Create a variable¶

The variable types are:

• string
• int
• float
• bool
• datetime
• map

To create a variable is used the array of objects variables. Example creating two variables:

[[variables]]
name = 'firstname'
type = 'string'
value = 'santiago'

[[variables]]
name = 'age'
type = 'int'
value = '25'

variables:
  - name: firstname
    type: string
    value: 'santiago'
  - name: age
    type: int
    value: '25'

  "variables": [
    {
      "name": "firstname",
      "type": "string",
      "value": "santiago"
    },
    {
      "name": "age",
      "type": "int",
      "value": "25"
    }
  ]

Also, you can read environment variables using env=true:

[[variables]]
name = 'AWS_SECRET'
type = 'string'
env = true

For a datetime variable, there are the additional key datetime_format to defined the format of the value:

[[variables]]
name = 'birthdate'
type = 'datetime'
value = "2020-01-01"
datetime_format = '2006-01-02'

The keys name, type, value and datetime_format are strings. The value key is optional since v2.0.0.

If value key is not set since v2.0.0, the default values are:

• int: 0
• float: 0
• bool: false
• string: empty
• map: empty
• datetime: 0000-01-01 00:00:00

It's possible to get value of an environment variable in the OS. Use the boolean key env and set to true. You can omit the value key.

To declare a variable that represents a expression in the value, use the boolean key expressions and set to true. Its values are evaluated with a expression, for example, concatenating these two variables the expression for type string will be:

firstname + ' ' + toString(age)

*For expressions see Expressions.

The variables can be set in:

• Package config with initial values.
• Executing a package with Dixer binary with option --variable or -v. Example: -v firstname="Santiago De la Cruz" -v age=25. For more see Command line.
• In job type dataflow: you can choose the source and destination will be Variables.
• In job type dataflow: use like derivated columns to create a column in the mapping.

*Variables that are expressions cannot be set because its values are calculated.