Automatic Metadata Conversion

 

Parse and Use Your Existing Data Layouts

IRI CoSort, the IRI Workbench GUI, and other IRI software, all include tools to translate existing file layout metadata into the data definition file (.DDF) format used in the CoSort SortCL program and other IRI job scripts.

 

Free DDL conversion utilities and format parsers automatically create DDF metadata repositories from:

 

Data Layout

Utility

What It Does

RDBMS or other ODBC source

odbc2ddf

creates DDF from DDL

COBOL copybook / file dictionary (FD)

cob2ddf

converts the FD into a DDF file

comma-separated values (CSV) file

csv2ddf

turns header info into a DDF file

W3C extended log format file

elf2ddf

turns header info into a DDF file

Oracle SQL Loader control file

ctl2ddf

converts the .CTL file into a DDF file

LDIF file

ldif2ddf

creates DDF file form LDAP entries

flat XML file

xml2ddf

creates DDF file from XML tags

 

Therefore, if you already have file layouts defined in the above formats, you can automatically reproduce that metadata for use in:

 

If your file layouts exist in other formats (including CWM, DSX, UML, XMI, and XML, for example), both erwin (formerly Analytix DS) and Meta Integration Technologies offer third-party metadata format conversion into IRI's DDF repositories, *CL job scripts, and/or XML (ETL) flow metadata as well. IRI also now offers the 'GulfStream' API in Java for moving data layout and application metadata to and from IRI (Voracity) workflow XML.

 

Whether you use a metadata converter that IRI, your company, or a third party provides, the benefit of simple and open IRI DDF metadata is clear -- not having to re-create metadata you already own.