External Name

The External Name field permits the processing of element names that include blank space, the $ dollar sign, or other special characters.

Talend Data Mapper (TDM) restricts special characters in element names. Use the External Name field if you import documents with names that contain characters other than letters and numbers.

Creating Structures for JSON

In Talend Data Mapper, you can create Structures for JSON by:

Creating a Structure manually and setting the Representation to JSON.
Importing a JSON sample document.
Importing a Swagger specification.

If you import a JSON sample document or a Swagger specification, see the following example:

When you import a JSON sample document with the following keys:

 {"s a":{"$b":5 }}

Talend Data Mapper automatically creates the External Name for the JSON sample document and converts the $b keys to a valid _b element name. The External Name property keeps track of the unescaped names in the JSON file.

Note: If you manually create a Structure, specify a value in the External Name field when necessary. You cannot create an element name with special characters, such as $b. You can, however, add $b in the External Name field.

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