Illustrated in the below image is a flow where the Fixed Width with ID reader step is used to read data from the file. The Filter step is used to filter for specific data requirements and a Buffer destination step to store the data in.
Adding a Fixed Width with ID Reader Step
To add a Fixed Width with ID Reader step in a flow, follow the below instructions:
1. Click on the highlighted icon as shown in the below image.
2. The below page will appear. Select or search for a Reader step to pull out the source data. Click on the Reader tab and select Fixed Width with ID as shown in the image below.
Configuring a Fixed Width with ID Reader step
Illustrated below is the configuration that is available in the Fixed Width with ID Reader step.
Row Delimiter – The characters indicating the end of a row.
End Of File Delimiter – The characters indicating the end of the file.
Comment Character – The characters indicating a comment and that the row will be skipped.
Skip Non ID Rows checkbox – Ignore rows that do not match any of the set identifiers. An error will occur for non-identified rows. The checkbox is not selected by default when the Fixed Width with ID Reader step is added.
The Fixed Width with ID Reader step has Headers, Records, and Footers sections which have similar configurations. The Records section is expanded by default when the Fixed Width with ID step is added to a flow.
To expand the Headers or Footers configurations, click on the ‘plus’ button as highlighted in green in the far right in the image below. Once expanded, click on the large plus button highlighted in yellow in the page below to add the different identifers.
The configurations that are found in each of the sections are explained below.
Identifier – The character that identifies the row.
Name – The name of the type of row.
Enforce Length checkbox – Ensures that all rows of the same type are the same length.
Row length – The length of the row that is ensured when the Enforce Length checkbox is checked.
Fields section – Used to map fields from the fixed width file. The fields path have to be in the same order the data in the fixed width file is in.
To add a field, click on the highlighted plus icon, fill in the details and click on the tick on the far right of the field. The Fields configuration table contains the following columns that must be set.
Length column – The length of the characters that are in the data.
To Path column – Name of the field that gets returned.
Type column – The data type. This could be a String, Number, Boolean or any other data type required. Select the required from the dropdown list.
Format column – The format to give for the value such as a date format.
Trim column – Remove any specified characters from the field. For example, ‘/s’ will remove spaces.
Left Trim – Remove any specified characters from the left of the field. For example, ‘/s’ will remove spaces.
Right Trim – Remove any specified characters from the right of the field. For example, ‘/s’ will remove spaces.
String Encoding – Synatic currently only applies the UTF8 encoding. This cannot be changed.
For more information on UTF8, click on the link below.
Max Row Size – The maximum length of the row.
Using a Fixed Width with ID Reader step
To use a Fixed Width Reader step, follow the below instructions:
Click on the play button on the Fixed Width Reader step as highlighted in the image below:
2. Click the highlighted are in the image below to upload a Fixed Width file.
3. Click the Test button as shown in the image below.
