File types

The solidDB^® Speed Loader can load data in various formats. The file that contains the data is called an import file. The format of the import file is specified in a control file. Detailed information about the loading process is output into a log file.

The control file provides information about the structure of the import file. It specifies the following information:

Note Each import file requires a separate control file. The solidDB^® Speed Loader loads data into one table at a time.

The import file is the file that contains the data to be loaded into the solidDB^® database. The solidDB^® Export (solexp) produces these type of data files.

The import file may contain the data either in a fixed or a delimited format:

▪In fixed-length format data records have a fixed length, and the data fields inside the records have a fixed position and length.

▪In delimited format, data records can be of variable length. Each data field and data record is separated from the next with a delimiting character such as a comma (this is what solexp produces). Fields containing no data are automatically set to NULL.

Data fields within a record may be in any order specified by the control file.

▪Data in the import file must be of a suitable type. For example, numbers that are presented in a float format cannot be loaded into a field of INTEGER or SMALLINT type.

▪Data of VARBINARY and LONG VARBINARY type must be hexadecimal encoded in the import file.

▪When using any fixed-width field, regardless of the data type, solloado or solload expects the import file to have the specified width, even when NULL is used.

During loading, solidDB^® Speed Loader produces a log file containing the following information:

▪Loading statistics, such as the number of rows successfully loaded, the number of failed rows and the load time (if specified

If the log file cannot be created, the loading process is terminated. By default the name of the log file is generated from the name of the import file by substituting the file extension of the import file with the file extension.log. For example, my_table.ctr creates the log file my_table.log. To specify another file name, use the option -l.

A configuration file is not required for the solidDB^® Speed Loader. The configuration values for the server parameters are included in the solidDB^® configuration file solid.ini.

Client copies of the file can be made to provide connection information required for solidDB^® Speed Loader.

If no server name is specified in the command line, solidDB^® Speed Loader reads the server name it connects to from the server configuration file.

For example, to connect to a server using the UNIX Pipes protocol and with the server name solid1, the following lines are needed in the configuration file: