Pentaho Data Integration Cookbook Second Edition

Loading a parent-child table

A parent-child table is a table in which there is a self-referencing relationship. In other words, there is a hierarchical relationship among its rows. A typical example of this is a table with employees, in which one of the columns contains references to the employee that is above each employee in the hierarchy.

In this recipe you will load the parent-child table of the employees of Steel Wheels. The hierarchy of roles in Steel Wheels is as follows:

• A sales representative reports to a sales manager
• A sales manager reports to the vice-president
• A vice-president reports to the president
• The president is the highest level in the hierarchy. There is a single employee with this role

You will load all employees from a file. The ...