Call Output Package Method

Explanation

Use this activity to perform the step where a method (API) is called to take care of gathering output data and to send it to External Files.

This is the first step when performing a Complete Output Flow. In most cases, there must be a specific interface (API), defined in a component package, that takes care of gathering the data to to be packed and output to file by the External Files toolkit.

In the External Files toolkit there is a general interface for handling input and output files:

These interfaces will be suggested to you by the system when you create an external file type and template from a view definition. The output interface takes care of retrieving data from the registered source view and uses the parameter values associated with the load as select criteria and then, finally, sends the data to the External Files.

Prerequisites

An external load must have been created and must be in state Empty.

System Effects

The registered method (API) will be called and that interface is responsible for gathering output data and sending it to External Files. The next steps will be to pack the data to file lines and create an output file.

The load will be assigned the state Loaded.

Window

External File Transactions

Related Window Descriptions

External File Transactions

Procedure

  1. Open the External File Transactions window.
  2. Find the external load using Populate or Query.
  3. Right-click in the header section, click Output File and then click Call Output Package Method to call the registered method (API) that will take care of sending output data to External Files.