Creates a list of XML elements containing dates based on input definitions.

Generate dates step is used to generate a list of dates. These dates are generated based upon Input properties.
Depending on Split property value, resulting dates can be:

• formatted, thanks to Output properties, into text in XML elements that are inserted in the sequence’s XML output,
• split in several pieces of information (day of week, day date, month, year) that are added into an XML structure inserted in the sequence’s XML output.

Property Type Category Description
Comment String standard Describes the object comment to include in the documentation report.
This property generally contains an explanation about the object.
Is active boolean standard Defines whether the step is active.
Node name String standard Defines the tag name of the generated XML element.
This property can contain any name, no words are reserved, and must follow the rules on XML naming:

• it can contain letters, numbers, and other characters,
• it cannot start with a number,
• it cannot contain spaces nor punctuation character.
Assigned XSD Simple type QName XmlQName expert Defines the schema base type to assign as a type to this simple XML element.
This property allows to assign a simple XSD type to the simple XML element generated by this step. It can only be used when the step actually generates a simple XML element.
Input - Days of week XMLVector expert Defines the days of week.
This property defines the days of the week which dates have to be generated. Days of week are defined by numbers which can take different values depending on the Java Calendar compatibility property:

• for Java Calendar compatible format - M:2, T:3, W:4, T:5, F:6, S:7, S:1;
• for classic format - M:1, T:2, W:3, T:4, F:5, S:6, S:7.

Notes:

• For generating several days, separate days numbers by a comma (","). For example: "2,3,4,5,6,7,1" to generate all days with Java Calendar compatibility property to true.
• The order of defined days numbers does not impact the dates generation. For example: "2,3,4,5,6,7,1" and "5,2,6,4,3,7,1" values give the same output result dates.
Input - End date XMLVector expert Defines the end date using Input - format property value format.
This property defines the date to which dates are generated (day included).
Input - Format String expert Defines the input dates format.
Input dates text must be formatted depending on this property.
For example, if dates are entered in the following form: 09/09/2009, the Input - Format property can be set to:

• MM/dd/yyyy, with the Input - Locale property set to US,
• dd/MM/yyyy, with the Input - Locale property set to FR.

For more information on usable symbols, see Appendix “Date format - Usable symbols”.
Input - Locale String expert Defines the input dates locale.
Input dates text must be formatted depending on this property.
For example, with the Input - Format property set to dd MMMM yyyy, the Input - Locale property can be set to:

• US, if entered dates look like 09 September 2009,
• FR, if entered dates look like 09 septembre 2009.
Input - Start date XMLVector expert Defines the start date using Input - format property value format.
This property defines the date from which dates are generated (day included).
Java Calendar compatibility boolean expert Defines whether input/output properties values are compatible with the Java Calendar.
If this property is set to false, the input/output properties values use traditional calendar notations:

• weekdays go from 1 to 7,
• months go from 01 to 12,
• days go from 01 to 31.

If this property is set to true, the input/output properties values use Java Calendar notations:

• weekdays go from 1 to 7 (but order differs from traditional calendar, see the Input - Days of week property),
• months go from 0 to 11,
• days go from 1 to 31.
Output boolean expert Defines whether the XML generated by this step should be appended to the resulting XML.
Set this property to true to add the step’s resulting XML to the sequence’s output XML (default value for steps generating XML). Set this property to false to prevent the steps’s XML result to appear in the sequence’s output XML.
Setting this property to false does not prevent the step’s generated XML from being used as a source by other steps.
Output - Format String expert Defines the dates output format in “no split” case.
This property defines the resulting date format when dates are generated as texts (see Split property description).
In this case, text of generated dates is formatted depending on Output - Format property.
For example, if the Output - Format property is set to yyyy MM dd, the 09/09/2009 resulting date would be written: 2009 09 09.
For more information on usable symbols, see Appendix “Date format - Usable symbols”.
Output - Locale String expert Defines the dates output locale in “no split” case.
This property defines the resulting date locale when dates are generated as texts. Text is formatted depending on this property.
For example, if the date is 09/09/2009 and the resulting Output - Format property is set to MMMM, the resulting date would be written:

• “September”, with the Output - Locale property set to US,
• “septembre”, with the Output - Locale property set to FR.
Split boolean expert Defines whether dates should be split into several pieces of data or written as text.
If this property is set to false (i.e. “no split” format), each generated date is created with the following format:
<date>date into Output format format</date>.
If this property is set to true (i.e. “split” format), each generated date is created with the following format:
<date>
<dayOfWeek>value of dayOfWeek</dayOfWeek>
<day>value of day</day>
<month>value of month</month>
<year>value of year/year>
</date>