Management Agent for Delimited Text File

Applies To: Windows Server 2003 with SP1

Use the management agent for delimited text to synchronize data that is contained in delimited text files.

Properties

Schema Information

The schema is generated based on the discovery of the data in the template input file. When you refresh the schema for this management agent, Management Agent Designer starts, reads the template input file, and then updates the management agent schema. Then, you can update the management agent configuration based on the new schema. You cannot edit the schema for delimited text files.

Remarks

• The delimited text file format consists of one record per line, with each record appearing as a series of attributes that are separated by a character such as a comma, a tab, or a user-specified character. You can specify the first row in the delimited text file as header names. Make sure that all multi-valued attributes and their header names are in sequential order. You can use a text qualifier (that is, either a single or double quotation mark) to enclose text in a single attribute. The following is an example of a delimited text file format:
  1,"Cust,1",Jeff,Smith,12 Broad Street,San Francisco,CA,11700
  2,Cust2,Chris,Preston,34 State Street,Anchorage,AK,21002

  For delimited file formats, multivalued attributes and their header names must be in sequential order. A delimited field with any attribute cannot appear between delimited fields that compose a single multivalued attribute. The following is an example of a valid delimited file format containing a single multivalued attribute (Phone), composed of two delimited fields (Phone, Phone).

  Numb	FirstName	LastName	Phone	Phone
  1	Jeff	Smith	555-555-1212	555-555-1234
  1	Chris	Preston	555-555-1313	555-555-1345

  The following is an example of an invalid delimited file format containing a multivalued attribute (Phone). The LastName delimited field appears between two delimited fields, (Phone) and (Phone), that make a single multivalued attribute (Phone).

  Numb	FirstName	Phone	LastName	Phone
  1	Jeff	555-555-1212	Smith	555-555-1234
  1	Chris	555-555-1313	Preston	555-555-1345

• ILM 2007 FP1 treats all data as case sensitive.

• File-based management agents do not export characters that are not in the destination code page. MIIS 2003 fails when it attempts to export objects that contain any character that is not in the target connected data source code page. If you try to avoid this behavior by converting the file to Unicode and then doing a best-fit translation, MIIS 2003 cannot confirm the export. As a workaround, you can do your own file translation during export attribute flow.

• For file-based management agents, the template input file should contain all the object classes and attributes that will be synchronized, and it should be in a full import format.

• File-based management agents only support importing a single value for the object class (OC) attribute. If you try to import a multi-value OC attribute from a connected data source, the management agent will fail with a "multi-single-mismatch" error.

• If you use a template input file that is larger than 200 KB, Microsoft Identity Integration Server 2003 analyzes only the first 100 objects when discovering the schema. As a result, if there are object classes and attributes that you want to synchronize that do not appear in the first 100 objects, you must manually add those object classes and attributes as connector space object types and attributes. You can do this using the Configure Attributes and Define Object Types property pages in the Management Agent Designer. Depending on the size of the file, a delay might occur when Microsoft Identity Integration Server 2003 reads the entire file.

See Also

Concepts

Management Agents in MIIS 2003