ODI: How to correctly define and pass variables between tasks inside Knowledge Module?

Question

I'm building a custom IKM, and I need to keep some values in memory during execution. So in the first task, I try to define all the variables that will be used in following tasks.

For example, I need to get Session Number as integer. I do it like this:

<% 
int SESSIONID = Integer.parseInt(<?=odiRef.getSession("SESS_NO")?>); 
%>

But I get the following error:

Parse error at line 2, column 17.  Encountered: <
Pre-execution text:
int SESSIONID = 699;
out.print("");

This

<%
String sessionNo = odiRef.getSession("SESS_NO");
int SESSIONID = Integer.parseInt(sessionNo);
%>

is also not working:

Sourced file: inline evaluation of: `` String sessionNo =             
odiRef.getSession("SESS_NO"); Integer SESSIONID = Integer.pa . . . '' : Typed variable declaration : Method Invocation Integer.parseInt
Target error:
For input string: "707"
Pre-execution text:
String sessionNo = odiRef.getSession("SESS_NO");
int SESSIONID = Integer.parseInt(sessionNo);
out.print("");
Error text:
Integer .parseInt ( sessionNo ) 

What am I doing wrong?

Answer 1

In the first attempt :

• the <% tags are executed/substituted before the <? tags so the odiRef.getSession() is not substitued. I would use <$ or <@ on the outer tag, so it happens after that substitution. More info at the end of this excellent blog : https://devepm.com/2014/09/16/odi-substitution-tags-demystified/
• because the odiRef.getSession() will be substituted before the rest of the code execution, it has to be surrounded by double quotes to be seen as a string.
• Integer.parseInt() returns an int, so I would store it into an int and not an Integer. If you want to store it as an Integer, use Integer.valueOf() instead.

Try

<@ 
int SESSIONID = Integer.parseInt("<?=odiRef.getSession("SESS_NO")?>"); 
@>

In the second attempt I'm not sure what's wrong. Could it be that the session is not available yet at the <% pass? You could debug it by setting the KM step Technology on Jython and use this code :

raise '<%=odiRef.getSession("SESS_NO")%>'

That would show you the value of SESS_NO in the error message in the operator.