Convert Data Actions
Convert Data actions take the data stored in one or more input parameters or datasets, and convert it to data stored in one or more output datasets.
| Action Property | Description |
|---|---|
| Convert Type | A String parameter or dataset specifying the conversion type. This is only used for some types of conversion. |
| In<Type>, String1 - String9 | A <Type> or String parameter or dataset which provides the data to be converted. |
| Out<Type> | A <Type> dataset which is used to store the converted data. |
| XSL | XML code defining an XSL transformation for input XML parameters or datasets (optional). |
The following matrix shows the data types that may be converted. Each Convert Data action node may only be used for a single type of conversion:
1
Used when the Convert Type property is set to ‘TableKey_Table’.
2
Used when the Convert Type property is set to ‘StringsToTwoColumnTable’.
3
Used when the Convert Type property is set to ‘CombineXMLs’.
4
Optional. XML code defining an XSL transformation.
Converting AAQ Select Lists to Tables
An AAQ Select List may be converted to a Table by specifying the Convert Data action’s InAAQSelectList and OutTable properties. In this type of conversion, the output table that stores the AAQ Select List has an ID column which stores rule names, and a CATEGORY_ID column which stores category names.
Converting BSP Applications to Performance History Data
If the Convert Data action’s Convert Type property is set to ‘WebToWAPA’, the action converts a table of BSP Application ENTRY_IDs retrieved by the SWNC_COLLECTOR_GET_AGGREGATES function to a table of WAPA application statistics that may provide usage data for other actions.
Each WAPA name is retrieved from the O2APPL table’s APPNAME field on the specified RFC Destination.
For this type of conversion, the InRfcDestination, InTable and OutTable properties should be specified. The input table should have a NAME column which stores BSP Application ENTRY_IDs, and a COUNT column which stores their usage counts. The output table has the following columns:
| Column | Description |
|---|---|
| TYPE | This column is set to ‘WAPA’. |
| NAME | The retrieved WAPA name. |
| ACCOUNT | This column is empty. |
| COUNT | The COUNT value from the input table. |
| SOURCE_NAME | The NAME column from the input table. |
Converting Floats to Tables
A Float may be converted to a Table by specifying the Convert Data action’s InFloat and OutTable properties. In this type of conversion, the output table that stores the Float has a single FLOAT column.
Converting Hierarchy Datasets to Tables
A Hierarchy dataset may be converted to two output tables. For this type of conversion, the Convert Data action’s InHierarchy, OutTable and OutTable2 properties should be specified.
The OutTable dataset stores objects from the hierarchy, and has the following columns:
| Column | Description |
|---|---|
| ~ | This column is set to ‘=’. |
| System | This column is not used. |
| ID | The internal identifier for the hierarchy object. |
| STATUS | The internal identifier for the object’s comparison status. |
| ROLLUP_STATUS | For objects with subobjects, this column stores the internal identifier for the object’s rolled-up comparison status. |
| TYPE | The type of the object. |
| NAME | The name of the object. |
| DESCRIPTION | The object’s description. |
The STATUS and ROLLUP_STATUS columns may contain the following values:
| status | Description |
|---|---|
| 0 | The object was not compared. |
| 2 | The object exists in the first compared system only. |
| 3 | The object exists in the second compared system only. |
| 4 | The object is the same in each compared system. |
| 5 | The object is different in each compared system. |
| 6 | The object could not be compared. |
Converting Images to Strings
If the Convert Data action’s Convert Type property is set to ‘Image_String’, the action converts an Image parameter or dataset to a String dataset. For this type of conversion, the Convert Data action’s InImage and OutString properties should be specified.
Converting IMG Select Lists to Tables
An IMG Select List may be converted to a Table by specifying the Convert Data action’s InIMGSelectList and OutTable properties. In this type of conversion, the output table that stores the IMG Select List has CLASS and OBJECT columns.
Converting Integers to Tables
An Integer may be converted to a Table by specifying the Convert Data action’s InInteger and OutTable properties. In this type of conversion, the output table that stores the Integer has a single INTEGER column.
Converting LiveCompare Names to SAP Names
If the Convert Data action’s Convert Type property is set to ‘LCNameToSAPName’ the action converts a compound object name without padding:
| TYPE | NAME |
|---|---|
| DYNP | SAPLZUTL 0100 |
… to a compound object name with padding
| TYPE | NAME |
|---|---|
| DYNP | SAPLZUTL 0100 |
Unpadded compound object names are returned by the Uses What action in its Tree dataset, however the Get SAP Objects action requires padded compound object types in its Objects dataset. For this type of conversion, the InTable and OutTable properties should be specified, and the input table should include TYPE and NAME columns.
Converting RFC Destinations to Tables
An RFC Destination may be converted to a Table by specifying the Convert Data action’s InRfcDestination and OutTable properties. In this type of conversion, the output table has the following columns:
| Column | Description |
|---|---|
| NAME | The name of the RFC Destination. |
| TYPE | The type of the SAP server used for the connection. This column is set to ‘A’ if the connection uses an Application Server, or to ‘M’ if the connection uses a Message Server. |
| SYSID | The SAP system ID used for the connection. |
| ASHOST | The DNS name, domain name or IP address of the SAP Application Server or Message Server. |
| GROUP | For Message Servers, this field is set to the name of the logon group. |
| INSTANCENR | The application instance number of the SAP system. |
| USER | The SAP user ID used for this connection. |
| CLIENT | The SAP client. |
| LANGUAGE | The SAP logon language. |
Converting SAP Names to LiveCompare Names
If the Convert Data action’s Convert Type property is set to ‘SAPNameToLCName’ the action converts a compound object name with padding:
| TYPE | NAME |
|---|---|
| DYNP | SAPLZUTL 0100 |
… to a compound object name without padding
| TYPE | NAME |
|---|---|
| DYNP | SAPLZUTL 0100 |
For this type of conversion, the InTable and OutTable properties should be specified, and the input table should include TYPE and NAME columns.
Converting Strings to Images
If the Convert Data action’s Convert Type property is set to ‘String_Image’, the action converts a String parameter or dataset to an Image dataset. For this type of conversion, the Convert Data action’s InString and OutImage properties should be specified.
Converting Strings to String Lists
A String may be converted to a String List, for example so that it can be used as the To property for a Send Email action. For this type of conversion, the Convert Data action’s InString and OutStringList properties should be specified.
Converting Strings to Tables
A String may be converted to a Table by specifying the Convert Data action’s InString and OutTable properties. In this type of conversion, the output table that stores the String has a single NAME column.
Converting Strings to Test Repositories
A String may be converted to a Test Repository by specifying the Convert Data action’s InString and OutTestRepository properties.
Converting Strings to Two-Column Tables
If the Convert Data action’s Convert Type property is set to ‘StringsToTwoColumnTable’, the action converts a String parameter or dataset to table with NAME and VALUE columns. The NAME column stores the name of the String parameter or dataset, and the VALUE column stores its value.
For this type of conversion, one or more of the String1 - String9 properties should be specified as inputs, and the OutTable property should be specified as an output. The output table may be used as the Create Dashboard Report action’s Additional Resources dataset.
Converting String Lists to Strings
A String List may be converted to a String by specifying the Convert Data action’s InStringList and OutString properties. The String value stores the first item in the String List.
Converting String Lists to Tables
A String List may be converted to a Table by specifying the Convert Data action’s InStringList and OutTable properties. In this type of conversion, the output table that stores the String List has a single NAME column.
Converting Table Keys to Selection Tables
If the Convert Data action’s Convert Type property is set to ‘TableKey_Table’, the action converts a table containing table keys to a table of field selections for the corresponding tables. For this type of conversion, the InTable, OutTable and InRfcDestination properties should be specified.
The input table should have at least a NAME column that contains table key data. For example, the NAME column returned by the Get SAP Objects action for objects with type TABK. The InRfcDestination property should refer to the RFC Destination from which to obtain table key data. The OutTable dataset has the following columns, and may be used as the Rows to Read property for the Retrieve Table Set action.
| Column | Description |
|---|---|
| TABLE | The name of the SAP table containing the table key. |
| FIELD | A key field from the SAP table. |
| OP | This column is set to ‘EQ’ (equals). |
| LO | The field value associated with the table key. |
| HI | This column is not set. |
| IE | This column is set to ‘I’ (include). |
See the Select List Parameters help topic for further details.
Converting Tables to AAQ Select Lists
A table may be converted to an AAQ Select list, for example so it can be used as the AAQ Select List property for the Analyze ABAP Quality action. For this type of conversion, the InTable and OutAAQSelectList properties should be specified. The input table should include an id column which stores rule names, and a categoryId column which stores category names.
Converting Tables to Booleans
A table may be converted to the Boolean value ‘true’ if it contains any rows, or to the Boolean value ‘false’ if it is empty. For this type of conversion, the InTable and OutBoolean properties should be specified, and the Convert Type property should be set to ‘Table_Boolean’.
Converting Tables to Hierarchy Datasets
Two input tables may be converted to a Hierarchy dataset by specifying the Convert Data action’s InTable, InTable2 and OutHierarchy properties. The two input tables should be those generated by the ‘Hierarchy Datasets to Tables’ conversion described above (modified if necessary to support your own workflow requirements).
Converting Tables to Pair Lists
A Table may be converted to a Pair List, for example so that it can be used as the Key Map property for the Read SAP Table and Join action. For this type of conversion, the Convert Data action’s InTable and OutPairList properties should be specified. Rows from the first two columns in the table are converted to items in the Pair List.
Converting Tables to RFC Destinations
A Table may be converted to an RFC Destination by specifying the Convert Data action’s InTable and OutRfcDestination properties. The action converts an RFC Destination name in the top left table cell to an RFC Destination. If LiveCompare is project controlled, you should make sure that the RFC Destination is available in your current project.
This type of conversion may be used in conjunction with the Get Administration Objects action, specifying ‘RfcDestination’ as the value of the action’s Object Type parameter.
Converting Tables to Select Lists
A Table may be converted to a Select List, for example so that it can be used as the Selects property for a Get SAP Objects action. For this type of conversion, the Convert Data action’s InTable and OutSelectList properties should be specified. The input table should have at least the following columns:
| Column | Description |
|---|---|
| FIELD | An SAP object type or table field name. |
| OP | The comparison operator to use: One of EQ, GT, GE, LT, LE, BT or CP. |
| LO | The ‘Low’ comparison value. |
| HI | If the ‘BT’ operator is used, this field refers to the ‘high’ comparison value. |
| IE | Enter ‘I’ to include objects or table rows that match this specification, or ‘E’ to exclude them. |
See the Select List Parameters help topic for further details.
Converting Tables to Strings
If the Convert Data action’s Convert Type property is set to ‘TableToHtmlString’, the action converts a table to its HTML representation stored as a string. For this type of conversion, the InTable and OutString properties should be specified. To prevent converting a large amount of data, the action will report an error if there are more than 30 columns in the input table, or more than 8,192 characters in the resulting HTML string.
The String dataset returned by this type of conversion may be substituted into the Send Email action’s Message parameter. This allows the contents of a Table parameter or dataset to be included in an email.
If the Convert Type property is not specified, the action converts the first cell in the input table to a string. The string value is returned in the action’s OutString dataset.
Converting Tables to String Lists
A Table may be converted to a String List by specifying the Convert Table action’s InTable and OutStringList properties. The String List stores values from the first column in the input table.
Converting Tables to XML
If the Convert Data action’s Convert Type property is set to ‘TableToXML’, the action converts a table to its XML representation. For this type of conversion, the InTable and OutXML properties should be specified.
Converting Test Repositories to Strings
A Test Repository may be converted to a String by specifying the Convert Data action’s InTestRepository and OutString properties.
Converting XML External Data Sources to XML Datasets
An XML External Data Source may be converted to an XML dataset by specifying the InExternalDataSource and OutXML properties.
XML Conversions
The Convert Data action supports the following conversions for XML data types:
- If the InString and OutXML properties are set, the input string is parsed as XML and stored in the output dataset.
- If the InXML property is set, the input XML may be converted to a table, a string or XML by specifying the OutTable, OutString or OutXML properties. One or more of these output properties may be set.
- The XSL property stores an XML parameter or dataset specifying an XSL transformation. If this property is set, the XSL transformation is applied to the InXML parameter or dataset before the conversion is performed.
Obtaining Field Definitions from a Table
If the Convert Data action’s Convert Type property is set to ‘Table_TableDefinition’, the action obtains the field definitions from an input Table parameter or dataset. For this type of conversion, the InTable and OutTable properties should be specified.
The OutTable dataset has the following columns:
| Column | Description |
|---|---|
| TABLE | For SAP tables, this column stores the name of the table. For tables that have not been read from an SAP system, this column is left blank. |
| NAME | The name of a field from the table. |
| TYPE | The type of the field. |
| LENGTH | The length of the field. |
| ISKEY | This column is set to ‘true’ if the field from the input table is a key field, and to ‘false’ otherwise. |
Removing Status Details from the Results of the Compare Tables Action
If the Convert Data action’s Convert Type property is set to ‘ConvertStatus’, the action converts table with status information returned by the Compare Tables action to a table with NAME, TYPE and Status columns. For this type of conversion, the InTable and OutTable properties should be specified.
Combine XMLs Convert Type
If the Convert Data action’s Convert Type property is set to ‘CombineXMLs’, the action combines two or more XML parameters or datasets to a single XML dataset, using the specified string value as a top-level XML tag. For this type of conversion, the InXML, InXML2, InString and OutXML properties should be specified. The combined XML is stored in the OutXML dataset.
ObjectListToSelectList Convert Type
If the Convert Data action’s Convert Type property is set to ‘ObjectListToSelectList’, the action converts a table of objects to a table of object selections. For this type of conversion, the InTable and OutTable properties should be specified.
The input table should have at least a NAME and a TYPE column, for example:
| NAME | TYPE |
|---|---|
| VA01 | TCOD |
This is converted to an output table with the following columns:
- TABNAME
- SELNAME
- KIND
- SIGN
- OPTION
- LOW
- HIGH
For example:
| TABNAME | SELNAME | KIND | SIGN | OPTION | LOW | HIGH |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| TCOD | S | I | EQ | VA01 |
The OutTable dataset returned for this type of conversion may be used as the input for a number of Tricentis-supplied SAP functions, called from LiveCompare using the Generic RFC Call action.
Implicit Conversion Types
LiveCompare attempts to determine the type of conversion to be performed by examining the action’s input parameters and output datasets. If the Convert Type property is not set, LiveCompare uses its determined conversion type. If the Convert Type property and the determined conversion type are different, LiveCompare uses the Convert Type property.
Convert Data actions support the use of the Define Action Parameters Wizard, which allows new input parameters to be created with type ‘Xml’.
Example:
To examine the details for a Convert Data action, double-click the action node, or select ‘View Details’ from the node’s context menu. If the action uses input or output tables, the Details screen displays the number of rows in the tables and the time taken for the action to complete.