Defining Connection Parameters for Text File Sources

  To create a flat file data source:

1. In the Source Navigator, select the Data Sources tab.

2. Right-click Data Sources in the physical tree and select New, then Data Source.

3. Enter a Connection Name.

4. Optional: Enter a Description.

5. Select Text File as the Data Source Type.

6. To provide the Location of the text file data source, click Browse.

   The location of the text file data source is specified using the server.datafile.dir property in the server.properties file. See About Text File Data Sources for more information.

7. In the Text File Location dialog box, select the directory that contains the text file data source you want to access.

   Note:

   You can select only one directory per data source. Essbase Studio does not support text files from different subdirectories within the same directory.

   Note:

   Text file data source directory names and individual text file names must not contain spaces.

8. Review the files listed under Contents of selected directory to ensure that this is the text file data source you want to select.

9. When you have made your selection in the Text File Location dialog box, click OK to return to the Define Connection Parameters page of the Connection Wizard.

10. Optional: In Skip records, enter the number of records to skip from the beginning of each text file in the data source.

    For example, the text files in your data source may contain identifying comments as the first three lines of each file. In this case, enter 3 in Skip Records.

    The selection you make here can be overridden on a file-by-file basis in the Model Text Files page of the Connection Wizard.

11. Optional: Select Column names in first row if the first row after any skipped records contains column names.

    If you do not select this check box, the Connection Wizard assigns a default name (Col_0, Col_1, etc.) to each column from each file. You can change the column name later on a file-by-file basis when you model the text files, as described in Modeling Text Files.

12. Select a Delimiter:

    • Comma

    • Tab

    • Space

    • Custom—Specify a delimiter if your data source uses a delimiter other than comma, tab or space.

    The delimiter you specify is used as the default for future text file connections. However, you can change this setting for specific text file data sources in the Model Text Files page of the wizard.

13. Click Next to proceed to the Model Text Files page of the wizard (described in Modeling Text Files.