Columns Tab

The column definitions are used in the same way and order they appear in the Columns metadata definitions grid except for the Description field. The Informix CLI stage uses the text in this field to define the column precision for Informix® DATETIME columns when you want the target table to be created. The Description field must be empty for a DATETIME column with default precision.

Columns defined as InfoSphere® DataStage® Time are always created in Informix as "DATETIME hour to second." InfoSphere DataStage Timestamp columns are created in Informix as DATETIME. Use the Description field to specify the Informix DATETIME precision if you do not want to use the default for the database.

For example, suppose call_dtime is a column name for the SQL Timestamp data type. Because Informix uses the DATETIME data type to represent dates and times, a conversion must be made between the InfoSphere DataStage representation and the Informix representation. Informix allows DATETIME columns to be defined with a precision that represents a full or contiguous subset of the components of a timestamp. This DATETIME precision specification is given when the table is created.

When the Informix CLI stage generates the CREATE TABLE DDL statement, it uses the value specified in the Description column to define the DATETIME precision. Specify year to day in the Description column to cause call_dtime to be created as a DATETIME column that accepts dates in the 1997-04-22 format. Specify year to fraction(3) to cause res_dtime to be created as a DATETIME column accepting full ANSI timestamps.