Reference Data

Reference data is data that defines the set of permissible values to be used by other data fields. It is a collection of key-value pairs, which can be used to determine the value of a data field based on the value of another data field. For example, the value of a status field in an Application can be “Canceled” and that needs to be interpreted as “CN” in another Application.

IBM® webMethods Integration allows you to upload reference data from a text file containing tabular data separated by a character, for example, a comma, semicolon, and so on. The uploaded file should not have an empty column heading or space in the first row, and the first row cannot be empty.

Reference data appears under Services in the flow services workspace. You can access the uploaded reference data in flow services as a list of documents by using the reference data service and providing an appropriate name. You can filter the documents returned into the pipeline by the reference data service.

You can Delete, Download, or Edit a reference data from the Reference Data screen. If a reference data is used in a flow service, you will not be able to delete that reference data. You must remove the reference data from the flow service and then delete the reference data. The Download option allows you to download the previously uploaded reference data, edit it, and then upload the modified file.

Reference Data Signature

Reference data signature is derived from the column names of the uploaded text file. You can filter the Reference data by providing an appropriate matchCriteria. The output of Reference data is a list of documents that match the specified matchCriteria.

Input Parameters

matchCriteria: - Document. Criteria on which documents from the Reference data are matched. Parameters for matchCriteria are:

  • path: Column names of the Reference data.
  • compareValueAs: Optional. Allowed values are string, numeric, and datetime. The default value is string.
  • datePattern: Optional. Pattern is considered only if compareValueAs is of type datetime. Default value is MM/dd/yyyy hh:mm:ss a.

joins: List of join criteria. Each join criteria consists of:

  • operator: Allowed values are equals, doesNotEqual, greaterThan, greaterThanEqual, lessThan, lessThanEqual, equalsIgnoreCase, contains, doesNotContain, beginsWith, doesNotBeginWith, endsWith, doesNotEndWith.
  • value: Allowed values are string, numeric, and datetime. The default value is string.
  • joinType: Specifies the way two joins can be linked. Values are “and” or “or”. Default value is “and”.

Output Parameters

Reference Data Name: Document List. List of documents that match the retrieve criteria.