Automatic Metadata Conversion

 

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Overview Details Uses Convert & Import Discover & Create

IRI CoSort, the IRI Workbench GUI, and other IRI software, all include tools to translate existing flat-file and database table layout metadata into the Data Definition File (.DDF) format used in the CoSort SortCL program and other IRI job scripts.

Free DDL conversion utilities and format parsers automatically create DDF metadata repositories from:

Data Layout
Utility
What It Does
RDBMS or other ODBC source
odbc2ddf
creates DDF from DDL
COBOL copybook / file dictionary (FD)
cob2ddf
converts the FD into a DDF file
comma-separated values (CSV) file
csv2ddf
turns header info into a DDF file
W3C extended log format file
elf2ddf
turns header info into a DDF file
Oracle SQL Loader control file
ctl2ddf
converts the .CTL file into a DDF file
LDIF file
ldif2ddf
creates DDF file form LDAP entries
flat XML file
xml2ddf
creates DDF file from XML tags

Therefore, if you already have file layouts defined in the above formats, you can automatically reproduce that metadata for use in:

If your file layouts exist in other formats (including CWM, DSX, UML, XMI, and XML, for example), both erwin (formerly Analytix DS( and Meta Integration Technologies offer third-party metadata format conversion into IRI's DDF repositories, *CL job scripts, and/or XML (ETL) flow metadata as well. IRI also now offers the 'GulfStream' API in Java for moving data layout and application metadata to and from IRI (Voracity) workflow XML.

Whether you use a metadata converter that IRI, your company, or a third party provides, the benefit of simple and open IRI DDF metadata is clear -- not having to re-create metadata you already own.

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