Text Qualifier option for Flat file schema in Biztalk 2020

BizTalk flat file schemas handle text qualifiers by using wrap characters and/or escape characters, not by a separate “Text Qualifier” option like SSIS.

For an incoming value such as:

"TRAINING | APR 6-10 | CREDIT"

configure the flat file schema so that the double quote (") is treated as a wrap character (or use an escape character if needed). This tells the Flat File Disassembler that delimiters and other special characters inside the wrapped text are part of the data and must not be interpreted as structural delimiters or record terminators, which avoids \r\n / unexpected-data parsing errors.

Key points from the flat file behavior:

• Flat file schemas support two techniques to treat special characters (including delimiters and record separators) as data:
  • Escape characters
  • Wrap characters
• These are specifically intended for cases where characters such as |, \r\n, or spaces appear inside a field value and must not be treated as delimiters.

In practice:

1. Open the flat file schema in BizTalk Schema Editor.
2. On the relevant Field Element node(s) that can contain values like "TRAINING | APR 6-10 | CREDIT", set the appropriate flat-file annotation properties so that " is used as a wrap character (and/or define an escape character if the data uses one).
3. Redeploy and use this schema in the Receive pipeline’s Flat File Disassembler.

This configuration allows BizTalk 2020 to correctly parse text-qualified fields without throwing unexpected data or \r\n issues.

References:

• Ways to Interpret Special Characters as Part of a Field Value
• How to Use BizTalk Flat File Schema Wizard