Quick Design Question on the use of shared containers

[wjfitzgerald]

Hi,

I have a job that reads an input file, and then using a transformation stage and and xml stage converts the data to an XML message.

I now a new request create a job that reads the database directly to derive the information that is in the file, and then create the same xml output.

both jobs will be required going forward, so i was planning on putting the transformation & xml stage in a shared container to make future maintenance easier.

the only question is, having never used shared containers before, is this appropriate, and i suppose is there is any issues to watch out for?

i have read the containers chapther in the Design guide and it seems ok to me, just thought it might be easier to ask now.

thanks, as always
john fitz

[miwinter]

I don't see why you shouldn't make use of a shared container - it just reduces effort where any changes need making in the components therein (i.e. one change rather than many). The only thing to be aware of is that the jobs which use it need recompiling any time the shared container is updated, I believe.

[ArndW]

This would be a good place for a shared container - as miwinter has already pointed out, it would make maintenance easier as the code is only in one location; this is just the same as using a common subroutine in another programming language. Changes to the shared container only become active when the job(s) using that container are recompiled and at 8.0 there was a problem, since fixed, where concurrent editing of the shared container could cause issues.

[Pierre]

Yes,

Usage of shared containers makes maintenance easier (i.e when you change a file format or alter a table), and reduces error risks.
As Miwinter noticed, you just have to recompile jobs after a change.

I don-t see any reason to unuse it.

Pierre.