EDIFACTWriter

Short Description

EDIFACTWriter writes data in the EDIFACT format. All EDIFACT versions from D.93A to D.21A are supported.

EDIFACTWriter is currently only available in certain plans. To find out more about licensing requirements, please contact [email protected].

COMPONENT	DATA OUTPUT	INPUT PORTS	OUTPUT PORTS	TRANSFORMATION	TRANSF. REQUIRED	JAVA	CTL	AUTO-PROPAGATED METADATA
EDIFACTWriter	EDIFACT file	1-n	0-1	x	x	x	x	x

Ports

PORT TYPE	NUMBER	REQUIRED	DESCRIPTION	METADATA
Input	0-N	At least one	Input records to be mapped into the EDIFACT message structure.	Any (each port can have different metadata)
Output	0	x	For port writing.	Only one field (`byte, cbyte` or `string`) is used. The field name is used in File URL to govern how the output records are processed - see Writing to Output Port

Metadata

EDIFACTWriter does not propagate metadata.

EDIFACTWriter has no metadata template.

EDIFACTWriter Attributes

ATTRIBUTE	REQ	DESCRIPTION	POSSIBLE VALUES
Basic
File URL	yes	The target file for the output EDIFACT message. See Supported File URL Formats for Writers.
EDIFACT version		Attribute specifying version of EDIFACT message.
EDIFACT message		Attribute specifying type of EDIFACT message. Possible values depend on selected EDIFACT version.
Interchange sender identification		Attribute specifying default identification of EDIFACT interchange sender. When specified, the value is used as default for `UNB` segment.
Interchange recipient identification		Attribute specifying default identification of EDIFACT interchange recipient. When specified, the value is used as default for `UNB` segment.
Interchange control reference		Attribute specifying default identification of EDIFACT interchange. When specified, the value is used as default for `UNB` segment. In EDIFACT the interchange identification should be unique for every interchange exchanged between sender and recipient, therefore this attribute should not be used if multiple interchanges are written at the same time.
Message reference number		Attribute specifying default identification of EDIFACT message. When specified, the value is used as default for `UNH` segment. In EDIFACT the message identification should be unique for every message exchanged between sender and recipient, therefore this attribute should not be used if multiple messages are written at the same time.
Mapping	^k:p	Defines how input data is mapped onto an output EDIFACT message. See Details below.
Mapping URL	^k:p	External text file containing the mapping definition.
Advanced
Strict validation		Enables strict validation of the written values, their sizes and data types. Also checks that composite elements are not written in places where only simple elements are allowed. Produces error if any validation check finds a problem.	true (default) \| false
Cache size		Cache data records in memory instead of the JDBM’s disk cache (default). Note that while it is possible to set the maximal size of the disk cache, this setting is ignored in case the in-memory cache is used. As a result, an `OutOfMemoryError` may occur when caching too many data records.	false (default) \| true
Sorted input		Tells EDIFACTWriter whether the input data is sorted. Setting the attribute to true declares you want to use the sort order defined in Sort keys, see below.	false (default) \| true
Sort keys		Tells EDIFACTWriter how the input data is sorted, thus enabling streaming. The sort order of fields can be given for each port in a separate tab. Working with Sort keys has been described in Sort Key.	COMMIT (default) \| ROLLBACK
Max number of records		The maximum number of records written to all output files. See Selecting Output Records.	0-N
Partitioning
Records per file		The maximum number of records that are written to a single file. See Partitioning Output into Different Output Files.	1-N
Partition key		The key whose values control the distribution of records among multiple output files. For more information, see Partitioning Output into Different Output Files.
Partition lookup table		The ID of a lookup table. The table serves for selecting records which should be written to the output file(s). For more information, see Partitioning Output into Different Output Files.
Partition file tag		By default, output files are numbered. If this attribute is set to `Key file tag`, output files are named according to the values of Partition key or Partition output fields. For more information, see Partitioning Output into Different Output Files.	Number file tag (default) \| Key file tag
Partition output fields		The fields of Partition lookup table whose values serve for naming output file(s). For more information, see Partitioning Output into Different Output Files.
Partition unassigned file name		The name of a file that the unassigned records should be written into (if there are any). If it is not given, the data records whose key values are not contained in Partition lookup table are discarded. For more information, see Partitioning Output into Different Output Files.
Partition key sorted		In case partitioning into multiple output files is turned on, all output files are open at once. This could lead to an undesirable memory footprint for many output files (thousands). Moreover, for example unix-based OS usually have a very strict limitation of number of simultaneously open files (1,024) per process. In case you run into one of these limitations, consider sorting the data according a partition key using one of our standard sorting components and set this attribute to true. The partitioning algorithm does not need to keep open all output files, just the last one is open at one time. For more information, see Partitioning Output into Different Output Files.	false (default) \| true

[1] One of these must be specified if EDIFACT version and EDIFACT message are used. If both are specified, Mapping URL has a higher priority.

Details

EDIFACTWriter receives data from all connected input ports and converts records to EDIFACT message structure based on the mapping you define. You map the input ports and fields in a manner similar to XMLWriter as described in Creating the Mapping - Mapping Ports and Fields. Finally, the component writes the resulting tree structure of elements to the output: an EDIFACT message file, port or dictionary.

Input data has to provide all mandatory data required by selected EDIFACT message format. When any mandatory element is missing the mapping editor produces a warning. Type of a message can be specified by EDIFACT version and EDIFACT message properties in the component.

Individual fields of EDIFACT message can be filled by input fields of primitive types such as string or long. Entire subtrees of the target message can be filled by input variant fields. When using variant fields the structure of the input variant must match the schema of the target mapped element, otherwise the EDIFACTWriter will fail at runtime.

Specifying EDIFACT version and EDIFACT message is optional. You can leave both attributes empty, in which case EDIFACTWriter expects a single variant field with entire interchange structure on first input port. Defining a mapping is not possible in this case.

Autofilled segments

EDIFACTWriter automatically fills values for some elements. EDIFACT technical fields such as various segment counters, checksums and timestamps are computed automatically when writing.

These fields are filled automatically, it is not necessary to specify their values in input data:

UNB0401 (Interchange header) - Date and time of preparation - Date
UNB0402 (Interchange header) - Date and time of preparation - Time
UNG0401 (Group header) - Date and time of preparation - Date
UNG0402 (Group header) - Date and time of preparation - Time
UNT01 (Message trailer) - Number of segments in a message
UNT02 (Message trailer) - Message reference number
UNE01 (Group trailer) - Group control count
UNE02 (Group trailer) - Group reference number
UNZ01 (Interchange trailer) - Interchange control count
UNZ02 (Interchange trailer) - Interchange control reference

When Mapping attribute is used, additional EDIFACT fields are pre-generated with default values based on current configuration of the component. You can see the pre-generated defaults in the Mapping dialog.

Examples

Mapping different ports on parts of an EDIFACT message format allows to insert multiple repeating segments into one EDIFACT message file.

The example below creates one EDIFACT interchange for each record obtained from port 0 and one AUTHOR message for each record obtained from port 2.