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You can use the COBOL Copybook Formatter Snap to format a JSON file into a flat file based on the specified COBOL structure(s)structures. COBOL programs can then format the input data to process the output.

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The Copybook Formatter Snap is a Format-type Snap that formats a flat - file based on the specified COBOL structures.

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Type

Format

Number of Views

Examples of Upstream and Downstream Snaps

Description

Input 

Document

  • Min: 1

  • Max: 1

  • JSON Splitter

The input to this snap must be structured Structured JSON documents that match the structure of the COBOL structures.

Output

Binary

  • Min: 1

  • Max: 1

  • File writer

  • Zip File Writer

The output from this Snap is a A flat binary file containing the data that has been mapped from the input document to the COBOL structure(s) structures provided as part of the configuration.

Error

Error handling is a generic way to handle errors without losing data or failing the Snap execution. You can handle the errors that the Snap might encounter when running the Pipeline pipeline by choosing one of the following options from the When errors occur list under the Views tab:

  • Stop Pipeline Execution: Stops the current pipeline execution if the Snap encounters an error.

  • Discard Error Data and Continue: Ignores the error, discards that record, and continues with the remaining records.

  • Route Error Data to Error View: Routes the error data to an error view without stopping the Snap execution.

Learn more about Error handling in pipelines.

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Field Name

Field Type

Description

Label*

Default Value: Cobol Copybook Formatter
Example:Process The 038 Copybook

String

Specify the name for the Snap. You can modify the default name to be more specific and meaningful, especially if you have more than one of the same Snaps in your pipeline.

Copybooks*

Use this field set to define the Copybooks to use.

Copybook File*

 

Default Value: N/A
Example:PipeRecFileOfPS.jso

String/Expression

Specify the Copybook file that describes the data. Alternatively, click the upload (blue star) icon to browse and upload the required copybook file.

Copybook Split*

 

Default Value: SPLIT_NONE
Example: SPLIT_01_LEVEL

String/Expression/Suggestion

Select the option to split the Copybook for processing. The available options are:

  • SPLIT_NONE: No split.

  • SPLIT_01_LEVEL: Splits on all 01 levels.

  • SPLIT_TOP_LEVEL: Splits on the top-level structures defined by a level that is is levelthe greater than level 01.

  • SPLIT_REDEFINE: Splits on the highest level of COBOL REDEFINE structures.

  • If the Copybook contains multiple ‘01 entries’, it must be split for processing.

  • If the Copybook contains multiple structures below the 01 level, that must be used.

  • If the Copybook contains multiple ‘01 entries’, it must be split for processing.

  • If the Copybook contains multiple structures below the 01 level, that must be used.

Organization*

 

Default Value: IO_DEFAULT
Example: IO_UNICODE_TEXT

String/Expression/Suggestion

Specify the type of file organization for the data payload. Alternatively click the Suggestion (blue star) icon to fetch a list of file organisation types and select the desired organization.

  • IO_DEFAULT: Attempt to automatically detect the file organization.

  • IO_STANDARD_TEXT_FILE: Standard file using CRLF or LF as the newline delimiter.

  • IO_UNICODE_TEXT: Unicode/double byte file using CRLF or LF as the newline delimiter.

  • IO_FIXED_LENGTH: Every record (or line) is a standard fixed length based on the maximum record length (determined from copybook).

  • IO_CONTINOUS_NO_LINE_MARKER: Files where there are no End-of-Line markers. Records are based on Record-Lengths.

  • IO_VB: Mainframe VB (Variable Record length file). : Records consist of a Record-Length including the length of the following data followed by the Record-Data.

  • IO_VLI: Mainframe like VB (Variable Record length file). : Records consist of a byte swapper Record-Length excluding the length of the following data followed by the Record-Data.

Learn more about Organization types.

Dialect*

 

Default Value: FMT_MAINFRAME
Example: FMT_INTEL

String/Expression/Suggestion

Specify the COBOL dialect. The available options are:

  • FMT_MAINFRAME: Mainframe COBOL (Big Endian).

  • FMT_INTEL: Intel COBOL (Little Endian).

  • FMT_FUJITSU: Fujitsu Cobol 3 compiler.

  • FMT_OPEN_COBOL: GnuCobol (formerly Open Cobol) on a Little-Endian machine.

  • FMT_OC_MICRO_FOCUS_B: GnuCOBOL running in Microfocus compatibility mode on a Big-Endian machine.

  • FMT_BIG_ENDIAN: Generic Big Endian.

The selected dialect determines how the parser deals with binary information in the input file.

Encoding*

 

Default Value: UTF8
Example: CP1252

String/Expression/Suggestion

Specify the format for encoding the input data. Any supported Java encoding is available for use. Some common code pages to be used:

  • CP1141: Standard mainframe EBCDIC code page.

  • ASCII: Standard ASCII files.

  • Windows-1252: Standard code page used on Windows platforms.

Configure error processing

Configure the action the Snap must take when if an error occurs.

Set maximum acceptable number of errors

Integer

Set the maximum number of acceptable errors that can occur before the Snap terminates.

Zero (0) indicates no limit on errors that can be issued.

Configure field error processing

Use this field set to configure the Snap's action when an error occurs for each field.

Field Name

String/Expression/Suggestion

Specify or select the full name (this must include structure for uniqueness) of the COBOL field being configured.

Error processing configuration*

Expression/Dropdown list

Select or set the action the Snap must take when an error occurs when processing:

  • Fail: The pipeline processing fails immediately after an error is encountered on this field. This is the default behavior of the Snap.

  • IgnoreField: The field is ignored and is not included in the output record.

  • IgnoreRecord: The entire record is ignored and not included in the output.

  • DefaultValue: The default value provided will be output for the field in the output record.

Default value for field

String/Expression

Specify the default value that will be output for a field.

Debugging configuration

Configure the debugging properties.

Name of only structure to output

String/Expression/Suggestion

Specify or select the name of the only structure for which data is to be sent to the output. Data for any other structure will be is ignored and is not sent to the output.

Ranges of records to be output

Specify one or more ranges of records to be output.

Low record for range

String

Specify the first record in the range to be passed to the output.

  • The numbers here are relative to 1, so 1 is the first record, 2 is the second record.

  • If the ranges include records that don’t exist in the input data, these will be are ignored.

  • If ranges overlap, this will cause a configuration error.

High record for range

String

Specify the last record in the range to be output.

Set character to initialize each record

Integer

Specify the number (optional) to set each record to the output. The field is specified as a numeric value from 0 to 255 inclusive and represents the decimal value of the character to be used. For example:

  • 0 – x’00’ (low values)

  • 32 – Ascii ASCII blank

  • 64 – EBCDIC Blank

  • 255 – x’FF’(high values)

This has performance implications so we recommend you to use only if required.

Snap Execution

 

Default Value: Validate & Execute
ExampleExecute only

Dropdown list

Select one of the three modes in which the Snap executes:

  • Validate & Execute: Performs limited execution of the Snap, and generates a data preview during Pipeline validation. Subsequently, performs full execution of the Snap (unlimited records) during Pipeline runtime.

  • Execute only: Performs full execution of the Snap during Pipeline execution without generating preview data.

  • Disabled: Disables the Snap and all Snaps that are downstream from it.

Additional

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configuration requirements

The output from this Snap will be a flat binary file containing the data that reflects the COBOL structure(s) provided as part of the configuration. This file will consist of data that has records with the following formats. For the records to be written correctly, you must configure the correct record type processing for the records to be processed accurately. For more information about the Organization types, refer to the Organization field in the Snap Settings table:

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To ensure accurate processing of the data, you must configure the following types of data correctly:

  • Character data: This data should must have a code page that you must correctly specify in your configuration.

  • Binary data: These are binary numeric values that will have a specific endianness (the order in which the bits are transmitted over a communication channel) depending on the platform from which they have comeoriginated.

    • Big Endian generally comes from older mainframe platforms (z Series, i Series, Solaris etc., and so on) and is where the high-order byte of the binary value is the most significant byte.

    • Little Endian generally comes from newer platforms (x86, x86-64, and so on) and is where the low-order byte of the binary value is the most significant byte.

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