User Guide > Map Connectors > Source and Target Map Connectors > Variable Sequential (User Defined)
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Variable Sequential (User Defined)
Variable Sequential (User Defined) is a storage format for data downloaded from a mainframe. It has a Record Descriptor Word (RDW) in the form of a two byte signed integer field at the beginning of each record and records of various lengths within the file. With this connector, the integration platform pads all the records to the maximum record length. Information in a Variable Sequential (User Defined) can be stored in EBCDIC or ASCII format.
Connector-Specific Notes
Truncation Error Trapping - This connector does not support truncation error trapping. If the target field size is too small for the data written to it, the offending record may be skipped or incomplete data may be written to the target. The transformation does not stop due to a truncation error.
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
You can specify the following source (S) and target (T) properties:
Property
S/T
Description
MaxRecordLength
S
This specifies the maximum record length of the data. The default is 32700 bytes.
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.
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. For a list of the 256 standard and extended ASCII characters, search for "hex values" in the documentation.
Note:  This property is set in number of bytes, not characters.
RecordSeparator
S/T
This specifies what sort of character is used to mark the end of a record. The default record separator is carriage return-line feed. To use other characters for a record separator, click the RecordSeparator cell, click the arrow and select a record separator. Choices are carriage return-line feed (default), line feed, carriage return, line feed-carriage return, form feed, empty line and no record separator.
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)
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
Last modified date: 06/30/2025