# Flatpack

## Flatpack Component

The Flatpack component supports fixed width and delimited file parsing using the FlatPack library. Notice: This component only supports consuming from flatpack files to Object model. You can not (yet) write from Object model to flatpack format.

Maven users will need to add the following dependency to their `pom.xml` for this component:

    <dependency>
        <groupId>org.apache.camel</groupId>
        <artifactId>camel-flatpack</artifactId>
        <version>x.x.x</version>
        <!-- use the same version as your Camel core version -->
    </dependency>

## URI format

    flatpack:[delim|fixed]:flatPackConfig.pzmap.xml[?options]

Or for a delimited file handler with no configuration file just use:

    flatpack:someName[?options]

You can append query options to the URI in the following format, `?option=value&option=value&...`

## URI Options

Name | Default Value | Description
--- | --- | ---
`delimiter` | `,` | The default character delimiter for delimited files.
`textQualifier` | `"` | The text qualifier for delimited files.
`ignoreFirstRecord` | `true` | Whether the first line is ignored for delimited files (for the column headers).
`splitRows` | `true` | As of Apache Camel 1.5, the component can either process each row one by one or the entire content at once.

## Examples

- `flatpack:fixed:foo.pzmap.xml` creates a fixed-width endpoint using the `foo.pzmap.xml` file configuration.

- `flatpack:delim:bar.pzmap.xml` creates a delimited endpoint using the `bar.pzmap.xml` file configuration.

- `flatpack:foo` creates a delimited endpoint called `foo` with no file configuration.

## Message Headers

Apache Camel will store the following headers on the IN message:

Header | Description
--- | ---
`camelFlatpackCounter` | The current row index. For `splitRows=false` the counter is the total number of rows.

## Message Body

The component delivers the data in the IN message as a `org.apache.camel.component.flatpack.DataSetList` object that has converters for `java.util.Map` or `java.util.List`. Usually you want the `Map` if you process one row at a time (`splitRows=true`). Use `List` for the entire content (`splitRows=false`), where each element in the list is a `Map`. Each `Map` contains the key for the column name and its corresponding value.

For example to get the firstname from the sample below:

      Map row = exchange.getIn().getBody(Map.class);
      String firstName = row.get("FIRSTNAME");

However, you can also always get it as a `List` (even for `splitRows=true`). The same example:

      List data = exchange.getIn().getBody(List.class);
      Map row = (Map)data.get(0);
      String firstName = row.get("FIRSTNAME");

## Header and Trailer records

In Apache Camel 1.5 onwards the header and trailer notions in Flatpack are supported. However, you must use fixed record IDs:

- `header` for the header record (must be lowercase)

- `trailer` for the trailer record (must be lowercase)

The example below illustrates this fact that we have a header and a trailer. You can omit one or both of them if not needed.

        <RECORD id="header" startPosition="1" endPosition="3" indicator="HBT">
            <COLUMN name="INDICATOR" length="3"/>
            <COLUMN name="DATE" length="8"/>
        </RECORD>

        <COLUMN name="FIRSTNAME" length="35" />
        <COLUMN name="LASTNAME" length="35" />
        <COLUMN name="ADDRESS" length="100" />
        <COLUMN name="CITY" length="100" />
        <COLUMN name="STATE" length="2" />
        <COLUMN name="ZIP" length="5" />

        <RECORD id="trailer" startPosition="1" endPosition="3" indicator="FBT">
            <COLUMN name="INDICATOR" length="3"/>
            <COLUMN name="STATUS" length="7"/>
        </RECORD>

## Using the endpoint

A common use case is sending a file to this endpoint for further processing in a separate route. For example:

      <camelContext xmlns="http://activemq.apache.org/camel/schema/spring">
        <route>
          <from uri="file://someDirectory"/>
          <to uri="flatpack:foo"/>
        </route>

        <route>
          <from uri="flatpack:foo"/>
          ...
        </route>
      </camelContext>

You can also convert the payload of each message created to a `Map` for easy Bean Integration