Testing & Debugging in
Informatica PowerCenter
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Agenda
What do we test in Informatica?
 Preparing to test
 Different types of problems
 Solutions to problems
 Using the debugger
 Where to look for problem causes
 Common problems and their solutions

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Testing – What needs to be tested?

Format
Examples:
 File
length
 Number formats
 Representation of NULL

Logic
Examples:
 Calculation
results
 Results of logical conditions
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Testing – Preparing for battle
Prepare test plan
 Grant appropriate file permissions
 Prepare test data

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Types of problems

Format related
“What is this junk data?!!!”
”My file looks ugly!!”

Logic related
“Why am I getting a different output? I am SURE my
logic is correct”
 Others
Workflow fails
No session log written
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Fighting it out…

Format related problems
Solution:
File length – Check port length/precision
 Number formats – Check port
length/precision
 Representation of NULL – check session
properties

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Fighting it out…

Logic related problems
Solution: Debugger!!!!!
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Features in the Debugger
Setting break points
 Evaluating expressions
 Discarding target data

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Using the Debugger
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Fighting it out…

Other problems
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Where to look?
1.
2.
3.
4.
Session property in Workflow monitor
Session log
Session property in Workflow designer
Debugger
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Accessing the session
property in Workflow
monitor
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Accessing the session
Log file in Workflow
monitor
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Changing the logging to
‘verbose’ mode
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Changing ‘NULL’
representation
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Fighting it out…

Common problems and causes
SNo
Problem
Solution
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Workflow fails at the beginning itself
Check monitor session properties if file
access problems exist
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Workflow fails at the beginning itself, no
file access problems
Check SQL syntax in source qualifiers
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Workflow fails for some reason
Check session log. If necessary, run session
in ‘verbose’ mode
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Data is being truncated for some reason
Check port length
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Logical equality/inequality operators do
not seem to work
Trimming is needed/Check data type
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Logical conditions are getting executed
wrongly
Check if NULL checks have been performed
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Numbers are being read from flat file.
Corresponding calculation results are
wrong
Check length/precision of ports
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During debugging, all ports get null
value
Some fatal error has occurred. Eg: division by
zero, invalid date
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Thank You!
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