Spectre Flow ODBC Input Object

The Spectre Flow ODBC Input object brings database data into the flow script by using a query against an Open Database Connectivity (ODBC) data source.

The ODBC Input object has three sections in the properties panel where you set attributes.

Spectre Flow ODBC Input Node Properties

Object Attributes

You set attributes for the ODBC Input object in the object attributes section.

Attribute	Description
Query	Specifies a SQL select statement to pull data from the database table.
Query File	Specifies the path to a query that is saved in an external file.
Query Bindings	Specifies parameters for safe insertion into the query.
DSN	Specifies the data source name (DSN) for the ODBC data. A DSN is a data structure that contains the information about a specific database that an ODBC driver needs in order to connect to it.
Connect String	Specifies, using one tag, a string with DSN, user, and password. For example: "DSN=my-dsn;UID=my-user;PWD=my-password" NOTE: Different ODBC drivers might use other connect string formats.
Connect File	Specifies a binary file from which to retrieve credentials. This assumes that you previously generated a connect file using Integrator. For example: echo "DSN=my-dsn;UID=my-user;PWD=my-password" \| integ -save_connect_file my_connect_file.connect See Options for ODBC Login Credentials.
User	Sets the user to log into the ODBC data. This tag is optional.
Include Other Columns	If true, any columns found in the input that are not specified are included.
Encoding	Defines the encoding used in the input and output files. Encoding types supported include: cp-1252, iso-8859-1, utf-16be, utf-16le, utf-8, and gb18030. NOTE Best practice is to specify the encoding of the input data. For text inputs, if no encoding is specified, Spectre analyzes the first few megabytes of the file to attempt to determine the encoding. For databases, if no encoding is specified, Spectre queries the driver for unicode data; if encoding="utf8" is specified, Spectre accepts the data as-is from the driver; if encoding is specified as something else, Spectre transcodes the bytes from the driver. Information output by the build indicates which encoding is in use. Non-Unicode DI clients are Unicode-aware. See also Integrator Unicode Data Support. When using the Easysoft ODBC-to-JDBC Bridge, specify encoding="utf-8" to work around a driver bug.
No Trim	If true, whitespace is preserved in any parsed values.
Limit Rows	Sets the number of rows to input. Any existing rows after the specified number are not processed. Optional.
Prefix	Sets a string to add to the beginning of all columns from this input. Optional.
Stale After	Specifies how many seconds pass before the cached ODBC data is considered stale and is refreshed. The default value is 0, which means that every time the ODBC query is run, it returns the freshest data possible.
Similar Values Warning	If true, you are warned when the input data has multiple similar values in the same column. If false, this warning is suppressed.
Current Date	Specifies the current day for time-series calculations and Analysis Tables. The value of this attribute must follow the default DI date formatting of "YYYY/MM/DD". It is DI best practice to pass a parameter with the current date value to this attribute rather than writing the value directly in the attribute. The default current date is today().
Date Dimension	Specifies the name of the date dimension. This dimension is used in time-series calculations and Analysis Tables.
Extract Timestamp	Defines a timestamp value for later use in ProDiver. The timestamp value is accessed in ProDiver using the $EXTRACT_DATE and $EXTRACT_TIME macros. It is DI best practice to pass a parameter with the extract timestamp value to this attribute rather than writing the value directly in the attribute.
Locale
Custom Properties

Column Properties

To access column properties, select a column from the Column List. The following attributes are common column attributes. For a list of all column attributes, including attributes specific to certain data types, see Spectre Flow Column Tags.

Attribute	Description
Name	Read only attribute displaying the name of the column.
Type	Specifies the data type of the column. Available data types are string, integer, double, fixed100, date, datetime, period, and boolean.
Sort By	Defines another column to sort by when this column is sorted. For example, setting Month Number as the Sort By column for Month sorts months by their number instead of their alphabetical order (1 (Jan), 2 (Feb), 3 (Mar), etc.).
Label	Defines a display name for a column. This name is displayed in ProDiver and DivePort, while calculations and other technical processes use the value in the Name attribute.
Required Dimension	Sets a column to behave like a classic Info Field. In ProDiver, the info field is available as a column that you can add to other columns displayed in a dive. For example, to see the Address column requires that the Customer column is available. Setting a Required Dimension Select the column you want to define as an Info Field. Select Required Dimension in the Properties pane. Locate and select the core dimension from the list. The first column is only available when the second column is displayed in the client.
Suggested Dimension	Allows you to promote or demote a column. Set to True to promote a numeric column type to become a diveable dimension and have it appear in the ProDiver console. Set to False to demote a column from classification as a dimension so it does not appear in the ProDiver console. When set to False, the new dimension does not appear in the console (which requires dimcount processing), but it can be promoted to a dimension for diving—equivalent to the concept of a dynamic dimension for a classic model. Using Required Dimension on a column effectively sets Suggested Dimension to False.
Comment	Defines a comment that describes this column.

Column Grid

The ODBC Input object column grid section lists the columns from the input query.

Attribute	Description
Name	Displays the name of each input column. This attribute is read-only.
Alias	Defines alternate names for one or more of the input columns. Spaces before or after an alias column name are ignored. Spaces within an alias column name are acceptable.
Type	Displays the type of each input column.
Keep	Manages which columns are kept in the output data flow. If no columns have a Keep check mark, all columns are kept in the output data flow, except for any explicitly marked Drop. Select the Keep check box for columns you want to explicitly keep in the output data flow. A number is automatically added in the Keep Order column when you select its Keep check box. After marking any column with a Keep check mark, only those marked Keep are kept in the output data flow. NOTE: After any Keep check boxes are checked, do not use the Drop check boxes, because clicking a Drop check box sets all Keep check boxes to unchecked.
Keep Order	Manages the order of the columns in the output data flow. By default, columns that are passed to the next object in the data flow are displayed in the order in which they appear in the Name column. You can change this order by typing a number in the Keep Order column. When you assign a Keep Order number, the Keep column is checked automatically. The Keep Order numbers might reorder to accommodate any changes you make.
Drop	Manages which columns are removed from the output data flow. Select the Drop check box for columns that you want to explicitly suppress from the output data flow. NOTE: Use the Drop check boxes only when no Keep check boxes are checked.