ASCII or Binary Data Representation

ASCII data representation for output links. If you set Data Representation Type to ASCII:

  • The FTP service is configured for ASCII representation type. The sender (remote host) converts the data from its internal character representation, that is, ASCII or EBCDIC, to the standard NVT-ASCII representation. For more information on FTP data representation and storage, see the standard, RFC 959 File Transfer Protocol (FTP).
  • The data stream received from the remote host is parsed into rows of data by scanning the data for the end-of-line sequence [CR] [LF].
  • The row of data is further parsed into column data. The parsing method used depends on the setting for Fixed-width Columns. If set to Yes, the column metadata determines field sizes. If set to No, the row is parsed into columns by scanning for the column delimiter.

ASCII data representation for input links. If you set Data Representation Type to ASCII:

  • The FTP service is configured for ASCII representation type. The receiver (remote host) converts the data from ASCII format to its own internal format.
  • Column data (per row) is put in a formatted row. The format depends on the setting for Fixed-width Columns. If set to Yes, the data is put in a character buffer. The column metadata determines the size allotted per column. If the column data is greater than the column width, the data is truncated to the metadata column-width, and a warning message appears. If set to No, the data is put in a character buffer, separated by the delimiter for the configured column.
  • The termination characters [CR] [LF] are appended to each row of data. The data is sent to the remote machine to be stored as a text file.

Binary data representation for output links. If you set Data Representation Type to Binary:

  • Fixed-width Columns must be set to Yes.
  • The FTP service is configured for IMAGE representation type. The data is sent from the remote machine as contiguous bits with no character conversions.
  • The data steam received from the remote machine is parsed into rows of data by determining the total length of the row. The row length is calculated by the accumulation of each column's width and the values associated with Spaces Between Columns and Line Termination.
  • The row of data is further parsed into column data using the same properties and metadata.
    Note: Binary mode is not supported on the Parallel Server canvas. See the input property Data Representation Type and the output property Data Representation Type.

Binary data representation for input links. If you set Data Representation Type to Binary:

  • Fixed-width Columns must be set to Yes.
  • The FTP service is configured for IMAGE representation type. The data is sent as contiguous bits with no character conversions.
  • Column data per row is put in a character buffer. The column metadata determines the size allotted per column. If the column data is greater than the column width, the data is truncated to the metadata column-width, and a warning message appears.
  • The termination characters specified by Line Termination are appended to each row of data and are sent to the remote machine.
    Note: Binary mode is not supported on the Parallel Server canvas. See the input property Data Representation Type and the output property Data Representation Type.
Parent topic: Properties