The default data type, precision, and scale is used for the column metadata for the run-time columns and you can change the column position at run time.

To generate column names from a data file header at run-time, select

From data file header (first line)

for the

Generate Run-time Column Names

property in the Advanced properties of the flat file data object. You must also configure the Read transformation to get the column metadata at run time.

For example, you want to configure a flat file data object to accept changes at run time. The data in the flat file determines the column metadata based on the data file header.

You have defined a flat file data object with the columns

Name,Age,Dept

. You can configure the flat file data object advanced property to generate column names at run time from a data file header.

The data flat file contains the following information:

Dept    Name  Place       Country  Phone_No.
HR      Bob   Chicago     US       87675
Finance Mary  California  US       65437     t567  4200 

When you add a flat file data object to a mapping, configure the Read transformation to get column metadata at run time. During run time, the Data Integration Service generates the flat file data object with the following columns:

Dept, Name, Place, Country

and

Phone_No

. Since

Age

column is not present in the flat file header row, the flat file data object constructed at run time does not have the

Age

column.

The Data Integration Service propagates the run-time columns, such as

Country

and

Phone Number

to the downstream transformation based on the mapping rules.