Variables Types

Depending on the variable's source, you can either define values manually (static variables) or configure values that will be retrieved dynamically.

Variable Object Types

Variable object types are described below.

Variable Type Description
BACKEND Backend variable objects execute a command on an operating system and supply the result in the form of values that are shown in columns.
EXEC EXEC variable objects are an intermediary, carrying out a readout of return values of executed objects, which may affect the subsequent execution of objects or trigger the execution of objects. As a user, you can store these readouts in the script variables.
FILELIST Filelist variable objects obtain file names of a particular directory as its values.
MULTI Multi variable objects obtain a combination of values from two other Variable objects.
SEC_SQLI, SEC_SQL, SQLI, and SQL

These variable object types are referred to as database variables. They retrieve values from SQL statements.

  • SEC_SQLI or Secure SQL Internal variable objects securely retrieve values from the Automation Engine database.
  • SEC_SQL or Secure SQL variable objects securely retrieve values from external databases.
  • SQLI or SQL Internal variable objects retrieve values from the Automation Engine database.
  • SQL variable objects retrieve values from external databases.

For security reasons, you cannot create or modify SEC_SQLI or SQLI variables by default. You can change this setting via SQLVAR_INTERNAL in the system variable UC_SYSTEM_SETTINGS.

SEC_SQLI and SEC_SQL can always be inserted in SQL statements, regardless of the VAR_SECURITY_LEVEL setting in the UC_SYSTEM_SETTINGS variable. To include variables in the SQL, you need to use bind parameters. In doing so, you cannot compose SQL statements, and this protects the database from the risk of an SQL injection.

STATIC

Static variable objects store one or more values in a table. You can either enter the values manually or use the script elements :PUT_VAR or :PUT_VAR_COL to populate them. Each table line entry is composed of a key plus up to 5 values.

XML XML variables are a special type of the static Variable objects that contains one value column. In addition, the data type that may be used with it, are well-formed XML structures only. It may be used to temporarily store complex data as XML structure in the Automic Workload Automation system. This data then my be referenced and used in PromptSet objects, in Script objects and other script contexts system-wide.

The fields on the Variable page depend on the variable type selected when the variable was created. You cannot change the type at a later time.

PromptSet variables are supported in select fields for BACKEND, EXEC, FILELIST, SEC_SQLI, SEC_SQL, SQLI, SQL, and XML variable types. Using PromptSet variables are necessary when using the Dynamic Reload feature.

When you use database variables (SEC_SQLI, SEC_SQL, SQLI, and SQL types), binary fields are not supported. Binary data that is the result of an SQL query will cause an error in the preview or when the values are retrieved at runtime.

Note that in database variables (SEC_SQLI, SEC_SQL, SQLI, and SQL types), the system will not check the SQL statements that are processed for technical reasons. This also means that you can change or delete data records by using Variable objects. For security reasons, Automic recommends restricting user access accordingly. If possible, deploy a database user with read-only rights for variables that access an external database (SQL, SQL SECURE). For internal SQL variables (SQLI, SQLI SECURE), you can limit object access via a privilege (create and modify SQL-internal variables).

Depending on the data type, database variables (SEC_SQLI, SEC_SQL, SQLI, and SQL types) return the value "" (string, date, time, timestamp) or 0 (number) for NULL values.

What you can find in this section:

You will find information on the scope, purpose and target group of this documentation, and on how to use it for best results.