Pentaho Data Integration Cookbook Second Edition

Creating or altering a database table from PDI (runtime)

When you are developing with PDI, you know (or have the means to find out) if the tables you need exist or not, and if they have all the columns you will read or update. If they don't exist or don't meet your requirements, you can create or modify them, and then proceed. Assume the following scenarios:

• You need to load some data into a temporary table. The table exists but you need to add some new columns to it before proceeding.
• You have to load a dimension table. This task is part of a new requirement, so this table doesn't exist.

While you are creating the transformations and jobs, you have the chance to create or modify those tables. But, if these transformations and jobs are to be run ...