Even if a job completes successfully, it does not guarantee that all processes ran as intended.
The output data may differ from your expectations.
Verifying Job Success
The most reliable way to measure a job's success is to examine the target data. Always verify the data to ensure the movement operation produces the expected results:
- Ensure data is not truncated or converted to incompatible types.
- Verify that data is not duplicated in the target.
- Ensure no data is lost during target updates.
- Confirm that generated keys are correctly incremented.
- Verify that updated values are processed correctly.
Using View Data with Sources and Targets
As shown in the following figure, the View data feature allows you to check the data status at any point after importing metadata for a data source. You can inspect data before or after processing data flows. Use this feature during job design and testing to ensure the results align with your requirements.
Data Details
The View data feature allows you to preview source data before executing a job. Use these details to:
- Improve the quality of job designs.
- Analyze imported table and file data from the Local Object Library.
- Inspect data for these objects within existing jobs.
- Reference source data after job execution.
You can also use View data to check target data before execution and review changes afterward. In a data flow, you can use multiple View data panels to compare data across transforms, sources, and targets.
The View data pane displays data in a grid format. The path for the selected object is shown at the top of the pane.
View Data in a Data Grid
The number of displayed rows depends on the following factors:
- Sample size:
This is the number of rows held in memory. The default sample size is 1,000 rows for imported sources, targets, and transforms.
- Filtering:
The selected filtering options. If the data set is small or filters are applied, the number of returned rows may be less than the default.
View Data Pane
Follow these steps to open a View data pane in a data flow workspace:
- In the data flow workspace, select the magnifying glass icon on a data flow object.
A View Data pane appears below the workspace.
- To compare data, select the magnifying glass icon for another object.
A second pane opens, and the first pane resizes automatically to fit.
You can only have two View data windows open at once. If you try to open a third, a prompt will appear asking you to close one of the existing windows.
Source and Target Tables
To use View data for source and target tables:
- On the Datastore tab of the Local Object Library, right-click a table and select View Data.
The View Data dialog box opens.
If both panes are already open and you select another View Data button, a menu with placement icons appears. The black area in each icon indicates which pane will be replaced. Once you select an option, the new data replaces the content in the chosen pane.
Summary
In this lesson, you have learned how to thoroughly validate your jobs.
- Examine target data to confirm job success, as a successful status is not a guarantee.
- Check for common data issues like truncation, duplication, data loss, and incorrect updates.
- Use the `View data` feature to inspect data in sources, targets, and transforms.
- Open two `View data` panes to compare data between different objects in your data flow.