Data Transformation Engine Introduction to the Design Studio

Chapter 3 - Type Designer Data Objects
Introduction to the Design Studio
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Two different kinds of fields, Name and Date, may be defined as subtypes of
Field. The item type Field describes any field. The Date and Name item types
are more specific kinds of fields. The deeper the subtype is in the type tree, the
more specific the data characteristics.
Data Composition
The type tree window does not display the data composition. By looking at a type
tree in the type tree window, the composition of the data is not visible. Subtypes
identify distinct data objects that have different properties, such as different date
formats. The data composition is defined by the components of group types, which
are defined and viewed in the group window. The components of group types are
arranged in the order in which they appear in the data stream.
Data Objects
A data object is a complete unit that is present in your input data or built for your
output data. A data object is some portion of data in a data stream that can be
recognized as belonging to a specific type. A data object may be simple (such as a
date) or complex (such as a purchase order, which contains more than one field of
data). Simple data objects are item types. Complex data objects are group types.
A type defines a set of data objects that have the same characteristics. Types
must exist for both the input data objects and output data objects. A single type
may be used for both input and output. Types for input and output data objects
may exist in either the same type tree or in different type trees.
A type is classified according to whether or not it consists of other objects. The
color of the type icon indicates the class of the type. Each type in a type tree must
be defined as one of three classes: category, group, or item.