Input stage types

The input stage type for a flow depends on the type of flow. Input data for a job can come from a file, database, or cloud service, depending on the modules you have licensed.

Each module supports input from different sources, and the procedure for configuring each type of source varies.

Jobs use the Read from File input stage. For more information, see Configure the Read from File Stage.
Services use the Input stage. For more information, see Configure the Input stage.
Subflows use the Read from File, Input, or Read from XML stage since they accept input from Jobs and Services. For more information, see Configure the Read from XML Stage for Subflows.

When you specify a flow's input file, Flow Designer examines the input file to determine as much of the file information as possible using that information to populate the fields on this page. The information it returns includes:

Record type:
- Line Sequential - Records are separated by an end-of-line (EOL) character such as a carriage return or line feed (CR or LF) and each field has a fixed starting and ending character position.
- Fixed Width - Each record is a specific number of characters in length and each field has a fixed starting and ending character position.
- Delimited - Records are separated by an end-of-line (EOL) character such as a carriage return or line feed (CR or LF), and each field is separated by a designated character such as a comma.
Character Encoding (Supported character encoding methods)
Field Separator (Field separators)
Text Qualifier – single or double quotes
Record Separator (Record separators)
File Schema (layout)

Input for a Job

Input data for a job can come from a file or a database. Spectrum Technology Platform has the ability to read data from many file formats and database types. The types of data sources you can read from depend on which modules you have licensed. The Enterprise Data Integration Module provides access to the most data sources of any module.

Note: When designing a job, you should anticipate the possibility of malformed input records. A malformed record is one that cannot be parsed using one of the parser classes provided by Spectrum Technology Platform. For information about handling malformed input records, see Managing malformed input records.

Input for a Service

Input data for a service is defined in an Input stage. This stage defines the fields that the service will accept from a web service request or an API call.

See the solution guide for your modules available at support.precisely.com.