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COBOL Flat File
Importing a COBOL copybook creates a flat file. It can be used as reference for an external table and it can be mapped as a source or target file in a mapping.
Connector Parts
Connector parts are the fields you configure to connect with a data source or target. The fields that are available depend on the connector you select.
For a list of all parts for source connectors, see Specifying Source Connector, Parts, and Properties.
For a list of all parts for target connectors, see Specifying Target Connector, Parts, and Properties.
Property Options
Specifying Source properties is important for you if:
• Your source connector requires you to define Source Properties;
• Upon viewing your source data, you learn that the field names and data appear incorrectly, either in the wrong record, field, or contain the wrong data.
You can specify the following source (S) and target (T) properties:
Property
S/T
Description
StartOffset
S
If your source data file starts with characters that need to be excluded from the transformation, set the StartOffset option to specify at which byte of the file to begin. The default value is zero. The correct value may be determined by using the Hex Browser.
Note:  This property is set in number of bytes, not characters.
PageSize
S/T
When data records are arranged in blocks and the last record in each block is padded to the end of the block, it is necessary to set Page Size. This causes the pad characters to be stripped from the file during the data transfer. To set page size, click Page Size, highlight the default value (zero), and type the correct page size value for your data.
ShortLastRecord
S
If set to true, short reads are ignored on the last record of the file. In other words, the last record is processed even if the End of File (EOF) is reached before reading the end of the record. The default is false.
OccursPad
S
When using COBOL files, you may have fields of variable length. If so, you may specify how to fill the field with pads to a fixed length. The default is None.
The following options are available:
• None (which leaves the fields uneven) – Default
• End of Record (which fills the remainder of the record with your specified pad character)
• Within Group (which fills the field with your specified pad character)
• Page Size: When data records are arranged in blocks and the last record in each block is padded to the end of the block, it is necessary to set Page Size. This causes the pad characters to be stripped from the file during the data transfer. To set page size, click Page Size and highlight the default value "0" (zero). Then type the correct page size value for your data.
RecordSeparator
S/T
When a COBOL file is your source connector and you are using a 01 copybook to define the fields, you might have a record separator at the end of each record. If so, you may specify the record separator here. This causes the integration platform to automatically ignore the record separator when it reads the source data. The default is None.
The separators are carriage return-line feed (CR-LF), line feed (LF), carriage return (CR), line feed-carriage return (LF-CR), form feed (FF), Empty Line, and none.
When writing out a binary file, you may want to place a record separator at the end of each record (similar to a Fixed ASCII record separator). You may select a record separator from the list, or highlight the current value and type your own.
CodePage
S/T
This translation table determines which encoding to use for reading and writing data. The default is ANSI, the standard in the US.
Supported Data Types
The following data types are supported:
• 16-bit binary
• 16-bit logical
• 24-bit binary
• 32-bit binary
• 32-bit IEEE floating-point
• 32-bit TEC binary
• 32-bit VAX floating-point
• 64-bit binary
• 64-bit IEEE floating point
• 64-bit VAX floating-point
• 8-bit binary
• 80-bit Intel floating-point
• AccPac 41-bit binary
• Binary
• Boolean
• Btrieve date
• Btrieve time
• Column binary alpha-numeric
• Column binary multi-punch
• Column binary numeric
• Comp
• Comp-1
• Comp-2
• Comp-3
• Comp-5
• Comp-6
• Comp-X
• Complex
• Cray floating-point
• Date
• DateTime
• dBASE Numeric
• Display
• Display Boolean
• Display Date
• Display Date/Time
• Display justified
• Display sign leading
• Display sign leading separate
• Display sign trailing
• Display sign trailing separate
• Display Time
• Magic PC Date
• Magic PC Extended
• Magic PC Number
• Magic PC Real
• Magic PC Time
• Microsoft BASIC double
• Microsoft BASIC float
• Name
• Null-terminated C string
• Packed decimal
• Pascal 48-bit real
• Pascal string (1 byte)
• Pascal string (2 bytes)
• Sales Ally date
• Sales Ally time-1
• Text
• Time
• Time (minutes past midnight)
• Union
• Variable length IBM float
• Zoned decimal
See Binary for general binary file type information.
Last modified date: 06/30/2025