How to load unicode data files with fixed records lengths?

Question

Hi!
To load unicode data files with fixed records lengths (in terms of charachters and not of bytes!) using SQL*Loader manually, I found two ways:
Alternative 1: one record per row
SQL*Loader control file example (without POSITION, since POSITION always refers to bytes!)<br>
LOAD DATA
CHARACTERSET UTF8
LENGTH SEMANTICS CHAR
INFILE unicode.dat
INTO TABLE STG_UNICODE
TRUNCATE
A CHAR(2) ,
B CHAR(6) ,
C CHAR(2) ,
D CHAR(1) ,
E CHAR(4)
) Datafile:
001111112234444
01NormalDExZWEI
02ÄÜÖßêÊûÛxöööö
03ÄÜÖßêÊûÛxöööö
04üüüüüüÖÄxµôÔµ Alternative2: variable length records
LOAD DATA
CHARACTERSET UTF8
LENGTH SEMANTICS CHAR
INFILE unicode_var.dat "VAR 4"
INTO TABLE STG_UNICODE
TRUNCATE
A CHAR(2) ,
B CHAR(6) ,
C CHAR(2) ,
D CHAR(1) ,
E CHAR(4)
) Datafile:
001501NormalDExZWEI002702ÄÜÖßêÊûÛxöööö002604üuüüüüÖÄxµôÔµ Problems
Implementing these two alternatives in OWB, I encounter the following problems:
* How to specify LENGTH SEMANTICS CHAR?
* How to suppress the POSITION definition?
* How to define a flat file with variable length and how to specify the number of bytes containing the length definition?
Or is there another way that can be implemented using OWB?
Any help is appreciated!
Thanks,
Carsten.

Answer 1

Hi Carsten
If you need to support the LENGTH SEMANTICS CHAR clause in an external table then one option is to use the unbound external table and capture the access parameters manually. To create an unbound external table you can skip the selection of a base file in the external table wizard. Then when the external table is edited you will get an Access Parameters tab where you can define the parameters. In 11gR2 the File to Oracle external table can also add this clause via an option.
Cheers
David