Originally posted by: MakSys

I am using Websphere TX version 8.2.0.4. I am trying to update an existing map to use FTP as an input rather than a local file.

I found this article that describes how to import and use the Websphere FTP adapter.

http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/websphere/library/techarticles/1012_manian/1012_manian.html?ca=drs-

I followed these steps and I changed my input card source to use Websphere FTP and did the necessary configuration. I configured a LocalArchiveDirectory and I can see the files are coming down. I also have the tracing turned on and I can see they are getting downloaded, passed to my map then deleted. The issue I'm having is that the downstream maps are reporting an error "Input Valid but unknown data found". I configured my input to backup and I can see there is extra "garbage" at the end of the file. The files in the LocalArchiveDirectory look fine, but it seems that there is extra data passed to my existing map. When I turn on tracing on the existing map the undefined data shows up as <NULL><NULL><NULL><NULL>.... the number of null characters vary. I verified with a hex editor that the extra characters are hex 00.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. I'm sure I could figure out a way to strip out the null characters, but I'm just wondering if this is expected or if I might have something wrong in my configuration.
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Originally posted by: repanzer1

I used to use the FTP adapter exentisly, but that was a while ago, though I do not recall it ever adding data to the files I am retrieving.

I would suggest first to use FTP manually from the C:/ prompt and retrieve a file from the server and check to make sure that it does not contain these extra characters. If you do that and they are not there, I would then use WTX FTP to grab the file you just retrieved manually and confirm that it is WTX adding the data.

Once you confirm it is WTX, I would check the type tree you are using for that input card to make sure it is not adding them based on the type tree set up, like having a terminator of null values on the field grabbing the data. Can’t think of anything else to check off hand, but if I think of something, I’ll post back.

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Originally posted by: repanzer1

Also, you may want to put on -TRACE versbose command (-TV ). I believe this will show all the data being retrieved, and may offer some ideas on what is happening.

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Originally posted by: MakSys

Thank you very much for the suggestions. I am able to get the files using the built in FTP client from a command prompt and the files come down fine. I have seen cases where characters are introduced during the FTP process if going from windows to unix machines, but have found that using the ASCII switch takes care of these issues. I am using the ascii switch both in my manual FTP commands and in the WTX FTP configuration.

I'm pretty sure that the files are fine when they are transferred from the FTP server to the local working directory. I have the local archive turned on and when I look at those files they are fine. I've also tested pulling down the files with the built in windows command FTP client and they come down okay. I turned on the VERBOSE tracing and I the FTP commands are what I would expect (ASCII mode on, directory listing, get each file, delete each file).

So, I think the FTP adapter is doing fine when it transfers the files, but somehow when the data from each file is passed to my map I'm getting these extra <NULL> characters. I will check the input type trees as you suggest. In theory, the type tree should be the same. I'm changing the source from file (the local drive) to FTP Server, but the incoming files are the same format.

I did manage to work around it by using a TRIMRIGHT(myfiledata,HEXTEXTTOSTREAM("00")) to remove the null characters at the end :).
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