Service File form - Completing the Method tab

Complete the Method tab to describe how the system detects fields and records in the input files.

Field Description
Processing Method Select how the system uses the Parse Segment array (on the Request tab):
  • file at a time — Parse one entire file for with the first parse segment. Any additional rows in the Parse Segment array are ignored.
  • record at a time — Apply the parse segments sequentially, one for each record in an input file. Use the first segment for the first record, the second segment for the second record, and so on.
  • by record type — Extract a record type from a fixed position in the record, and use this value to determine which parse segment to apply to that record. Two other fields on this Method tab identify the byte offset position and length of the record type. The system matches the value extracted from the record with the Record Type field in the Parse Segment array.
Record Layout  
Record Terminator Optional. If the records end with a separator character, enter the delimiter character or characters that marks the end of a record in the input file.

This field is used with the record at a time and by record type values for Processing Method .

Type a single character, or enter one of these escape sequences:

  • \n for newline
  • \r for return
  • \f for form feed
  • \0 for the null character
  • \t for a horizontal tab character.

You cannot enter octal- or hexadecimal-encoded characters value here.

Note: Many MS-DOS and Windows text files contain a newline (\n) character, not a return (\r) character, as the line terminator.
or Record Length Optional. If all records have a common length in characters or bytes, enter the length here. This value is used with the record at a time and by record type processing methods. Leave blank if the Processing Method is file at a time.

If the Data Mode value is text only, enter a character count as the length; otherwise, enter a byte count.

Leave this blank if you specified a terminator character, or if the Processing Method is by record type and different record types have different lengths. Record those lengths in the Parse Segments array on the Request tab.

Record Type Identifier  
Offset Optional. If the Processing Method is by record type, enter a byte offset (from the beginning of the record starting at 0) where the record type can be found.

If the Data Mode value is text only, enter a character count as the offset; otherwise, enter a byte count.

Length Optional. If the Processing Method is by record type, enter the length in bytes of the record type.

If the Data Mode value is text only, enter a character count as the length; otherwise, enter a byte count.

Data Description  
Data Mode Select text only, binary only, or text and binary :
  • Select text only to cause the contents of the record to be processed as a Java character string. Use this when parse structured rules or parse XML rules are to be applied to the record.
  • Select binary only or text and binary to case the contents of the record to be processed as a Java byte string.

This choice affects which methods can be used in steps of a Parse Delimited rule to parse the string. For example, you cannot use the Parse-Fixed-Binary method if you choose text only.

Character Encoding Select the character encoding of the input file. As it reads the input file, the system converts the input from character encoding you specify here (such as ASCII,. Windows Latin-1 or EBCDIC) into Java String encoding (16-bit UNICODE).