Design Studio does cost

[ray.wurlod]

I finally got the official answer on the product. The MapStage plug-in is free with DS 7.5.x and up. To create the map itself, you will need the DataStage TX Design Studio. This is a separate product and does cost extra. If you have complex transformations, use complex file formats (like EDI, HIPAA, XML or combinations of these) it may very well be worth the extra cost. I was unable to get a price, since it will probably vary by what else you have purchased from IBM.

The Design Studio runs on Windows 2000 and XP Pro, and does not have to be attached to the DS Server to create and design maps. Eval versions are available.

If you look in the documentation in the "Functions & Expressions Reference Guide" you will see the number of built in transformations available, and in the "Type Tree Reference Guide" you will see the transformations that are possible without any coding of rules. For example, if you have input date format of DD/YYYY/MM and you want to convert it to dd/mm/yyyy - hr:mm:ss all you have to due is set these as the type definitions in the tree, and drag the input item to the output item, add the CURRENTTIME() function and you get the desired results. To get the time 30 minutes from when the job runs, you would use the ADDMINUTES(30) function to the CURRENTTIME()

from jsmoley@us.ibm.com