Flat File Profile

Flat File Profiles represent structured data sets that contain rows of data, typically with one record per line, with each row containing a series of fields known as elements. The most common example of a Flat File data is a basic comma-separated-value file or CSV.

The structure of the elements is defined as one of two options:

Delimited - Each element is separated by some specific character (the "delimiter"), such as a comma, asterisk (*), or pipe (|), and can be variable in length.
Data Positioned - Each element begins at a specific column position and has a specific length.

In general, you will configure the Flat File Options to match the basic structure of your data set and then use the Import Wizard to import a sample file to quickly create the individual elements for each record format.

To Configure a Flat File Profile

To configure a Flat File Profile:

Go to the Options Tab and specify the general characteristics of the data set's formatting.
Go to the Data Elements Tab to define the structure of the data set.
To quickly define the individual elements, use the Import Wizard to import the element names from a sample file. Alternatively to add elements manually, within the Data Element tree along the left, click the blue arrow next to the Elements node and click Add Element. You can also click Add Multiple Elements to add up to 99 elements at once.
Click each newly-created element and configure the options to the right as necessary.

Additional Data Element Configurations

To modify an existing element, click the element to display its configuration to the right.
To change the position of an element, click to drag and drop it before or after another element.
To remove an element, click the blue arrow next to the element and click Delete Element.
To add one or more new elements immediately after an existing element, click the blue arrow next to the element and click Insert Element or Insert Multiple Elements.
To add a new record format, click the blue arrow next to an existing record format and click Add Child Record or Insert Record. See Working with Multiple Record Formats for more information.

Options Tab

Field/Group/Button	Field Type	Description
Use Column Headers	Checkbox	When checked, the first row of the document is assumed to contain column labels, and it will be ignored by Boomi
File Type	Dropdown	Delimited Data Positioned Defines the basic structure of the data file
File Delimiter	Dropdown	Star Delimited Tick Mark (`) Delimited Comma Delimited Tab Delimited Use to define the character that delimits the data elements.
Text Qualifier	Dropdown	Double Quote Single Quote This field is used to define Flat Files that use single or double quotation marks around Data Elements within the file to define the element as being text or character based data. When interpreting the file, if the Text Qualifier field has been defined, the system will remove single or double quotes (whichever one is defined) from the beginning and end of any applicable data element. Conversely, when generating the file, the system will place the appropriate quotes around any data element defined as being character data.
Delimiter Escape Character	Text field	This field is used for delimited files. When defined, the system uses this field when interpreting the file to verify that the appearance of a delimiter within a row is to be used to separate the data elements, as opposed to being a part of the actual data itself. If the character defined in this field appears immediately before the delimiter, the delimiter is ignored. When generating the file, if the delimiter defined appears in any of the data elements used to generate the file, the value defined for this field is inserted by the system immediately preceding the associated delimiter.
Escape for Escape Character	Text field	This field is used for delimited files and in conjunction with the "Delimiter Escape Character" field, described above. When interpreting a file, if a delimiter appears to have been escaped within a row, the appearance of the character defined in this field cancels the escape of the delimiter. When generating a file, if an element in the file ends with the Delimiter Escape Character, the system inserts the value defined for this field immediately preceding the associated character.
Remove Escape Characters	Checkbox	Used by the system in association with both of the escape character fields defined above. When interpreting a file, the system uses this field to determine if any escape characters found when reading any row of data should be removed or not.

Data Elements Tab

The Data Elements Tab contains a tree-like representation of the record formats and elements that define the structure of the data set. Most Flat Flat Profiles will only contain a single record format but it is possible to configure multiple record formats to accommodate more sophisticated data structures. See Working with Multiple Record Formats for more information.

To modify the Data Elements, see To Configure a Flat File Profile above.

Data Elements Tab - Record View

The Record View contains configuration options for the record format.

Section	Type/Value	Description
Record Name	Text	User-defined alias name of the record format. This value is arbitrary.
Detect This File Format By	Drop Down	Determines how to detect the given record format. This will always be "Number of columns" except when working with multiple record formats. Available values: Number of columns (default) Specified unique values

Data Elements Tab - Element View

The Element View contains configuration options for the individual data elements.

Section	Field/Group/Button	Type/Value	Description
General Options	Data Name	Text Field	Name of selected record in table view
	Mandatory	Check Box	Determines if a value should be mandatory or not. For delimited Profiles, you cannot have a mandatory element after a non-mandatory element.
	Enforce Unique	Check Box	This option is used to affect a specific field mapping behavior when this Profile is referenced as the Destination Profile in a Map (it has no effect when referenced as the Source Profile). If checked, the Map will only produce a single row for each unique value mapped to this field.
Field Size Options	Field Length Validation	Check Box	Determines whether data validation should occur on this element (mandatory, length, etc).
	Start Column	Numeric	Data positioned only, defines the start column for the element.
	Length	Numeric	Data positioned only, defines the length of the element.
	Maximum Length	Numeric	Delimited only, defines the maximum length of the field.
	Minimum Length	Numeric	Delimited only, defines the minimum length the field should be.
Data Format Options	Data Type	Character Number Date/Time	Choose the element data type and specify a format for the value if required. (More about formats)

On the Data Elements Record View, if you choose to detect the file format format by "Specified unique values", you must configure which element will contain the unique value along with that value. This is configured within the Identity Options section for the desired element.

Field/Group/Button	Type/Value	Description
Use To Identify Format	Check Box	Used in conjunction with Detect format by specified unique values, marks this column as a row identifier.
Identity Value	Text field	The value used to identify the given record format.

Flat File Import Wizard

The Import Wizard can be used in this profile to import a standard flat file structure and automatically generate the elements. After configuring the Options tab:

Highlight the Record node on the Data Elements tab
Click Import
Confirm the Profile settings and ensure they match to the file you are using as a sample
Click Choose File and navigate to the sample file on your local machine
Click Next to preview and confirm the column settings
Click Finish

If the Column Headers are not populated although they are contained in the sample file, ensure that the 'Use Column Headers' option is checked on the Options Tab. You can also edit the Column Names by clicking on them in the wizard.