Creating File Layout Definitions

When you use the Inbound File Loader utility, you use file layout definitions to read and write data from flat files. Use the following guidelines when creating file layout definitions:

• Create a file layout definition with the same structure as the message definition to support the vendor file format.

• The hierarchical structure of the data in the file layout definition must match that of the message definition. For example, suppose a message has three levels:

  • Level 0, containing record A.

  • Level 1, containing records B and C.

  • Level 2, containing record D.

  All file layouts that are associated with this message must also have record A in level 0, record B and C in level 1, and record D in level 2.

  Note:

  The file layout does not need to contain the exact same fields as the message definition

• For every record in a file layout definition, add a new file field, AUDIT_ACTN, as the first field in the record (except when the field already exists in the application table).

• You can associate more than one file layout to a single message. For example, vendor A may have a different number of fields than vendor B, so you may have two file layouts: one for vendor A and one for vendor B.

• Specify the file ID uniquely to include a row in a file, which is necessary in mapping the data to its proper record. Include start and end points when dealing with more than one record in a file layout.

• Each record in the file layout has a file record ID attribute. Do not confuse this with the file layout ID. The file layout ID determines whether a new layout is encountered for multiple file layout processing.