✅ Why does Xcalar pass my import UDF both a full pathname to the file and a stream?

[Sean_Stephens]

Hi,

I am writing my first import UDF. The example in the online help indicates that Xcalar passes both a pathname and a stream of the data source. Why? Do I have the option to access the data source via file access or stream?

Thanks for your help,
Sean

[mprince]

Hi @Sean_Stephens,

Congrats on tackling your first import user-defined function! No, you don’t have an option as-to how you access the data source. Xcalar handles all file input/output, and provides you the data source content via the stream.

We find that the full filepath to the data source has valuable context that some customers need to add to their data source. For example, it might contain the name of a server, file name, date, or timestamp not otherwise in the data.

It sounds like your pathname doesn’t contain any data you need to add to your dataset. In that circumstance, make sure that your UDF accepts both parameters, but like the import UDF example in the online help (Select the Help icon , type "UDF examples" into the text input and select the Search button ), you don’t have to do anything special with that information.

Cheers,
Mark

[dshetty]