. You configure the job to specify all the properties for the individual stages you have sketched. You also specify the data that flows down the links that connect the stages. Each job type supports many different types of stage, each with many properties. Details of these stages and their properties can be found in the following places: v Developing parallel DataStage and QualityStage jobs v Developing server jobs v Developing mainframe jobs There are also job properties that you can set. These control how the whole job behaves when it runs.

Configuring parallel jobs

You can specify options about how your parallel job runs by editing the job properties.

Specifying general options

Use the General page to specify general characteristics of your job. The General page has the following fields: v Job version number. The version number of the job. A job version number has several components: The version number N.n.n. This number checks the compatibility of the job with the version of WebSphere DataStage installed. This number is automatically set when WebSphere DataStage is installed and cannot be edited. The release number n.N.n. This number is automatically incremented every time you release a job. The bug fix number n.n.N. This number reflects minor changes to the job design or properties. To change this number, select it and enter a new value directly or use the arrow buttons to increase the number. v Before-job subroutine and Input value. Optionally contain the name (and input parameter value) of a subroutine that is executed before the job runs. For example, you can specify a routine that prepares the data before processing starts. Choose a routine from the drop-down list box. This list box contains all the built routines defined as a Before/After Subroutine under the Routines branch in the Repository. Enter an appropriate value for the routines input argument in the Input value field. If you use a routine that is defined in the Repository, but which was edited and not compiled, a warning message reminds you to compile the routine when you close the Job Properties dialog box.
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If you installed or imported a job, the Before-job subroutine field might reference a routine which does not exist on your system. In this case, a warning message appears when you close the Job Properties dialog box. You must install or import the missing routine or choose an alternative one to use. A return code of 0 from the routine indicates success. Any other code indicates failure and causes a fatal error when the job is run. v After-job subroutine and Input value. Optionally contains the name (and input parameter value) of a subroutine that is executed after the job has finished. For example, you can specify a routine that sends an electronic message when the job finishes. Choose a routine from the drop-down list box. This list box contains all the built routines defined as a Before/After Subroutine under the Routines branch in the Repository. Enter an appropriate value for the routines input argument in the Input value field. If you use a routine that is defined in the Repository, but which was edited but not compiled, a warning message reminds you to compile the routine when you close the Job Properties dialog box. A return code of 0 from the routine indicates success. Any other code indicates failure and causes a fatal error when the job is run. v Only run after-job subroutine on successful job completion. This option is enabled if you have selected an After-job subroutine. If you select the option, then the After-job subroutine will only be run if the job has successfully completed running all its stages. v Enable Runtime Column Propagation for new links. This check box appears if you have selected Enable Runtime Column propagation for Parallel jobs for this project in the Administrator client. Check it to enable runtime column propagation by default for all new links on this job. v Allow Multiple Instances. Select this to enable the Director client to run multiple instances of this job. v Enable hashed file cache sharing. Select this to enable multiple processes to access the same hash file in cache (the system checks if this is appropriate). This can save memory resources and speed up execution where you are, for example, running multiple instances of the same job. This only applies to parallel jobs that use server functionality in server shared container stages. v Enabled for Information Services. Select this to make the job available for deployment as a service. v Short job description. An optional brief description of the job. v Full job description. An optional detailed description of the job.

Before- and after-job routines

The following routines are available for use as before- or after-job routines: v DSSendMail. This routine is an interlude to the local send mail program. v DSWaitForFile. This routine is called to suspend a job until a named file either exists, or does not exist. v DSJobReport. This routine can be called at the end of a job to write a job report to a file. The routine takes an argument comprising two or three elements separated by semi-colons as follows: Report type. 0, 1, or 2 to specify report detail. Type 0 produces a text string containing start/end time, time elapsed and status of job. Type 1 is as a basic report but also contains information about individual stages and links within the job. Type 2 produces a text string containing a full XML report.

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v v v v v

Directory. Specifies the directory in which the report will be written. XSL stylesheet. Optionally specifies an XSL style sheet to format an XML report. If the job had an alias ID then the report is written to JobName_alias.txt or JobName_alias.xml, depending on report type. If the job does not have an alias, the report is written to JobName_YYYYMMDD_HHMMSS.txt or JobName_YYYYMMDD_HHMMSS.xml, depending on report type. ExecDOS. This routine executes a command via an MS-DOS shell. The command executed is specified in the routines input argument. ExecDOSSilent. As ExecDOS, but does not write the command line to the job log. ExecTCL. This routine executes a command via a WebSphere DataStage Engine shell. The command executed is specified in the routines input argument. ExecSH. This routine executes a command via a UNIX Korn shell. ExecSHSilent. As ExecSH, but does not write the command line to the job log.

Enabling runtime column propagation

You can use runtime column propagation to deal with the situation where your data has many columns but you are only working on a subset of them. When you design a job, you specify the column definitions for the data being read and processed. When runtime column propagation is enabled, the job will pass all the columns that it encounters in the data along the data flow, regardless of whether these columns have been defined in your data flow. You can design jobs that just specify a subset of the columns, but all the columns in the data will be passed through the stages. If runtime column propagation is not enabled, you have to specify all the columns in the data, otherwise the extra columns are dropped when the job runs. Runtime column propagation must be enabled for the project in the Administrator client. You can then turn runtime column propagation on or off for individual jobs on the General page.

NLS page
This page only appears if you have NLS installed with WebSphere DataStage. It allows you to ensure that WebSphere DataStage uses the correct character set map and collate formatting rules for your parallel job The character set map defines the character set WebSphere DataStage uses for this job. You can select a specific character set map from the list or accept the default setting for the whole project. The locale determines the order for sorted data in the job. Select the project default or choose one from the list.

Setting runtime options for your job

Use the Execution page of the Job Properties window to specify how your job behaves when it runs. You can switch tracing on for parallel jobs to help you debug them. You can also specify a collation sequence file and set the default runtime column propagation value setting for this job.
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The Execution page has the following options: v Compile in trace mode. Select this so that you can use the tracing facilities after you have compiled this job. v Force Sequential Mode. Select this to force the job to run sequentially on the conductor node. v Limits per partition. These options enable you to limit data in each partition to make problems easier to diagnose: Number of Records per Link. This limits the number of records that will be included in each partition. v Log Options Per Partition. These options enable you to specify how log data is handled for partitions. This can cut down the data in the log to make problems easier to diagnose. Skip count. Set this to N to skip the first N records in each partition. Period. Set this to N to print every Nth record per partition, starting with the first record. N must be >= 1. v Advanced Runtime Options. This field is for experienced Orchestrate users to enter parameters to be added to the OSH command line. Under normal circumstances this field should be left blank.

Specifying default time and date formats

Use the Defaults page of the Job Properties window to specify default date and time formats for your job. The Defaults page shows the current defaults for date, time, timestamp, and decimal separator. To change the default, clear the corresponding Project default check box, then either select a new format from the drop-down list or type in a new format.

Selecting a local message handler

You can select a local message handler for the job on the Defaults page of the Job Properties window. Use the Message Handler for Parallel Jobs field to select a message handler to be included in the job. The message handler is compiled with the job and become part of its executable. The drop-down list offers a choice of currently defined message handlers.

Configuring server jobs

You can specify options about how your server job runs by editing the job properties.

Specifying general options

Use the General page to specify general characteristics of your job. The General page has the following fields: v Job version number. The version number of the job. A job version number has several components: The version number N.n.n. This number checks the compatibility of the job with the version of WebSphere DataStage installed. This number is automatically set when WebSphere DataStage is installed and cannot be edited.

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 The release number n.N.n. This field is obsolete. The bug fix number n.n.N. This number reflects minor changes to the job design or properties. To change this number, select it and enter a new value directly or use the arrow buttons to increase the number. v Before-job subroutine and Input value. Optionally contain the name (and input parameter value) of a subroutine that is executed before the job runs. For example, you can specify a routine that prepares the data before processing starts. Choose a routine from the list box. This list box contains all the built routines defined as a Before/After Subroutine under the Routines branch in the Repository. Enter an appropriate value for the routines input argument in the Input value field. If you use a routine that is defined in the Repository, but which was edited and not compiled, a warning message reminds you to compile the routine when you close the Job Properties dialog box. If you installed or imported a job, the Before-job subroutine field might reference a routine which does not exist on your system. In this case, a warning message appears when you close the Job Properties dialog box. You must install or import the missing routine or choose an alternative one to use. A return code of 0 from the routine indicates success. Any other code indicates failure and causes a fatal error when the job is run. After-job subroutine and Input value. Optionally contains the name (and input parameter value) of a subroutine that is executed after the job has finished. For example, you can specify a routine that sends an electronic message when the job finishes. Choose a routine from the list box. This list box contains all the built routines defined as a Before/After Subroutine under the Routines branch in the Repository. Enter an appropriate value for the routines input argument in the Input value field. If you use a routine that is defined in the Repository, but which was edited but not compiled, a warning message reminds you to compile the routine when you close the Job Properties dialog box. A return code of 0 from the routine indicates success. Any other code indicates failure and causes a fatal error when the job is run. Only run after-job subroutine on successful job completion. This option is enabled if you have selected an After-job subroutine. If you select the option, then the After-job subroutine will only be run if the job has successfully completed running all its stages. Allow Multiple Instances. Select this to enable the Director client to run multiple instances of this job. Enable hashed file cache sharing. Check this to enable multiple processes to access the same hash file in cache (the system checks if this is appropriate). This can save memory resources and speed up execution where you are, for example, running multiple instances of the same job. Enabled for Information Services. Select this to make the job available for deployment as a service. Short job description. An optional brief description of the job. Full job description. An optional detailed description of the job.

v v

v v v

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Before- and after-job routines

The following routines are available for use as before- or after-job routines: v DSSendMail. This routine is an interlude to the local send mail program. v DSWaitForFile. This routine is called to suspend a job until a named file either exists, or does not exist. v DSJobReport. This routine can be called at the end of a job to write a job report to a file. The routine takes an argument comprising two or three elements separated by semi-colons as follows: Report type. 0, 1, or 2 to specify report detail. Type 0 produces a text string containing start/end time, time elapsed and status of job. Type 1 is as a basic report but also contains information about individual stages and links within the job. Type 2 produces a text string containing a full XML report. Directory. Specifies the directory in which the report will be written. XSL stylesheet. Optionally specifies an XSL style sheet to format an XML report. If the job had an alias ID then the report is written to JobName_alias.txt or JobName_alias.xml, depending on report type. If the job does not have an alias, the report is written to JobName_YYYYMMDD_HHMMSS.txt or JobName_YYYYMMDD_HHMMSS.xml, depending on report type. v ExecDOS. This routine executes a command via an MS-DOS shell. The command executed is specified in the routines input argument. v ExecDOSSilent. As ExecDOS, but does not write the command line to the job log. v ExecTCL. This routine executes a command via a WebSphere DataStage Engine shell. The command executed is specified in the routines input argument. v ExecSH. This routine executes a command via a UNIX Korn shell. v ExecSHSilent. As ExecSH, but does not write the command line to the job log.

Setting National Language Support properties

Use the NLS page of the Job Properties window to ensure that your server job uses the required character set maps and locales. The NLS page only appears if you have NLS enabled on your system.

Defining character set maps

You can select a specific character set map from a list or accept the default setting for the whole project. The list contains all character set maps that are loaded and ready for use. You can view other maps that are supplied by clicking Show all maps, but these maps cannot be used unless they are loaded using the Administrator client.

Defining data formats with locales

Use the Locale setting to specify how various types of data are formatted. Different countries and territories have different formatting conventions for common data types such as times, dates, numbers, and currency. The set of conventions used in a particular place with a particular language is called a locale. For example, there is a Canadian-French locale whose conventions differ from the French-French locale.

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A default locale is set for each project during installation. You can override the default for a particular job by selecting the locale you require for each category on the NLS page of the Job Properties window: v Time/Date specifies the locale to use for formatting times and dates. v Numeric specifies the locale to use for formatting numbers, for example, the thousands separator and radix character. v Currency specifies the locale to use for monetary amounts, for example, the currency symbol and where it is placed. v CType specifies the locale to use for determining character types, for example, which letters are uppercase and which lowercase. v Collate specifies the locale to use for determining the order for sorted data. In most cases you should use the same locale for every category to ensure that the data is formatted consistently.

Optimizing job performance

Use the settings on the Performance page and the General page of the Job Properties window to optimize the performance of your server job. You can improve the performance of the job by specifying the way the system divides jobs into processes. You can improve performance where you are running multiple instances of a job by enabling hashed file cache sharing. These settings can also be made on a project-wide basis using the Administrator client. The settings are: v Use Project Defaults. Select this option to use whatever setting have been made in the Administrator client for the project to which this job belongs. v Enable Row Buffering. There are two types of mutually exclusive row buffering: In process. You can improve the performance of most server jobs by turning in-process row buffering on and recompiling the job. This allows connected active stages to pass data via buffers rather than row by row. Inter process. Use this if you are running server jobs on an SMP parallel system. This enables the job to run using a separate process for each active stage, which will run simultaneously on a separate processor. Note: You cannot use row-buffering of either sort if your job uses COMMON blocks in transform functions to pass data between stages. This is not recommended practice, and it is advisable to redesign your job to use row buffering rather than COMMON blocks. v Buffer size. Specifies the size of the buffer used by in-process or inter-process row buffering. Defaults to 128 Kb. v Timeout. This option only applies when inter-process row buffering is used. Use the option to specify the time one process will wait to communicate with another via the buffer before timing out. Defaults to 10 seconds. v Enable hashed file cache sharing. This option is set on the General page of the Job Properties window. Select this option to enable multiple processes to access the same hash file in cache (the system checks if this is appropriate). This can
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save memory resources and speed up execution where you are, for example, running multiple instances of the same job.

Configuring Mainframe jobs

The Job Properties dialog box for mainframe jobs has the following pages: v General Page. Allows you to specify before and after job routines for the job, enable or disable various job-wide features, and enter short and long descriptions of the job. v Parameters Page. Allows you to specify job parameters. Job parameters allow you to specify certain values used by a job at run time. v Environment Page. Allows you to specify information that is used when code is generated for mainframe jobs. v Extension Page. If you have customized the JCL templates and added extension variables, allows you to supply values for these variables. v Operational Metadata Page. If your job is going to generate operational metadata, you can specify the details of how the metadata will be handled on this page

Specifying general options

You can specify general options that control how your mainframe job behaves on the General page of the Job Properties window. The mainframe job General page has these fields: v Job version number. The version number of the job. A job version number has several components: The version number N.n.n. This number checks the compatibility of the job with the version of WebSphere DataStage installed. This number is automatically set when WebSphere DataStage is installed and cannot be edited. The release number n.N.n. This number is automatically incremented every time you release a job. The bug fix number n.n.N. This number reflects minor changes to the job design or properties. To change this number, select it and enter a new value directly or use the arrow buttons to increase the number. v Century break year. Where a two-digit year is used in the data, this is used to specify the year that is used to separate 19nn years from 20nn years. v Date format Specifies the default date format for the job. Choose a setting from the drop-down list, possible settings are: MM/DD/CCYY DD.MM.CCYY CCYY-MM-DD The default date is used by a number of stages to interpret the date field in their column definitions. It is also used where a date type from an active stage is mapped to character or other data types in a following passive stage. The default date is also specified at project level using the Administrator client. The job default overrides the project default. v Perform expression semantic checking. Click this to enable semantic checking in the mainframe expression editor. Be aware that selecting this can incur performance overheads. This is most likely to affect jobs with large numbers of column derivations.

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v Generate operational metadata. Click this to have the job generate operational metadata. v NULL indicator location. Select Before column or After column to specify the position of NULL indicators in mainframe column definitions. v NULL indicator value. Specify the character used to indicate nullability of mainframe column definitions. NULL indicators must be single-byte, printable characters. Specify one of the following: A single character value (1 is the default) An ASCII code in the form of a three-digit decimal number from 000 to 255 An ASCII code in hexadecimal form of %Hnn or %hnn where nn is a hexadecimal digit (0-9, a-f, A-F) v Non-NULL Indicator Value. Specify the character used to indicate non-NULL column definitions in mainframe flat files. NULL indicators must be single-byte, printable characters. Specify one of the following: A single character value (0 is the default) An ASCII code in the form of a three-digit decimal number from 000 to 255 An ASCII code in hexadecimal form of %Hnn or %hnn where nn is a hexadecimal digit (0-9, a-f, A-F) v Short job description. An optional brief description of the job. v Full job description. An optional detailed description of the job. Click OK to record your changes in the job design. Changes are not saved to the Repository until you save the job design.

Specifying a job parameter in a mainframe job

Use the Parameters page of the Job Properties window to specify one or more parameters for your job. Instead of entering inherently variable factors as part of the job design you can set up parameters which represent processing variables. For mainframe jobs the parameter values are placed in a file that is accessed when the job is compiled and run on the mainframe. Job parameters are defined, edited, and deleted in the Parameters page of the Job Properties dialog box. All job parameters are defined by editing the empty row in the Job Parameters grid. Note: Before you remove a job parameter definition, you must make sure that you remove the references to this parameter in your job design. If you do not do this, your job might fail to run. The mainframe job Parameters page has these fields and columns: v Parameter file name. The name of the file containing the parameters. v COBOL DD name. The DD name for the location of the file. v Name. The name of the parameter. v SQL Type. The type of the parameter. It can be one of: Char. A fixed-length string where the Length attribute is used to determine its length. The COBOL program defines this parameter with PIC X(length).
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v v v v v

Decimal. A COBOL signed zoned-decimal number, the precision is indicated by Length and the scale by Scale. The COBOL program defines this parameter with PIC S9(length-scale)V9(scale). Integer. A COBOL signed zoned-decimal number, where the Length attribute is used to define its length. The COBOL program defines this parameter with PIC S9(length). Length. The length of a char or a decimal parameter. Scale. The precision of a decimal parameter. Description. Optional description of the parameter. Save As... . Allows you to save the set of job parameters as a table definition in the WebSphere DataStage Repository. Load... . Allows you to load the job parameters from a table definition in the WebSphere DataStage Repository.

Using mainframe job parameters

You can use job parameters as part of mainframe expressions. The Expression Editor offers a list of the job parameters that have been defined. The actual values for job parameters are specified in a separate file which is uploaded to the mainframe with the job.

Controlling code generation

Use the Environment page of the Job Properties window to control how code is generated for your mainframe job. The Environment page has these fields: v DBMS. If your design includes relational stages, the code generation process looks here for database details to include in the JCL files. If these fields are blank, it will use the project defaults as specified in the WebSphere DataStage Administrator. System name. The name of the database used by the relational stages in the job. If not specified, the project default is used. User name and Password. These will be used throughout the job. If not specified, the project default is used. Rows per commit. Defines the number of rows that are written to a DB2 database before they are committed. The default setting is 0, which means to commit after all rows are processed. If you enter a number, the commit occurs after the specified number of rows are processed. For inserts, only one row is written. For updates or deletes, multiple rows might be written. However, if an error is detected, a rollback occurs. v Teradata. If your design includes Teradata stages, the code generation process looks here for database details to include in the JCL files. TDP id and Account id. The connection details used in Teradata stages throughout the job. User ID and Password. These will be used throughout the job.

Supplying extension variable values

If you have customized the JCL templates and added extension variables, you can supply values for these variables for a particular job in the Extension page of theJob Properties window.

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The Extension page contains a grid with these columns: v Name. The name of the extension variable. The name must begin with an alphabetic character and can contain only alphabetic or numeric characters. It can be upper or lowercase or mixed. v Value. The value that the extension variable will take in this job. No validation is done on the value.

Configuring operational metadata

If your mainframe job is going to generate operational metadata, you can specify the details of how the metadata will be handled on the Operational Metadata page of the Job Properties window. The Operational Metadata page has the following fields: v Machine Profile. If you have already specified a machine profile that contains some or all of the required details, you can select it from the drop-down list and the relevant fields will be automatically filled in. v IP address. IP Host name/address for the machine running your program and generating the operational metadata. v File exchange method. Choose between FTP and connect direct. v User name. The user name for connecting to the machine. v Password. The password for connecting to the machine v XML file target directory and Dataset name for XML file. Specify the target directory and dataset name for the XML file which will record the operational metadata.

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Chapter 9. Comparing objects

When you have many objects in your repository you might want to compare them to keep track of the differences. You can compare two objects of the same type. For example, you can compare a parallel job with another parallel job. You can compare the following objects: v Parallel jobs v Server jobs v Mainframe jobs v Job sequences v v v v v v v Parallel shared containers Server shared containers Parallel routines Server routines Mainframe routines Table definitions Data connections

You can compare two objects that are in the same project or compare two objects that are in two different projects. For example, you can compare the table definition named CA_address_data in the project named MK_team with the table named Cal_addresses in the project named WB_team. The Designer client displays descriptions of all the differences between the two objects in a hierarchical tree structure. You can expand branches in the tree to view the details. Click the underlined link in the description to view the changed object. The details that are displayed depend on the types of object that you are comparing. For example, the following picture shows the result of comparing two table definitions.

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Figure 13. Results of comparing two table definitions

If you compare objects that contain differences in multi-line text (for example, source code in routines), the change tree displays a View button. Click View to view the source code. By default the source is displayed in Notepad, but you can

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choose a different application in the Designer client options. Select Tools Options and select Comparison Tool to view comparison tool options.

Comparing objects in the same project

You can compare objects in the same project either by selecting both objects in the repository tree, or by selecting one object and then browsing for the other. About this task The Designer client compares the two objects and displays the results in a window. These results show what the differences are between the two objects. Procedure To compare two objects: 1. Select the first object that you want compare in the repository tree and then do one of: the following tasks: v Hold down the CTRL key and click the second object in the tree, then right-click and select Compare selected. v Right-click and select Compare against, and then browse for the object, select it and click OK. 2. View the results in the window.

Comparing objects in different projects

You can compare two objects that are in different projects. About this task The Designer client compares two objects of the same type that are in different projects and displays the results in a window. These results show what the differences are between the two objects. Procedure To 1. 2. 3. 4. compare two objects in different projects: In the repository tree, select the first object that you want to compare. Right-click and select Cross Project Compare. Click Attach. In the Attach to Project window, type your user name and password, and select the project that you want to attach to from the Project list. 5. Click OK to see a filtered view of the repository tree in the chosen project. The filtered view displays only folders that contain eligible objects. 6. Browse the tree and select the object that you want to compare to the first object. 7. Click OK.

Compare command line tool

You can compare objects by entering commands on your client computer command line.

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You can use the command line tool to build compare operations into scripts. These can be combined with other command line tools that are available for manipulating objects and projects. The compare command line tool has the following syntax:
diffapicmdline.exe /lhscd "left_side_connection_details" /rhscd "right_side_connection_details" /t difftype /ot output_type /ol output_location

The command takes the following arguments: left_side_connection_details The connection details for the left side of the comparison, that is, the first object that you want to compare. Enclose the connections details in double quotation marks. Specify the following details: v /d=domainname /host=hostname /u=username /p=password project_name object_name The name of a table definition object must be specified as its data locator name, not the name that is displayed in the repository tree. The data locator name is displayed in the table definition properties window. right_side_connection_details The connection details for the right side of the comparison, that is, the second object that you want to compare. You must specify full connection details only if you compare two objects in different projects. Otherwise, you can specify only the object name. The syntax for the connection details is the same as for the left_side_connection_details option. difftype The type of objects to compare. This argument can be one of the following values: v Job v SharedContainer v Routine v TableDef output_type The format of the output of the comparison. The format is always HTML. output_location The full path for the output file. On completion the tool returns one of the following codes: v 0 indicates successful comparison v 1 indicates an error in the command line v 2 indicates that the client cannot compare the objects

Example of comparison from the command line

The following command compares the job exercise1 with the job new_exercise. Both jobs are located in the project named tutorial. The output is sent to an html file on the c: drive:

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diffapicmdline.exe /lhscd /d=localhost:9080 /h=R101 /u=billg /p=paddock tutorial exercise1 /rhscd new_exercise1 /t job /ot html /ol c:\compare_output.html

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Chapter 10. Searching and impact analysis

When you want to change job designs, or reuse components, you might want to search for them and check that none of your changes affect other jobs.

Find facilities
Use the find facilities to search for objects in the repository and to find where objects are used by other objects. The repository tree has extensive search capabilities. Quick find is available wherever you can see the repository tree: in browse windows as well the Designer client window. Advanced find is available from the Designer client window.

Quick find
Use the quick find feature to search for a text string in the name of an object, or in its name and its description. You can restrict your search to certain types of object, for example you can search for certain jobs. You can keep the quick find window open at the top of your repository tree in the Designer client window and you can access it from any windows in which the repository tree is displayed. Quick find supports the use of wildcards. Use an asterisk to represent zero or more characters. To search for an object using quick find: 1. Open the quick find window by clicking Open quick find in the top right corner of the repository tree. 2. Enter the name to search for in the Name to find field. If you are repeating an earlier search, click the down arrow in the name box and select your previous search from the drop-down list. 3. Select the Include descriptions check box if you want the search to take in the object descriptions as well as the names (this will include long and short description if the object type has both). 4. If you want to restrict the search to certain types of object, select that object types from the drop-down list in Types to find. 5. After specifying the search details, click Find.

Example
Here is an example of a quick find where you searched for any objects called copy, and WebSphere DataStage found one job meeting this criteria. The job it found is highlighted in the tree. WebSphere DataStage reports that there are two matches because it also found the copy stage object. If you wanted to search only jobs then you could select jobs in the Types to find list. If you want to find any jobs with copy in the title you could enter *copy* in the Name to find field and the search would find the jobs copy and copy2.

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Figure 14. Example of quick find

If quick find locates several objects that match your search criteria, it highlights each one in the tree, with the folders expanded as necessary. To view the next object, click Next. You can click the n matches link to open the Advanced find window and display all the found objects in the window.

Advanced find
You can use advanced find to carry out sophisticated searches. Advanced find displays all the search results together in a window, independent of the repository tree structure. To access the advanced find facilities, do one of the following actions: v Open the quick find window in the main repository tree and click Adv.... v Perform a search using quick find, and then click the n matches hyperlink. v Choose Tools Advanced Find from the main menu. v Select a folder in the repository tree, and then do one of the following actions:

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 Select Repository Find in this folder Open Advanced Find from the main menu. Select Find in this folder Open advanced find from the pop-up menu. Choose Repository Find in this folder Objects that I created, Objects that I created today, or Objects that I created up to a week ago from the main menu Select Find in this folder Objects that I created , Objects that I created today, or Objects that I created up to a week ago from the pop-up menu. Select Repository Find in this folder Objects that I last modified, Objects that I last modified today, or Objects that I last modified up to a week ago from the main menu. Select Find in this folder Objects that I last modified, Objects that I last modified today, or Objects that I last modified up to a week ago from the pop-up menu.

Performing an advanced find

You can specify multiple search criteria in advanced find. You can use all, or some, of the following search criteria: v Name. Enter the name of the object that you are searching for. A list offers a choice of the last 50 names that you searched for, so you can choose one of those if desired. You must supply a name for the search or enter the wildcard character: asterisk (*). v Text in the object(s) descriptions. Enter text in this field to search for in the object descriptions or choose from one of your 50 previous searches from the list. v Folder to search. Specify the root folder from which to start the search. The top project folder is selected by default, but you can browse the repository tree for other folders. You can also choose from a list of folders that you previously searched. v Type. Select one or more object types to search from the list. If you make a selection here, a green circle containing a tick appears next to Type. This criterion is optional, if you do not select a specific type or types, all objects will be searched except column definitions. v Creation. You can search for an object that as created by a specific user, or created on a particular date or within a range of dates. v Last modified. You can search for an object last modified by a specific user, or last modified on a particular date or within a range of dates. v Type specific. You can specify a table definition and search for all other table definitions in the project that are linked to the same table in the shared repository. v Options. You can use options to add more details about a search. You can search on Name or Text in the object(s) descriptions. The other items are additive; if you specify more than one, the objects have to meet all the additional criteria before they are deemed to have satisfied the search conditions. To perform an advanced find: 1. Type a name in the Name field. 2. Optionally specify one or more additional search criteria. 3. Click Find.

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The names and details of the objects in the repository that match the search criteria are listed in the Results - Details tab. You can select items in the list and perform various operations on them from the shortcut menu. The available operations depend on the object type, but include the following: v Find dependencies and Find where used. v Export. Opens the Repository Export window which allows you to export the selected object in a .dsx or .xml file. v Multiple job compile. Available for jobs and job sequences. Opens the multiple job compiler tool. v Edit. Available for jobs and job sequences. The selected job opens in the job design canvas. v Add to palette. The object is added to the palette currently open so that it is readily available for future operations. v Create copy. Creates a copy of the selected object named CopyOfObjectName. v Rename. Use this operation to rename the selected object. v Delete. Use this operation to delete the selected object. v Properties. Opens the Properties window for the selected object. All objects have associated properties giving detailed information about the object. You can save the results of an advanced search operation as an XML file or as a report. You can view a report in the reporting console. The following example shows a search for object names that start with the word exercise and include descriptions that contain the word tutorial. The results show that four objects match these criteria:

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Finding shared table definitions

If you have table definitions that are derived from shared metadata, you can use advanced find to locate all the table definitions in your project that are derived from the same shared table. To search for shared table definitions: 1. Select a table definition in the repository tree. 2. Right-click and select Find shared table definitions from the pop-up menu. You can also search in one of the following ways: v Open the Repository Advanced Find window from the repository tree and select the source table definition using the Type specific filter. v Right-click a table definition object in an existing advanced find or impact analysis results display and select Find shared table definitions from the pop-up menu.

Finding column definitions

You can use the advanced find facilities to search for individual column definitions.

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You can search for column definitions within the table definitions that are stored in the WebSphere DataStage repository, or you can search for column definitions in jobs and shared containers. You can narrow the search by specifying other search criteria, such as folders to search in, when the column definition was created or modified, or who created or modified the column definition. To search for a column: 1. Type the name of the column that you want to find in the Name to find field. You can use wildcard characters if you want to search for a number of columns with similar names. 2. Select Columns in Table Definitions or Columns in Jobs or Shared Containers in the Type list. Select both to search for the column in table definitions and in jobs and shared containers. 3. Specify other search criteria as required. 4. Click Find to search for the column.

Impact analysis
Use the impact analysis features to discover where objects are used, and what other objects they depend on. The impact analysis features help you to assess the impact of changes you might make to an object on other objects, or on job designs. For example, before you edit a table definition, you could find the jobs that derive their column definitions from the table definition and consider whether those jobs will need changing too. There are four types of impact analysis queries: where used Finds where the selected object is used by other objects. For example, if the selected object is a routine, a where used query lists all the jobs that use that routine. where used (deep) Finds where the selected object is used by other objects, and also where those objects in turn are used. For example if the selected object is a routine, a where used (deep) query lists all the jobs that use that routine, and also lists any job sequences that use those jobs. dependencies of Finds the objects that the selected object depends upon. For example, a job might depend upon a particular routine. dependencies of (deep) Finds the objects that the selected object depends upon, and also what objects they in turn depend upon. For example, a job sequence might depend on a job which in turn depends on a routine.

Impact analysis and object types

Use an impact analysis find to discover where a particular object is used by other objects, or what other objects a particular object depends on. You use a where used or a dependencies of query on different types of objects, and the query can result in specific object types being identified:

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Table 2. Impact analysis and objects Object type Data element Where used query Parallel job, server job, sequence job, parallel shared container, server shared container, table definition, transform Mainframe job Mainframe job None Dependencies of query None

IMS database IMS viewset Mainframe job

Table definition Table definition IMS database, IMS viewset, machine profile, mainframe routine, mainframe stage type, table definition Data element, parallel routine, server routine, parallel shared container, server shared container, rule specification, parallel stage type, server stage type, table definition transform, parameter set, data connection Data element, server routine, server shared container, server stage type, table definition, transform, parameter set, data connection Data element, parallel job, server job, sequence job, parallel routine, server routine, parallel shared container, server shared container, rule specification, parallel stage type, server stage type, table definition, transform, parameter set, data connection None Rule specification

Parallel job

Sequence job

Server job

Sequence job

Sequence job

Sequence job

Machine profile Rule specification

Mainframe job Parallel job, sequence job, parallel shared container, rule specification mainframe job Parallel job, sequence job, parallel shared container Parallel job, server job, sequence job, server routine, parallel shared container, server shared container

Mainframe routineM Parallel routine Server routine

None None Server routine

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Table 2. Impact analysis and objects (continued) Object type Parallel shared Pcontainer Where used query parallel job, sequence job, parallel shared container Dependencies of query Data element, parallel routine, server routine, parallel shared container, server shared container, rule specification, parallel stage type, server stage type, table definition, transform, parameter set, data connection Data element, server routine, server shared container, server stage type, table definition, transform, parameter set, data connection None None None

Server shared container

Parallel job, server job, sequence job, parallel shared container, server shared container

Mainframe stage type Parallel stage type Server stage type

Mainframe job Parallel job, sequence job, parallel shared container Server job, parallel job, sequence job, server shared container, parallel shared container Sequence job Mainframe job, server job, parallel job, sequence job, server shared container, parallel shared container, table definition, IMS database, IMS viewset Server job, parallel job, sequence job, server shared container, parallel shared container Server job, parallel job, sequence job, server shared container, parallel shared container Server job, parallel job, sequence job, server shared container, parallel shared container Server job, parallel job, sequence job, server shared container, parallel shared container, data connection

Sequence stage type Table definition

None Table definition, data element

Column definition

None

Transform

Data element

Data connection

Parameter set

Parameter set

None

Running where used queries

You can run a where used query directly from the repository tree or from within the Repository Advanced Find window. To run a where used query directly from the repository tree: 1. Select the object in the repository tree.

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2. Either right-click to open the pop-up menu or open the Repository menu from the main menu bar. 3. Select Find where used All types or Find where used (deep) All types to search for any type of object that uses your selected object. 4. Select Find where used object type or Find where used (deep) object type to restrict the search to certain types of object. The search displays the results in the Repository Advanced Find window. The results of a deep search show all the objects related to the ones that use your search object. To run a where used query from the Repository Advanced Find window: 1. Click the where used item in the left pane to open the where used tool. 2. Click Add. 3. In the Select items window, Browse for the object or objects that you want to perform the where used query on and click OK. 4. You can continue adding objects to the where used window to create a list of objects that you want to perform a where used query on. 5. Click Find when you are ready to perform the search. The results are displayed in the Results - Details and the Results - Graphical tabs of the Repository Advanced Find window. 6. View the results in the Repository Advanced Find window, click the Results Details tab to view the results as a text list, click the Results - graphical tab to view a graphical representation of the results. If you view the results as a text list, note that the results only list the first three dependency paths found for each object in the Sample dependency path field. To view all the dependency paths for an object, right-click on the object and select Show dependency path to object.

Running where used queries on column definitions

You can run a where used query on an individual column definition to find out where a particular column definition is used. Running a where used query on a column definition is different from running a where used query on other repository objects, because individual column definitions are not displayed as separate objects in the repository tree. You can run the query from the following places: v The results of an advanced find for a column. v After selecting a table definition in the repository tree. v The Repository Advanced Find window. The query runs and displays the jobs or shared containers that use the selected column or columns. To run a query from the results of an advanced find for a column: 1. Select one or more columns in the results pane of the Repository Advanced Find window. 2. Right-click and select Where used from the pop-up menu. To run a query from the repository tree: 1. In the repository tree, select the table definition that contains the column to query.
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2. Right-click and select Find where column used from the pop-up menu. 3. In the table column window, select one or more columns. 4. Click OK. To 1. 2. 3. 4. run a query from the Repository Advanced Find window: Open the Repository Advanced Find window. Click the where used item in the left pane. Click Add. In the Select Items window, select the column or columns that you want to query. 5. Click OK. 6. Click Find.

Displaying data lineage for columns

You can display the data lineage of specific data columns within job designs. Data lineage traces the use of the column definition through the job. You can display the data lineage of any column that you have previously searched for, or you can open a job or shared container and select a column for which you want to view the data lineage. In the job or shared container, stages and links that use the column are highlighted. Text is added to the link which explains how the column is used. Data lineage cannot be displayed for jobs that use runtime column propagation. You can enable the data lineage display in these ways: v From the Repository Advanced Find window opened by a previous search for a column. v From the Diagram menu of the Designer client. v From the stage pop-up menu in a job design. To open a job or shared container and display the data lineage for a column that you previously searched for: 1. Right-click a job or a shared container in the Repository Advanced Find window. 2. Select Show Data Flow (design time) from the pop-up menu. To enable data lineage highlighting from the Designer client menu: 1. In the Designer client, open the job or shared container in which you want to highlight the data lineage of a column. 2. Select Diagram Configure data flow view 3. In the Data Flow Analysis window, select one of the Type of analysis options to specify whether you want to highlight where data in the selected column originates, or highlight where the data flows to, or both. 4. Click Add to open a browser window that shows all the columns used in the job. Select the column or columns that you want to display data lineage for. Alternatively, click Select All to select all the columns. To enable data lineage highlighting from the stage pop-up menu: 1. In the Designer client, open the job or shared container in which you want to highlight the data lineage of a column. 2. Select the stage that you want to see the data lineage for.

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3. Select one of the following items from the pop-up menu: v Show where data flows to v Show where data originates from v Show where data flows to and originates from 4. In the browser window, select the column or columns that you want to display data lineage for. Alternatively, click Select All to select all the columns.

Disabling data lineage highlighting

If the data lineage of a column in a job or shared container is highlighted, you can turn off the highlighting. To disable data lineage highlighting: 1. In the Designer client, ensure that the job or shared container for which you want to turn off the data lineage highlighting is currently on top of the canvas and selected. 2. Select Diagram Show Data Flow (design time) to turn off the highlighting.

Running dependencies of queries

You can run a dependencies of query directly from the repository tree or from the Repository Advanced Find window. WebSphere DataStage performs the search and displays the results in the Repository Advanced Find window. The results of a deep search show all the objects related to the ones that depend on your search object. To run a dependencies of query directly from the repository tree: 1. Select the object in the repository tree. 2. Either right click to open the pop-up menu or open the Repository menu from the main menu bar. 3. Select Find dependencies All types or Find dependencies (deep) All types to search for any type of object that your selected object depends on. 4. Select Find dependencies object type or Find dependencies (deep) object type to restrict the search to certain types of object (the drop-down menu lists all the types of object that the selected type of object can use). To 1. 2. 3. run a dependencies of query from the Repository Advanced Find window: Click the dependencies of item in the left pane to open the where used tool. Click Add , a Select Items window opens. In the Select Items window, browse for the object or objects that you want to perform the dependencies of query on and click OK. The selected object or objects appear in the where used window. You can continue to add objects to this window to create a list of objects that you want to perform a dependencies of query on. 4. Click Find when you are ready to perform the search. The results are displayed in the Results - Details and the Results - Graphical tabs of the Repository Advanced Find window. If you view the results as a text list, note that the results only list the first three dependency paths found for each object in the Sample dependency path field. To view all the dependency paths for an object, right-click on the object and select Show dependency path to object.

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Viewing query results

The results of impact analysis queries are displayed in the Repository Advanced Find window. You can view the results in list form or as a graphical display. Use the tools in the window tool bar to: v Save the results to an XML file v Save the results as an HTML report v Zoom in and out of the graphical display

Example of a where used query

The results of a where used query shows what other objects use the object. In this example, the data element called TestDataElement is selected, and then a where used query is run. The results show that there are three table definitions that use this data element. The Results - Details tab lists the table definition objects:

Figure 15. Example of a where used query

You can select any of the objects from the list and perform operations on them from the pop-up menu as described for advanced find.

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Impact analysis queries also display results in graphical form, showing the relationships of the objects found by the query. To view the results in graphical form, click the Results - Graphics tab:

Figure 16. Example of a where used query, showing the results in graphical view

Example of a dependencies of query

The results of a dependencies of query show what other objects an object depends on. In this example, a dependencies of query is run on a simple job called seq2seq. This is what the job looks like in the job design canvas:

Figure 17. The seq2seq job

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The following figure shows the graphical view of the result:

Figure 18. Graphical result of dependencies of query

From this view you can invoke a view of the dependency path to a particular object. Select that object in the graphical results viewer tab and choose Show dependency path from ObjectName from the pop-up menu. This action opens another tab, which shows the relationships between the objects in the job. Here is the dependency path from the job to the table definition:

Figure 19. Graphical view of example dependency path

If an object has a plus sign (+) next to it, click the plus sign to expand the view:

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Figure 20. Object with dependency path expanded

Click the minus sign (-) to return to the original view.

Reporting on an advanced find

You can generate a report for an advanced find or impact analysis operation. The report is generated as an XML file. A style sheet is applied to the file to convert it to HTML so that it can be displayed in an Interneet browser or the IBM Information Server reporting console. To generate a report from an advanced find or impact analysis: 1. Select File Generate report. 2. Provide the following details in the Enter report details window: a. A name for the report. b. A description of the report. c. Choose whether to use the default style sheet or to supply a custom style sheet. 3. Click OK. 4. The report is generated and located in the reporting console folder. You can view it using the reporting console or an Internet browser. Choose Tools Reporting Console to open the Reporting Console. 5. You can also generate an XML file from the report by selecting File Generate report and specify a file name and destination folder for the file.

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Chapter 11. Sharing and moving your designs

You can share and move job designs and components by importing and exporting them. WebSphere DataStage allows you to import and export components in order to move jobs and other objects between WebSphere DataStage development systems. When you import or export jobs, WebSphere DataStage ensures that all the components required for a particular job are included in the import/export. You can also use the export facility to generate XML documents which describe objects in the repository. You can then use a browser such as Microsoft Internet Explorer Version 5 to view the document. XML is a markup language for documents containing structured information. It can be used to publish such documents on the Web. For more information about XML, visit the following Web sites: v http://www.xml.com v http://webdeveloper.com/xml v http://www.microsoft.com/xml v http://www.xml-zone.com WebSphere DataStage also allows you to import objects from outside WebSphere DataStage in order to leverage investment in other resources. Besides table definitions, you can import ActiveX (OLE) functions to use in server jobs (or in parallel jobs via a BASIC transformer or server shared container). You can similarly import web services functions to use in routines. You can import metadata from or export it to a variety of third party tools via bridges.

Importing objects
The Designer allows you to import various objects into the repository: v WebSphere DataStage components previously exported from other WebSphere DataStage projects (in proprietary format or in XML). v External function definitions v WebService function definitions v Metadata via bridges v Table definitions v IMS definitions

Importing previously exported objects

You can import complete projects, jobs, or job components that have been exported from another WebSphere DataStage development environment. You can import components from a text file or from an XML file. You must copy the file from which you are importing to a directory you can access from your local machine.

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Note: You can import components that support mainframe functionality only into a WebSphere DataStage system that has Enterprise MVS Edition installed. You should also ensure that the system to which you are importing supports the required platform type. Note: When importing a large project into an HP system, you might run into the HP limit of 32767 links to a file. This problem will result in the import failing with the error: unable to create operating system file. Note: There is a limit of 255 characters on object names. It is possible that exports from earlier systems might exceed this limit. To import components: 1. Choose Import DataStage Components... to import components from a text file or Import DataStage Components (XML) ... to import components from an XML file. The DataStage Repository Import dialog box appears (the dialog box is slightly different if you are importing from an XML file, but has all the same controls): 2. Type in the path or browse for the file to import from. 3. To import objects from the file into the repository, select Import all and click OK. During import, you will be warned if objects of the same name already exist in the repository and asked if you want to overwrite them. If you select the Overwrite without query check box before importing you will not be warned, and any existing objects will automatically be overwritten. If you import job components, they are imported into the current project in the Designer. 4. To import selected components from the file into the repository, select Import selected and click OK. The Import Selected dialog box appears. Select the required items and click OK. The selected job components are imported into the current project in the Designer. 5. To turn impact analysis off for this particular import, deselect the Perform Impact Analysis checkbox. (By default, all imports are checked to see if they are about to overwrite a currently used component, disabling this feature might speed up large imports. You can disable it for all imports by changing the impact analysis options)

Using import from the command line

You can use the command line to import components into the repository. There are two ways of importing from the command line. The dsimport command is a windows application and requires user interaction with message boxes (to import XML files in this way, use XML2DSX). The dscmdimport command is a command line application and can be run unattended (this imports both DSX and XML files). You can also import job executables from the WebSphere DataStage engine shell using the DS_IMPORTDSX command, or, on UNIX servers, from the command line using dsjob with the -import option.

dsimport command
The dsimport command is as follows:
dsimport.exe /D domain /H hostname /U username /P password /NUA project|/ALL| /ASK dsx_pathname1 dsx_pathname2 ...

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The arguments are as follows: v domain or domain:port_number. The application server name. This can also optionally have a port number. v hostname. The WebSphere DataStage Server to which the file will be imported. v username. The user name to use for connecting to the application server. v password. The users password . v NUA. Include this flag to disable usage analysis. This is recommended if you are importing a large project. v project, /ALL, or /ASK. Specify a project to import the components to, or specify /ALL to import to all projects or /ASK to be prompted for the project to which to import. v dsx_pathname. The file to import from. You can specify multiple files if required. For example, the following command imports the components in the file jobs.dsx into the project dstage1 on the R101 server:
dsimport.exe /D domain:9080 C:/scratch/jobs.dsx /U wombat /P w1ll1am dstage1 /H R101

dscmdimport command
The dscmdimport command is as follows:
dscmdimport /D domain /H hostname /U username /P password /NUA project|/ALL|/ASK pathname1 pathname2 ... /V

The arguments are as follows: v domain or domain:port_number. The application server name. This can also optionally have a port number. hostname. The WebSphere DataStage Server to which the file will be imported. username. The user name to use for connecting to the application Server password. The users password. NUA. Include this flag to disable usage analysis. This is recommended if you are importing a large project. v project, /ALL, or /ASK. Specify a project to import the components to, or specify /ALL to import to all projects or /ASK to be prompted for the project to which to import. v pathname. The file to import from. You can specify multiple files if required. The files can be DSX files or XML files, or a mixture of both. v V. Use this flag to switch the verbose option on. v v v v For example, the following command imports the components in the file jobs.dsx into the project dstage1 on the R101 server:
dscmdimport /D domain:9080 /U wombat /P w1ll1am dstage1 /H R101 C:/scratch/jobs.dsx

Messages from the import are sent to the console by default, but can be redirected to a file using >, for example:
dscmdimport /D domain:9080 /U wombat /P w1ll1am /H R101 /NUA dstage99 c:/scratch/project99.dsx /V > c:/scratch/importlog

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You can simply type dscmdimport at the command prompt to get help on the command options.

XML2DSX command
The XML2DSX command is as follows: XML2DSX.exe /D domain /H hostname /U username /P password /N[OPROMPT] /I[INTERACTIVE] /V[ERBOSE] projectname filename /T templatename The arguments are as follows: v domain or domain:port_number. The application server name. This can also optionally have a port number. v hostname. The WebSphere DataStage Server to which the file will be imported. v username. The user name to use when connecting. v password. The users password. v NOPROMPT. If you include this flag, the import will run silently, overwriting any existing components in the WebSphere DataStage Repository with the same name. v INTERACTIVE. If you include this flag, the Designer opens the standard Import DataStage Components dialog box. This allows you to choose which components should be imported. v VERBOSE. Displays details about the XML2DSX tool such as version number when it starts up. v projectname. The name of the WebSphere DataStage project to attach to on hostname. v filename. The name of the XML file containing the components to import. v templatename. Optionally specifies an XSLT template to be used to transform the XML file. If this is omitted, a default template is used. The default template is the one used when WebSphere DataStage exports components into XML. For example, the following command imports the components in the file jobs.xml into the project dstage1 on the R101 server:
XML2DSX.exe /D domain:9080 /U wombat /P w1ll1am /N dstage1 /H R101 C:/scratch/jobs.xml

DS_IMPORTDSX command
This command is run from within the DS engine using dssh. It can import any job executables found within specified DSX files. Run it as follows: 1. CD to the project directory on the server:
cd C:\IBM\InformationServer\Server\projects\project

2. Run the dssh shell:

..\..\DSEngine\bin\dssh

3. At the dssh prompt enter the DS_IMPORTDSX command (see below for syntax). The DS import command is as follows:
DS_IMPORTDSX filename [[-OVERWRITE] -JOB[S] * | jobname ...] | [-LIST]

The arguments are as follows:

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v filename. The name of the DSX file containing the components to import. v OVERWRITE. Specify this to overwrite any existing executables of the same name. v JOB[S]. Specify one or more job executables to import. v LIST. Specify this to list the executables in a .DSX file rather than import them. If you dont specify a JOB or a LIST argument, the default is to import all job executables in the specified file.

Importing external function definitions

This feature allows you to import ActiveX (OLE) functions for use as routines in WebSphere DataStage server jobs. On import WebSphere DataStage creates a wrapper which enables the function to be called in a job and stores the function as a server routine in the repository. You can edit the wrapper (though not the ActiveX function itself) using the Server Routine dialog box (see Viewing and Editing a Routine). To import an ActiveX (OLE) function: 1. Choose Import External Function Definitions... . The Import Transform Functions Definitions wizard appears and prompts you to supply the pathname of the file containing the transforms to be imported. This is normally a DLL file which must have already been installed on the server machine. 2. Enter or browse for the pathname, then click Next. The wizard queries the specified DLL file to establish what automation classes it contains and presents these in a drop-down list. 3. Select an automation class and click Next. The wizard interrogates the automation class to obtain details of the suitable functions it supports. It then displays these. 4. Select the functions that you want to import. Click Next. The wizard displays the details of the proposed import. 5. If you are happy with the details, click Import. WebSphere DataStage starts to generate the required routines and displays a progress bar. On completion a summary screen appears. Click Finish to exit the wizard.

Importing web service function definitions

This functionality is only available if you have the Web Services pack installed. You can construct WebSphere DataStage routines from operations defined in WSDL files. You can then use these routines in derivation expressions in server jobs. For example, you could use one in a Transformer stage to determine how a column value within a row is computed from the column values of the input rows. Note: Before you can use the Import Web Service routine facility, you must first have imported the metadata from the operation you want to derive the routine from. See Importing a Table Definition. To construct a WebSphere DataStage routine from a web service WSDL file: 1. Import the metadata for the web service operation. This is done using Import Table Definitions Web Services WSDL Definitions (see Importing a Table Definition).
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2. Choose Import Web Service Function Definitions... . The Web Service Browser appears. The upper right panel shows the web services whose metadata you have loaded. Select a web service to view the operations available in the web service in the upper left pane. 3. Select the operation you want to import as a routine. Information about the selected web service is shown in the lower pane. 4. Either click Select this item in the lower pane, or double-click the operation in the upper right pane. The operation is imported and appears as a routine in the Web Services category under a category named after the web service. Once the routine is imported into the Repository, you can open the Server Routine dialog box to view it and edit it. See Viewing and Editing a Routine.

Importing Metadata via bridges

Bridges allow you to exchange enterprise metadata between WebSphere DataStage and other data warehousing tools. For example, you can use bridges to import into table definitions that you have set up using a data modelling tool. Similarly you can export metadata from a WebSphere DataStage job to a business intelligence tool to help it analyze your data warehouse. To use bridges, you need to install bridges for any tools with which you want to exchange metadata. Importing metadata into WebSphere DataStage from a bridge has two main phases. After you have specified the tool from which you are importing and the source for the import metadata, the bridge for that tool extracts the metadata from the source. This is phase one. The bridge then displays a list of extracted metadata from which you can select what you actually want to import into WebSphere DataStage. Once you have done this, the bridge imports the metadata into the Repository. This is phase two. To use bridges to import metadata into WebSphere DataStage: 1. Choose Import Via bridges... . The Bridge Selection dialog box appears. 2. Select the bridge for the tool from which you want to import the metadata and click OK. The Parameters Selection dialog box appears. 3. Specify the required parameters for the import (these vary according to bridge, but typically specify data source and log file). Click OK. The Status dialog box appears. 4. The process of extracting metadata from the import source to the bridge is started. The status of the extraction is displayed in a text window: 5. When the extraction is completed, the Select All and Filter buttons are enabled. If you want to import all the metadata, click Select All and continue from Step 7. If you want to import selected metadata, click Filter. The Metadata Selection dialog box appears. It shows the metadata that the bridge has extracted from the source, and allows you to specify what you actually want to import into WebSphere DataStage. The dialog box shows all the classes of object that can be imported in a tree structure. Click one of the plus symbols to expand the tree. Click one of the minus symbols to shrink it again. Click in one of the square boxes to select a class, the class then appears in the Selection Status pane on the right.

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The arrows indicate relationships and you can follow these to see what classes are related and how (this might affect what you choose to import). 6. Specify what is to be imported: v Select boxes to specify which instances of which classes are to be imported. v Alternatively, you can click Select All to import all instances of all classes. v If you change your mind, click Clear All to remove everything from the Selection Status pane. 7. When you are satisfied that you have selected all the metadata you want to import, click OK. The Parameters Selection dialog box appears. 8. Specify the required parameters for the import into WebSphere DataStage. These allow you to specify whether you should be prompted to confirm overwrites to the WebSphere DataStage Repository, and whether verbose output is enabled. Click OK. The Status dialog box appears. 9. The bridge copies the selected data into the repository. The status of the import is displayed in a text window. Click Finish when it has completed the import. You might import more items than you have explicitly selected. This is because the bridge ensures that data integrity is maintained. For example, if you import a single column, the table definition for the table containing that column is also imported.

Importing IMS definitions

WebSphere DataStage can store information about the structure of IMS Databases and IMS Viewsets which can then be used by Mainframe jobs to read IMS databases, or use them as lookups. These facilities are available if you have Enterprise MVS Edition installed along with the IMS Source package. You can import IMS definitions into the WebSphere DataStage repository from Data Base Description (DBD) files and Program Specification Block (PSB) files. A DBD file defines the physical structure of an IMS database. A PSB file defines an applications view of an IMS database. During DBD import, the WebSphere DataStage table name is created from the DBD name and the segment name. Column names are created from the DBD field names; however, only those fields that are defined in the DBD become columns. Fillers are created where necessary to maintain proper field displacement and segment size. If you have a definition of the complete IMS segment in the form of a CFD, you can import it to create the completely defined table, including any columns that were captured as fillers. WebSphere DataStage captures the following clauses from DBD files: v DBD v DATASET v AREA v SEGM v LCHILD v FIELD v XDFIELD v DBDGEN
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v FINISH v END The clauses captured from PSB files include: v PCB v SENSEG v SENFLD v PSBGEN v END You can import IMS definitions from IMS version 5 and above. IMS field types are converted to COBOL native data types during capture, as described in the table below.
Table 3. Conversion of IMS field types to COBOL native data types IMS Field Type X P C F H
1

COBOL Usage COBOL Native Type Representation CHARACTER PIC X(n)

1

SQL Type Char Decimal Char Integer SmallInt

DISPLAY_NUMERIC PIC S9(n)V9(0) COMP-3 CHARACTER BINARY BINARY PIC X(n) PIC S9(9) COMP PIC S9(4) COMP

(n) is equal to the number of bytes.

Choose Import IMS Definitions Data Base Description (DBD)...to import a DBD or Import IMS Definitions Program Specification Block (PSB)... to import a PSB. The Import Metadata dialog box appears. This dialog box has the following fields: v Seen from. Your computers network identification name. The name is automatically filled in and is read-only. v IMS file description pathname. The pathname where the IMS file is located. You can type the pathname or browse for it by clicking the ... (browse) button. The IMS file must either reside on the WebSphere DataStage client workstation or on a network that is visible from the client workstation. The default capture file extension is *.dbd for DBD files or *.psb for PSB files. v Platform type. The operating system for the mainframe platform. (OS/390 is the only platform currently supported.) v Database names or Viewset names. The databases or viewsets defined in the selected DBD or PSB file. This list will appear after you enter the IMS pathname. Click Refresh to refresh the list if necessary. Select a single item by clicking the database or viewset name, or select multiple items by holding down the Ctrl key and clicking the names. To select all items, click Select all. To see a summary description of an item, select it and click Details. The Details of dialog box appears, displaying the type, description, modification history, and column names. When importing from a PSB there is an additional field:

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v Create associated tables. Select this check box to have WebSphere DataStage create a table in the Repository that corresponds to each sensitive segment in the PSB file, and columns in the table that correspond to each sensitive field. Only those fields that are defined in the PSB become columns; fillers are created where necessary to maintain proper field displacement and segment size. The associated tables are stored in the Table Definitions branch of the project tree. If you have a CFD with a definition of the complete IMS segment, you can import it to create the completely defined table, including any columns that were captured as fillers. You can then change the associated table for each segment in the IMS Viewset Editor; see Editing IMS Definitions for details. Click OK after selecting the items to import. The data is extracted and parsed. If any syntactical or semantic errors are found, the Import Error dialog box appears, allowing you to view and fix the errors, skip the import of the incorrect item, or stop the import process altogether. Viewing and Editing IMS Definitions After you import IMS databases and viewsets, you can view and edit their definitions in the Designer. Editing of IMS definitions is limited to entering descriptions and creating mappings between viewset segments and their associated tables. If you want to edit columns, you must open the associated table definition, see Viewing or Modifying a Table Definition.

Exporting objects
The Designer allows you to export various objects from the repository. You can export objects in text format or in XML.

Exporting WebSphere DataStage components

The Designer offer several methods of exporting objects from the repository: v You can select items in the repository and choose Export from the shortcut menu. v You can select items in the repository tree and choose Export from the Repository menu. v You can choose Export DataStage Components without first choosing any objects. You should be aware that, when you export objects that contain encrypted values, any default value that is entered is held as encrypted text can be viewed in the export file. So, for example, if you exported a job design where a database connection password is given as a stage property, then the encrypted value of that password is visible in the file. This is true whether you export to a dsx or an xml file. The solution is to specify passwords and other encrypted properties as job parameters with no default setting, and only give their value at run time.

Exporting directly from the repository tree

To export items directly: 1. Select the objects that you want to export in the repository tree. 2. Do one of the following: v Choose Export from the shortcut menu.
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3.

4.

5. 6. 7.

8.

9.

10.

v Choose Repository Export from the main menu. The Repository Export dialog box appears, populated with the selected items. Use the Add, Remove, and Select all hyperlinks to change the selection if necessary. Selecting Add opens a browse dialog box showing the repository tree. From the drop-down list, choose one of the following options to control how any jobs you are exporting are handled: v Export job designs with executables (where applicable) v Export job designs without executables (this is the only option available for XML export) v Export job executables without designs Select the Exclude read-only objects check box to exclude such objects from the export. Select the Include dependent items check box to automatically include items that your selected items depend upon. Click the Options button to open the Export Options dialog box. This allows you to change the exporters default settings on the following: Under the Default General branch: v Whether source code is included with exported routines (yes by default) v Whether source code is included with job executables (no by default) v Whether source content is included for data quality items. Under the Default Viewer branch: v Whether the default viewer or specified viewer should be used (the default viewer is the one Windows opens this type of file with, this is normally Internet Explorer for XML documents, but you need to explicitly specify one such as Notepad for .dsx files). Using the default viewer is the default option. Under the XML General branch. v Whether a DTD is to be included (no by default) v Whether property values are output as internal values (which are numeric) or as externalized strings (internal values are the default). Note that, if you chose the externalized string option, you will not be able to import the file that is produced. Under the XML Stylesheet branch: v Whether an external stylesheet should be used (no by default) and, if it is, the type and the file name and location of the stylesheet. Specify the type of export you want to perform. Choose one of the following from the drop-down list: v dsx v dsx 7-bit encoded v legacy XML Specify or select the file that you want to export to. You can click the View button to look at this file if it already exists (this will open the default viewer for this file type specified in Windows or any viewer you have specified in the Export Options dialog box). Select Append to existing file if you wanted the exported objects to be appended to, rather than replace, objects in an existing file. (This is not available for export to XML.)

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11. Examine the list of objects to be exported to assure yourself that all the ones you want to export have Yes in the Included column. 12. Click Export to export the chosen objects to the specified file.

Exporting from the export menu

You can choose to export repository objects without selecting them first by using the Export menu. To export in this way: 1. Choose Export DataStage Components. The Repository Export dialog box appears, it is empty (even if you have objects currently selected in the repository tree). 2. Click the Add hyperlink. The Select Items dialog box appears allowing you to select objects in the repository tree. 3. Use the Add, Remove, and Select all hyperlinks to change the selection if necessary. Selecting Add opens a browse dialog box showing the repository tree. 4. From the drop-down list, choose one of the following options to control how any jobs you are exporting are handled: v Export job designs with executables (where applicable) v Export job designs without executables (this is the only option available for XML export) v Export job executables without designs 5. Select the Exclude read-only objects check box to exclude such objects from the export. 6. Select the Include dependent items check box to automatically include items that your selected items depend upon. 7. Click the Options button to open the Export Options dialog box. This allows you to change the exporters default settings on the following: Under the Default General branch: v Whether source code is included with exported routines (yes by default) v Whether source code is included with job executables (no by default) v Whether source content is included for data quality items. Under the Default Viewer branch: v Whether the default viewer or specified viewer should be used (the default viewer is the one Windows opens this type of file with, this is normally Internet Explorer for XML documents, but you need to explicitly specify one such as Notepad for .dsx files). Using the default viewer is the default option. Under the XML General branch. v Whether a DTD is to be included (no by default) v Whether property values are output as internal values (which are numeric) or as externalized strings (internal values are the default). Note that, if you chose the externalized string option, you will not be able to import the file that is produced. Under the XML Stylesheet branch: v Whether an external stylesheet should be used (no by default) and, if it is, the type and the file name and location of the stylesheet.

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8. Specify or select the file that you want to export to. You can click the View button to look at this file if it already exists (this will open the default viewer for this file type specified in Windows or any viewer you have specified in the Export Options dialog box). 9. Select Append to existing file if you wanted the exported objects to be appended to, rather than replace, objects in an existing file. (This is not available for export to XML.) 10. Examine the list of objects to be exported to assure yourself that all the ones you want to export have Yes in the Included column. Click Export to export the chosen objects to the specified file.

Specifying job dependencies

Use the Dependencies page of the Job Properties window to specify any dependencies that a job has. Dependencies can be functions, routines, or other jobs that the job requires in order to run successfully. You specify dependencies to ensure that, if the job is packaged for use on another system, all the required components are included in the package. Enter details as follows: v Type. The type of item upon which the job depends. Choose from the following: Job. Released or unreleased job. If you have added a job on the Job control page, this will automatically be included in the dependencies. If you subsequently delete the job from the job control routine, you must remove it from the dependencies list manually. Local. Locally cataloged BASIC functions and subroutines (that is, Transforms and Before/After routines). Global. Globally cataloged BASIC functions and subroutines (that is, Custom UniVerse functions). File. A standard file. ActiveX. An ActiveX (OLE) object (not available on UNIX-based systems). v Name. The name of the function or routine. The name required varies according to the Type of the dependency: Job. The name of a released, or unreleased, job. Local. The catalog name. Global. The catalog name. File. The file name. ActiveX. Server jobs only. The Name entry is actually irrelevant for ActiveX objects. Enter something meaningful to you (ActiveX objects are identified by the Location field). v Location. The location of the dependency. A browse dialog box is available to help with this. This location can be an absolute path, but it is recommended you specify a relative path using the following environment variables: %SERVERENGINE% - WebSphere DataStage engine account directory (normally C:\IBM\InformationServer\Server\DSEngine). %PROJECT% - Current project directory. %SYSTEM% - System directory on Windows or /usr/lib on UNIX. You cannot navigate to the parent directory of an environment variable in a browse dialog box.

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Using export from the command line

WebSphere DataStage also enables you to export components to a file from the command line. There are two ways of doing this. The dsexport command is a windows application and requires user interaction with message boxes. The dscmdexport command is a command line application and can be run unattended. Both commands are run from the WebSphere DataStage client directory (by default c:\IBM\InformationServer\Clients\Classic).

dscmdexport command
The dscmdexport is as follows:
dscmdexport /D domain /H hostname /U username /P password project pathname /V

The arguments are as follows: v domain or domain:port_number. The application server name. This can also optionally have a port number. v hostname. Specifies the DataStage Server from which the file will be exported. v username. The user name to use for connecting to the Application Server. v password. The users password. v project. Specify the project to export the components from. v pathname. The file to which to export. v V. Use this flag to switch the verbose option on. For example, the following command exports the project dstage2 from the R101 to the file dstage2.dsx:
dscmdexport /D domain:9080 /H R101 /U billg /P paddock dstage2 C:/scratch/dstage2.dsx

Messages from the export are sent to the console by default, but can be redirected to a file using >, for example:
dscmdexport /H R101 /U=billg /P paddock dstage99 c:/scratch/project99.dsx /V > c:/scratch/exportlog

You can simply type dscmdexport at the command prompt to get help on the command options.

dsexport command
The dsexport command is as follows:
dsexport.exe /D domain /H hostname /U username /P password /JOB jobname /XML /EXT /EXEC /APPEND project pathname1

The arguments are as follows: v domain or domain:port_number. The application server name. This can also optionally have a port number. v hostname specifies the DataStage Server from which the file will be exported. v username is the user name to use for connecting to the Application Server. v password is the users password.
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v jobname specifies a particular job to export. v project. Specify the project to export the components from. v pathname. The file to which to export. The command takes the following options: v /XML export in XML format, only available with /JOB=jobname option. v /EXT export external values, only available with /XML option. v /EXEC export job executable only, only available with /JOB=jobname and when /XML is not specified. v /APPEND append to existing dsx file/ only available with /EXEC option. For example, the following command exports the project dstage2 from the R101 to the file dstage2.dsx:
dsexport.exe /D domain:9080 /H R101 /U billg /P paddock dstage2 C:/scratch/dstage2.dsx

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Chapter 12. Documenting your designs

You can generate job reports in order to document your designs The job reporting facility allows you to generate an HTML report of a server, parallel, sequencer, or mainframe job or shared containers. You can view this report in the Reporting Console or in a standard Internet browser (such as Microsoft Internet Explorer) and print it from the browser. The report contains an image of the job design followed by information about the job or container and its stages. Hotlinks facilitate navigation through the report. The following illustration shows the first page of an example report, showing the job image and the contents list from which you can link to more detailed job component descriptions:

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The report is not dynamic, if you change the job design you will need to regenerate the report. Note: Job reports work best using Microsoft Internet Explorer 6, they might not perform optimally with other browsers.

Generating a job report

To generate a job report: 1. Open the job you want to report on in the Designer and choose File Generate Report... (if you have updated the job since it was last saved, you are prompted to save it). The Enter report details window opens.

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2. Specify a name for the report. The Reporting Console folder field shows you the location where the report is saved to. 3. Type a description of the report. 4. Choose Use Default Stylesheet to use the default XSLT stylesheet supplied with WebSphere DataStage (the report is generated in XML, the stylesheet converts it to HTML, suitable for viewing in a browser). You can also define a custom stylesheet for this purpose, in which case choose Use custom stylesheet and type in, or browse for, the pathname of your stylesheet. Any stylesheets that you supply must use UTF-8 encoding. The default stylesheet is DSJobReport.xsl or DSMainframeJobReport.xsl for mainframe jobs - both located in the WebSphere DataStage client directory for example, C:\IBM\InformationServer\Clients\Classic. 5. Select Retain intermediate XML file to have WebSphere DataStage retain the XML file that it initially generates when producing a report. Specify the folder in which to save the xml file. 6. Click OK to generate the report.

Requesting a job report from the command line

You can also request the generation of a job report from the command line on a WebSphere DataStage client machine. The command is as follows:
dsdesign.exe /D domain /H hostname /U username /P password project job_name | shared_container_name /R [/RP report_pathname] [/RT stylesheet_pathname] [/RX]

The arguments are as follows: v domain or domain:port_number. The application server name. This can also optionally have a port number. v hostname. The WebSphere DataStage Server that will generate the report. v username. The user name to use for connecting to the Application Server v password. The users password. v Job_name | shared_container_name. The name of the job or shared container for which you want to generate a report. v /R. Indicates that you want to generate a report. v report_pathname. The directory where the report subdirectory will appear. The report is always written to a subdirectory named after the job. If no directory is specified, the report is written to a subdirectory in the client directory (for example, C:\IBM\InformationServer\Clients\Classic\myjob). v stylesheet_pathname. Specify an alternative XSLT stylesheet to use. If you do not specify a stylesheet, the default one will be used v /RX. Specify this option to retain the intermediate XML file. For example, the command:
dsdesign /D domain:9080 /H R101 /U william /P wombat dstage ServerJob1 /R /RP c:\JobReports

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Would result in the report ServerJob1.htm being written to the directory c:\JobReports\ServerJob1 (another file, jobnumber.bmp, is also written, containing the graphic image of the job design). The command:
dsdesign /D domain:9080 /H R101 /U william /P wombat dstage ServerJob1 /R /RP c:\JobReports /RX

Would result in the files ServerJob1.htm, jobnumber.bmp, and ServJob1.xml being written to the directory c:\ServerJob1\JobReports. Note: If a job report is requested from the command line, then that report will not be available for viewing through the reporting console.

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Chapter 13. Getting jobs ready to run

Before you can run a job, you must compile it.

Compiling server jobs and parallel jobs

When you have finished developing a server or a parallel job, you need to compile it before you can actually run it. Server jobs and parallel jobs are compiled on the WebSphere DataStage server, and are subsequently run on the server using the WebSphere DataStage Director. To compile a job, open the job in the Designer and do one of the following: v Choose File Compile. v Click the Compile button on the toolbar. If the job has unsaved changes, you are prompted to save the job by clicking OK. The Compile Job dialog box appears. This dialog box contains a display area for compilation messages and has the following buttons: v Re-Compile. Recompiles the job if you have made any changes. v Show Error. Highlights the stage that generated a compilation error. This button is only active if an error is generated during compilation. v More. Displays the output that does not fit in the display area. Some errors produced by the compiler include detailed BASIC output. v Close. Closes the Compile Job dialog box. v Help. Invokes the Help system. The job is compiled as soon as this dialog box appears. You must check the display area for any compilation messages or errors that are generated. For parallel jobs there is also a force compile option. The compilation of parallel jobs is by default optimized such that transformer stages only get recompiled if they have changed since the last compilation. The force compile option overrides this and causes all transformer stages in the job to be compiled. To select this option: v Choose File Force Compile

Compilation Checks - Server Jobs

During compilation, the following criteria in the job design are checked: v Primary input. If you have more than one input link to a Transformer stage, the compiler checks that one is defined as the primary input link. v Reference input. If you have reference inputs defined in a Transformer stage, the compiler checks that these are not from sequential files. v Key expressions. If you have key fields specified in your column definitions, the compiler checks whether there are key expressions joining the data tables. v Transforms. If you have specified a transform, the compiler checks that this is a suitable transform for the data type.

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Successful compilation
If the Compile Job dialog box displays the message Job successfully compiled with no errors. You can: v Validate the job v Run or schedule the job v Release the job v Package the job for deployment on other WebSphere DataStage systems Jobs are validated and run using the Director client.

Compiling from the client command line

You can also compile WebSphere DataStage jobs from the command line on the WebSphere DataStage client, using the following command:
dscc

The dscc command takes the following arguments: v /H hostname specify the WebSphere DataStage server where the job or jobs reside. v /U username the username to use when attaching to the project. v /P password the password to use when attaching to the project. v project_name the project which the job or jobs belong to. v /J jobname |* | category_name\* specifies the jobs to be compiled. Use jobname to specify a single job, * to compile all jobs in the project and category_name\* to compile all jobs in that category (this will not include categories within that category). You can specify job sequences as well as parallel or server jobs. v /R routinename | * | category_name\* specifies routines to be compiled. Use routinename to specify a single routine, * to compile all routines in the project and category_name\* to compile all routines in that category (this will not include categories within that category). v /F force compile (for parallel jobs). v /OUC only compile uncompiled jobs. v /RD reportname specify a name and destination for a compilation report. Specify DESKTOP\filename to write it to your desktop or .\filename to write it to the current working directory. The options are not case sensitive. For example:
dscc /h r101 /u fellp /p plaintextpassword dstageprj /J mybigjob

Will connect to the machine r101, with a username and password of fellp and plaintextpassword, attach to the project dstageprj and compile the job mybigjob.

Viewing generated OSH code

You can view the code that is generated when parallel jobs are compiled on the Generated OSH page of the Job Properties window. The Generated OSH page appears if you have selected the Generated OSH visible option in the WebSphere DataStage Administrator.

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Generating code for mainframe jobs

When you have finished developing a mainframe job, you need to generate the code for the job. This code is then transferred to the mainframe machine, where the job is compiled and run. You can also generate code from the command line or using the compile wizard. To generate code for a job, open the job in the Designer and do one of the following: v Choose File Generate Code. v Click the Generate Code button on the toolbar. If the job has unsaved changes, you are prompted to save the job by clicking OK. The Mainframe Job Code Generation dialog box appears. This dialog box contains details of the code generation files and a display area for compilation messages. It has the following buttons: v Generate. Click this to validate the job design and generate the COBOL code and JCL files for transfer to the mainframe. v View. This allows you to view the generated files. v Upload job. This button is enabled if the code generation is successful. Clicking it opens the Remote System dialog box, which allows you to specify a machine to which to upload the generated code. Status messages are displayed in the Validation and code generation status window in the dialog box.

Job validation
Validation of a mainframe job design involves: v Checking that all stages in the job are connected in one continuous flow, and that each stage has the required number of input and output links. v Checking the expressions used in each stage for syntax and semantic correctness. A status message is displayed as each stage is validated. If a stage fails, the validation will stop.

Code generation
Code generation first validates the job design. If the validation fails, code generation stops. Status messages about validation are in the Validation and code generation status window. They give the names and locations of the generated files, and indicate the database name and user name used by each relational stage. Three files are produced during code generation: v COBOL program file which contains the actual COBOL code that has been generated. v Compile JCL file which contains the JCL that controls the compilation of the COBOL code on the target mainframe machine. v Run JCL file which contains the JCL that controls the running of the job on the mainframe once it has been compiled.

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Job upload
After you have successfully generated the mainframe code, you can upload the files to the target mainframe, where the job is compiled and run. To upload a job, choose File Upload Job. The Remote System dialog box appears, allowing you to specify information about connecting to the target mainframe system. Once you have successfully connected to the target machine, the Job Upload dialog box appears, allowing you to actually upload the job.

JCL templates
WebSphere DataStage uses JCL templates to build the required JCL files when you generate a mainframe job. WebSphere DataStage comes with a set of building-block JCL templates suitable for various tasks. The supplied templates are in a directory called JCL Templates under the WebSphere DataStage server install directory. There are also copies of the templates held in the WebSphere DataStage Repository for each WebSphere DataStage project. You can edit the templates to meet the requirements of your particular project. This is done using the JCL Templates dialog box from the Designer. Open the JCL Templates dialog box by choosing Tools JCL Templates. It contains the following fields and buttons: v Platform type. Displays the installed platform types in a drop-down list. v Template name. Displays the available JCL templates for the chosen platform in a drop-down list. v Short description. Briefly describes the selected template. v Template. The code that the selected template contains. v Save. This button is enabled if you edit the code, or subsequently reset a modified template to the default code. Click Save to save your changes. v Reset. Resets the template code back to that of the default template. If there are system wide changes that will apply to every project, then it is possible to edit the template defaults. Changes made here will be picked up by every WebSphere DataStage project on that WebSphere DataStage server. The JCL Templates directory contains two sets of template files: a default set that you can edit, and a master set which is read-only. You can always revert to the master templates if required, by copying the read-only masters over the default templates. Use a standard editing tool, such as Microsoft Notepad, to edit the default templates.

Code customization
When you check the Generate COPY statement for customization box in the Code generation dialog box, WebSphere DataStage provides four places in the generated COBOL program that you can customize. You can add code to be executed at program initialization or termination, or both. However, you cannot add code that would affect the row-by-row processing of the generated program.

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When you check Generate COPY statement for customization, four additional COPY statements are added to the generated COBOL program: v COPY ARDTUDAT. This statement is generated just before the PROCEDURE DIVISION statement. You can use this to add WORKING-STORAGE variables or a LINKAGE SECTION to the program. v COPY ARDTUBGN. This statement is generated just after the PROCEDURE DIVISION statement. You can use this to add your own program initialization code. If you included a LINKAGE SECTION in ARDTUDAT, you can use this to add the USING clause to the PROCEDURE DIVISION statement. v COPY ARDTUEND. This statement is generated just before each STOP RUN statement. You can use this to add your own program termination code. v COPY ARDTUCOD. This statement is generated as the last statement in the COBOL program. You use this to add your own paragraphs to the code. These paragraphs are those which are PERFORMed from the code in ARDTUBGN and ARDTUEND. WebSphere DataStage provides default versions of these four COPYLIB members. As provided, ARDTUDAT, ARDTUEND, and ARDTUCOD contain only comments, and ARDTUBGN contains comments and a period. You can either preserve these members and create your own COPYLIB, or you can create your own members in the WebSphere DataStage runtime COPYLIB. If you preserve the members, then you must modify the WebSphere DataStage compile and link JCL templates to include the name of your COPYLIB before the WebSphere DataStage runtime COPYLIB. If you replace the members in the WebSphere DataStage COPYLIB, you do not need to change the JCL templates.

Compiling multiple jobs

WebSphere DataStage has a compiler wizard that will guide you through the process of compiling jobs. You can start the wizard from the Tools menu of the Designer or Director clients. Select Tools Multiple Job Compile . You can also select multiple items in the repository tree or Advanced Find window and use the shortcut menu to start the compiler wizard. The wizard proceeds as follows: 1. If you started the wizard from the Tools menu, a screen prompts you to specify the criteria for selecting jobs to compile. Choose one or more of: v Server v Parallel v Mainframe v Sequence v Custom server routines v Custom parallel stage types You can also specify that only currently uncompiled jobs will be compiled, and that you want to manually select the items to compile. 2. Click Next>. If you chose the Show manual selection page option, the Job Selection Override screen appears. Choose jobs in the left pane and add them to the right pane by using the Add buttons or remove them from the right pane by using
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the Remove buttons. Clicking Add while you have a folder selected selects all teh items in that folder and move them to the right pane. All the jobs in the right pane will be compiled. 3. Click Next>, if you are compiling parallel or mainframe jobs, the Compiler Options screen appears, allowing you to specify the following: v Force compile (for parallel jobs). v An upload profile for mainframe jobs you are generating code for. 4. Click Next>. The Compile Process screen appears, displaying the names of the selected items and their current compile status. 5. Click Start Compile to start the compilation. As the compilation proceeds the status changes from Queued to Compiling to Compiled OK or Failed and details about each job are displayed in the compilation output window as it compiles. Click the Cancel button to stop the compilation, although you can only cancel between compilations so the Designer client might take some time to respond. 6. Click Finish. If the Show compile report checkbox was selected the job compilation report screen appears, displaying the report generated by the compilation.

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Chapter 14. Building job sequences

For more complex designs, you can build sequences of jobs to run. Job sequencing allows you to build in programming type controls, such as branching and looping. WebSphere DataStage provides a graphical Job Sequencer which allows you to specify a sequence of parallel jobs or server jobs to run. The sequence can also contain control information; for example, you can specify different courses of action to take depending on whether a job in the sequence succeeds or fails. Once you have defined a job sequence, it can be scheduled and run using the WebSphere DataStage Director. It appears in the WebSphere DataStage repository and in the WebSphere DataStage Director client as a job. The graphical tool is provided in addition to the batch job facilities of the WebSphere DataStage Director and the job control routine facilities of the Designer. Note: Designing a job sequence is similar to designing a job. You create the job sequence in the Designer, add activities (as opposed to stages) from the tool palette, and join these together with triggers (as opposed to links) to define control flow. Each activity has properties that can be tested in trigger expressions and passed to other activities further on in the sequence. Activities can also have parameters, which are used to supply job parameters and routine arguments. The job sequence itself has properties, and can have parameters, which can be passed to the activities it is sequencing. The sample job sequence shows a sequence that will run the job Demo. If demo runs successfully, the Success trigger causes the Overnightrun job to run. If demo fails, the Failure trigger causes the Failure job to run.

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Figure 21. Sample job sequence

Job sequences are optionally restartable. If you run a restartable sequence and one of the jobs fails to finish correctly, you can fix the problem, then re-run the sequence from the point at which it left off. The sequence records checkpoint information to enable it to do this. Checkpoint information enables WebSphere DataStage to restart the sequence in a sensible way. You can enable or disable checkpointing at a project-wide level, or for individual job sequences. If you have checkpointing enabled for a job, you can specify that individual components within a sequence are not checkpointed, forcing them to be re-executed whenever the sequence is restarted regardless of whether they were executed successfully before. You can also specify that the sequence automatically handles any errors it encounters when executing jobs. This means you do not have to specify an error handling trigger for every job in the sequence. This can also be enabled on a project-wide basis, or for individual job sequences.

Creating a job sequence

To 1. 2. 3. create a job sequence: Choose File New from the Designer menu. The New dialog box appears. Open the Job folder, select the Sequence Job icon. Click OK.

The Diagram window appears in the right pane of the Designer, along with the Tool palette for job sequences. You can now save the job sequence and give it a name. This is exactly the same as saving a job (see Saving a Job on page 3-2). You create a job sequence by: v Placing the stages representing the activities in your sequence on the canvas.

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v Linking the stages together. v Specifying properties details for each activity, defining what it does. v Specifying trigger information for each activity specifying what action is taken on success or failure of the activity. You can open an existing job sequence in the same way you would open an existing job (see Opening an Existing Job on page 3-2).

Naming job sequences

The following rules apply to the names that you can give WebSphere DataStage job sequences: v Job sequence names can be any length up to 255 characters. v They must begin with an alphabetic character. v They can contain alphanumeric characters and underscores.

Activity stages
The job sequence supports the following types of activity: v Job. Specifies a WebSphere DataStage server or parallel job. v Routine. Specifies a routine. This can be any routine in the WebSphere DataStage Repository (but not transforms). v ExecCommand. Specifies an operating system command to execute. v Email Notification. Specifies that an email notification should be sent at this point of the sequence (uses SMTP). v Wait-for-file. Waits for a specified file to appear or disappear. v Exception Handler. There can only be one of these in a job sequence. It is executed if a job in the sequence fails to run (other exceptions are handled by triggers) or if a job aborts and the Automatically handle activities that fail option is set for the sequence. v Nested Conditions. Allows you to further branch the execution of a sequence depending on a condition. v Sequencer. Allows you to synchronize the control flow of multiple activities in a job sequence. v Terminator. Allows you to specify that, if certain situations occur, the jobs a sequence is running shut down cleanly. v Start Loop and End Loop. Together these two stages allow you to implement a For...Next or For...Each loop within your sequence. v User Variable. Allows you to define variables within a sequence. These variables can then be used later on in the sequence, for example to set job parameters. The activity stages are controlled by the setting of their properties (see Activity Properties). To add an activity to your job sequence, drag the corresponding icon from the tool palette and drop it on the Diagram window. You can also add particular jobs or routines to the design as activities by dragging the icon representing that job or routine from the Designers Repository window and dropping it in the Diagram window. The job or routine appears as an activity in the Diagram window.

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Activities can be named, moved, and deleted in the same way as stages in an ordinary server or parallel job. (see Developing a Job.)

Triggers
The control flow in the sequence is dictated by how you interconnect activity icons with triggers. To add a trigger, select the trigger icon in the tool palette, click the source activity in the Diagram window, then click the target activity. Triggers can be named, moved, and deleted in the same way as links in an ordinary server or parallel job (see Developing a Job.). Other trigger features are specified by editing the properties of their source activity. Activities can only have one input trigger, but can have multiple output triggers. Trigger names must be unique for each activity. For example, you could have several triggers called success in a job sequence, but each activity can only have one trigger called success. There are three types of trigger: v Conditional. A conditional trigger fires the target activity if the source activity fulfills the specified condition. The condition is defined by an expression, and can be one of the following types: OK. Activity succeeds. Failed. Activity fails. Warnings. Activity produced warnings. ReturnValue. A routine or command has returned a value. Custom. Allows you to define a custom expression. User status. Allows you to define a custom status message to write to the log. v Unconditional. An unconditional trigger fires the target activity once the source activity completes, regardless of what other triggers are fired from the same activity. v Otherwise. An otherwise trigger is used as a default where a source activity has multiple output triggers, but none of the conditional ones have fired. Different activities can output different types of trigger Stage Type Trigger Type Wait for file, Execute Command
Unconditional Otherwise Conditional Conditional Conditional Conditional -

OK Failed Custom ReturnValue

Routine
Unconditional Otherwise Conditional Conditional Conditional Conditional -

OK Failed Custom ReturnValue

Job

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Unconditional Otherwise Conditional Conditional Conditional Conditional Conditional -

OK Failed Warnings Custom UserStatus

Nested condition
Unconditional Otherwise Conditional - Custom

Exception Handler, Sequencer, Notification, Start Loop, End Loop Unconditional Note: If a job fails to run, for example because it was in the aborted state when due to run, this will not fire a trigger. Job activities can only fire triggers if they run. Non-running jobs can be handled by exception activities, or by choosing an execution action of reset then run rather than just run for jobs (see Job Activity Properties).

Expressions
You can enter expressions at various places in a job sequence to set values. Where you can enter expressions, the Expression Editor is available to help you and to validate your expression. The expression syntax is a subset of that available in a server job Transformer stage or parallel job BASIC Transformer stage, and comprises: v Literal strings enclosed in double-quotes or single-quotes. v v v v v Numeric constants (integer and floating point). The sequences own job parameters. Prior activity variables (for example, job exit status). All built-in BASIC functions as available in a server job. Certain macros and constants as available in a server or parallel job: DSHostName DSJobController DSJobInvocationId DSJobName DSJobStartDate DSJobStartTime DSJobStartTimestamp DSJobWaveNo DSProjectName DS constants as available in server jobs. Arithmetic operators: + - * / ** ^ Relational operators: > < = # <> >= =< and so on. Logical operators (AND OR NOT) plus usual bracketing conventions. The ternary IF ... THEN ... ELSE operator.

v v v v v

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Note: When you enter valid variable names (for example a job parameter name or job exit status) in an expression, you should not delimit them with the hash symbol (#) as you do in other fields in sequence activity properties.

Job sequence properties

To edit the properties of a job sequence, open its Diagram window and choose Edit Job Properties. The Properties dialog box appears, it has four pages; General, Parameters, Job Control, and Dependencies.

General page
The General page contains: v Version number. The version number of the job sequence. A version number has several components: The version number N.n.n. This number checks the compatibility of the job with the version of WebSphere DataStage installed. This number is automatically set when WebSphere DataStage is installed and cannot be edited. The bug fix number n.n.N. This number reflects minor changes to the job sequence design or properties. To change this number, select it and enter a new value directly or use the arrow buttons to increase the number. v Allow Multiple Instance. Select this to enable the WebSphere DataStage Director to run multiple instances of this job sequence. The compilation options specify details about restarting the sequence if one of the jobs fails for some reason. v Add checkpoints so sequence is restartable on failure. Select this to enable restarting for this job sequence. If you have enabled this feature on a project-wide basis in the WebSphere DataStage Administrator, this check box is selected by default when the sequence is first created. v Automatically handle job runs that fail. Select this to have WebSphere DataStage automatically handle failing jobs within a sequence (this means that you do not have to have a specific trigger for job failure). When you select this option, the following happens during job sequence compilation: For each job activity that does not have a specific trigger for error handling, code is inserted that branches to an error handling point. (If an activity has either a specific failure trigger, or if it has an OK trigger and an otherwise trigger, it is judged to be handling its own aborts, so no code is inserted.) If the compiler has inserted error-handling code the following happens if a job within the sequence fails: A warning is logged in the sequence log about the job not finishing OK. If the job sequence has an exception handler defined, the code will go to it. If there is no exception handler, the sequence aborts with a suitable message. If you have enabled this feature on a project-wide basis in the WebSphere DataStage Administrator, this check box is selected by default when the sequence is first created. Note that, when using this feature, you should avoid using any routines within the job sequence that return any value other than 0 to indicate success, as non-zero values will always be taken as indicating failure (all routines supplied with WebSphere DataStage return 0 to indicate success).

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v Log warnings after activities that finish with status other than OK. Select this to have the sequence log a message in the sequence log if it runs a job that finished with a non-zero completion code (for example, warnings or fatal errors). Messages are also logged for routine or command activities that fail (that is, return a non-zero completion code). v Log report messages after each job run. Select this to have the sequence log a status report for a job immediately the job run finishes. The following is an example of the information that will be logged:
************************************************** STATUS REPORT FOR JOB: jobname Generated: 2003-10-31 16:13:09 Job start time=2003-10-31 16:13:07 Job end time=2003-10-31 16:13:07 Job elapsed time=00:00:00 Job status=1 (Finished OK) Stage: stagename1, 10000 rows input Stage start time=2003-10-31 16:17:27, end time=2003 -10-31 16:17:27, elapsed=00:00:00 Link: linkname1, 10000 rows Stage: stagename2, 10000 rows input Stage start time=2003-10-31 16:17:28, end time=2003 -10-31 16:17:28, elapsed=00:00:00 Link: linkname2, 10000 rows Link: linkname3, 10000 rows

v Short Description. An optional brief description of the job sequence. v Full Description. An optional detailed description of the job sequence.

Parameters page
The Parameters page allows you to specify parameters for the job sequence. Values for the parameters are collected when the job sequence is run in the Director. The parameters you define here are available to all the activities in the job sequence, so where you are sequencing jobs that have parameters, you need to make these parameters visible here. For example, if you were scheduling three jobs, each of which expected a file name to be provided at run time, you would specify three parameters here, calling them, for example, filename1, filename2, and filename 3. You would then edit the Job page of each of these job activities in your sequence to map the jobs filename parameter onto filename1, filename2, or filename3 as appropriate (see Job Activity Properties ). When you run the job sequence, the Job Run Options dialog box appears, prompting you to enter values for filename1, filename2, and filename3. The appropriate filename is then passed to each job as it runs. You can also set environment variables at run time, the settings only take effect at run time, they do not affect the permanent settings of environment variables. To set a runtime value for an environment variable: 1. Click Add Environment Variable... at the bottom of the Parameters page. The Choose environment variable list appears. This shows a list of the available environment variables (the example shows parallel job environment variables). 2. Click on the environment variable you want to override at runtime. It appears in the parameter grid, distinguished from job parameters by being preceded by a $. You can also click New... at the top of the list to define a new environment variable. A dialog box appears allowing you to specify name and prompt. The

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new variable is added to the Choose environment variable list and you can click on it to add it to the parameters grid. 3. Set the required value in the Default Value column. This is the only field you can edit for an environment variable. Depending on the type of variable a further dialog box might appear to help you enter a value. The Parameters grid has the following columns: v Parameter name. The name of the parameter. v v v v Prompt. Text used as the field name in the run-time dialog box. Type. The type of the parameter (to enable validation). Default Value. The default setting for the parameter. Help text. The text that appears if a user clicks Property Help in the Job Run Options dialog box when running the job sequence.

You can refer to the parameters in the job sequence by name. When you are entering an expression, you just enter the name directly. Where you are entering a parameter name in an ordinary single-line text box, you need to delimit the name with hash symbols, for example: #dayofweek#.

Job Control page

The Job Control page displays the code generated when the job sequence is compiled.

Dependencies page
The Dependencies page of the Properties dialog box shows you the dependencies the job sequence has. These might be functions, routines, or jobs that the job sequence runs. Listing the dependencies of the job sequence here ensures that, if the job sequence is packaged for use on another system, all the required components will be included in the package. The details as follows: v Type. The type of item upon which the job sequence depends: Job. Released or unreleased job. If you have added a job to the sequence, this will automatically be included in the dependencies. If you subsequently delete the job from the sequence, you must remove it from the dependencies list manually. Local. Locally cataloged BASIC functions and subroutines (that is, Transforms and Before/After routines). Global. Globally cataloged BASIC functions and subroutines (that is, Custom UniVerse functions). File. A standard file. ActiveX. An ActiveX (OLE) object (not available on UNIX-based systems). v Name. The name of the function or routine. The name required varies according to the Type of the dependency: Job. The name of a released, or unreleased, job. Local. The catalog name. Global. The catalog name. File. The file name.

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 ActiveX. The Name entry is actually irrelevant for ActiveX objects. Enter something meaningful to you (ActiveX objects are identified by the Location field). v Location. The location of the dependency. A browse dialog box is available to help with this. This location can be an absolute path, but it is recommended you specify a relative path using the following environment variables: %SERVERENGINE% - WebSphere DataStage engine account directory (normally C:\IBM\InformationServer\Server\DSEngine). %PROJECT% - Current project directory. %SYSTEM% - System directory on Windows or /usr/lib on UNIX.

Activity properties
When you have outlined your basic design by adding activities and triggers to the diagram window, you fill in the details by editing the properties of the activities. To edit an activity, do one of the following: v Double-click the activity in the Diagram window. v Select the activity and choose Properties... from the shortcut menu. v Select the activity and choose Edit Properties. The format of the Properties dialog box depends on the type of activity. All have a General page, however, and any activities with output triggers have a Triggers page. The General page contains: v Name. The name of the activity, you can edit the name here if required. v Description. An optional description of the activity. v Logging text. The text that will be written to the Director log when this activity is about to run. The Triggers page contains: v Name. The name of the output trigger. v Expression Type. The type of expression attached to the trigger. Choose a type from the drop-down list (see Triggers for an explanation of the different types). v Expression. The expression associated with the trigger. For most predefined conditions, this is fixed and you cannot edit it. For Custom conditions you can enter an expression (see Expressions), and for UserStatus conditions you can enter a text message. You can use variables when defining trigger expressions for Custom and ReturnValue conditional triggers. The rules are given in the following table:
Table 4. Variables used in defining trigger expressions Activity Type Job Variable stage_label.$ExitStatus stage_label.$UserStatus stage_label.$JobName Use Value of job completion status Value of jobs user status Name of job actually run, including invocation id, if present.

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Table 4. Variables used in defining trigger expressions (continued) Activity Type ExecCommand Variable Use

stage_label.$ReturnValue Command status Name of stage_label.$CommandName command executed stage_label.$CommandOutput (including path name if one was specified) Output captured by executing the command stage_label.$ReturnValue stage_label.$RoutineName stage_label.$ReturnValue Value of routines return code Name of routine called Value returned by DSWaitForFile before/after subroutine The stage label of the activity stage that raised the exception (for example, the job activity stage calling a job that failed to run). Indicates the reason the Exception Handler activity was invoked, and is one of: 1. Activity ran a job but it aborted, and there was no specific handler set up. -1. Job failed to run for some reason. The text of the message that will be logged as a warning when the exception is raised.

Routine Wait-for-File

Exception Handler (these are stage_label.$ErrSource. available for use in the stage_label.$ErrNumber. sequence of activities the stage initiates, not the stage stage_label.$ErrMessage. itself)

stage_label is name of the activity stage as given in the Diagram window. You can also use the job parameters from the job sequence itself. Custom conditional triggers in Nested condition and Sequencer activities can use any of the variable in the above table used by the activities connected to them. The specific pages for particular activities are described in the following sections.

Job activity properties

In addition to the General and Triggers pages, The Properties dialog box for a job activity contains a Job page. The Job page contains: v Job name. Allows you to specify the name of the job the activity is to run. You can select a job by browsing the Repository. If you have added the activity by dragging a job from the Repository window, the Job name will already be filled in. v Invocation ID Expression. This only appears if the job identified by Job Name has Allow Multiple Instance enabled. Enter a name for the invocation or a job parameter allowing the instance name to be supplied at run time. A job

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parameter name needs to be delimited by hashes (#). You can also click the browse button to be presented with a list of available job parameters you could use. You cannot leave this field blank. v Execution Action. Allows you to specify what the activity will do with the job. Choose one of the following from the drop-down list: Run (the default) Reset if required then run Validate only Reset only v Do not checkpoint run. Set this to specify that WebSphere DataStage does not record checkpoint information for this particular job. This means that, if another job later in the sequence fails, and the sequence is restarted, this job will be rerun regardless of the fact that it finished successfully before. This option is only visible if the sequence as a whole is checkpointed. v Parameters. Allows you to provide values for any parameters that the job requires. The grid displays all the parameters expected by the job. You can: Type in an expression giving a value for the parameter in the Value Expression column. Literal values must be enclosed in inverted commas. (For details about expressions, see Expressions.) Select a parameter and click Insert Parameter Value to use another parameter or argument in the sequence to provide the value. A dialog box appears displaying a tree of all the available parameters and arguments occurring in the sequence before the current activity, This includes parameters that you have defined for the job sequence itself in the Job Sequence Properties dialog box (see Job Sequence Properties). Choose the required parameter or argument and click OK. You can use this feature to determine control flow through the sequence. Click Clear to clear the value expression from the selected parameter. Click Clear All to clear the expression values from all parameters. Select a parameter and click Set to Default to enter the default for that parameter as defined in the job itself. Click All to Default to set all the parameters to their default values. When you select the icon representing a job activity, you can choose Open Job from the shortcut menu to open the job in the Designer ready for editing.

Routine activity properties

In addition to the General and Triggers pages, the Properties dialog box for a routine activity contains a Routine page. The Routine page contains: v Routine name. Allows you to specify the name of the routine the activity is to execute. You can select a routine by browsing the Repository. If you have added the activity by dragging a routine from the Repository window, the Routine name will already be filled in. v Do not checkpoint run. Set this to specify that WebSphere DataStage does not record checkpoint information for the execution of this particular routine. This means that, if a job later in the sequence fails, and the sequence is restarted, this routine will be re-executed regardless of the fact that it was executed successfully before. This option is only visible if the sequence as a whole is check pointed.
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v Arguments. Allows you to provide values for any arguments that the routine requires. The grid displays all the arguments expected by the routine. You can: Type in an expression giving the value for the argument in the Value Expression column. Literal values must be enclosed in inverted commas. (For details about expressions, see Expressions.) Click Clear to clear the value expression from the selected parameter. Click Clear All to clear the expression values from all parameters. Select an argument and click Insert Parameter Value to use another parameter or argument in the sequence to provide the value. A dialog box appears displaying a tree of all the available parameters and arguments occurring in the sequence before the current activity. Choose the required parameter or argument and click OK. You can use this feature to determine control flow through the sequence. You can access routine arguments in the activity triggers in the form routinename.argname. Such arguments can be also be accessed by other activities that occur subsequently in the job sequence. This is most useful for accessing an output argument of a routine, but note that BASIC makes no distinction between input and output arguments, it is up to you to establish which is which. When you select the icon representing a routine activity, you can choose Open Routine from the shortcut menu to open the Routine dialog box for that routine ready to edit.

Email Notification activity properties

Besides a General page, the properties dialog box has a Notification page. An email notification activity can only have a single unconditional output trigger, so does not require a Triggers page. There is an underlying email template file which dictates the format of the notification email sent. This is called dssendmail_template.txt and there is a copy in every project directory (for example, C:\IBM\InformationServer\Server\ projects\myproject). This allows you to have different notification email formats for different projects. The template file is self- explanatory and you can edit it if required. The fields in the Notifications page correspond to the tokens in the template file. If your particular template does not use a particular field, then setting it in the Notification page has no effect. For example, UNIX systems generally require you to specify a Senders email address whereas Windows systems do not. So specifying this field might be mandatory in a UNIX system, but have no effect in a Windows system. The Notification page contains: v SMTP Mail server name. The name of the server or its IP address. v Senders email address. Given in the form bill.gamsworth@paddock.com. You can specify multiple recipients, inserting a space between each one. v Recipients email address. The address the email is to be sent to, given in the form bill.gamsworth@paddock.com. v Email subject. The text to appear as the email subject. For all the above, you can specify a parameter whose value will be specified at run time. Click the Browse button to open the External Parameter Helper, which shows

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you all parameters available at this point in the job sequence. Parameters entered in these fields need to be delimited with hashes (#). Parameters selected from the External Parameter Helper will automatically be enclosed in hash symbols. v Attachments. Files to be sent with the e-mail. Specify a path name, or a comma-separated list of pathnames (in the latter case this should be contained in single-quotes or double-quotes). You can also specify an expression that resolves to a pathname or comma-separated pathnames. The Arrow button offers you the choice of browsing for a file or inserting a job parameter whose value will be supplied at run time. Again, parameters entered in these fields need to be delimited with hashes (#). Parameters selected from the External Parameter Helper will automatically be enclosed in hash symbols. v Email body. The actual message to be sent. (Do not enclose the message in inverted commas unless you want them to be part of the message.) v Include job status in email. Select this to include available job status information in the message. v Do not checkpoint run. Set this to specify that WebSphere DataStage does not record checkpoint information for this particular notification operation. This means that, if a job later in the sequence fails, and the sequence is restarted, this notification operation will be re-executed regardless of the fact that it was executed successfully before. This option is only visible if the sequence as a whole is checkpointed.

Wait-For-File activity properties

In addition to the General and Triggers pages, The Properties dialog box for a wait-for-file activity contains a Wait For File page. The Wait For File page contains: v Filename. The full pathname of the file that the activity is to wait for. The Arrow button offer you the choice of browsing for a file or inserting a job parameter whose value will be supplied at run time. For a job parameter, you can click the Browse button to open the External Parameter Helper, which shows you all parameters available at this point in the job sequence. Parameters entered in this field needs to be delimited with hashes (#). Parameters selected from the External Parameter Helper will automatically be enclosed in hash symbols. v Wait for file to appear. Select this if the activity is to wait for the specified file to appear. v Wait for file to disappear. Select this if the activity is to wait for the specified file to disappear. v Timeout Length (hh:mm:ss). The amount of time to wait for the file to appear or disappear before the activity times out and completes. v Do not timeout. Select this to specify that the activity should not timeout, i.e, it will wait for the file forever. v Do not checkpoint run. Set this to specify that WebSphere DataStage does not record checkpoint information for this particular wait-for-file operation. This means that, if a job later in the sequence fails, and the sequence is restarted, this wait-for-file operation will be re-executed regardless of the fact that it was executed successfully before. This option is only visible if the sequence as a whole is checkpointed.

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ExecCommand activity properties

In addition to the General and Triggers pages, The Properties dialog box for a ExecCommand activity contains an ExecCommand page. The ExecCommand page contains: v Command. The full pathname of the command to execute. This can be an operating system command, a batch command file, or an executable. You can use a job parameter so that you can specify the actual command at run time. Parameters entered in this field needs to be delimited with hashes (#). Parameters selected from the External Parameter Helper will automatically be enclosed in hash symbols.You can browse for a command or job parameter. v Parameters. Allows you to pass parameters to the command. These should be entered in the format that the command expects them. You can also supply a parameter whose value is supplied at run time. For this, you can click the Browse button to open the External Parameter Helper, which shows you all parameters available at this point in the job sequence. Parameters entered in this field needs to be delimited with hashes (#). Parameters selected from the External Parameter Helper will automatically be enclosed in hash symbols. v Do not checkpoint run. Set this to specify that WebSphere DataStage does not record checkpoint information for the execution of this particular command. This means that, if a job later in the sequence fails, and the sequence is restarted, this command will be re-executed regardless of the fact that it was executed successfully before. This option is only visible if the sequence as a whole is checkpointed.

Exception activity properties

An exception activity handles the situation where a job in the sequence fails to run (other exceptions in the job sequence are handled by triggers). An exception activity can only have a single unconditional output trigger, so does not require a Triggers page. It has no input triggers. It serves as a starting point for a sequence of activities to run if an exception has occurred somewhere in the main sequence. Its Properties dialog box contains only a General page. There are some exception handler variables that can be used in the sequence of activities that the Exception Activity stage initiates. These are: v stage_label.$ErrSource. This is the stage label of the activity stage that raised the exception (for example, the job activity stage calling a job that failed to run). v stage_label.$ErrNumber. Indicates the reason the Exception Handler activity was invoked, and is one of: 1. Activity ran a job but it aborted, and there was no specific handler set up. -1. Job failed to run for some reason. v stage_label.$ErrMessage. The text of the message that will be logged as a warning when the exception is raised.

Nested Condition activity properties

A nested condition allows you to further branch the execution of a sequence depending on a condition. The nested conditions Properties dialog box comprises a General page and a Triggers page.

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For example, you could use a nested condition to implement the following control sequence:
Load/init jobA Run jobA If ExitStatus of jobA = OK then /*tested by trigger*/ If Today = "Wednesday" then /*tested by nested condition*/ run jobW If Today = "Saturday" then run jobS Else run JobB

Each nested condition can have one input trigger and will normally have multiple output triggers. The conditions governing the output triggers are specified in the Triggers page as described in Triggers . The triggers for the WhichJob Nested Condition activity stage would be:

(In this case DayCommand$CommandOutput refers to the value returned by a command that returns todays day and is executed by an ExecCommand activity called DayCommand.)

Sequencer activity properties

A sequencer allows you to synchronize the control flow of multiple activities in a job sequence. It can have multiple input triggers as well as multiple output triggers. In addition to the General and Triggers pages, the Properties dialog box for a Sequencer control contains a Sequencer page. The sequencer operates in two modes: v ALL mode. In this mode all of the inputs to the sequencer must be TRUE for any of the sequencer outputs to fire. v ANY mode. In this mode, output triggers can be fired if any of the sequencer inputs are TRUE. The Sequencer page contains: v Mode. Choose All or Any to select the mode of operation. You can also change the mode by selecting the activity and using the shortcut menu. The sequencer has a slightly different icon depending on whether All or Any mode is operational.

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Examples of using the sequencer stage

A sequencer allows you to synchronize the control flow of multiple activities in a job sequence. The following is a job sequence that synchronizes the running of a job to the successful completion of three other jobs. The sequencer mode is set to All. When job1, job2, and job3 have all finished successfully, the sequencer will start jobfinal (if any of the jobs fail, the corresponding terminator stage will end the job sequence).

Figure 22. Example of sequencer stage with mode set to all

The following is section of a similar job sequence, but this time the sequencer mode is set to Any. When any one of the Wait_For_File or job activity stages complete successfully, Job_Activity_12 will be started.

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Figure 23. Example of sequencer stage with mode set to any

Terminator activity properties

A terminator stage can be placed in a job sequence to ensure that the sequence is stopped cleanly if certain situations arise. The Terminator Properties dialog box has a General page and Terminator page. It cannot have output links, and so has no Triggers page. The stage can have one input. You can have multiple Terminator activities and can place them anywhere in the sequence. They are connected to other stages by triggers, which specify when a terminator will be invoked. The terminator stage allows you to specify that stop requests be sent to all running jobs in the sequence (and optionally have the terminator wait for all jobs to finish), or that the sequence is aborted without sending stop requests. If you specify some final message text, this will be used as the text for the sequence abort message (this is in addition to the logging text on the General page, which is output when the activity starts). Do not enclose the message in inverted commas unless you want them to be part of the message.
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Start Loop activity properties

The Start Loop stage marks the beginning of the loop and defines it. In addition to the General and Triggers pages, the Properties dialog box for a Start Loop activity contains a Start Loop page. You can have a numeric loop (where you define a counter, a limit, and an increment value), or a List loop (where you perform the loop once for each item in a list). You can pass the current value of the counter as a parameter into the stages within your loop in the form stage_label.$Counter, where stage_label is the name of the Start Loop activity stage as given in the Diagram window. You mark the end of a loop with an End Loop Activity stage, which has a link drawn back to its corresponding Start Loop stage. You can nest loops if required. You define the loop setting in the Start Loop page. The page contains: v Loop type. Choose Numeric to implement a For...Next type loop, or List to implement a For...Each type loop. When you choose Numeric, the page contains the following fields: v From. The initialization value for the counter. v Step. The increment value for the counter. v To. The final counter value. You can use parameters for any of these, and specify actual values at run time. You can click the Browse button to open the External Parameter Helper, which shows you all parameters available at this point in the job sequence. Parameters entered in this field needs to be delimited with hashes (#). Parameters selected from the External Parameter Helper will automatically be enclosed in hash symbols. When you choose List, the page has different fields: v Delimited values. Enter your list with each item separated by the selected delimiter. v Delimiter. Specify the delimiter that will separate your list items. Choose from: Comma (the default) Space Other (enter the required character in the text field)

Examples of using loop stages

You can use loop stages to build loops into your job sequences. The following is a section of a job sequence that makes repeated attempts to run a job until either it succeeds, or until the loop limit is reached. The job depends on network link that is not always available.

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Figure 24. Example of using a loop in a sequence

The Start Loop stage, networkloop, has Numeric loop selected and the properties are set as follows:

Figure 25. Numeric loop properties

This defines that the loop will be run through up to 1440 times. The action differs according to whether the job succeeds or fails: v If it fails, the routine waitabit is called. This implements a 60 second wait time. If the job continually fails, the loop repeats 1440 times, giving a total of 24 hours of retries. After the 1440th attempt, the End Loop stages passes control onto the next activity in the sequence.
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v If it succeeds, control is passed to the notification stage, emailsuccess, and the loop is effectively exited. The following is a section of a job sequence that makes use of the loop stages to run a job repeatedly to process results for different days of the week:

Figure 26. Example of loop used in list mode

The Start Loop stage, dayloop, has List loop selected and properties are set as follows:

Figure 27. List loop properties

The Job Activity stage, processresults, properties are:

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Figure 28. Process results property

The job processresults will run five times, for each iteration of the loop the job is passed a day of the week as a parameter in the order monday, tuesday, wednesday, thursday, friday. The loop is then exited and control passed to the next activity in the sequence.

End Loop activity properties

The end loop stage marks the end of the loop. All the stages in between the Start Loop and End Loop stages are included in that loop (as illustrated in Examples of Using Loop Stages). You draw a link back to the Start Loop activity stage that this stage is paired with. The stage has no special properties.

User Variables activity properties

Use the user variable stage to define global variables within a sequence. These variables can then be used elsewhere in the sequence, for example to set job parameters. Variables are used in the form stage_label.parameter_name, where stage_label is the name of the User Variable activity stage as given in the Diagram window.

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The values of the user variables are set by expressions in the stages properties. (For details, see Expressions.) You would most likely start a sequence with this stage, setting up the variables so they can be accessed by subsequent sequence activities. The exit trigger would initiate the sequence proper. You can also use a User Variable activity further into a sequence to change the value of a variable previously defined by an earlier User Variable activity. The variables are defined in the Properties page for the stage. To add a variable: v Choose Add Row from the shortcut menu. v Enter the name for your variable. v Supply an expression for resolving the value of the variable.

Figure 29. User variable activity properties

In this example, the expression editor has picked up a fault with the definition. When fixed, this variable will be available to other activity stages downstream as MyVars.VAR1.

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Compiling the job sequence

When you have finished designing your job sequence you must compile it before you can run it in the Director client. To compile the job sequence, do one of the following: v Choose File Compile. v Click the Compile button in the toolbar. Compiling the job sequence generates WebSphere DataStage BASIC code. A dialog box displays the progress of the compilation and will highlight any errors. When the compilation is complete, you can click Show Error if an error occurs to highlight the offending stage in the Diagram window. The More button is enabled if further error information is available. The generated code is displayed in the Job Control page of the Job Sequence Properties dialog box.

Restarting job sequences

You can restart some job sequences if they fail. If a sequence is restartable (that is, is recording checkpoint information) and has one of its jobs fail during a run, then the following status appears in the Director client:
Aborted/restartable

In this case you can take one of the following actions: v Run Job. The sequence is re-executed, using the checkpoint information to ensure that only the required components are re-executed. v Reset Job. All the checkpoint information is cleared, ensuring that the whole job sequence will be run when you next specify run job. Note: If, during sequence execution, the flow diverts to an error handling stage, WebSphere DataStage does not checkpoint anything more. This is to ensure that stages in the error handling path will not be skipped if the job is restarted and another error is encountered.

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Chapter 15. Job control routine

You can also implement a job sequence by specifying a job control routine on the Job control page of the Job Properties window. A job control routine provides the means of controlling other jobs from the current job. A set of one or more jobs can be validated, run, reset, stopped, and scheduled in much the same way as the current job can be. You can, if required, set up a job whose only function is to control a set of other jobs. The graphical job sequence editor produces a job control routine when you compile a job sequence (you can view this in the Job Sequence properties), but you can set up you own control job by entering your own routine on the Job control page of the Job Properties dialog box. The routine uses a set of BASIC functions provided for the purpose. The Job control page provides a basic editor to let you construct a job control routine using the functions. The toolbar contains buttons for cutting, copying, pasting, and formatting code, and for activating Find (and Replace). The main part of this page consists of a multiline text box with scroll bars. The Add Job button provides a drop-down list box of all the server and parallel jobs in the current project. When you select a compiled job from the list and click Add, the Job Run Options dialog box appears, allowing you to specify any parameters or run-time limits to apply when the selected job is run. The job will also be added to the list of dependencies. When you click OK in the Job Run Options dialog box, you return to theJob control page, where you will find that WebSphere DataStage has added job control code for the selected job. The code sets any required job parameters or limits, runs the job, waits for it to finish, then tests for success. Alternatively, you can type your routine directly into the text box on the Job control page, specifying jobs, parameters, and any runtime limits directly in the code. The following is an example of a job control routine. It schedules two jobs, waits for them to finish running, tests their status, and then schedules another one. After the third job has finished, the routine gets its finishing status.
* get a handle for the first job Hjob1 = DSAttachJob("DailyJob1",DSJ.ERRFATAL) * set the jobs parameters Dummy = DSSetParam(Hjob1,"Param1","Value1") * run the first job Dummy = DSRunJob(Hjob1,DSJ.RUNNORMAL) * get a handle for the second job Hjob2 = DSAttachJob("DailyJob2",DSJ.ERRFATAL) * set the jobs parameters Dummy = DSSetParam(Hjob2,"Param2","Value2") * run the second job Dummy = DSRunJob(Hjob2,DSJ.RUNNORMAL) * Now wait for both jobs to finish before scheduling the third job Dummy = DSWaitForJob(Hjob1) Dummy = DSWaitForJob(Hjob2) * Test the status of the first job (failure causes routine to exit) J1stat = DSGetJobInfo(Hjob1, DSJ.JOBSTATUS) If J1stat = DSJS.RUNFAILED Then Call DSLogFatal("Job DailyJob1 failed","JobControl") End * Test the status of the second job (failure causes routine to
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* exit) J2stat = DSGetJobInfo(Hjob2, DSJ.JOBSTATUS) If J2stat = DSJS.RUNFAILED Then Call DSLogFatal("Job DailyJob2 failed","JobControl") End * Now get a handle for the third job Hjob3 = DSAttachJob("DailyJob3",DSJ.ERRFATAL) * and run it Dummy = DSRunJob(Hjob3,DSJ.RUNNORMAL) * then wait for it to finish Dummy = DSWaitForJob(Hjob3) * Finally, get the finishing status for the third job and test it J3stat = DSGetJobInfo(Hjob3, DSJ.JOBSTATUS) If J3stat = DSJS.RUNFAILED Then Call DSLogFatal("Job DailyJob3 failed","JobControl") End

Possible status conditions returned for a job are as follows. A job that is in progress is identified by: v DSJS.RUNNING - Job running; this is the only status that means the job is actually running. Jobs that are not running might have the following statuses: v DSJS.RUNOK - Job finished a normal run with no warnings. v DSJS.RUNWARN - Job finished a normal run with warnings. v DSJS.RUNFAILED - Job finished a normal run with a fatal error. v DSJS.VALOK - Job finished a validation run with no warnings. v DSJS.VALWARN - Job finished a validation run with warnings. v DSJS.VALFAILED - Job failed a validation run. v DSJS.RESET - Job finished a reset run. v DSJS.STOPPED - Job was stopped by operator intervention (cannot tell run type). If a job has an active select list, but then calls another job, the second job will effectively wipe out the select list.

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Chapter 16. Tools for managing and administering jobs

Use the Designer client tools to help with managing and administering jobs. These topics describes the tools that are in the Designer client.

Intelligent Assistants
WebSphere DataStage provides intelligent assistants which guide you through basic WebSphere DataStage tasks. Specifically they allow you to: v Create a template from a server, parallel, or mainframe job. You can subsequently use this template to create new jobs. New jobs will be copies of the original job. v Create a new job from a previously created template. v Create a simple parallel data migration job. This extracts data from a source and writes it to a target.

Creating a template from a job

To create a template from a job: 1. In the New window, select Assistants New Template from Job or use the toolbar. A dialog box appears which allows you to browse for the job you want to create the template from. All the Server, Enterprise, and Mainframe jobs in your current project are displayed. Since job sequences are not supported, they are not displayed. 2. Select the job to be used as a basis for the template. Click OK. Another dialog box appears in order to collect details about your template. 3. Enter a template name, a template category, and an informative description of the job captured in the template. The restrictions on the template name and category should follow Windows naming restrictions. The description is displayed in the dialog for creating jobs from templates. Press OK. The Template-From-Job Assistant creates the template and saves it in the template directory specified during installation. Templates are saved in XML notation. 4. Enter a template name, a template category, and an informative description of the job captured in the template. The restrictions on the template name and category should follow Windows naming restrictions. The description is displayed in the dialog for creating jobs from templates. Press OK. The Template-From-Job Assistant creates the template and saves it in the template directory specified during installation. Templates are saved in XML notation.

Administrating templates
To delete a template, start the Job-From-Template Assistant and select the template. Click the Delete button. Use the same procedure to select and delete empty categories. The Assistant stores all the templates you create in the directory you specified during your installation of WebSphere DataStage. You browse this directory when you create a new job from a template. Typically, all the developers using the Designer save their templates in this single directory.
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After installation, no dialog is available for changing the template directory. You can, however change the registry entry for the template directory. The default registry value is:
[HKLM/SOFTWARE/Ascential Software/DataStage Client/currentVersion/ Intelligent Assistant/Templates]

Creating a job from a template

To create a job from a template you have previously created: 1. In the New window, select Assistants New Job from Template or use the toolbar. A dialog box appears which allows you to browse for the template you want to create the job from. 2. Select the template to be used as the basis for the job. All the templates in your template directory are displayed. If you have custom templates authored by Consulting or other authorized personnel, and you select one of these, a further dialog box prompts you to enter job customization details until the Assistant has sufficient information to create your job. 3. When you have answered the questions, click Apply. You can cancel at any time if your are unable to enter all the information. Another dialog appears in order to collect the details of the job you are creating: 4. Enter a new name and folder for your job. The restrictions on the job name should follow WebSphere DataStage naming restrictions (that is, job names should start with a letter and consist of alphanumeric characters). 5. Select OK. WebSphere DataStage creates the job in your project and automatically loads the job into the Designer.

Using the Data Migration Assistant

The Data Migration Assistant creates you a parallel job which extracts data from a data source and writes it to a data target. You can read from and write to data sets, sequential files, and all the databases supported by parallel jobs. To use the Data Migration Assistant: 1. In the New window, select Assistants New Data Migration Job or use the toolbar. A wizard-type dialog appears, welcoming you to the Data Migration Assistant. Click Next to go to the select data source screen. 2. Select one of these stages to access your source table: Data Set, DB2, InformixXPS, Oracle, Sequential File, or Teradata. For an RDBMS Stage, you might need to enter a user name or database name or the host server to provide connection details for the database. 3. When you have chosen your source, and supplied any information required, click Next. The WebSphere DataStage Select Table dialog box appears in order to let you choose a table definition. The table definition specifies the columns that the job will read. If the table definition for your source data isnt there, click Import in order to import a table definition directly from the data source (see Table Definitions, for more details). 4. Select a Table Definition from the tree structure and click OK. The name of the chosen table definition is displayed in the wizard screen. If you want to change this, click Change to open the Table Definition dialog box again. This

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screen also allows you to specify the table name or file name for your source data (as appropriate for the type of data source). 5. Click Next to go to the next screen. This allows you to specify details about the target where your job will write the extracted data. 6. Select one of these stages to receive your data: Data Set, DB2, InformixXPS, Oracle, Sequential File, or Teradata. Enter additional information when prompted by the dialog. 7. Click Next. The screen that appears shows the table definition that will be used to write the data (this is the same as the one used to extract the data). This screen also allows you to specify the table name or file name for your data target (as appropriate for the type of data target). 8. Click Next. The next screen invites you to supply details about the job that will be created. You must specify a job name and optionally specify a job folder. The job name should follow WebSphere DataStage naming restrictions (that is, begin with a letter and consist of alphanumeric characters). 9. Select Create Job to trigger job generation. A screen displays the progress of the job generation. Using the information you entered, the WebSphere DataStage generation process gathers metadata, creates a new job, and adds the created job to the current project 10. When the job generation is complete, click Finish to exit the dialog. All jobs consist of one source stage, one transformer stage, and one target stage. In order to support password maintenance, all passwords in your generated jobs are parameterized and are prompted for at run time.

Managing data sets

Parallel jobs use data sets to store data being operated on in a persistent form. Data sets are operating system files, each referred to by a descriptor file, usually with the suffix .ds. You can create and read data sets using the Data Set stage. The Designer client also provides a utility for managing data sets from outside a job. (This utility is also available from the Director client.)

Structure of data sets

A data set comprises a descriptor file and a number of other files that are added as the data set grows. These files are stored on multiple disks in your system. A data set is organized in terms of partitions and segments. Each partition of a data set is stored on a single processing node. Each data segment contains all the records written by a single WebSphere DataStage job. So a segment can contain files from many partitions, and a partition has files from many segments.

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Partition 1 Partition 2 Partition 3 Partition 4

Segment 1

Segment 1

Segment 1 One or more data files

Figure 30. Structure of data sets

The descriptor file for a data set contains the following information: v Data set header information. v Creation time and date of the data set. v The schema of the data set. v A copy of the configuration file use when the data set was created. For each segment, the descriptor file contains: v The time and date the segment was added to the data set. v A flag marking the segment as valid or invalid. v Statistical information such as number of records in the segment and number of bytes. v Path names of all data files, on all processing nodes. This information can be accessed through the Data Set Manager.

Starting the Data Set Manager

To start the Data Set Manager from the Designer: 1. Choose Tools Data Set Management, a Browse Files dialog box appears: 2. Navigate to the directory containing the data set you want to manage. By convention, data set files have the suffix .ds. 3. Select the data set you want to manage and click OK. The Data Set Viewer appears. From here you can copy or delete the chosen data set. You can also view its schema (column definitions) or the data it contains.

Data set viewer

The Data Set viewer displays information about the data set you are viewing.

Partitions
The partition grid shows the partitions the data set contains and describes their properties. v #. The partition number. v Node. The processing node that the partition is currently assigned to. v Records. The number of records the partition contains.

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v Blocks. The number of blocks the partition contains. v Bytes. The number of bytes the partition contains.

Segments
Click on an individual partition to display the associated segment details. Segment details contain the following information: v #. The segment number. v Created. Date and time of creation. v Bytes. The number of bytes in the segment. v Pathname. The name and path of the file containing the segment in the selected partition. Click the Refresh button to reread and refresh all the displayed information. Click the Output button to view a text version of the information displayed in the Data Set Viewer. You can open a different data set from the viewer by clicking the Open icon on the tool bar. The browse dialog open box opens again and lets you browse for a data set.

Viewing the schema

Click the Schema icon from the tool bar to view the record schema of the current data set. The schema is displayed in text form in the Record Schema window.

Viewing the data

Click the Data icon from the tool bar to view the data held by the current data set. The Data Set Viewer Options dialog box is displayed, which allows you to select a subset of the data to view. v Rows to display. Specify the number of rows of data you want the data browser to display. v Skip count. Skip the specified number of rows before viewing data. v Period. Display every Pth record where P is the period. You can start after records have been skipped by using the Skip property. P must equal or be greater than 1. v Partitions. Choose between viewing the data in All partitions or the data in the partition selected from the drop-down list. Click OK to view the selected data, the Data Viewer window appears.

Copying data sets

Click the Copy icon on the tool bar to copy the selected data set. The Copy data set dialog box appears, allowing you to specify a path where the new data set will be stored. The new data set will have the same record schema, number of partitions and contents as the original data set.

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Note: You cannot use the UNIX cp command to copy a data set because WebSphere DataStage represents a single data set with multiple files.

Deleting data sets

Click the Delete icon on the tool bar to delete the current data set. You will be asked to confirm the deletion. Note: You cannot use the UNIX rm command to remove a data set because WebSphere DataStage represents a single data set with multiple files. Using rm simply removes the descriptor file, leaving the much larger data files behind.

Creating and editing configuration files

The Designer client has a tool for creating and managing configuration files. One of the great strengths of the WebSphere DataStage is that, when designing parallel jobs, you dont have to worry too much about the underlying structure of your system, beyond appreciating its parallel processing capabilities. If your system changes, is upgraded or improved, or if you develop a job on one platform and implement it on another, you do not necessarily have to change your job design. WebSphere DataStage learns about the shape and size of the system from the configuration file. It organizes the resources needed for a job according to what is defined in the configuration file. When your system changes, you change the file not the jobs. You can maintain multiple configuration files and read them into the system according to your varying processing needs. A full description of how to define configuration files is given in the guide to developing parallel jobs. The Designer client provides a configuration file editor to help you define configuration files for the parallel engine, and this is described here. To use the editor: v choose Tools Configurations, the Configurations dialog box appears. To define a new file: 1. Choose (New) from the Configurations list and type into the upper text box. 2. Click Save to save the file at any point. You are asked to specify a configuration name, the config file is then saved under that name with an .apt extension. 3. You can verify your file at any time by clicking Check. Verification information is output in the Check Configuration Output pane at the bottom of the dialog box. To edit an existing configuration file: v choose it from the Configurations list. You can delete an existing configuration by selecting it and clicking Delete. You are warned if you are attempting to delete the last remaining configuration file. You specify which configuration will be used by setting the APT_CONFIG_FILE environment variable. This is set on installation to point to the default configuration file, but you can set it on a project wide level from the Administrator client or for individual jobs from the Job Properties dialog .

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Message Handler Manager

You can use the Message Handler Manager to control what error messages your parallel jobs can generate. What are message handlers? When you run a parallel job, any error messages and warnings are written to an error log and can be viewed from the Director client. You can choose to handle specified errors in a different way by creating one or more message handlers. A message handler defines rules about how to handle messages generated when a parallel job is running. You can, for example, use one to specify that certain types of message should not be written to the log. You can edit message handlers in the Designer or in the WebSphere DataStage Director. The recommended way to create them is by using the Add rule to message handler feature in the Director client. You can specify message handler use at different levels: v Project Level. You define a project level message handler in the WebSphere DataStage Administrator, and this applies to all parallel jobs within the specified project. v Job Level. From the Designer you can specify that any existing handler should apply to a specific job. When you compile the job, the handler is included in the job executable as a local handler (and so can be exported to other systems if required). You can also add rules to handlers when you run a job from the Director (regardless of whether it currently has a local handler included). This is useful, for example, where a job is generating a message for every row it is processing. You can suppress that particular message. When the job runs it will look in the local handler (if one exists) for each message to see if any rules exist for that message type. If a particular message is not handled locally, it will look to the project-wide handler for rules. If there are none there, it writes the message to the job log. Note message handlers do not deal with fatal error messages, these will always be written to the job log. You can view, edit, or delete message handlers from the Message Handler Manager. You can also define new handlers if you are familiar with the message IDs (although note that WebSphere DataStage will not know whether such messages are warnings or informational). The preferred way of defining new handlers is by using the add rule to message handler feature.

Using the Message Handler Manager

To open the Message Handler Manager, choose Tools Message Handler Manager. The Edit Message Handlers dialog box appears.

To edit an existing handler:

1. Choose an option to specify whether you want to edit the project-level message handler, edit the handler for the currently selected job, or edit a specific message handler. If you want to edit a specific message handler, select the
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handler from the drop-down list. The settings for whichever handler you have chosen to edit appear in the grid. (Note that the option to edit the project level handler is only available if such a handler has been set up in the Administrator client.) 2. Edit the grid as required, you can: v Choose a new Action for a particular message. Select a new Action from the drop-down list. Possible Actions are: Suppress from log. The message is not written to the jobs log as it runs. Promote to Warning. Promote an informational message to a warning message. Demote to Informational. Demote a warning message to become an informational one. v Delete a message. Select the message in the grid, right-click and choose Delete Row from the shortcut menu. v Add a new message. Right-click in the grid and choose Insert Row from the shortcut menu. You can then type in details of the message you want to add to the handler. When you are done with your edits, click Save and choose Save Message Handler to save the handler with its current name or Save Message Handler As to save it as a new handler.

To delete a handler:
1. Choose an option to specify whether you want to delete the local runtime handler for the currently selected job, delete the project-level message handler, or delete a specific message handler. If you want to delete a specific message handler, select the handler from the drop-down list. The settings for whichever handler you have chosen to edit appear in the grid. 2. Click the Delete button.

To define a new handler:

1. Choose Edit chosen message handler and select (New) from the drop-down list. The grid clears, allowing new message rules to be added. 2. Type in the message ID for the first message you want to add to the handler. 3. Choose an Action from the drop-down list. Possible Actions are: v Suppress from log. The message is not written to the jobs log as it runs. v Promote to Warning. Promote an informational message to a warning message. v Demote to Informational. Demote a warning message to become an informational one. 4. Repeat this process until you have added all the required messages. 5. When you have defined all the required messages for the handler, click Save and choose Save Message Handler As from the menu. A dialog box opens and prompts you for the name of the new handler. 6. Type in the name for your new message handler.

Message Handler file format

A message handler is a plain text file and has the suffix .msh. The file is stored in the folder called MsgHandlers in the WebSphere DataStage server install directory. The following is an example message file.

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TUTL 000031 TFSC 000001 TFSC 000043

1 1 2

1 2 3

The open file limit is 100; raising to 1024... APT configuration file... Attempt to Cleanup after ABORT raised in stage...

Each line in the file represents message rule, and comprises four tab-separated fields: v Message ID . Case-specific string uniquely identifying the message v Type. 1 for Info, 2 for Warn v Action . 1 = Suppress, 2 = Promote, 3 = Demote v Message . Example text of the message

JCL templates
WebSphere DataStage uses JCL templates to build the required JCL files when you generate a mainframe job. WebSphere DataStage comes with a set of building-block JCL templates suitable for a variety of tasks. The supplied templates are in a directory called JCL Templates under the WebSphere DataStage server install directory. There are also copies of the templates held in the WebSphere DataStage Repository for each WebSphere DataStage project. You can edit the templates to meet the requirements of your particular project. This is done using the JCL Templates manager from the Designer. Open the JCL Templates dialog box by choosing Tools JCL Templates. The JCL Templates dialog box contains the following fields and buttons: v Platform type. Displays the installed platform types in a drop-down list. v Template name. Displays the available JCL templates for the chosen platform in a drop-down list. v Short description. Briefly describes the selected template. v Template. The code that the selected template contains. v Save. This button is enabled if you edit the code, or subsequently reset a modified template to the default code. Click Save to save your changes. v Reset. Resets the template code back to that of the default template. If there are system wide changes that will apply to every project, then it is possible to edit the template defaults. Changes made here will be picked up by every WebSphere DataStage project on that WebSphere DataStage server. The JCL Templates directory contains two sets of template files: a default set that you can edit, and a master set which is read-only. You can always revert to the master templates if required, by copying the read-only masters over the default templates. Use a standard editing tool, such as Microsoft Notepad, to edit the default templates.

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Chapter 17. Creating Repository tree objects

WebSphere DataStage uses the common repository which is shared by WebSphere DataStage and other tools in the IBM Information Server suite.

Repository tree
You can use the Repository tree to browse and manage objects in the repository. The Designer enables you to store the following types of object in the repository (listed in alphabetical order): v Data connections v Data elements (see Data Elements) v IMS Database (DBD) (see IMS Databases and IMS Viewsets) v IMS Viewset (PSB/PCB) (see IMS Databases and IMS Viewsets) v Jobs (see Developing a Job) v Machine profiles (see Machine Profiles) Match specifications (see IBM WebSphere QualityStage User Guide) Parameter sets (see Parameter Sets) Routines (see Parallel Routines,Server Routines , and Mainframe Routines) Shared containers (see Shared Containers) Stage types (see reference guides for each job types and Custom Stages for Parallel Jobs) v Table definitions (see Table Definitions) v Transforms v v v v v When you first open WebSphere DataStage you will see the repository tree organized with preconfigured folders for these object types, but you can arrange your folders as you like and rename the preconfigured ones if required. You can store any type of object within any folder in the repository tree. You can also add your own folders to the tree. This allows you, for example, to keep all objects relating to a particular job in one folder. You can also nest folders one within another. Note: Certain built-in objects cannot be moved in the repository tree. Click the blue bar at the side of the repository tree to open the detailed view of the repository. The detailed view gives more details about the objects in the repository tree and you can configure it in the same way that you can configure a Windows Explorer view. Click the blue bar again to close the detailed view. You can view a sketch of job designs in the repository tree by hovering the mouse over the job icon in the tree. A tooltip opens displaying a thumbnail of the job design. (You can disable this option in the Designer Options.) When you open an object in the repository tree, you have a lock on that object and no other users can change it while you have that lock (although they can look at read-only copies).

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Creating new objects

There are several methods for creating new objects. These methods are described individually for each object type, but are summarized here.

Create a new object on startup

You can create a new object of any type whenever you start the Designer client (unless this feature has been disabled in the Designer client options). As the Designer starts it displays the New dialog box. To 1. 2. 3. 4. create a new object: Open the folder for the type of object you want to create. Select the exact type of object you require in the right pane. Click OK. If the object requires more information from you, another dialog box will appear to collect this information. The type of dialog box depends on the type of object (see individual object descriptions for details). 5. When you have supplied the required details, click OK. The Designer asks you where you want to store the object in the repository tree.

Create a new object from the repository tree

The shortcut menu from the repository tree offers you the choice of creating a new folder or any type of object: To create a new folder at the top level: v Select the project icon at the top of the tree, right-click and choose New Folder from the shortcut menu. A new folder appears, and you can rename it immediately by typing in the required name. To create a new folder under an existing folder: v Select the parent folder, right-click and choose New Folder from the shortcut menu. A new folder appears, and you can rename it immediately by typing in the required name. To create a new object: 1. Select the folder that you want the new object to live in, right-click and choose the type of object required from the shortcut menu. 2. If the object requires more information from you, another dialog box will appear to collect this information. The type of dialog box depends on the type of object (see individual object descriptions for details).

Create a new object from the main menu

To create a new object from the main menu: 1. ChooseFile New, the New dialog box appears. 2. Open the folder for the type of object you want to create. 3. Select the exact type of object you require in the right pane. 4. Click OK.

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5. If the object requires more information from you, another dialog box will appear to collect this information. The type of dialog box depends on the type of object (see individual object descriptions for details). 6. When you have supplied the required details, click OK. The Designer asks you where you want to store the object in the repository tree.

Create a new object from the toolbar

The new icon in the toolbar allows you to create the following types of object: v Job sequence v Mainframe job v Parallel job v Parallel shared container v Server job v Server shared container You can also start the Intelligent Assistant from this menu to help you design certain types of job (see Creating Jobs Using Intelligent Assistants on page 3-31). To 1. 2. 3. create a new object from the toolbar: Click on the New icon in the toolbar. Choose the desired object type from the drop-down menu: A new instance of the selected job or container type opens in the Designer, and from here you can save it anywhere you like in the repository.

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Product documentation
Documentation is provided in a variety of locations and formats, including in help that is opened directly from the product interface, in a suite-wide information center, and in PDF file books. The information center is installed as a common service with IBM Information Server. The information center contains help for most of the product interfaces, as well as complete documentation for all product modules in the suite. A subset of the product documentation is also available online from the product documentation library at publib.boulder.ibm.com/infocenter/iisinfsv/v8r1/ index.jsp. PDF file books are available through the IBM Information Server software installer and the distribution media. A subset of the information center is also available online and periodically refreshed at www.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?rs=14 &uid=swg27008803. You can also order IBM publications in hardcopy format online or through your local IBM representative. To order publications online, go to the IBM Publications Center at www.ibm.com/shop/publications/order. You can send your comments about documentation in the following ways: v Online reader comment form: www.ibm.com/software/data/rcf/ v E-mail: comments@us.ibm.com

Contacting IBM
You can contact IBM for customer support, software services, product information, and general information. You can also provide feedback on products and documentation.

Customer support
For customer support for IBM products and for product download information, go to the support and downloads site at www.ibm.com/support/us/. You can open a support request by going to the software support service request site at www.ibm.com/software/support/probsub.html.

My IBM
You can manage links to IBM Web sites and information that meet your specific technical support needs by creating an account on the My IBM site at www.ibm.com/account/us/.

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Software services
For information about software, IT, and business consulting services, go to the solutions site at www.ibm.com/businesssolutions/us/en.

IBM Information Server support

For IBM Information Server support, go to www.ibm.com/software/data/ integration/support/info_server/.

General information
To find general information about IBM, go to www.ibm.com.

Product feedback
You can provide general product feedback through the Consumability Survey at www.ibm.com/software/data/info/consumability-survey.

Documentation feedback
You can click the feedback link in any topic in the information center to comment on the information center. You can also send your comments about PDF file books, the information center, or any other documentation in the following ways: v Online reader comment form: www.ibm.com/software/data/rcf/ v E-mail: comments@us.ibm.com

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How to read syntax diagrams

The following rules apply to the syntax diagrams that are used in this information: v Read the syntax diagrams from left to right, from top to bottom, following the path of the line. The following conventions are used: The >>--- symbol indicates the beginning of a syntax diagram. The ---> symbol indicates that the syntax diagram is continued on the next line. The >--- symbol indicates that a syntax diagram is continued from the previous line. The --->< symbol indicates the end of a syntax diagram. v Required items appear on the horizontal line (the main path).
required_item

v Optional items appear below the main path.

required_item optional_item

If an optional item appears above the main path, that item has no effect on the execution of the syntax element and is used only for readability.
optional_item required_item

v If you can choose from two or more items, they appear vertically, in a stack. If you must choose one of the items, one item of the stack appears on the main path.
required_item required_choice1 required_choice2

If choosing one of the items is optional, the entire stack appears below the main path.
required_item optional_choice1 optional_choice2

If one of the items is the default, it appears above the main path, and the remaining choices are shown below.
default_choice required_item optional_choice1 optional_choice2

v An arrow returning to the left, above the main line, indicates an item that can be repeated.

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required_item

repeatable_item

If the repeat arrow contains a comma, you must separate repeated items with a comma.
, required_item repeatable_item

A repeat arrow above a stack indicates that you can repeat the items in the stack. v Sometimes a diagram must be split into fragments. The syntax fragment is shown separately from the main syntax diagram, but the contents of the fragment should be read as if they are on the main path of the diagram.
required_item fragment-name

Fragment-name:
required_item optional_item

v Keywords, and their minimum abbreviations if applicable, appear in uppercase. They must be spelled exactly as shown. v Variables appear in all lowercase italic letters (for example, column-name). They represent user-supplied names or values. v Separate keywords and parameters by at least one space if no intervening punctuation is shown in the diagram. v Enter punctuation marks, parentheses, arithmetic operators, and other symbols, exactly as shown in the diagram. v Footnotes are shown by a number in parentheses, for example (1).

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Product accessibility
You can get information about the accessibility status of IBM products. The IBM Information Server product modules and user interfaces are not fully accessible. The installation program installs the following product modules and components: v IBM Information Server Business Glossary Anywhere v IBM Information Server FastTrack v IBM Metadata Workbench v IBM WebSphere Business Glossary v IBM WebSphere DataStage and QualityStage v IBM WebSphere Information Analyzer v IBM WebSphere Information Services Director For more information about a products accessibility status, go to http://www.ibm.com/able/product_accessibility/index.html.

Accessible documentation
Accessible documentation for IBM Information Server products is provided in an information center. The information center presents the documentation in XHTML 1.0 format, which is viewable in most Web browsers. XHTML allows you to set display preferences in your browser. It also allows you to use screen readers and other assistive technologies to access the documentation.

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Notices
This information was developed for products and services offered in the U.S.A. IBM may not offer the products, services, or features discussed in this document in other countries. Consult your local IBM representative for information on the products and services currently available in your area. Any reference to an IBM product, program, or service is not intended to state or imply that only that IBM product, program, or service may be used. Any functionally equivalent product, program, or service that does not infringe any IBM intellectual property right may be used instead. However, it is the users responsibility to evaluate and verify the operation of any non-IBM product, program, or service. IBM may have patents or pending patent applications covering subject matter described in this document. The furnishing of this document does not grant you any license to these patents. You can send license inquiries, in writing, to: IBM Director of Licensing IBM Corporation North Castle Drive Armonk, NY 10504-1785 U.S.A. For license inquiries regarding double-byte character set (DBCS) information, contact the IBM Intellectual Property Department in your country or send inquiries, in writing, to: IBM World Trade Asia Corporation Licensing 2-31 Roppongi 3-chome, Minato-ku Tokyo 106-0032, Japan The following paragraph does not apply to the United Kingdom or any other country where such provisions are inconsistent with local law: INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION PROVIDES THIS PUBLICATION AS IS WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF NON-INFRINGEMENT, MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. Some states do not allow disclaimer of express or implied warranties in certain transactions, therefore, this statement may not apply to you. This information could include technical inaccuracies or typographical errors. Changes are periodically made to the information herein; these changes will be incorporated in new editions of the publication. IBM may make improvements and/or changes in the product(s) and/or the program(s) described in this publication at any time without notice. Any references in this information to non-IBM Web sites are provided for convenience only and do not in any manner serve as an endorsement of those Web sites. The materials at those Web sites are not part of the materials for this IBM product and use of those Web sites is at your own risk. IBM may use or distribute any of the information you supply in any way it believes appropriate without incurring any obligation to you.
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Licensees of this program who wish to have information about it for the purpose of enabling: (i) the exchange of information between independently created programs and other programs (including this one) and (ii) the mutual use of the information which has been exchanged, should contact: IBM Corporation J46A/G4 555 Bailey Avenue San Jose, CA 95141-1003 U.S.A. Such information may be available, subject to appropriate terms and conditions, including in some cases, payment of a fee. The licensed program described in this document and all licensed material available for it are provided by IBM under terms of the IBM Customer Agreement, IBM International Program License Agreement or any equivalent agreement between us. Any performance data contained herein was determined in a controlled environment. Therefore, the results obtained in other operating environments may vary significantly. Some measurements may have been made on development-level systems and there is no guarantee that these measurements will be the same on generally available systems. Furthermore, some measurements may have been estimated through extrapolation. Actual results may vary. Users of this document should verify the applicable data for their specific environment. Information concerning non-IBM products was obtained from the suppliers of those products, their published announcements or other publicly available sources. IBM has not tested those products and cannot confirm the accuracy of performance, compatibility or any other claims related to non-IBM products. Questions on the capabilities of non-IBM products should be addressed to the suppliers of those products. All statements regarding IBMs future direction or intent are subject to change or withdrawal without notice, and represent goals and objectives only. This information is for planning purposes only. The information herein is subject to change before the products described become available. This information contains examples of data and reports used in daily business operations. To illustrate them as completely as possible, the examples include the names of individuals, companies, brands, and products. All of these names are fictitious and any similarity to the names and addresses used by an actual business enterprise is entirely coincidental. COPYRIGHT LICENSE: This information contains sample application programs in source language, which illustrate programming techniques on various operating platforms. You may copy, modify, and distribute these sample programs in any form without payment to IBM, for the purposes of developing, using, marketing or distributing application programs conforming to the application programming interface for the operating platform for which the sample programs are written. These examples have not been thoroughly tested under all conditions. IBM, therefore, cannot guarantee or imply reliability, serviceability, or function of these programs.

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Each copy or any portion of these sample programs or any derivative work, must include a copyright notice as follows: (your company name) (year). Portions of this code are derived from IBM Corp. Sample Programs. Copyright IBM Corp. _enter the year or years_. All rights reserved. If you are viewing this information softcopy, the photographs and color illustrations may not appear.

Trademarks
IBM trademarks and certain non-IBM trademarks are marked on their first occurrence in this information with the appropriate symbol. IBM, the IBM logo, and ibm.com are trademarks or registered trademarks of International Business Machines Corporation in the United States, other countries, or both. If these and other IBM trademarked terms are marked on their first occurrence in this information with a trademark symbol ( or ), these symbols indicate U.S. registered or common law trademarks owned by IBM at the time this information was published. Such trademarks may also be registered or common law trademarks in other countries. A current list of IBM trademarks is available on the Web at Copyright and trademark information at www.ibm.com/legal/ copytrade.shtml. The following terms are trademarks or registered trademarks of other companies: Adobe, the Adobe logo, PostScript, and the PostScript logo are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Adobe Systems Incorporated in the United States, and/or other countries. IT Infrastructure Library is a registered trademark of the Central Computer and Telecommunications Agency, which is now part of the Office of Government Commerce. Intel, Intel logo, Intel Inside, Intel Inside logo, Intel Centrino, Intel Centrino logo, Celeron, Intel Xeon, Intel SpeedStep, Itanium, and Pentium are trademarks or registered trademarks of Intel Corporation or its subsidiaries in the United States and other countries. Linux is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds in the United States, other countries, or both. Microsoft, Windows, Windows NT, and the Windows logo are trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States, other countries, or both. ITIL is a registered trademark and a registered community trademark of the Office of Government Commerce, and is registered in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. UNIX is a registered trademark of The Open Group in the United States and other countries. Cell Broadband Engine is a trademark of Sony Computer Entertainment, Inc. in the United States, other countries, or both and is used under license therefrom.

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Java and all Java-based trademarks are trademarks of Sun Microsystems, Inc. in the United States, other countries, or both. The United States Postal Service owns the following trademarks: CASS, CASS Certified, DPV, LACSLink, ZIP, ZIP + 4, ZIP Code, Post Office, Postal Service, USPS and United States Postal Service. IBM Corporation is a non-exclusive DPV and LACSLink licensee of the United States Postal Service. Other company, product, or service names may be trademarks or service marks of others.

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Index A
accessibility 239 ActiveX (OLE) functions 137 importing 179 programming functions 122, 124 adding Sequential File stage 8 stages 29 Transformer stage 8 advanced find 159, 160, 161, 173 after-job subroutines 142, 145 assigning data elements 131 assistants 40 connectors 56, 57, 58 containers 23 editing 96 viewing 96 copying BASIC routine definitions 126 copying data elements 132 copying mainframe routine definitions 136 copying Transform definitions 129 creating data elements 130 stored procedure definitions 79 table definitions 61 currency formats 147 customer support 239 customizing COBOL code 196

E
editing BASIC routine definitions 126 column definitions 32, 76, 81 using the Edit button 32 containers 96 data elements 131 stages 32 stored procedure definitions 81 table definitions 76 email notification activity 201 end loop activity 201 entering code in BASIC routines 124 entering column definitions 62 example advanced find 161 quick find 159 ExecCommand ativity 201 exercise setting up 4 Expression Editor 86 external ActiveX (OLE) functions 137

B
BASIC routines copying 126 editing 126 entering code 124 name 123 renaming 137 saving code 125 testing 126 type 123 viewing 126 before-job subroutines 141, 145 browsing server directories 36 built-in data elements 132

D
data browser 11 Data Browser 55 using 37 data elements assigning 131 built-in 132 copying 132 creating 130 defining 130 editing 131 viewing 131 data files adding 61 data lineage 169 highlighting 168 data lineage highlighting disabling 169 Data Migration Assistant 226 databases adding 60 date formats 147 defining data elements 130 locales 143, 146 maps 143, 146 deleting column definitions 33, 76, 81 links 31 stages 30 dependencies of query 164, 169, 171 Designer client 159 starting 4 developing jobs 21, 29, 235 diff operation 153, 155, 156 diffapicmdline command report 156 Director client 16 documentation accessible 239

F
find 159 Find dialog box 56 force compile 193

C
character set maps 146 character set maps, specifying 143, 146 code customization 196 column definitions 168, 169 column name 50 data element 50 defining for a stage 32 deleting 33, 76, 81 editing 32, 76, 81 using the Edit button 32 entering 62 inserting 32 key fields 50 length 50 loading 34, 75 name alias 50 running a where used query 167 scale factor 50 searching for 164 Columns grid 32, 50 common repository 235 comparing objects 153, 155 in different projects 155 using the command line 156 compiling code in BASIC routines 125 compiling job 16 configuration file editor 230 Copyright IBM Corp. 2006, 2008

G
generating code customizing code 196 generating job reports 189

H
highlighting data lineage host systems adding 60 168

I
IBM support 239 impact analysis 164, 166, 167, 169 examples 170, 171 impact analysis results 170 import selection 181 importing external ActiveX (OLE) functions metadata using bridges 180 stored procedure definitions 77 table definitions 54 input parameters, specifying 80 inserting column definitions 32 intelligent assistants 225

179

249

J
JCL templates 196 job compiling 16 configuring 11 creating 7 parallel 1 running 16 saving 7 job activity 201 job control routines 223 job log 16 job parameters 86 job properties saving 149 job reports 189 generating 189 stylesheets 191 jobs defining locales 143, 146 defining maps 143, 146 dependencies, specifying 186 developing 21, 29, 235 opening 22 version number 141, 144, 148

moving (continued) stages 30 multiple links 31 multivalued data 50

N
naming 76 column definitions 76 data elements 131 job sequences 201 links 29 mainframe routines 134 parallel job routines 105 parallel stage types 107 server job routines 123 shared container categories 98 shared containers 98 nested condition activity 201 New Job from Template 226 New Template from Job 225 NLS 146 NLS page of the Table Definition dialog box normalization 38 null values 50, 78 number formats 147

renaming (continued) stage 8 stages 30 report 173 Reporting Console 173 repository 4 Repository Advanced Find window 170 routine activity 201 Routine dialog box 107 Dependencies page 123 routine name 123 routines parallel jobs 105 Run-activity-on-exception activity 201

S
sample data 1, 4 saving code in BASIC routines 125 saving job properties 149 schemas adding 60 screen readers 239 search advanced find 159, 160, 161 for column definitions 164 for table definitions 163 quick find 159 search criteria 161 search results 170 selecting data to be imported 181 sequencer activity 201 Sequential File stage 11 server directories, browsing 36 setting up exercise 4 shared metadata 56, 163 Shared Metadata Management tool 59 shared repository 56, 57, 58, 163 software services 239 sort order 143, 147 specifying input parameters for stored procedures 80 job dependencies 186 SQL data precision 50, 78 data scale factor 50, 78 data type 50, 78 display characters 50, 78 stage adding 8 stage editor 11 stages 23 adding 29 column definitions for 32 deleting 30 editing 32 moving 30 renaming 30 specifying 29 start loop activity 201 stored procedure definitions 38, 56 creating 79 editing 81 importing 77 manually defining 79

52

K
key field 50, 78

O
53 objects creating new 236 opening a job 22 operational metadata 40

L
Layout page of the Table Definition dialog box legal notices 245 link adding 8 linking stages 30 links deleting 31 moving 31 multiple 31 loading column definitions 34, 75 locales and jobs 146 specifying 143, 146

P
palette 4 parallel engine configuration file 230 parallel job routines 105 parameter definitions data element 79 key fields 78 length 78 scale factor 78 parameter sets 83 Parameters grid 78 parameters sets value file 90 performance monitor 38 pre-configured stages 37, 97, 102 product accessibility accessibility 243

M
mainframe routines copying 136 manually entering stored procedure definitions table definitions 61 message handlers 40, 144 metadata 56 importing 6, 57 managing 59, 60, 61 sharing 56 synchronizing 59 tables 59 wizard 58 monetary formats 147 moving links 31 79

Q
quick find 159

R
reference links 25, 27 renaming BASIC routines 137 link 8

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stored procedure definitions (continued) result set 79 viewing 81 stored procedures 77 stream link 25, 27 stylesheets for job reports 191 support, customer 239

T
table definition 6, 57, 58 Table Definition dialog box 49 for stored procedures 78 Format page 51 Layout page 53 NLS page 52 Parameters page 78 table definitions 33, 58, 59 creating 61 editing 76 importing 54 manually entering 61 viewing 76 tables 57 terminator activity 201 testing BASIC routines 126 time formats 147 trademarks 247 Transformer stage 11 Transforms copying 129 editing transforms 128

U
user variable activity 201 using Data Browser 37 job parameters 86

V
value file 90 version number for a job 141, 144, 148 viewing BASIC routine definitions 126 containers 96 data elements 131 stored procedure definitions 81 table definitions 76

W
wait-for-file activity 201 where used query 164, 166, 167, 170

X
XML documents 175 XSLT stylesheets for job reports 191

Index

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Printed in USA

LC18-9893-01

Spine information:

IBM WebSphere DataStage and QualityStage

Version 8 Release 1

Designer Client Guide