DAT file

rsunny · Post by **rsunny** » Wed Feb 16, 2011 7:16 am

Hi,

I am having a requirement where i need to read from DAT file and load into DB. As i never dealt with DAT file , can anyone please guide what is the stage that i need to use to read DAT file as can we use sequential file stage or do we need to use CFF stage only, and if we use Sequential file stage do we need to import the Cobol copy book or is it not necessary

Thanks in advance

chulett · Post by **chulett** » Wed Feb 16, 2011 7:19 am

Ask whomever you got this from what is in their ".dat" file. That extension is way too generic and could hold anything.

rsunny · Post by **rsunny** » Wed Feb 16, 2011 7:45 am

Hi ,

Actually they are extracting the mainframe data into DAT file and FTPed the DAT file into Datastage Server.

Thanks in advance

chulett · Post by **chulett** » Wed Feb 16, 2011 7:53 am

Still too generic. Have they told you what exactly this "mainframe data" looks like? Given you a copybook / FD? If it is EBCDIC and/or has packed fields, then yes to using the CFF stage and having to import the FD.

rsunny · Post by **rsunny** » Wed Feb 16, 2011 10:53 am

Hi,

Its in ASCII and and i am not sure if has packed fields or not and can you tell me how do we determine whethe it is paacked fields or they are going to tell about this and they had provided cobol copy book

chulett · Post by **chulett** » Wed Feb 16, 2011 12:54 pm

They can tell you.

ray.wurlod · Post by **ray.wurlod** » Wed Feb 16, 2011 2:50 pm

Ask about DIS file as well.

rsunny · Post by **rsunny** » Wed Feb 16, 2011 5:54 pm

Hi ray,

can you tell me what is DIS file means?

Thanks in advance

ray.wurlod · Post by **ray.wurlod** » Wed Feb 16, 2011 6:24 pm

DIS file and DAT file. Say it, rather than read it.

Neither is a particularly meaningful suffix.

chulett · Post by **chulett** » Wed Feb 16, 2011 7:06 pm

Humor fail.

narasimha · Post by **narasimha** » Wed Feb 16, 2011 7:56 pm

This File and That File

rsunny · Post by **rsunny** » Fri Feb 18, 2011 3:07 pm

Hi ,

I used a sequential stage and used the DAT file in sequential stage and when i view the data i could able to view the data. So i would like to know the DAT files can be used by both sequential or CFF stage

Thanks in advance

DSguru2B · Post by **DSguru2B** » Fri Feb 18, 2011 3:38 pm

'DAT' is just an extension. You can take a text file and replace the '.txt' to '.dat'. It does not matter, a sequential file stage will be able to read it as long as you have the right metadata.
Now what matters is the content, if its not an ascii file or is an ascii file but was generated by mainframe (dataset) then you will need a cff stage to read it properly as the metadata may differ.

jwiles · Post by **jwiles** » Fri Feb 18, 2011 5:10 pm

You do not absolutely need to use a cff stage whenever a file is created by a mainframe. Handling OCCURS DEPENDING ON clauses is handy with cff, as are a few other items. A typical sequential file with a fixed number of columns can usually be handled with only a Sequential File stage...did it plenty of times in 7x.

Regards,

chulett · Post by **chulett** » Fri Feb 18, 2011 10:35 pm

In other words, only you rsunny can determine if you'll be fine processing this particular "dat" file with the sequential file stage. You know what it looks like, how the fields are defined - we don't. If you're not positive you know exactly how each field is defined, get back together with whomever is supplying you this file, work out your doubts.

Once you have that information you can work out how to process the file.