Repeaters

Repeaters are values that, once created and saved in the database, can be used again so that the same original value ("RepeaterKey") is always replaced with the same masked value ("RepeatingValue").

Table of contents
Configuration
Repeater persistence
Example

Configuration

Definition of repeating is configured in the Package.xaml file under the Properties of masking activities in the section Input: Repeating. If this section is not visible in the Properties, the repeating feature is not available for that masking activity. Names of repeaters can be passed in the string format, but it is recommended that you use custom classes and constants so their usage is consistent and more easily understandable throughout the package.

Example: Class Repeaters and its constants which are going to be used for repeating.

namespace BizDataXPackage
{
    public static class Repeaters
    {
        public const string FirstNameRepeater = "FirstNameRepeater";
        public const string LastNameRepeater = "LastNameRepeater";
    }
}

Repeater persistence

Repeaters can be persisted, which means that repeater values used in one masking can be saved and used in another masking. This can be invaluable when masking related databases, or when masking the same database in a regular interval as the resulting masked database will be consistent. The list of databases that support saving persisted repeater values and the steps to configure them to do so can be found here.

Repeater persistence can be configured to work on the fly, i.e. repeater values are saved after they are used in the package. This is recommended in most cases as it is faster and more secure since repeater values are saved even if package execution fails. If you are using restartability in you package, using repeater persistence on the fly is mandatory. The opposite of using repeater persistence on the fly is loading and saving repeater values only at specific points during package execution, in which case you will need to use activities from the Repeating group.

Example

Before masking:

First name	Last name
Helen	Mann
Noel	Rogers

After masking:

First name	Last name
Jena	Larsen
Mark	Grant

Saved values:

RepeaterKey	RepeaterValue
Helen	Jena
Noel	Mark