Connector Checker

What it's for

Check a data file for a SAP SuccessFactors Learning connector before you load it, so you find the problems yourself rather than in the connector’s error log. Connector files are plain text with a | between fields, !##! at the end of each row, optional " around fields, and a header row first, in files named like item_data_<customer>.txt. The page has three parts:

• Check a file: checks a connector file against that connector’s fields.
• Convert to connector format: turns CSV, TSV or spreadsheet rows into a connector file.
• Look up error codes: explains the error codes in lines from a connector log.

For example, when a nightly import fails or silently skips rows, open the file here to see which rows have a value that’s too long, a date in the wrong format or a missing required column.

How to use it

Check a file. Choose a file, or drop one on the page. Nothing is uploaded: it’s read in your browser. The connector is worked out from the file name or, failing that, from the header (the connector whose fields best match it), and the message line says which. To override that, choose the connector from the list.

Under File settings and your own rules, change the field delimiter, row end and quote if your file differs from the usual |, !##! and ". You can also add your own rules, one per line as FIELD_NAME = pattern, where the pattern is a regular expression that the whole value must match (for example ITEM_ID = [A-Z]{3}-\d{4}; lines starting # are ignored). Empty values aren’t tested against your rules. The settings and rules are remembered in the browser. Press Check again after changing them.

The file is checked for:

• Valid UTF-8, a byte order mark (BOM) at the start, and characters often pasted from Word, such as curly quotes, dashes and non-breaking spaces.
• A file name that doesn’t match the connector’s pattern, and the connector not being identifiable at all.
• The header: a column that appears twice, a column that isn’t one of the connector’s fields, a required column that’s missing, and a header row that lacks the row end when the other rows have it.
• Each row: a missing row end, a different number of fields from the header, a field holding a line break, and a row that repeats an earlier one (by the connector’s key fields where it has them, otherwise the whole row).
• Each value: required but empty, the text NULL, longer than the field’s limit (counted in bytes, so accented characters take more than one, or in characters where the workbook gives characters), and not suiting the field’s type: a date as MON-DD-YYYY HH24:MI:SS, Y or N, a whole or decimal number, a number in a range, or one of a set of allowed values. Time zone columns are checked against the LMS’s time zone IDs; a locale outside SAP’s standard list gets a note, as each LMS can add its own. A column the connector doesn’t use gets a note too.
• Your own rules.

The results are errors, warnings and notes in a table with the row, column and issue. Show filters by level and by column, and Save as CSV downloads all the issues. If the connector has fields that must match codes set up in the LMS, such as a domain or a person’s ID, Reference fields lists the values your file uses, so you can check them in the LMS by eye.

Convert to connector format. Paste CSV, TSV or cells copied from a spreadsheet, header first, and leave Read it as on detect or choose the separator. The connector format appears below it, with fields containing the delimiter, a quote or a line break put in quotes. Copy it, or Save as a file to download connector_data.txt. It’s converted as you type, using the delimiter, row end and quote from the file settings above.

Look up error codes. Paste lines from a connector log and the known error codes in them are listed with their severity, meaning and the lines they were on.

Example

Under Convert to connector format, paste this (the title in the first row holds a |):

Course ID,Title,Hours
FS-101,Fire Safety | Basics,2
FS-102,"Manual Handling, Advanced",3

The message line reads “A header and 2 rows.” and the connector format is:

Course ID|Title|Hours!##!
FS-101|"Fire Safety | Basics"|2!##!
FS-102|Manual Handling, Advanced|3!##!

Only the title with a | is quoted. The column names here are examples: use your connector’s own field names in the header.

Good to know

Reference fields can’t be checked, because the codes live in your LMS; the tool lists the values for you to check there. The connectors’ fields come from SAP’s LMS Connectors Reference, the latest available in May 2026, so fields SAP adds or changes in a later version may be missing or flagged wrongly. Rows are checked against the fields’ types and lengths, not against what’s already in the LMS, so a value can pass here and still be rejected, for example a duplicate of something already loaded. Conversion doesn’t rename columns or check them, so run the converted file through Check a file. Up to 2,000 issues are shown on the page; the CSV has them all.