Fixed Width text file is widely used in legacy/mainframe or AS/400 systems where the data fields are defined by specific width for each field value. Each field value is restricted to a specific bytes of data. For example here is a sample fixed width data:
PDRV 1011413 150223197532 F45000 8998 1 M 898809 ME3799090 0612199523 1 5 G NY2 0 ENGINEER
PCMN 1011415 15040155D5W6904106 2026 SA1011411 1201200501052007365 2 12 SP78912 12 1202200512252006I D5W6904106
Above there are two record types that are identified by the first four bytes, PDRV and PCMN. Each record type is further defined by the related fields that make up that record. There are starting and ending positions for each field. Rules related to left or right alignment, padding of leading or trailing zeroes in case of numbers or decimals, signs to depict a positive or negative numbers etc. There would also be unique mapping rules for each of these fields for data conversion.
Each record type also has relationships with other record types within the file. SAP IDoc is one example of a fixed width data file. Each industry has different data standards that are typically based on fixed width schemas.
In Adeptia you can easily define the fixed width schema and map the fields. Refer to the Fixed Width documentation here:
Also refer to the videos on how to map data using Adeptia's graphical data mapper interface.
You can graphically map Fixed Width file to any format such as:
- Fixed Width file to XML
- Database to Fixed Width data file
- CSV flat file to Fixed Width data file
- EDI to Fixed Width file
- XML to Fixed Width file
- Excel to Fixed Width file
Here is a link to the Data Mapper videos.