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The Synonym Editor enables you to view and edit the attributes of a synonym.
To view and edit synonym attributes:
The Synonym Editor opens to the Field View tab, which shows a hierarchy of segments and columns on the left, with the attributes and values of the selected item on the right.
The attributes available depend on the type of synonym.
The values for Format, Expression, Description, and Nulls are viewable in the hierarchy with the columns. To edit these values, use the corresponding attribute fields on the right-hand side of the Synonym Editor.
The Synonym Editor does not let you make any changes that would render the synonym unusable. Therefore, you cannot edit any value field that is highlighted gray. In addition, if a change does not have proper syntax or format applied, the field may appear in red text. Messages and warnings appear if you try to save a file that contains an error.
Note: You can multi-select fields to change attributes for multiple fields in a single operation. The display changes to show only those attributes that can be changed.
Note: If you close the Synonym Editor without saving your changes, you are prompted to do so.
The image below is an example of an SQL data source with the synonym file name selected.
Note: Information about the attribute that has focus is displayed at the bottom of the attribute list. In this case, an explanation of the SUFFIX attribute appears.
Synonyms can have the following file attributes:
Identifies the type of synonym or data source.
Defines the default century value, specifying a century number for handling cross-century dates.
Note: Use the default setting (0) unless you wish to retrieve data from a earlier century. For example, 19xx.
Defines the base years, to represent the lowest year to which the century value applies (FDEFCENT).
Note: Use the default setting (0) unless you wish to retrieve data from a earlier century. For example, 19xx.
Enables you to include descriptive information at the file level and specify multiple language descriptions for the synonym. Remarks are displayed along with the file name during reporting.
Identifies the location of the data source to be used in the file name, including the extension and the location of the data file.
Note: The attributes available depend on the type of synonym.
If a synonym segment is selected, the attributes listed below are available.
Note: Information about the attribute that has focus is displayed at the bottom of the attribute list.
Is the name of the segment.
Specifies the type of relationship that a segment has to its parent and indicates which of the segment fields are key fields, and in what order they are sorted.
Type. Identify the segment type and sorting options from the Type drop-down list.
Keys. Records are sorted in a data source by key fields. Enter the number of key fields that you want to use for sorting. For example, no two employees can have the same employee ID number, so you can use that field as the key. A segment instance can have more than one field that makes up the key. That is, two or more field values may be used to distinguish records.
SEGSUF is used when part of the data source being described by the synonym is of a different data source type than that declared for the entire structure.
Note: SEGSUF is the data source type of a segment and any descendants it might have, where that type differs from the SUFFIX value.
Contains a description or comments about the segment.
Is the name of the cross-referenced data source.
Is the name of the cross-referenced segment.
Identifies the common join field for the cross-referenced segment.
Note: These cross-referenced values (CRFilename, CRSegname, CRKey) are available for FOCUS data sources.
Adapter Specific fields are shown if an Access File component has been generated with the synonym.
Defines how many members of a dimension can be retrieved for a report.
Identifies the table or view. It may contain the owner ID, as well as the table name. For some synonyms, it must also contain the data source name. This value may be a variable.
Indicates the host server or data source for synonyms. This value may be a variable.
Identifies how many columns constitute the primary key.
Identifies the logical sort sequence of data by the primary key.
Specifies whether write operations are allowed against the table.
Identifies the storage area in which the table resides.
Specifies the type of table persistence and related table properties. This is optional for database management systems that support volatile tables, and required otherwise.
Note: The attributes available depend on the type of synonym.
If a column or field in a synonym is selected, the attributes listed below are available.
The attributes available depend on the type of synonym.
Information about the attribute that has focus is displayed at the bottom of the attribute list.
Is the name of the column.
Assigns an alternative name for a column, or the real column name for a DBMS synonym.
For file data sources, a special reserved ALIAS of INSTANCE means the associated FIELD will show the name of the file when it is read.
When a FIELDNAME of RECTYPE is used the ALIAS contains the value that identifies the record type.
Controls how null data is handled, that is, if no transaction value is supplied.
Supplies a title to replace the column name that is normally used in reports and enables you to specify multiple language titles for the column or field.
Describes the type and length of data as it is actually stored in the data source.
Describes the data type and format for the column for usage or display.
Note: Additional attributes, DEFCENT and YRTHRESH, are available if the Usage field is set to Date, Time, or DateTime (Timestamp) format. Use these attributes to enter the century and year threshold values for the column or field.
Contains a description or comments about the column or field.
Specifies criteria for validating data.
FIND is only available for FOCUS data sources and does not apply to OLAP-enabled synonyms. Note also that, in the Maintain environment, FIND is not supported when developing a synonym.
Contains the name of a field to be included in a dimension.
Specifies access options for the column data.
This value is not currently used by DataMigrator.
This value is not currently used by DataMigrator.
Appends a help message to a column.
This attribute is not used by WebFOCUS.
Sets slowly changing dimension attributes. This option is only available for existing relational targets and is only used by a flow when SCD is enabled in the target object.
A surrogate key is the KEY column in the table and has an SCD type of blank. Other columns with a blank SCD type have no SCD processing done to them. In a synonym, this column will always appear first, even if it is not the first column in the table.
Note: The surrogate key must be an integer. If the column is identified in the synonym as read-only and Auto increment, then the database native processing is used to assign surrogate key values. If it is not so identified, then DataMigrator processing assigns values for this column, incrementing for each new row added.
The data type must be either a Date format or a Date and Time format, however the format of the two field must be identical.
Begin/End Date values for Slowly Changing Dimensions can now be Datetime or Timestamp values.
This field must be an integer. Valid values are:
Indicates that a record is active.
Indicates that a record is inactive.
The name of the style.
The attributes available depend on the type of synonym.
The following attributes are only used if AUTOINCREMENT is checked.
The image below is an example of a Flat File data source with DATA_ORIGIN of LISTENER.
A Flat File data source may have the following attributes:
The name of a connection for a flat file source that identifies an FTP server. This field is optional. If not specified, the file resides locally.
Indicates the origin of data described by the synonym.
FILE. Indicates that a file (or collection of files if a wildcard is used in the dataset parameter) is read once. This is the default.
LISTENER. Indicates that a file (or files) are read as they appear as specified in the remainder of the File Collection Parameters.
TAIL. Is reserved for future use.
Indicates the application directory to check for files. To use a directory that is not under the app root of the server, map that directory.
Note: The application directory does not have to be in the application path of the server.
Indicates the name of the file. May include wildcard characters. The default is *.
Indicates the file type that the listener will check for. The default is .ftm.
Indicates the maximum number of data files processed by the request. The default is 99999999.
Used only for the data origin of TAIL. Indicates the maximum number of records processed by the request. The default is 99999999.
KEEP. Keeps the file. This option is only available for pickup type of Trigger or Monitor.
The parameters below only apply to Origin of Listener.
Indicates the polling interval (in seconds) for new files arriving in the specified directory. For example, a polling interval of 10 means the directory is scanned every ten seconds for new files. The default is 10 seconds.
Indicates the timeout interval (in seconds) before a flow or other read request should wait before terminating. For example, a timeout value of 100 means if no new files arrive in the directory after 100 seconds, the job should stop. The default is 10 seconds.
Indicates the mechanism used to pick up files from their directories. The options are:
IMMEDIATE. Processes the file as soon as it is detected. This is the default.
TRIGGER. Processes the file when a trigger file is detected. This setting requires an additional setting for the trigger file extension.
A trigger is typically used when processing needs to be delayed. For example, by waiting until this secondary file appears while a large file is being copied into a directory, the trigger file indicates when processing can begin.
MONITOR. Monitors the file as soon a file change is detected.
The files themselves are not read, only their name and location are recorded. Processes files and sub-directories when they are added, changed, or deleted.
When Pickup strategy of trigger is used, indicates the trigger file extension. The trigger file extension is added to the full name of file being listened for. For example, if the trigger file extension is .trg, the trigger file for a data file named input.dat would be input.dat.trg. There is no default value.
Note: For VMS only use an underscore. For example, input_dat.trg.
Indicates what to do with the file after it has been processed by a file agent. The options are:
DELETE. Deletes the file.
ARCHIVE. Moves the file, while adding a timestamp to the name, to a specified directory. This is the default.
KEEP. Keeps the file. This option is only available for pickup type of Trigger.
When Discard strategy of Archive is used, this indicates the directory to use to archive the files.
A prototype synonym is provided as ibisamp/filemntr.mas for a user with the File Listener pickup strategy Monitor. To use this synonym, copy it to an application directory in your application path and edit the File Listener parameters as needed. At a minimum, edit the value for DIRECTORY to point to the application directory (or mapped application name) that you want to monitor. Edit the NAME and EXTENSION values to show the file name (or * for all names) and extensions that you want to monitor.
This synonym contains fields with special values for the ALIAS as described below.
The properties of the prototype synonym are shown in the following image.
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