DSXchange

Hi

Can we analyze the data from a flat file source using information Analyzer (8.5) ?

yes. Declare it as an ODBC source and analyze away.

Go through the "Identify Flat File" process of metadata import, which will create metadata from your flat file into the file QETXT.INI used by Information Analyzer.

(You can create the entries in QETXT.INI manually, but it's a tedious and painstaking process. Far better to let the computer do the work for you.)

I don't know about 8.5, but in 8.7, the "Identify Flat File" task is disabled no matter what I click on.

First you need to define a file location as a data source. Modify .odbc.ini on your DataStage server and add a new text ODBC entry with the location of your files. Go into Information Analyzer and add this as a new data store and choose the ODBC text driver from the list of database connections. Now you should be able to identify flat files under this data source in the Import Metadata screen.

I do not know how to identify files without first putting the file location into .odbc.ini.

Agreed.

Also, there are actually many steps to configuring an ODBC DSN to connect to flat files. This link should help.