[Informatica] Sorter Transformation

Sorter Transformation

::Transformation type::

Connected
Active

::Use::

The Sorter transformation allows you to sort data in a reltional or a flat file data source. Data can be sorted in ascending or descending order based on the specified sort key. Sorter transformation can also be configured for case-sensitive sorting.

::Sorting::

-The PowerCenter Server passes all incoming data into the Sorter transformation and caches it before performing the sort operation.
- You can specify more than one port as part of the sort key. Thus, the order of the ports in the Sorter transformation plays in improtant part here. - Also we can enable/disable the Case Sensitivity property in Properties tab.
- When the Distinct output rows property for the Sorted is checked we can discard the duplicate rows during sort operation. This makes the Sorter a Active transformation.
- Null values are treated as higher values when the Null treated low property is unchecked and vice-versa.

::Performace Improvement::

- As discussed in my earlier posts, Sorter plays the most critical role in performance improvement while dealing with large sets of data.
- The sorter can be used before a Union, Joiner, Aggregator to substantially improve the performace.  This helps in reducing the unncessary disk overheads while reading/writing the data.

::Example::
The follwoing example shows how a Sorter can be used to sort a record set on multiple keys.