An input describes a field of data that a rule statement can analyze in basic mode or that expression logic can analyze in advanced mode. An output represents the result of an operation within the rule specification. Inputs and outputs are specific to the rule specification in which you create them.
Define an input to represent a column in a data set that the rule specification will analyze at run time. Define an output to represent a column of data that the rule specification will generate at run time. In basic mode, a rule set generates an output. You define the outputs in advanced mode. The outputs that you define in advanced mode correspond to the results of a rule set in basic mode.
When you define an input or output, you can set the following properties:
The input or output name.
The data type of the data that the input or output represents. You can create an input with a string,
date/time
, float, or integer data type. You can additionally create an input of double data type in advanced mode.
The maximum number of characters that a value in the input or output field can contain.
You can specify an integer data type for numbers in the range -2147483648 through 2147483647. To read numbers that are outside the integer range, use the float or double data type.
You can set the scale, or the number of digits that can follow a decimal point, in basic mode. In a float value, the default scale is 4. In a
date/time
value, the scale is preset to 9. You cannot change the scale in a
date/time
value.
The properties in basic mode also include a Usage value. The Usage value indicates the number of times that the input appears in a rule statement in the rule specification.
To view the inputs that a rule set uses in basic mode, select the rule set on the Configuration tab.
Rules and guidelines for inputs
Consider the following rules and guidelines for rule specification inputs:
Create an input in basic mode to add the input to a rule statement.
When you create a child rule set, the output from the rule set becomes an input to the parent rule set. You must use the input in a rule statement in the parent rule set.
An input in a rule specification asset does not store information about business data, such as the name of a source column, table, or file.
When you add a rule specification asset to a Rule Specification transformation in a mapping, you can connect a rule specification input to any column of data that is compatible with the input properties.
Input data types and Amazon S3 connections
You might use a Rule Specification transformation in a mapping that connects to a file source over an Amazon S3 V2 connection. For example, you might run such a mapping in Data Integration Elastic.
Consider the following factors before you configure the rule specification asset that the Rule Specification transformation will use:
A mapping that uses an Amazon S3 V2 connector cannot process a date/time input on a rule specification.
A mapping that reads a source file over an Amazon S3 V2 connector can read a string data type without additional configuration, as the string data type corresponds to the Amazon S3 STRING data type.
For more information on connectors, see the documentation for Connectors in the Data Integration online help.
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