Schema files and partial schemas

You can also specify the meta data for a stage in a plain text file known as a schema file.

This is not stored in the Repository but you could, for example, keep it in a document management or source code control system, or publish it on an intranet site.

The format of schema files is described in Schemas.

Note: If you are using a schema file on an NLS system, the schema file needs to be in UTF-8 format. It is, however, easy to convert text files between two different maps with a InfoSphere® DataStage® job. Such a job would read data from a text file using a Sequential File stage and specifying the appropriate character set on the NLS Map page. It would write the data to another file using a Sequential File stage, specifying the UTF-8 map on the NLS Map page.

Some parallel job stages allow you to use a partial schema. This means that you only need define column definitions for those columns that you are actually going to operate on. Partial schemas are also described in Schemas.

Remember that you should turn runtime column propagation on if you intend to use schema files to define column metadata.