Defining Parameters in Dataset Include Files

When configuring your dataset, you can define variables, referred as parameters, to represent meaningful values.

To assign a value to a parameter (that is, to define the parameter), you add the parameter’s name and value to the Parameters vector in a log processing or Transformation Dataset Include file. After you define parameters, you can reference them in your dataset profile’s configuration files. Defining and referencing such parameters is referred to as parameter substitution. Using parameter substitution when configuring your dataset enables you to create a centralized location for your parameter definitions. When you need to update a parameter that is referenced multiple times or in multiple files, you have to make the change only once.

You should consider the following points when defining a parameter:

• A parameter must be defined exactly once. Therefore, you cannot define the same variable in multiple dataset include files.
• Any parameter that you define is local to either the log processing or the transformation phases, but it is global across multiple dataset configuration files for that phase. For example, if you define a parameter in a Transformation Dataset Include file, the parameter is defined for the entire transformation phase, and you can reference it in the Transformation.cfg file and all other Transformation Dataset Include files for the inherited profiles. The parameter would not be defined for log processing; therefore, any references to the parameter in the Log Processing.cfg file or a Log Processing Dataset Include file would generate a processing error.

To define a parameter

You can define string, numeric, and vector parameters in Log Processing and Transformation Include files.

1. In the data workbench window for the Log Processing or Transformation Dataset Include file, right-click Parameters, then click Add new > Parameter.

2. Select String Parameter, Numeric Parameter, or Vector Parameter, and complete the Name and Value parameters as described in the following sections.

3. To save the dataset include file in which you have defined the parameter, right-click (modified) at the top of the window and click Save.

4. To make the locally made changes take effect, in the Profile Manager, right-click the check mark for the file in the User column, then click Save to > < profile name>, where profile name is the name of the dataset profile or the inherited profile to which the dataset include file belongs.

To reference a parameter

• When you reference a defined parameter in another dataset configuration file, you must type its name as $(parameter name).

The following sections describe the types of parameters that you can define.

• String and Numeric Parameters
• Vector Parameters