To create a synonym, you must have previously configured the adapter. You can create a synonym from the Applications or Adapters pages of the Web Console.

1. From the Web Console menu bar, click Applications.

   The Applications page opens.

2. Click the New button and select Synonym from the drop-down menu.

   The Select adapter to configure or Select connection to create synonym pane opens.

3. Click a connection for the configured adapter.

   The first of a series of synonym creation panes opens.

4. Enter values for the parameters required by the adapter as described in the synonym creation parameters reference.
5. After entering the parameter values, click Create Synonym.

   The Status pane indicates that the synonym was created successfully.

The synonym is created and added under the specified application directory.

Note:

• You can also create a synonym from the Adapters page by right-clicking a configured adapter connection and selecting Create Synonym.
• When creating a synonym, if you choose the Validate check box (where available), the server adjusts special characters and checks for reserved words. For more information, see Validation for Special Characters and Reserved Words.

The following list describes the synonym creation parameters for which you can supply values.

Restrict Object Type to

Restrict candidates for synonym creation based on the selected object type(s): Tables, Views, External SQL Scripts, and any other supported objects.

Choosing External SQL Scripts from the drop-down list enables you to represent an SQL Query as a synonym for read-only reporting. A Synonym candidate can be any file that contains one (and only one) valid SQL Query and does not contain end-of-statement delimiters (";" or "/") and comments.

Depending on the adapter, you can further restrict your search by choosing check boxes for listed objects.

Database selection

To specify a database from which you can select a table or other object, do one of the following:

• Check Use current database to use the database that has been set as the default database.
• Select a database from the Select database drop-down list, which lists all databases in the current DBMS instance.

  Before selecting a database, if Use current database is checked, uncheck it.

This option applies to Sybase ASE; it does not apply to Sybase IQ.

Filter by Owner/Schema and Object name

Selecting this option adds the Owner/Schema and Object Name parameters to the screen.

• Owner/Schema. Type a string for filtering the selection, inserting the wildcard character (%) as needed at the beginning and/or end of the string. For example, enter: ABC% to select tables or views whose owner/schema begin with the letters ABC; %ABC to select tables or views whose owner/schema end with the letters ABC; %ABC% to select tables or views whose owner/schema contain the letters ABC at the beginning, middle, or end.
• Object name. Type a string for filtering the object names, inserting the wildcard character (%) as needed at the beginning and/or end of the string. For example, enter: ABC% to select all objects whose names begin with the letters ABC; %ABC to select all whose names end with the letters ABC; %ABC% to select all whose names contain the letters ABC at the beginning, middle, or end.

Location of External SQL Scripts

xIf you specify External SQL Scripts in the Restrict Object type to field, these additional fields are displayed.

The following standard naming conventions apply for UNIX, IBM i IFS, and z/OS HFS:

• In the Base Location field, specify the physical directory location of the file that contains the SQL Query. You can type a directory name or click on the ellipsis. This opens the Select Base Location dialog box.
• In the Document Name field, enter the file name with or without wild card characters.
• In the Document Extension field, enter the extension of the script files to filter the list of candidates.

On IBM i, you can use alternative IFS naming conventions to access library members. The following entry illustrates this method:

• In the Base Location field, enter:

  /QSYS.LIB/MYLIBRARY.LIB/MYSRC.FILE

• The Document Extension is understood to be MBR. You can enter this value explicitly or leave the input box blank.

During synonym generation, the adapter issues native API calls to obtain a list of elements in the select list and builds the Master File with a field for each element. The generated Access File references the location of the SQL script in the DATASET attribute, which contains the full path, including the name and extension of the file containing the SQL Query. For example,

DATASET=/ul/home2/apps/report3.sql

When a WebFOCUS report is created, the SQL Query is used to access data.

Cardinality

Select the Cardinality check box to reflect the current cardinality (number of rows or tuples) in the table during metadata creation. Cardinality is used for equi-joins. The order of retrieval is based on the size (cardinality) of the table. Smaller tables are read first.

If the cardinality of the tables to be used in the application are dynamic, it may not be beneficial to choose this setting.

With foreign key

Select the With foreign key check box to include within this synonym every table related to the current table by a foreign key. The resulting multi-table synonym describes all of the foreign key relationships of this table.

Dynamic columns

To specify that the Master File created for the synonym should not contain column information, select the Dynamic columns check box.

If this option is selected, column data is retrieved dynamically from the data source at the time of the request.

For Subquery

Only available when External SQL Scripts is selected from the Restrict objects type to drop-down menu. When selected, a SUBQUERY keyword is added to the Access File of the generated synonym. If the corresponding SQL string is not parameterized (that is, does not contain parameter markers, such as ? or :), it will be processed as a subquery embedded into a FROM clause of the generated SELECT query. Otherwise, the setting will be ignored, and a FOC1782 warning message will be issued. The default is selected (SUBQUERY=Y).

Application

Select an application directory. The default value is baseapp.

Prefix/Suffix

If you have tables with identical table names, assign a prefix or a suffix to distinguish them. For example, if you have identically named human resources and payroll tables, assign the prefix HR to distinguish the synonyms for the human resources tables. Note that the resulting synonym name cannot exceed 64 characters.

If all tables and views have unique names, leave the prefix and suffix fields blank.

Customize data type mappings

To change the data type mappings from their default settings, select this check box. The customizable mappings are displayed.

For information about customizable mappings, see Sybase Data Type Support.

Overwrite Existing Synonyms

To specify that this synonym should overwrite any earlier synonym with the same fully qualified name, select the Overwrite existing synonyms check box.

Note: The connected user must have operating system write privileges in order to recreate a synonym.

Default Synonym Name

This column displays the name that will be assigned to each synonym. To assign a different name, replace the displayed value.

Owner/Schema

The user account that created the object or a collection of objects owned by a user.

Type

The object type (Table, View, and so on).

Select tables

Select tables for which you wish to create synonyms:

• To select all tables in the list, click the Select All button.
• To select specific tables, select the corresponding check boxes.

An Adapter for Sybase synonym comprises a Master File and an Access File. This is a synonym for the table nf29004.

Generated Master File

FILENAME=NF29004, SUFFIX=SQLSYB  , $
  SEGMENT=NF29004, SEGTYPE=S0, $
    FIELDNAME=DIVISION4, ALIAS=DIVISION4, USAGE=I11, ACTUAL=I4, $
    FIELDNAME=DIVISION_NA4, ALIAS=DIVISION_NA4, USAGE=A25, ACTUAL=A25,
      MISSING=ON, $
    FIELDNAME=DIVISION_HE4, ALIAS=DIVISION_HE4, USAGE=I11, ACTUAL=I4,
      MISSING=ON, $

Generated Access File

SEGNAME=NF29004, TABLENAME=qatst.R729999D.NF29004,
  CONNECTION=IBISYBASE,KEYS=0, $

When a synonym is created, the adapter picks up comments from a Sybase IQ database table and places them in the synonym:

• Sybase IQ Comment on Table maps to REMARKS in the Master File.
• Sybase IQ Comment on Field maps to DESCRIPTION in the Master File.

This chart describes the keywords in the Access File.

SEGNAME

TABLENAME

TABLENAME=[owner.]table

CONNECTION

CONNECTION=connection

KEYS

WRITE

KEYFLD
IXFLD

AUTO
INCREMENT

START

INCREMENT

INDEX_NAME
INDEX_UNIQUE
INDEX_COLUMNS
INDEX_ORDER

Once you have created a synonym, you can right-click the synonym name in the Adapter navigation pane of either the Web Console or the Data Management Console to access the following options.

The following table describes how the Unicode server maps Character data types. The server operates in character semantic when configured for Unicode. The LONGCHAR setting does not affect mapping in this case.

The following table lists data type mappings based on the value of LONGCHAR:

ENGINE SQLSYB SET CONVERSION LONGCHAR {ALPHA|TEXT|BLOB}

where:

SQLSYB

Indicates the adapter. You can omit this value if you previously issued the SET SQLENGINE command.

ALPHA

Maps the Sybase data types TEXT, BINARY, and VARBINARY as alphanumeric (A). ALPHA is the default value.

TEXT

Maps the Sybase data types TEXT, BINARY, and VARBINARY as text (TX). Use this value for WebFOCUS applications.

BLOB

For UNIX, Windows, OpenVMS, and IBM i, is identical to ALPHA. That is, it maps the Sybase data types TEXT, BINARY, and VARBINARY as alphanumeric (A).

For z/OS, maps the Sybase data types TEXT, BINARY, and VARBINARY as binary large object (BLOB).

The following table lists data type mappings based on the value of LONGCHAR:

ENGINE SQLSYB SET CONVERSION LONGCHAR {ALPHA|TEXT|BLOB}

where:

SQLSYB

Indicates the adapter. You can omit this value if you previously issued the SET SQLENGINE command.

ALPHA

Maps the Sybase data types CHAR, VARCHAR, BINARY, and VARBINARY as alphanumeric (A). ALPHA is the default value.

TEXT

Maps the Sybase data types CHAR, NCHAR, VARCHAR, BINARY, and VARBINARY as text (TX). Use this value for WebFOCUS applications.

BLOB

Maps the Sybase data types CHAR, VARCHAR, BINARY, and VARBINARY as BLOB.

The following table lists data type mappings based on the value of VARCHAR:

ENGINE SQLSYB SET VARCHAR {ON|OFF}

where:

SQLSYB

Indicates the adapter. You can omit this value if you previously issued the SET SQLENGINE command.

ON

Maps the Sybase data types VARCHAR, VARCHAR2, and NVARCHAR2 as variable-length alphanumeric (AnV). This is required for Unicode environments. ON is the default value.

OFF

Maps the Sybase data types VARCHAR, VARCHAR2, and NVARCHAR2 as alphanumeric (A).

The following table lists data type mappings based on the value of VARCHAR:

ENGINE SQLSYB SET VARCHAR {ON|OFF}

where:

SQLSYB

Indicates the adapter. You can omit this value if you previously issued the SET SQLENGINE command.

ON

Maps the Sybase data types VARCHAR and VARBINARY as variable-length alphanumeric (AnV). ON is the default value.

OFF

Maps the Sybase data types VARCHAR and VARBINARY as alphanumeric (A).

ENGINE SQLSYB SET CONVERSION RESET
ENGINE SQLSYB SET CONVERSION format RESET
ENGINE SQLSYB SET CONVERSION format [PRECISION precision [scale]]
ENGINE SQLSYB SET CONVERSION format [PRECISION MAX]

where:

SQLSYB

Indicates the adapter. You can omit this value if you previously issued the SET SQLENGINE command.

RESET

Returns any previously specified precision and scale values to the adapter defaults. If you specify RESET immediately following the SET CONVERSION command, all data types return to the defaults. If you specify RESET following a particular data type, only columns of that data type are reset.

format

Is any valid format supported by the data source. Possible values are:

INTEGER which indicates that the command applies only to INTEGER columns.

DECIMAL which indicates that the command applies only to DECIMAL columns.

REAL which indicates that the command applies only to single-precision floating-point columns.

Note: Only applies to DB2, CA-IDMS/SQL, Microsoft SQL Server, and Sybase.

FLOAT which indicates that the command applies only to double-precision floating-point columns.

precision

Is the precision. Must be greater than 1 and less than or equal to the maximum allowable value for the data type (see the description of MAX).

scale

Is the scale. This is valid with DECIMAL, FLOAT and REAL data types. If you do not specify a value for scale, the current scale setting remains in effect. The default scale value is 2.

If the scale is not required, you must set the scale to 0 (zero).

MAX

Sets the precision to the maximum allowable value for the indicated data type:

Data Type	MAX Precision
INTEGER	11
DECIMAL	18
REAL	9
FLOAT	20

The following example shows how to set the precision attribute for all INTEGER and SMALLINT fields to 7:

ENGINE SQLSYB SET CONVERSION INTEGER PRECISION 7

The following example shows how to set the precision attribute for all DOUBLE PRECISION fields to 14 and the scale attribute to 3:

ENGINE SQLSYB SET CONVERSION FLOAT PRECISION 14 3

The following example shows how to set the precision attribute for all INTEGER and SMALLINT fields to the default:

ENGINE SQLSYB SET CONVERSION INTEGER RESET

The following example shows how to set the precision and scale attributes for all fields to the defaults:

ENGINE SQLSYB SET CONVERSION RESET