Record transformation

You can configure Activator to modify certain characteristics of the records in files that you exchange between endpoints. In Activator, this is known as record transformation. You can configure Activator to perform two types of record transformation:

Record format transformation – You can transform the records of text and binary files between variable and fixed length formats, using padding and unpadding.
See Record format transformation for details.
Record character transcoding – You can change the character sets of file records:
- Transform from EBCDIC to ASCII and ASCII to EBCDIC.
- For single byte character sets, transcode using custom tables.
- For multi-byte character sets, transcode using existing Java tables.
See Record character transcoding for details.

General considerations for record transformations

To apply transformations to records, all records in the source file must have the same format.
Text records must contain printable characters. EOL (End Of Line) markers are required.
Binary records are untyped and may or may not contain printable characters (text). EOL (End Of Line) markers are not required.
OCTET_STREAM files have no record definitions.
The trading engine interprets ASCII as text.
The trading engine interprets EBCDIC as binary.

Where to work in the user interface

To configure record transformation for any protocol, you work in the message handler. See Configure record transformation in message handler.

If you are licensed to exchange messages using PeSIT or OFTP, you can configure on-demand record transformation for these protocols, by using settings on the PeSIT or OFTP pickups or deliveries. See Configure record transformation on pickups and deliveries.

To set metadata attributes that control how the trading engine handles records, work with message attributes templates. See Metadata for record file management.