COBOL Copybook File - Import
Bridge Specifications
Vendor | ISO |
Tool Name | COBOL Copybook File |
Tool Version | 1985 |
Tool Web Site | http://www.iso.org/iso/iso_catalogue/catalogue_tc/catalogue_detail.htm?csnumber=51416 |
Supported Methodology | [File System] Data Store (Physical Data Model, Logical Data Model) via Cobol Copybook File |
Data Profiling | ![]() |
Incremental Harvesting | ![]() |
Multi-Model Harvesting | ![]() |
Remote Repository Browsing for Model Selection | ![]() |
SPECIFICATIONS
Tool: ISO / COBOL Copybook File version 1985 via Cobol Copybook File
See http://www.iso.org/iso/iso_catalogue/catalogue_tc/catalogue_detail.htm?csnumber=51416
Metadata: [File System] Data Store (Physical Data Model, Logical Data Model)
Component: CobolCopybook version 11.2.0
OVERVIEW
This bridge can only import the COBOL COPYBOOK files (which contain the data definitions), therefore does not detect (reverse engineer) metadata from actual COBOL data files.
The detection of such COBOL COPYBOOK file is not based on file extensions (such as .CPY) but rather by sampling the file content.
This bridge creates a 'Physical Hierarchical Model' which reflects a truly flat, byte-position defined, record structure, which is useful for stitching to the DI/ETL processes. Therefore, the physical model has all the physical elements required to define a flat record, which is ONE table with all the elements (including multiple columns for OCCURS elements when the proper bridge parameter is set).
Note that this bridge does not currently support the COPY verb, and reports a parsing error at the line and position at which the COPY statement begins. In order to import Copybooks with the Copy Statement, create an expanded Copybook file with the included sections already in place (replacing the COPY verb). Most COBOL compilers have the option to output only the preprocessed Copybooks with the COPY and REPLACE statements expanded.
Frequently Asked Questions:
Q: Why is the default start column '6' (six) and the default end column '72' (seventy-two)?
A: The bridge parser counts columns starting at 0 (zero), rather than 1 (one). Thus, the defaults leave the standard first six columns for line numbers, next column for comment indicators, and last 8 columns (out of 80) for additional line comment information.
LIMITATIONS
Refer to the current general known limitations at MIMB Known Limitations or bundled in Documentation/ReadMe/MIMBKnownLimitations.html
DISCLAIMER
This bridge requires internet access to download third-party libraries:
- Such as the Maven Central Repository to download open source third-party libraries,
- and more sites for other third-party software such as database specific JDBC drivers.
The downloaded third-party libraries are stored into $HOME/data/download/MIMB/
- If HTTPS fails, the bridge then tries with HTTP.
- If a proxy is used to access internet, you must configure that proxy in the JRE (see the -j option in the Miscellaneous parameter).
- If the bridge does not have full access to internet, that $HOME/data/download/MIMB/ directory can be copied from another server with internet access where the command $HOME/bin/MIMB.sh (or .bat) -d can be used to download all third-party libraries used by all bridges at once.
By running this bridge, you hereby acknowledge responsibility for the license terms and any potential security vulnerabilities from these downloaded third-party software libraries.
Bridge Parameters
Parameter Name | Description | Type | Values | Default | Scope | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
File | Bridge reads metadata from the COBOL copybook file or COBOL File Description (CFD). | FILE |
|
Mandatory | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Encoding | Specify the encoding of the text in the COBOL file. | ENUMERATED |
|
utf-8 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Import model as | Specifies how to import the model. 'Physical hierarchical model' represent a Copybook as a Hierarchical file. This is the default. 'Logical data model' represent a Copybook as a data modeling. |
ENUMERATED |
|
Physical hierarchical model | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Run COBOL copybook parser in verbose mode | Run COBOL copybook parser in verbose mode if there are parsing problems arise. This setting will help to identify causes of the warnings and errors reported by the import bridge. | BOOLEAN |
|
False | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Expand multiply occuring records | Expand multiply occurring records into multiple attributes. For example record: 30 OCCURS-TEST PIC X OCCURS 3 TIMES. will be represented as list of attributes with names like: OCCURS-TEST(1) OCCURS-TEST(2) OCCURS-TEST(3) Occurence within occurence: 30 OCCURS-GROUP OCCURS 3 TIMES. 40 OCCURS-TEST PIC X OCCURS 2 TIMES. is represented as: OCCURS-TEST(1,1) OCCURS-TEST(1,2) OCCURS-TEST(2,1) OCCURS-TEST(2,2) OCCURS-TEST(3,1) OCCURS-TEST(3,2) |
BOOLEAN |
|
False | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Import fillers | Specifies whether filler field names should be imported. 'True' Filler field names are imported. 'False' Filler field names are ignored. This is the default value. |
BOOLEAN |
|
False | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Miscellaneous | INTRODUCTION Specify miscellaneous options starting with a dash and optionally followed by parameters, e.g. -connection.cast MyDatabase1="MICROSOFT SQL SERVER" Some options can be used multiple times if applicable, e.g. -connection.rename NewConnection1=OldConnection1 -connection.rename NewConnection2=OldConnection2; As the list of options can become a long string, it is possible to load it from a file which must be located in ${MODEL_BRIDGE_HOME}\data\MIMB\parameters and have the extension .txt. In such case, all options must be defined within that file as the only value of this parameter, e.g. ETL/Miscellaneous.txt JAVA ENVIRONMENT OPTIONS -java.memory <Java Memory's maximum size> (previously -m) 1G by default on 64bits JRE or as set in conf/conf.properties, e.g. -java.memory 8G -java.memory 8000M -java.parameters <Java Runtime Environment command line options> (previously -j) This option must be the last one in the Miscellaneous parameter as all the text after -java.parameters is passed "as is" to the JRE, e.g. -java.parameters -Dname=value -Xms1G The following option must be set when a proxy is used to access internet (this is critical to access https://repo.maven.apache.org/maven2/ and exceptionally a few other tool sites) in order to download the necessary third-party software libraries. Note: The majority of proxies are concerned with encrypting (HTTPS) the outside (of the company) traffic and trust the inside traffic that can access proxy over HTTP. In this case, an HTTPS request reaches the proxy over HTTP where the proxy HTTPS-encrypts it. -java.parameters -java.parameters -Dhttp.proxyHost=127.0.0.1 -Dhttp.proxyPort=3128 -Dhttp.proxyUser=user -Dhttp.proxyPassword=pass MODEL IMPORT OPTIONS -model.name <model name> Override the model name, e.g. -model.name "My Model Name" -prescript <script name> This option allows running a script before the bridge execution. The script must be located in the bin directory (or as specified with M_SCRIPT_PATH in conf/conf.properties), and have .bat or .sh extension. The script path must not include any parent directory symbol (..). The script should return exit code 0 to indicate success, or another value to indicate failure. For example: -prescript "script.bat arg1 arg2" -postscript <script name> This option allows running a script after successful execution of the bridge. The script must be located in the bin directory (or as specified with M_SCRIPT_PATH in conf/conf.properties), and have .bat or .sh extension. The script path must not include any parent directory symbol (..). The script should return exit code 0 to indicate success, or another value to indicate failure. For example: -postscript "script.bat arg1 arg2" -cache.clear Clears the cache before the import, and therefore will run a full import without incremental harvesting. If the model was not changed and the -cache.clear parameter is not used (incremental harvesting), then a new version will not be created. If the model was not changed and the -cache.clear parameter is set (full source import instead of incremental), then a new version will be created. -backup <directory> This option allows to save the bridge input metadata for further troubleshooting. The provided <directory> must be empty. The primary use of this option is for data store import bridges, in particular JDBC based database import bridges. Note that this option is not operational on some bridges including: - File based import bridges (as such input files can be used instead) - DI/BI repository import bridges (as the tool's repository native backup can be used instead) - Some API based import bridges (e.g. COM based) for technical reasons. DATA CONNECTION OPTIONS Data Connections are produced by the import bridges typically from ETL/DI and BI tools to refer to the source and target data stores they use. These data connections are then used by metadata management tools to connect them (metadata stitching) to their actual data stores (e.g. databases, file system, etc.) in order to produce the full end to end data flow lineage and impact analysis. The name of each data connection is unique by import model. The data connection names used within DI/BI design tools are used when possible, otherwise connection names are generated to be short but meaningful such as the database / schema name, the file system path, or Uniform Resource Identifier (URI). The following option allows to manipulate connections. These options replaces the legacy options -c, -cd, and -cs. -connection.cast ConnectionName=ConnectionType Casts a generic database connection (e.g. ODBC/JDBC) to a precise database type (e.g. ORACLE) for SQL Parsing, e.g. -connection.cast "My Database"="MICROSOFT SQL SERVER". The list of supported data store connection types includes: ACCESS APACHE CASSANDRA DB2/UDB DENODO GOOGLE BIGQUERY HIVE MYSQL NETEZZA ORACLE POSTGRESQL PRESTO REDSHIFT SALESFORCE SAP HANA SNOWFLAKE MICROSOFT SQL AZURE MICROSOFT SQL SERVER SYBASE SQL SERVER SYBASE AS ENTERPRISE TERADATA VECTORWISE HP VERTICA -connection.rename OldConnection=NewConnection Renames an existing connection to a new name, e.g. -connection.rename OldConnectionName=NewConnectionName Multiple existing database connections can be renamed and merged into one new database connection, e.g. -connection.rename MySchema1=MyDatabase -connection.rename MySchema2=MyDatabase -connection.split oldConnection.Schema1=newConnection Splits a database connection into one or multiple database connections. A single database connection can be split into one connection per schema, e.g. -connection.split MyDatabase All database connections can be split into one connection per schema, e.g. -connection.split * A database connection can be explicitly split creating a new database connection by appending a schema name to a database, e.g. -connection.split MyDatabase.schema1=MySchema1 -connection.map SourcePath=DestinationPath Maps a source path to destination path. This is useful for file system connections when different paths points to the same object (directory or file). On Hadoop, a process can write into a CSV file specified with the HDFS full path, but another process reads from a Hive table implemented (external) by the same file specified using a relative path with default file name and extension, e.g. -connection.map /user1/folder=hdfs://host:8020/users/user1/folder/file.csv On Linux, a given directory (or file) like /data can be referred to by multiple symbolic links like /users/john and /users/paul, e.g. -connection.map /data=/users/John -connection.map /data=/users/paul On Windows, a given directory like C:\data can be referred to by multiple network drives like M: and N:, e.g. -connection.map C:\data=M:\ -connection.map C:\data=N:\ -connection.casesensitive ConnectionName Overrides the default case insensitive matching rules for the object identifiers inside the specified connection, provided the detected type of the data store by itself supports this configuration (e.g. Microsoft SQL Server, MySql etc.), e.g. -connection.casesensitive "My Database" -connection.level AggregationLevel Specifies the aggregation level for the external connections, e.g.-connection.level catalog The list of the supported values: server catalog schema (default) COBOL COPYBOOK OPTIONS -s <column number> Start column index in the COBOL copybook file for the parser, e.g. -s 6 -e <column number> End column index in the COBOL copybook file for the parser, e.g. -e 72 |
STRING |
Bridge Mapping
Meta Integration Repository (MIR) Metamodel (based on the OMG CWM standard) |
"COBOL Copybook File" Metamodel CobolCopybook |
Mapping Comments |
Attribute | Record | Records that do not have any sub-record. |
Name | Name | |
PhysicalName | Name | |
Position | Caclucated based on the record offsets and lengths | |
BaseType | Picture | Cacluated from picture. See DerivedType. |
Class | Record | Record that has sub-records. |
Name | Name | |
PhysicalName | Name | |
ClassDiagram | All records are included into default diagram automatically. | |
DerivedType | Picture | |
Length | Picture | |
Name | Picture | |
Scale | Picture | |
DesignPackage | Record | Created for records that have sub-records to display hierarchy. |
Name | Name | |
FileDirectory | COBOL Copybook file | |
Name | File name | |
Generalization | Record | Created for records that have sub-records and parentrecord. |
Name | name | |
GeneralizationRole | Record | |
StoreModel | COBOL Copybook file | |
Name | File name |