QlikView Informatica Connector ® User Guide

July 07, 2011

Document Version: 4.0

Approved by:

Technical Lead/Project Manager Date

Program Manager Date

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Table of Contents

1. Preface ....................................................................................................................................... 3

1.1 About this guide .................................................................................................................................3

1.2 Assumed Audience and content of the guide ...............................................................................3

1.3 About Versions ...................................................................................................................................3

1.4 Data type Support ..............................................................................................................................3

2. Overview .................................................................................................................................... 3

2.1 Overview/Introduction .......................................................................................................................3

3. Installation ................................................................................................................................. 4

3.1 System Requirements .......................................................................................................................4

3.2 Installation Steps ...............................................................................................................................4

3.2.1 Client Installation Steps ............................................................................................................................ 4

3.2.2 Windows Server Installation Steps .......................................................................................................... 4

3.2.3 UNIX Server Installation Steps ................................................................................................................ 5

3.3 Registration of QlikView Plug-in XML file ......................................................................................6

4. Creating QlikView Target .............................................................................................. 12

5. Creating a mapping with the QlikView Target ...................................................................... 16

5.1 Adding an Update Strategy Transformation ............................................................................... 16

5.2 Multiple Input Groups ...................................................................................................................... 16

6. Session Extensions ................................................................................................................. 18

7. Running a workflow with the QlikView Target ..................................................................... 19

8. Troubleshooting ....................................................................................................................... 20

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1. Preface

1.1 About this guide

This guide provides a general overview of the QlikView Connector for Informatica as well as specific

information for installing and integrating the Connector into your Informatica environment.

1.2 Assumed Audience and content of the guide

In writing this guide, we have assumed that you are already familiar with your hardware, operating

system, software, and administrative procedures.

This guide assumes that the people responsible for integrating the QlikView Informatica Connector

are experienced users of the various Informatica applications including the PowerCenter Repository

Manager, Designer, and Workflow Manager. It does not explain basic operation of the Informatica

applications. For questions about the Informatica applications, consult the appropriate Informatica

documentation or Informatica technical support.

1.3 About Versions

Informatica Versions: The QlikView Connector for Informatica version 1.0.0 is engineered for

Informatica PowerCenter versions 8.6.1 and 9.0.1. It is not compatible with previous versions of

Informatica.

1.4 Data type Support

All the QlikView data types are supported namely: Signed Integer, Unsigned Integer, Unknown, Real,

Date, Time, Timestamp, Money.

2. Overview

2.1 Overview/Introduction

The QlikView Informatica connector is designed to create QVX targets within Informatica Power Center

installations. With the capabilities provided by the adapter, it can create QVX file from different data

sources supported by Informatica which in turn can be read by QlikView to load data.

The Target Writer component will create a QVX file in the format of QVX XML format.

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The target input ports will be created from the sources available in the particular Informatica repository

folder. We will give user an option to create QlikView target based on the different sources available in the

Informatica repository folder. This Loader component will also be a target, as this should be the endpoint on

a mapping. Therefore, it will have input ports, but it will not have output ports.

3. Installation

3.1 System Requirements

OS requirements: Windows 2008 64 bit and RHEL 5 64 bit

Processor requirements: This release will work on any processor compatible with the above mentioned

OS and has a minimum clock speed of 800 MHz

Informatica Version: PowerCenter 8.6.1 and PowerCenter 9.0.1

3.2 Installation Steps

3.2.1 Client Installation Steps

1. Run the installer msi

2. Click on Next to proceed

3. License Agreement will show license information

4. Acceptance will enable Next button to proceed

5. Complete Information dialog ask for confirmation and click on Next will proceed with

installation process

6. On successful installation, it will show installation complete screen, click on Finish to

complete the process.

3.2.2 Windows Server Installation Steps

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1. Run the installer msi

2. Click on Next to proceed

3. License Agreement will show license information

4. Acceptance will enable Next button to proceed

5. Complete Information dialog ask for confirmation and click on Next will proceed with

installation process

6. On successful installation, it will show installation complete screen, click on Finish to

complete the process.

3.2.3 UNIX Server Installation Steps

1. Move to the location where “QlikViewInformaticaConnectorServer_Installer.sh” file is

located.

2. Execute following command to give execute permission to the file:

$ chmod 755 QlikViewInformaticaConnectorServer_Installer.sh

3. Execute following commands for interactive installation

$ ./QlikViewInformaticaConnectorServer_Installer.sh --target

InstallDirectory.

Where ‘InstallDirectory’ is the directory where Informatica PowerCenter is installed, and

‘target’ is a keyword for installer. Installer searches for “server/bin' and

'server/bin/javalib” directories within the ‘InstallDirectory’. On failure, the installer aborts.

for example: $ ./QlikViewInformaticaConnectorServer_Installer.sh --target /localdisk/Informatica/PowerCenter861/

4. It will display copyright and license information. Press ‘Enter’ key to view next line of the

license agreement.

5. On entering 'q' it will close the license file.

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6. Installer will prompt following:

Enter Y to accept the terms of this license agreement. Enter N if you do

not accept these terms. (Y/N):

7. If agree then type 'y' and hit ‘Enter’ key.

8. On successful installation, it will show installation complete message.

Congratulations !!! Installation completed successfully.

3.3 Registration of QlikView Plug-in XML file

To register the plug-in to the repository on Informatica PowerCenter 8.6.1 or 9.0.1:

1. In the Informatica PowerCenter Administration Console, place the repository in “Exclusive” mode.

Click on Repository name.

Click on “Edit” button of Repository Properties.

Select Operating mode as “Exclusive” from drop down menu.

Click on “OK” button.

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2. In the plug-ins tab for this node, click Register Repository Server plug-in. The “Choose file” window

appears.

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3. Browse to the location of the QlikViewPlugin.xml plug-in. You can find the QlikViewPlugin.xml file

under “<INFA_HOME>/client/QlikView” folder. Select the plug-in file, and click Open. The Console

displays a screen to register the plug-in.

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4. Enter the Repository Username and Password. Check the box for Update existing plug-in

registration if you have previously registered this plug-in. Click OK.

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5. The Console indicates that it is importing the plug-in. Upon completion, place the repository back

into normal mode.

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4. Creating QlikView Target

To create a QlikView Target, perform the following steps:

1. In the PowerCenter Designer, open “Target Designer” workspace.

2. Click on “Targets” -> “Create QlikView Target”

3. Now you will be able to see a dialog shown below:

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4. The dialog contains a TreeView control which contains list of Sources available in currently

open Informatica repository folder.

5. User can search for a particular source in the currently open Informatica repository folder. As

user enters a search string, the TreeView control gets dynamically updated showing only the

matching sources. Search is case-sensitive.

6. Click on a source and add the fields in the source to the target fields list by clicking on copy

button (indicated by “>>”) as shown below:

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The ports have their associated QlikView data types in the same row under the “Datatype” column

header. The defaults INFA to QlikView datatype mappings that the user can see when he adds a

source to the target fields are as follows:

Informatica Data type QlikView Data type

short signed_int

long signed_int

integer signed_int

char unknown

unichar unknown

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float real

double real

decimal real

time time

datetime date

7. Enter the target name in this text box as shown in the screenshot above.

8. Clear button will clear all selected fields and restore contents of the TreeView control. The

TreeView control will be expanded.

9. Once all the desired fields are added to the target fields, click on “Create” button. This will

create the target definition with the names selected in the list of Sources as shown in the

following screenshot:

10. Click on “Cancel” button to simply exit the wizard.

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5. Creating a mapping with the QlikView Target

5.1 Adding an Update Strategy Transformation

1. By default, all the rows in the source will be treated as insert.

2. If user wants to simply reject some of the source rows, then user has to add an “Update Strategy

Transformation” to the mapping.

3. Update strategy will flag each outgoing row for a requested operation.

4. QlikView target writer will write reject rows to the “.bad” file.

5. Since update and delete are invalid operations, the corresponding rows are also written to the “.bad”

file.

5.2 Multiple Input Groups

The input groups should be related to each other. This means all input groups must have at least one field in

common. This field will be used in joining condition.

Either Source Qualifier (SQ) transformation or Joiner transformation should be used to join data from

multiple input groups.

For similar input groups, SQ transformation could be used whereas dissimilar input groups having at least

one common field could be joined using Joiner transformation.

A simple mapping is shown below containing heterogeneous (one Oracle source and other a flat file)

sources:

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The Oracle and Flat file sources have been joined using a Joiner Transformation as shown in above

screenshot. Note that ITEM_ID is a common field in both the sources which enables us to join these sources.

User is supposed to specify a joining condition in “Joiner Transformation” as shown below:

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Only the rows matching the joining condition will be sent forward to the QVX file writer.

6. Session Extensions

Once a mapping is created, user needs to create a session associated with the mapping in the Informatica’s

workflow manager tool. User is also supposed to set session extension properties for QVX file name and file

directory. These are mandatory fields.

There is a checkbox called “Append Timestamp” which is by default un-checked. User can check this

checkbox if he/she wants to append a timestamp to the QVX output file.

The session extension properties are shown in the following screenshot:

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User can change these values to select their own directory path and QVX file name.

7. Running a workflow with the QlikView Target

After creation of the session, user should create a workflow which includes the session instance created in step

6 above.

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Then the user is supposed to run the workflow. As soon as the workflow gets succeeded, a QVX file gets

generated at the specified location with the specified name. This QVX file is then imported into QlikView

software. After importing, the user should be able to see the data in QlikView.

8. Troubleshooting

In case your source data contains some Unicode characters then make sure that your server is running in

Unicode mode otherwise invalid data will be passed through connector. This will cause invalid data generation

in QVX file.

Following are the steps to change your server mode to Unicode.

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1. Open Informatica Admin console, and select the integration service.

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2. Then click on Edit link of PowerCenter Integration Service properties.

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3. Change DataMovementMode to Unicode and click OK.

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4. PowerCenter Integration Service properties display the DataMovementMode as Unicode.