Column generator

Rimna · Post by **Rimna** » Mon Feb 14, 2005 10:06 pm

What purpose does the stage Column generator in PX serve.

vigneshra · Post by **vigneshra** » Mon Feb 14, 2005 11:43 pm

Hi Rimna,

The purpose of the column generator is very much evident from it's name, generation of a new column. It has a wide range of use. One of it's key uses is the generation of dummy column. You can do a search in this forum to know more about the column generator stage. You cannot really pin-point the use of a column generator stage. Briefly, it generates columns

ray.wurlod · Post by **ray.wurlod** » Tue Feb 15, 2005 3:49 am

Welcome aboard! :D

One simple example for needing an extra column is to add a (constant) identifier of the data source where you have more than one source. For example, you might identify all data from store A with 'A' and all data from store B with 'B'. These might be useful in downstream processing, and might even become values in a "store" dimension.

T42 · Post by **T42** » Tue Feb 15, 2005 2:12 pm

You can also generate surrogate key values.

The Surrogate Key Stage is a child of that operator, I believe.