By now, you have already created three transformations and must have an idea of what a dataset is, the kind of data types that PDI supports, and how data is modified as it goes through the path of steps and hops. This section will provide you with a deeper understanding of these concepts:
- We will give formal definitions for PDI basic terminology related to data and metadata
- We will also give you a practical list of steps that will expand your toolbox for Transforming data
Transformation deal with datasets or rowsets, that is, rows of data with a predefined metadata. The metadata tells us about the structure of data, that is, the list of fields as well as their definitions. The following table describes the metadata of a PDI dataset:
Metadata Element | Description |
Field name | Name of the field; it can be any (not null) text |
Type | One of the supported types, as, for example, String or Integer |
Length | Length of the field |
Precision | Applicable for... |