Working with fixed-width files – ACCELQ

Comprehensive support is available in ACCELQ to build test logic involving fixed-width files. You may define multiple custom schemas for fixed-width files. Several commands are available to read, verify or update content in fixed-width files. These commands are especially helpful in the ETL testing environment.

Open Fixed width file

Opens a fixed width file and assigns the given reference name. This reference name is required in other commands to work with this file.

fixed width file path


field padding char


comment char

reference name

fixed width file path 
(can be absolute path or relative path from Agent's user_data folder)

field padding character, which is used to prefix field value
when field value width is less than the specification length

comment character

reference name

Define Fixed width file schema

Defines fixed width file schema for given fixed width file. Make sure to define fixed width file before this.

schema type

reference name

field widths

format applicable on

lookup value

schema type

fixed width file reference name

field widths (comma separated)

format applicable on

lookup value

Get record count from Fixed width file

Returns the record count from fixed width file with given reference. Returns -1 on the error file.

reference name

fixed width file reference name

Get field count of Record from Fixed width file

Returns the field count of a row from fixed width file with given reference name. On error -1.

record number

reference name

record number to get field count from (starts from 1)

fixed width file reference name

Get field text from Fixed width file

Gets the field text of a record from fixed width file with a given reference name.

reference name

record number

field identification type

field

fixed width file reference name

record number to get field text from (starts from 1)

select field type from options (field number, field name).

field number or field name based on
field type parameter to get text from (field number starts from 1)

Get record text from Fixed width file

Gets the content of a record from fixed width file with a given reference name.

reference name

record number

fixed width file reference name

record number to get text from (starts from 1)

Get record(s) containing text in Fixed width file

Finds record numbers in fixed width file with given reference name with matching criterion.

record selection criteria


reference name

field selection criteria

field identifier criteria

field

field value

match criteria

field data criteria

match criteria

field data

to return just the first matching record number or
all matching record numbers

fixed width file reference name

field selection criteria to identify record(s)

field identifier criteria

field

field value

match criteria to evaluate

field data

match criteria to evaluate

field and values map

Verify field text in Fixed width file

Verifies whether the text in the specified field is as expected in a given fixed width file.

reference name

record number

field identification type


field


expected field text

text match criteria

failure action

fixed width file reference name

record number to get field text from (starts from 1)

select field identification type 
from options (field number, field name).

field number or field name based on field identification type
parameter to verify text (field number starts from 1)

expected field text

match criteria to evaluate

continue or abort test case

Add a new record to Fixed Width file

Adds a new record to fixed width file with given reference name with matching criterion.

reference name

position

record number

field values

fixed width file reference name

position

record number to insert at (starts from 1)

field values as list

Update field text in Fixed width file

Updates the field(s) content of a record in a fixed width file with the given reference name.

field selection criteria

reference name

record number

field identifier criteria

field

field value

field data criteria

field data

field selection criteria

fixed width file reference name

record number to update (starts from 1)

field identifier criteria

field

field value

field data

field and values map

Delete record from Fixed width file

Deletes the record from a fixed width file with the given reference name.

reference name

record number

fixed width file reference name

record number to delete record from (starts from 1)

Note: You must define at least one schema (either default or custom) after you open the file. It is not valid to read/write to the file before defining the schema. The following example shows that in the first 2 statements.

Example

The following logic inserts a record at the end of a fixed-width file.