Aggregator Inputs page - Columns tab

The Columns tab displays the column definitions for the input data to the Aggregator stage.

You can define columns by typing them in the grid, or you can load predefined column definitions from the repository. You can also specify the sort order for the input data.

The Columns tab contains the following fields and controls:

Columns grid

The columns grid contains the following fields:

Column name

Specifies the name of the column.

Sort

Displays the sort key position of the column, if sorting is used. When the Aggregator stage collates input data for aggregation, the data is stored in memory. Sorting one or more group columns in the input data can greatly improve the way that the Aggregator stage handles the data.

Sorted input data can be output from a UniVerse stage or an ODBC stage (using an ORDER BY clause in the SQL statement).

Type a number to specify the position that the column has in the sort key. For example, if the input data is sorted by date and by product code, the sort key position for the date column would be 1 and the sort key position for the product code column would be 2. A value of 1 always indicates the most significant key. If you do not specify a value in this field, the column is added to the end of the sort key sequence. After you click OK, all of the columns are sorted in sequence from the most significant column upward.

Sort Order

Specifies the sort order of the column. This field is blank by default, that is, there is no sort order. Select one of the following options:

Ascending

This is the default setting. Select this option if the input data in the specified column is sorted in ascending order. If you select this option, InfoSphere® DataStage® checks the order at run time.

Descending

Select this option if the input data in the specified column is sorted in descending order. If you select this option, InfoSphere DataStage checks the order at run time.

Ignore

Select this option if the sort order that is used by the input data is not simply ascending or descending order, but a more complex sort order. You must use caution when selecting this option. At run time, InfoSphere DataStage does not check the sort order of the data, which can cause erroneous errors. If you select this option, a warning message is displayed when you click OK. You must acknowledge this message before you can edit other input columns.

Key

Indicates whether the column is part of the primary key.

SQL type

Specifies the SQL data type of the column.

Length

Specifies the data precision of the column. This is the length for CHAR data and the maximum length for VARCHAR data.

Scale

Specifies the data scale factor of the column.

Nullable

Indicates whether the column can contain null values.

Display

Specifies the maximum number of characters that are required to display the column data.

Data element

Specifies the type of data in the column.

Description

Contains a description of the column.

Save

Opens the Save Table Definition window. Use this window to save columns as a table definition in the repository. You can subsequently reuse the table to provide column definitions for other stages.

Load

Opens the Table Definitions window. Use this window to load column definitions from a table in the repository.