VI Dict Input Object

The Visual Integrator (VI) Dictionary input object (DICT) describes the format of an input or output file. This object is also used by Visual Builder. The input file can be developed manually, or generate using a VI Fileout Output Object.

VI Dict Input Object Icon

The DICT object describes the format of an input or output file and has the file extension of dic or dict.

The DICT object has Closedthree panes where you set attributes.

VI Dict Three Panes

You set attributes for the DICT object in the Closedobject attributes pane.

VI Dict Attributes Pane

Attribute Description
Dict_Type Specifies a variable or fixed format file.
Delimiter

Specifies the delimiter that is used to separate columns for variable format files. If not specified, ASCII tab is used. Choices are:

  • space
  • tab \t
  • comma ,
  • semicolon ;
  • pipe |
Record_Size Contains the width of a record in a fixed-file format. If set, Spectre Build, Visual Builder, or Visual Integrator reads exactly this number of bytes per record, regardless of binary data such as newlines or null bytes.
Encoding

Defines how files names are read and interpreted in terms of character encoding. Values include:

  • auto—The input object sets the encoding based on the file signature and the Unicode state of other objects in the same task.
  • ascii—The characters in the file are interpreted as ISO-8859-1 or Latin1 characters.

  • gb18030—The file is interpreted as Chinese National Standard 18030-2000 characters. The gb18030 encoding option is supported on Windows platforms only.

  • latin1—The characters in the file are interpreted as ISO-8859-1 or Latin1 characters.
  • utf-8—The file is interpreted as UTF-8 Unicode characters.
  • unicode—The file is interpreted as 2-byte Unicode characters (UCS-2) with native byte swapping, unless overridden by a UCS-2 file signature.

  • unicode-be—The file is interpreted as UCS-2 characters in a big-endian fashion.

  • unicode-le—The file is interpreted as UCS-2 characters in a little-endian fashion.

UCS-2 and UTF-8 files can include a Byte Order Mark (BOM) at the beginning of the file to denote the file encoding. These file signatures are defined as follows:

  • UCS-2 Big Endian—FE FF
  • UCS-2 Little Endian—FF FE
  • UTF-8—EF BB BF

File signatures are common for Unicode files on Windows operating systems. If the file input object reads multiple files, the signature of each file determines its encoding.

If the encoding attribute is auto and no signature is found, the encoding is assumed to be latin1 if no other object in the task handles Unicode data and the VI file is not encoded as utf-8 (using the charset 1208 directive). Otherwise, the encoding is assumed to be utf-8.

See also Integrator Unicode Data Support.

Each object has an area where you can enter comments.

It is a DI best practice to enter a note for every object in a VI script. You can set a VI preference to give a warning for each object without a note. For more information, see Visual Integrator Preferences.

ClosedDICT with comments.

VI Object Coments and Notes

The ClosedDICT column grid is where you provide details about the columns in the input files.

VI Dict Column Grid

Attribute Description
name Specifies the name, or headings, for the column in the input file.
start For fixed format files, specifies the start column position.
end For fixed format files, specifies the ending column position. If this attribute and the length attribute are not defined, the column is assumed to be a single-character column.
length For fixed format files, specifies the length of the column. This attribute overrides the end attribute if both are defined.
implied_dec Specifies the number of decimal places in the resulting value.
packed For fixed format files, specifies interpretation of the column as packed decimal format when set to true.
trim Specifies trimming of leading or trailing white space (including tabs) in the input data when set to true. If set to false, the column data is processed in its original format.