I need to create an Excel file (or Tab Delimited file) with column names that are in the form xxxx.yyyy-zzz Talend does not allow the use of a "." in the column name. I can create an excel file with xxxx_yyyy_zzz but then have to change the header in Excel. How can I create an output file with column header values that are not allowed within Talend?
First, create a subjob with a tFixedFlowInput and give it the same number of columns as your actual data source that outputs a single row. In the column to supply the values to the tFixedFlowInput, place your column names - which can now be free form text and outside of the limitations of the column names. And connect this to your tFileOutputExcel, make sure you're not including a header with the column names. Next, go to your current tFileOutputExcel and change it to append to both the file and sheet. See the attached screenshots for examples of this. These are for using excel, but the approach still applies for delimited or other types of files as well.