FIXED Format Files

FIXED format files are the most common type of flat file that is currently processed by PeopleSoft EDI Manager. Almost all electronic data interchange (EDI) type processing uses this file type where each data element is oriented by a fixed, or column-dependent, position within the file.

The following table describes the properties of FIXED format files:

Property	Description	PeopleSoft EDI Manager Equivalent
File Layout Format	File format (FIXED).	None.
File Record ID	A group of numbers that can be used to identify the file record.	RowID.
ID Start Position	The column starting position of the file record ID.	Treated as a field within each map.
(Record) ID Length	The length of the file record ID.	Treated as a field within each map.
File Record Name	A user-specified name for the file record.	PeopleSoft record name.
File Field	A user-specified name for the file field.	PeopleSoft record field name.
(Field) Start Position	The column starting position of the file field.	Starting position.
Field Length	The length of the file field.	Length of the field.
Field Format	The formatting options for both inbound and outbound field processing.	Based on the field type.

Considerations for FIXED Format Files

Consider the following points when working with FIXED format files:

• Be careful when you change the length or starting position of any file fields or when you insert a new file field between two existing ones.

  You might overlay fields, with unpredictable results.

• When you insert a record into a file layout, fields of the Long type are converted to the Character type with a length of 0.

  You must set the field length to a number greater than 0 before you can save the file layout.