Data Mapper - Distinct Child Element on flat file source not working?

[mayo]

Could someone help me figure out why the Distinct Child Element property on a Simple Loop is not working in this situation..

I have a simple flat file that has IDs and Zipcodes.

id;zipcode
1;44100
1;44200
2;69002
2;56410
2;56100

I want the output to look like:

<Root>
	<Record>
		<id>1</id>
		<Zips>
			<Zipcode>44100</Zipcode>
			<Zipcode>44200</Zipcode>
		</Zips>
	</Record>
	<Record>
		<id>2</id>
		<Zips>
			<Zipcode>69002</Zipcode>
			<Zipcode>56410</Zipcode>
			<Zipcode>56100</Zipcode>
		</Zips>
	</Record>
</Root>

However when I use the Distinct Child Element and set it to "id", it only brings back the first ID, number 1.  ID #2 is ignored.  The result is:

<Root>
  <Record>
    <id>1</id>
    <Zips>
      <Zipcode>44100</Zipcode>
      <Zipcode>44200</Zipcode>
    </Zips>
  </Record>
</Root>

Screenshot of the mapping:

It is odd because this Distinct Child Element component works with an XML input, as can be seen in the https://community.talend.com/t5/Design-and-Development/quot-Group-By-quot-in-data-mapper/td-p/177449  But why did the user need to create a 2nd map just to filter get the unique list and why couldn't they have done it in just 1 mapping?  Instead they had to create a 2nd mapping just for the Distinct Child Element setting.

[mayo]

Is it possible this could be a bug?  I didn't find anything specifically related in the report issues. This ticket here might be but the thing I'm trying to do a distinct on is not looping itself, it is within a loop.

[Anonymous]

Hi,

Could you try with:

[mayo]

That looks like it worked!!  How did you know to use "Flat:"?   Also do you know if I have to use something else if my input is a "Map" (dataflow from within Talend) instead of an input of a CSV?  I will be testing this out with Map input soon.

[Anonymous · Accepted solution]

Hi,

I found that out here:

https://jira.talendforge.org/browse/TDM-4476
https://jira.talendforge.org/browse/TDM-562

If you input is Map, yes you have to use prefix Map. When it is XML, you can omit it.

Eric

[mayo]

You are f*kin brilliant.  Thank you very much.