Mapping the File Parser Process for Population Selection

File Mapping

Enter a name for this mapping.

Public

Select to make this mapping accessible for all users to use and update.

Clear to make this mapping accessible only to the user who created it.

A public mapping is useful for example, when a mapping can be reused for different files or for files that are refreshed regularly.

Created/Updated History

Click to view a history of who updated the mapping and when.

Required Flds (required fields)

Enter the name of the record that contains the fields required to identify the population.

File Type

Specify the type of external file, either Flat or Delimited.

If you enter Delimited, you must also verify or enter the delimiter and qualifier.

File types are translate values. Do not modify these values.

Field Delimiter

Appears only for a file type of Delimited.

Enter the value in the external file that signifies the end of one value and the beginning of another. Values are:

Comma (default value)

Pipe

Semicolon

Tab

Field Delimiter values are translate values. Do not modify these values.

Field Qualifier

Appears only for a file type of Delimited.

Enter the value in the external file that qualifies the end of one field and the beginning of another. The default qualifier is " (quotation mark).

Header Row and Header Row Number

The Header Row check box and the Header Row Number field appear only if the file type is Delimited.

If the file that contains the IDs to process includes header rows, for example column titles or to display a title for the document, select the Header Row check box and enter the number of rows in the uploaded file used as the header. The Population Selection process evaluates values after the end of the number of header rows specified.

If you are unsure if the uploaded file has header rows or unsure of which row to use as the header, click Cancel to return to the run control page. Then, click View File to view the delimited file and validate and count the header rows if they exist. Return to the mapping and continue.

Map From Header

Appears only when Header Row is selected.

Click to map the column names in the uploaded spreadsheet to the fields required to run the process. The system reads the name of each column in the spreadsheet, compares it to the fields listed in the Field Mapping group box, and if it finds a match, enters the column number in theField Number field for that field. For example, assume that CAREER is the title of the second column in the spreadsheet that you uploaded. If the ACADEMIC_CAREER field appears in the list of fields in the File Mapping group box, then the system sets the Field Number field to 2.

The Mapping From Header feature does not map columns in the spreadsheet that do not match any fields in the File Mapping group box. To map these, you must manually enter the column number in the Field Number column.

See PeopleTools: Query, “Downloading Queries.”

Upload File, Delete Attachment, and View Attachment

These buttons appear only if you navigate to the Population Selection File Map page from the menu, you select the Header Row check box, and if the file option for the External File selection tool on the Selection Tool setup page is set to Attachment.

The buttons do not appear if you access the page from a run control page because the buttons are available from the standard Population Selection group box on the run control page.

Click to upload, delete, or view the external file to use.

File Path and Name

This field appears only if you navigate to the Population Selection File Map page from the menu, and if the file option for the External File selection tool on the Selection Tool setup page is set to Physical Path.

The field does not appear if you access the page from a run control page because the field is available from the standard Population Selection group box on the run control page.

Enter the path to the external file to use. The file path must follow the appropriate syntax for the application server that you are using:

• For an NT application server, an appropriate syntax might be: \\tl-abc \test_data\My_File_Name.csv.

• For a UNIX application server, an appropriate syntax might be: //test_data/ My_File_Name.csv. (File names are case sensitive for UNIX.)

• For a mixed environment (for example, an NT application server with a Unix Process Scheduler) consider setting the External File selection tool to Attachments rather than to Physical Path.

1. The uploaded file must include at least the fields marked as required for the process that you want to run.

2. When mapping a flat file, you must include blank spaces when a value is shorter than the longest character length for the column.

   Looking at the columns below, the starting position for the ID column is 1 and the length is 10. Ten is the longest value for the ID column. All other values need to have blank spaces (represented by x in the example) to make them a length of 10. The same applies to the Name column. Mary-Anne Fletcher has the longest name, which is 18 characters long. Therefore the other name values need to end with blank spaces to make them a character length of 18. In this case the mapping Start position is 11 and the field length is 18.

   ID NAME AD1000xxxx John Smithxxxxxxx AD100xxxxx Mary-Ann Fletcher AD10xxxxxx Joe Pittxxxxxxxxxx ADxxxxxxxx Mark Smithxxxxxxxx

3. Not adding the blank spaces will result in a preview error that says: File row [#] contains fewer fields than file layout. (14015,577) The file row could not be parsed.

   In the case of a delimited file, this error appears when the parser process looks for a field defined on the file mapping that is not in the file.

4. Always make changes in the original spreadsheet, not in the converted .csv file.

   The Population Selection process considers all leading zeros. If you click the Preview Selection Results link on the run control component, the leading zeros are there. However, when you save a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet into a .csv file and reopen the file either by using Microsoft Excel or by clicking the View File button in the standard Population Selection group box, values with leading zeros are truncated. If you make changes to the .csv file, save it, and re-upload it, you will save a file without the leading zeros and the values will be invalid.

5. Due to a known Microsoft error (SYLK error) as of the date of this publication, you cannot view a file if its text begins with ID. You can process and preview the file, but you cannot view it from the run control page when its text begins with ID.

For information about “SYLK: File format is not valid” error, see Microsoft web site.

Field Name and Required

Displays the name of each field in the required fields record that is specified in the Population Selection Context, and indicates Yes if the uploaded file must have the same field for the process to run. Required fields also require a Field Number to map the field to the corresponding column in the uploaded spreadsheet.

Fields marked No are optional. They do not need to be in the spreadsheet and do not required a Field Number value unless you choose to use them, in which case you can manually enter the corresponding column number in the Field Number field.

File Column Header

Appears only when File Type is Delimited. and Header Rowis selected.

When the Header Row check box is selected, the system enters the short name of the field in the File Column Header column.

Field Number

Appears only when File Type is Delimited.

Displays the number of the column in the uploaded file that corresponds to this field.

Starting Position and Field Length

Appear only when File Type is Flat.

Enter the starting position and the field length for each required field.

Field Format

Appears if formatting options exist.

Enter the format to use for the field value. Each field has options relevant to the data type. For example, possible date type formats are DDMMMYY, DDMMYYYY, DDMMYY, and so on. Possible character type formats include the case controls Lower,Proper, and Upper.

Date Separator

Appears only for date field types.

Enter the symbol to use to separate the date parts.

Decimal Position

Appears only for number field types.

Enter the position to use for placing the decimal.

Trim

Appears only for fields that are not date or time field types.

Select to trim leading or trailing spaces in fields.