Certain rules and guidelines apply when you link ports.
Consider the following rules and guidelines when you connect mapping objects:
If the Developer tool detects an error when you try to link ports between two mapping objects, it displays a symbol indicating that you cannot link the ports.
Follow the logic of data flow in the mapping. You can link the following types of port:
The receiving port must be an input or input/output port.
The originating port must be an output or input/output port.
You cannot link input ports to input ports or output ports to output ports.
You must link at least one port of an input group to an upstream transformation.
You must link at least one port of an output group to a downstream transformation.
You can link ports from one active transformation or one output group of an active transformation to an input group of another transformation.
You cannot connect an active transformation and a passive transformation to the same downstream transformation or transformation input group.
You cannot connect more than one active transformation to the same downstream transformation or transformation input group.
You can connect any number of passive transformations to the same downstream transformation, transformation input group, or target.
You can link ports from two output groups in the same transformation to one Joiner transformation configured for sorted data if the data from both output groups is sorted.
You can only link ports with compatible datatypes. The Developer tool verifies that it can map between the two datatypes before linking them. The Data Integration Service cannot transform data between ports with incompatible datatypes.
The Developer tool marks some mappings as not valid if the mapping violates data flow validation.