Blank lines in csv output and regular expressions

Legacy Contributor

I created a map to input a csv file and convert to another csv file.

In both file templates the Line Seperator is '
'.

Example Input file is

WC|A6|Apple iphone 6
WC|A7|Apple iphone 7

The output is correct but with extra blank rows

WC|newA6|Apple iphone 6

WC|newA7|Apple iphone 7

Any idea what could be causing this?

Also on a general note, within MEC you could perform many pre-processes on the data using regular expressions. Is there somewhere within ION a similar task can be performed?

For example, stripping out invalid characters in a flatfile.

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Kevin Heiman

Line Separator is only used for reading the file so ION knows how to parse. When you look at the file in oneview, after the input read, are there extra lines in it there?

Are you using scripting to reformat the CSV? What shows in Oneview following that flow step?

Legacy Contributor

Hi Kevin,

How do you actually see the original flat file in ION. This is the one in the red box. The conversion to XML is visible as is the converted XML file. In any case, is there a way of deleting blank lines within ION similar to using MEC where you can use regular expressions for pre and post modifications?

Kevin Heiman

I was originally thinking you were reading the CSV file in , then Scripting transformation and writing the CSV file out.

As you are using file template to read and convert to XML, then use ION Mapper, the line delimiter is only on the read, not the write. Following the mapper, can you share your output file from OneView. Can you show the rest of the flow through the write?

Having worked with many of these, I have not encountered writing to add blank lines that were not in the data.

Legacy Contributor

I'm trying to use pure ION to perform all transformations and you're correct in stating I'm using File Template to read and convert to XML.

XML after input csv conversion

<DataArea>
  <Process>
   <AccountingEntityID/>
   <LocationID/>
   <ActionCriteria>
    <ActionExpression actionCode="Replace"/>
   </ActionCriteria>
  </Process>
  <ItemDesc FileName="ItemDesc" FileExtension="csv" FilePath="/pub/FILE/IN">
   <Company>WC</Company>
   <Sku>A6</Sku>
   <Description>Apple iphone 6
   </Description>
  </ItemDesc>
  <ItemDesc FileName="ItemDesc" FileExtension="csv" FilePath="/pub/FILE/IN">
   <Company>WC</Company>
   <Sku>A7</Sku>
   <Description>Apple iphone 7
   </Description>
  </ItemDesc>
</DataArea>

XML after XSLT conversion

Below is the output XML file before transformation back into a csv. Now I think the 'ItemUpdate' tag being written twice (one for each csv row) may be incorrect.

<DataArea>
  <Process>
   <AccountingEntityID/>
   <LocationID/>
   <ActionCriteria>
    <ActionExpression actionCode="Replace"/>
   </ActionCriteria>
  </Process>
  <ItemUpdate FileExtension="csv" FileName="ItemDesc" FilePath="/pub/FILE/IN">
   <Company1>WC</Company1>
   <Sku1>newA6</Sku1>
   <Description1>Apple iphone 6
   </Description1>
  </ItemUpdate>
  <ItemUpdate FileExtension="csv" FileName="ItemDesc" FilePath="/pub/FILE/IN">
   <Company1>WC</Company1>
   <Sku1>newA7</Sku1>
   <Description1>Apple iphone 7
   </Description1>
  </ItemUpdate>
</DataArea>
</ProcessItemUpdate>

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