Creating transformation properties

You can create transformation properties in Eclipse plug-ins that contain transformations. Transformation properties refine the output that a transformation generates. You can specify values for these properties when you create or edit a transformation configuration.

You must have a plug-in manifest file open in the manifest editor. The manifest file must contain an instance of the transformation provider extension point, a transformation provider element, and a transformation.

To create a transformation property:

In the plug-in manifest editor, on the Extensions tab, expand com.ibm.xtools.transform.core.transformationProviders, expand the appropriate TransformationProvider element, right-click the Transformation element to which you want to add a property; then click New > Property.
Note: You can also create a transformation property by clicking the Transformation element and clicking Edit. In the Transformation Authoring wizard, on the New Transformation page, in the Properties table, click Insert, and specify values for the columns in the table. To delete a property, click a row in the Properties table and click Delete.
In the plug-in manifest editor, on the Extensions tab, in the Extension Element Details area, in the name field, specify a name that enables you to recognize the property.
Tip: For more information about the fields in the Extension Element Details area, place the mouse pointer over the name to display hover help.
In the Extension Element Details area, in the id field, specify a unique identifier for the property. This value should be unique within the transformation. You should specify an identifier that follows this naming convention: x.y, where x represents the name of the transformation, and y represents the name of the property.
Optional: Specify additional information about the property. For example, in the metatype field, specify the type of the property. For example, to create a property of type String that has a maximum length of three characters, specify the following values:
- In the metatype field, type String.
- In the metatypeData field, type maxLength=3.
Click File > Save.

A Property element is created in the plug-in manifest file. The new property is displayed on the Properties page of the New Transformation Configuration wizard or the transformation configuration editor the next time that you create or edit a transformation configuration. You can retrieve the information about the property by calling the methods in the ITransformationProperty interface. The methods in this interface extract the value and metadata of a transformation property. If you extract the underlying metatype data for the property value by using the getMetatypeData method, to validate the property value you can specify application code to parse the String that this method returns. For information about how to retrieve the values for custom properties, see the link to the Javadoc HTML documentation for the ITransformationProperty class in the Related information section below.

For example, to create a String property called My String Property that has a maximum length of three characters, in the plug-in manifest editor, on the Extensions tab, in the Extension Element Details area, specify the following values:

In the name field, type %MyNewPropertyName
In the id field, type MyNewPropertyName
In the metatype field, type String
In the metatypeData field, type maxLength=3

In the plugin.properties file, add the following line to assign a value to the %MyNewPropertyName variable:

MyNewPropertyName=My String Property

Note: If you create a new plug-in by using the Plug-in with Transformation template, you can specify this information on the New Transformation page of the Transformation Authoring wizard.