MULTI VARA Objects

MULTI VARA objects combine the values rendered by two different VARA objects.

Like any other objects MULTI VARAs have various definition pages. General, Version Management and Documentation are common to all objects. Here we describe the Variables page that is specific to MULTI VARAs.

To Define a MULTI VARA Object

  1. In the Variable Settings section, specify the VARA objects whose values this MULTI VARA will retrieve and combine.

    • Variable 1

      VARA object from which the values are retrieved and combined with the values in Variable 2. The values are taken from the reference columns in the VARA object that you select here. Each VARA object has it own reference column for this purpose. The reference columns are as follows:

      • STATIC : Key column
      • SQL, SQLI, MULTI: First column
      • FILELIST: Filelist column

      Important! Ensure that the value in the reference column has the same data type as the MULTI VARA object. Otherwise, an error occurs.

    • Variable 2

      VARA object from which the values are retrieved and combined with the values in Variable 1. If the VARA object that you select here does not contain the reference columns, no value from this VARA object is included in the result of the MULTI VARA object.

      The values that result from Variable 1 are used if the two VARA objects selected in Variable 1 and Variable 2contain entries with the same name.

    • Select the Operation that this MULTI VARA object will apply to combine the values of the selected VARA objects.

      • Union retrieves all values of Variable 1 and Variable 2. If the variable entries are identical, the values of Variable 1 are used.

      • Intersection retrieves the values that are used both in Variable 1 and in Variable 2. If the values are identical, the Result/Key column entries of Variable 1 are used.

      • Difference retrieves all values of Variable 1 that are not contained in Variable 2. The Result/Key column entries of the variables are compared to each other.

  2. In the Data & Formatting section you specify the data format of the value that is rendered by the VARA object. Do the following:

    • Data Type

      • For Text

        • Select Limit Text Length to set a limit to the length of the character string.

        • In Max. text length specify the maximum length. Possible values: 1 to 1024.

        • Select Force upper case if you want to convert the text of the first value column to upper case.

        • In Result format specify the format of the content in the RESULT column, which is the first column that is displayed in the preview. The result column can show a combination of value columns and any other characters.

          Column numbers that are specified in curly brackets { } in the Result Format field are replaced by the value of the relevant column.

          Example:

          • Value column 1: JOB1
          • Value column 2: WIN01
          • Result format: {1}_{2}
          • Result column: JOB01_WIN01

          If you do not specify a result format, the value in the Result or in the Key column is used.

          Important!

            The result must be within the defined limits and it must match the data type. Otherwise, the result column does not show a value.

            The limitations (min. value, max. value, limit text to) do not affect the result column but the first returned column. If the values of this column exceed the maximum range, this line is skipped. The line is not available through the VARA object.

      • For Number

        Singed integer, possible values: any number from 0 to 2147483647.

        Default format: 16 digits

      • For Time

        The following formats are possible:

        • HHMMSS
        • HH:MM:SS
        • HHMM
        • HH:MM
        • MMSS
        • MM:SS

        Default format: HHMMSS

        The value for this data type must be a four or a six digit number. Decimal places are removed. Four-digit numbers are converted to hours and minutes.

        Example:

        Output Format: HH:MM:SS

        Value of the user or the data source: 1234, 1234.5, 123400, 12:34, 12:34:00

        Resulting variable value: 12:34:00

      • For Date

        The following formats are possible:

        • DD-MON-YYYY
        • DD-MON-RR
        • MM-DD-YYYY
        • YYYYMMDD
        • MMDDRR
        • DDMMRR
        • MM-DD-RR
        • MM/DD/RR
        • YYMMDD
        • YY.MM.DD
        • YY-MM-DD
        • YYYYMMDD
        • YYYY.MM.DD
        • YYYY-MM-DD
        • DDMMYY
        • DD.MM.YY
        • DD-MM-YY
        • DDMMYYYY
        • DD.MM.YYYY
        • DD-MM-YYYY
        • MMDDYY
        • MMDDYYYY
        • MM/DD/YY
        • MM/DD/YYYY

        Default format: YYMMDD

        Note: Some date formats include RR as a placeholder for the abbreviated year. Having both YY and RR accommodates different century-counting conventions, which are based on the two digits of the abbreviated year value.

        • YY - The current century applies for numbers from 00 to 80. The previous century applies for 81 - 99. 
        • RR - The current century applies for numbers from 00 to 49. The previous century applies for 50 - 99.

        Examples:

        • Date format DDMMYY and the resulting complete dates:

          010305 - corresponds to 01 March 2005
          010365 - corresponds to 01 March 2065
          010380 - corresponds to 01 March 2080
          010385 - corresponds to 01 March 1985

        • Date format DDMMRR and the resulting complete dates:

          010305 - corresponds to 01 March 2005
          010365 - corresponds to 01 March 1965
          010380 - corresponds to 01 March 1980
          010385 - corresponds to 01 March 1985

      • For Timestamp

        Possible formats:

          YYYYMMDDHH24MISS

          YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS

        Default format: YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS

        The value for this data type must be a four or a six digit number. Decimal places are removed. Four-digit numbers are converted to hours and minutes.

        Example:

        Output Format: YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS
        Value of the user or the data source: 20110325 2201, 20110325 2201.5, 20110325 220100
        Resulting variable value: 2011-03-25 22:01:00

    • Set Min. value / Min. value and Set max. value / Max. value (All VARA types)

      Enforces a minimum/maximum value.

      Possible values for Number: max. 16 digits before and 16 digits after the decimal point

  3. All VARA objects have a Script Access section on their definition pages that determines the error handling when scripts read the VARA object. In this section you decide what happens if scripts access the VARA object and the key to which they refer is not available.

    You have the following options:

    • Return error

      The script ends abnormally and a runtime error message is displayed in the Messages console

    • Return initial values (Default)

      The script continues executing although the key is not available. No runtime error is displayed. The report contains an empty string indicating that no key has been found.

      Tip: Ensure that the keys of VARA objects always return a value if you want to use this option.

  4. Click the Preview button to validate the VARA object. A preview of the result values is displayed.

  5. To export the content of the preview table to a CSV file, click Export Table. All rows and column are exported. Use this function if you need to further process the content of the CSV file (paste it to a different application for further processing and so on).

  6. To copy one or more rows in the Preview table, select the Copy button. The selected rows are copied to the clipboard and you can paste them to a third party tool (Google, Sheets, Excel, text editor, and so on).

    Note: This function is available only if https is used on the Automic Web Interface .

  7. Save your changes.

See also: