Metadata Tab

In this section:

You can use the Metadata tab to edit or create synonyms. You can undo or redo actions, manipulate selections of data, find and edit text, switch to different view tabs, insert notes, run different reports, and switch between different view modes. The Metadata tab is shown in the following image.

Metadata tab


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Undo/Redo Group

You can undo and redo actions. The Undo/Redo group is shown in the following image.

Undo/Redo group

The commands are:

Undo

Undoes the last action.

Redo

Restores a previously undone action.


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Clipboard Group

You can delete, cut, copy, and paste sections from the canvas. The Clipboard group is shown in the following image.

Clipboard group

The commands are:

Delete

Deletes your selection.

Cut

Cuts your selection.

Copy

Copies your selection.

Paste

Pastes from your clipboard to the designated area.


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Editing Group

You can find specific text, select the entire canvas, replace specific text, and move to a specific point in the canvas. The Editing group is shown in the following image.

Editing group

The commands are:

Find

Finds specified text.

Find Next

Finds the next instance of specified text.

Find Previous

Finds the previous instance of specified text.

Select All

Selects the entire canvas.

Replace

Replaces the specified text with different text.

Go To

Moves your view of the canvas to the specified area.


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View Group

You can switch between the different views and switch Aerial view on or off. For more information, see Using the Metadata Shortcut Menu. The View group is shown in the following image.

View group

The commands are:

Field

Switches to the Field View. The Field View shows a list of objects on the left, with the attributes and values of the selected item on the right.

Segment

Switches to the Segment View. The Segment View shows the segments that the synonym contains. The Segment View shows a list of objects on the left, with the attributes and values of the selected item on the right.

List

Switches to the List View. The List View shows a list of objects on the left, with the attributes and values of the selected item on the right.

When you right-click a column heading in the List View, a shortcut menu provides options to sort the display based on ascending or descending column values. The display can be sorted by any column.

Modeling View

Switches to the Modeling View. For more information, see Enhancing Synonyms Using the Modeling View.

Text View

Switches to the Text View tab.

You can print the Master File code by selecting Print from the Application menu, perform search operations, and even make changes.

Access File Text View

Switches to the Access File Text View tab.

The Access File Text View shows the description of the Access File for a synonym, which is used to access the database.

Note: You can print the Access File code by selecting Print from the Application menu, performing search operations, and making changes, if necessary.

Aerial View

Switches between showing and hiding Aerial view. This view is only available when in the Modeling View tab.


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Insert Group

You can insert a node. The Insert group is shown in the following image.

The command is:

Insert

Allows you to insert a note. You can insert a Reference to Existing Synonym, Copy of Existing Synonym, Segment via Metadata Import, Segment Manually, DBA, Field, Define, Filter, Compute, Group, Sort Object, Variable, or Style.


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Reports Group

In this section:

You can run a Sample Data report, Data Profiling report, or Impact Analysis report. The Reports group is shown in the following image.

Reports group

The commands are:

Sample Data

Enables you to view and refresh sample data for the selected segment or synonym.

Data Profiling

Runs a Data Profiling report, which provides the data characteristics for synonym columns. The Statistics, Count, and Key Analysis options are available.

Impact Analysis

Runs an Impact Analysis report for the particular column in the workspace. An Impact Analysis report identifies the procedures that access a Master File or column within a Master File.



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Viewing Data Profiling Characteristics

Data Profiling provides data characteristics for the columns in a synonym. You can display the characteristics for all the columns in a synonym or segment, or for an individual column.

For alphanumeric columns, Data Profiling provides the segment, format, count of distinct values, total count, patterns count, maximum, minimum, and average length, minimum and maximum values, and number of nulls. Patterns count shows the number of patterns found in each alphanumeric column.

For numeric columns, Data Profiling provides the segment, format, count of distinct values, total count, maximum, minimum, and average values, and number of nulls.

Data Profiling for an individual column provides access to Statistics, Patterns, Values, and Outliers reports.



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Data Profiling a Synonym or Segment

Data Profiling provides information on all the columns in a synonym or segment. You can also drill down to the Values or Patterns reports for an individual column from a synonym or segment Data Profiling report.



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Procedure: How to View Data Profiling for a Synonym or Segment

To view the Data Profiling information for a synonym or segment:

  1. Select a synonym or segment name. Next, click Data Profiling from the Report group and click Statistics or right-click the synonym or segment name, select Data Profiling, and then Statistics.

    The Data Profiling information displays in the workspace. The last four columns are shown below the rest of the information for illustrative purposes only. The actual report runs across the workspace.

    You may use the Data Profiling Results toolbar to view server messages, print the report, copy data as text, and export the report.

  2. Optionally, you can click a column name or patterns count (for alphanumeric columns) to drill down to the Values or Patterns reports, respectively.

    This is a partial Values report produced by clicking a column name.

    For pattern analysis, a 9 represents a digit, an A represents any uppercase letter, and an a represents any lowercase letter. All printable special characters are represented by themselves and unprintable characters are represented by an X.


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Tools Group

In this section:

You can switch between showing or hiding the Properties, DBA, Dimension Builder, and Business View panels. You can also recreate the default Dimension View and Business View structure and edit the user options. The Tools group is shown in the following image.

Tools group

The commands are:

Properties

Switches between showing and hiding the Properties panel.

Quick ETL Copy

Generates a simple Data Flow without using the Data Flow designer. For the selected tables, all rows and columns are copied to new tables.

Although no transformations or where conditions are generated, the Data Flow can still be opened as such and additional criteria can be added.

DBA

Switches between showing and hiding the DBA panel.

Dimension View

Switches between showing and hiding the Dimension View panel. Enables a parent and child hierarchy in Dimension View. For more information, see Dimension Builder Panel.

Business View

Switches between showing and hiding the Business View panel. Enables you to create a Business View and a custom Master File that can use selected columns from the original synonym. In addition, you can customize field names, titles, and descriptions. For more information, see How to Create a Business View Using the Metadata Canvas.

Options

Allows you to edit the user options. When you click Options from the Tools Group, the Options dialog box appears. It enables you to set preferences and customize the look of the Metadata canvas.



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Options Dialog Box

Click the Options button in the Tools group to open the Options dialog box.



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Reference: Synonym Editor Options Settings

When you click Options from the Tools group, the options dialog box appears. It enables you to set preferences and customize the look of the Metadata Canvas.

The Synonym Editor settings page has the following fields and options:

Use application directory name with synonym

If this check box is selected, an application directory name is used when you select a synonym name for both referencing an existing synonym and a transformation with db_lookup.

Undo/Redo Limit

Specifies the maximum number of undo and redo operations allowed in the Metadata canvas.

Support extended options

If this check box is selected, both the Sort objects and Styles folders appear when you edit a synonym.

Automatically detect new segment relations

When you create a new synonym in the Modeling View with the Automatically detect new segment relations option selected and select or drag these three tables into the work area (modeling view), the relationships (joins) will automatically be created for you based on the foreign key information in the Access File.

Automatically arrange segments/folders in Modeling View

If you select or drag multiple or individual tables while in Modeling View, they will be automatically arranged for you.

Show parent segments in Join Editor

If this check box is selected, it controls whether or not columns in parent segments are displayed in the Join Editor for a cluster join or a synonym that references or includes, other synonyms.

Default Join Type

Sets the default Join type.

  • One-to-Many. This join indicates a multiple instance (one-to-many) type of join. At run time, each host record can have many matching records in the cross-referenced file. Join All is the default option.
  • One-to-One. This join indicates a single instance (one-to-one) type of join. At run time, each host record has, at most, one matching record in the cross-referenced file.
Modeling View Line Colors

Allows you to set colors for connector lines in the Modeling View.

Default. Changes the color lines in the Modeling View.

Highlighted. Changes the color of the highlighted lines in the Modeling View.

No Keys. Changes the color of lines with no keys in the modeling view.

Reset Colors

Restores the default colors.



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Reference: Synonym Editor Format Options Settings

The Format pane is available from the Options dialog box. To open the Options dialog box, select Options from the Tools group. Expand the General node, and select Format.

The Fonts section has the following fields and options:

Category

Allows you to set the font for text in the process flow workspace, reports, text views, and log views.

Font

Launches a dialog box for specifying font settings.

Reset Font to Defaults

Restores the default fonts.



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Reference: Synonym Editor Column Management Settings

The Column Management pane is available from the Options dialog box. To open the Options dialog box, select Options from the Tools group. Expand the General node, and select Column Management.

Column Management user preferences enable you to choose which columns to display on the grids for transformations, column selection, joins, and sorts. You can also set the column display order. The settings apply to all column-related dialog boxes.

The Column Management pane has the following fields and options:

Customize column display

Lists the column-related dialog boxes that can be customized. Expanding a folder will display check boxes that can be used to add columns to each dialog box.

Reset to default

Restores the default values.

Column name display strategy

Controls the information that appears in trees and grids. The available options are Name, Title, Description, and Alias. If no Title, Description, or Alias exists, the display will default to the Name.

Note: It is recommended that you use Title when working with Business Views.

Use segment to qualify field reference

Enables you to fully qualify field names in the JOIN criteria of a cluster synonym. The available options are Always and For duplicate fields. The default value is For duplicate fields, which allows you to maintain compatibility with earlier releases.

Expand any of the available Customize column display options to see default settings. Not all columns are on every grid. The following columns can be added:

Alias

Assigns an alternative name for a column or the real column name for a DBMS synonym.

Application

Indicates the application where the synonym resides.

Belongs To Segment

Shows the parent segment.

Connection

Indicates the adapter connection name used.

Data Origin

Indicates the date the synonym was created.

Date Modified

Indicates when the synonym was last modified.

Description

Is a description or comments about the column.

Expression

Is the expression for the column.

Extension

Indicates the suffix (data source type) of the synonym.

Field Type

Indicates that a column is an index (I) or is read-only.

Format

Is the type and length of a column data as stored.

Function

Indicates the name of the function.

Has Foreign Keys

Indicates that the synonym includes foreign keys.

Index

Indicates an index column.

Join Conditions

Indicates the conditions for the join.

Join Parent

Indicates the parent of the join.

Join Strategy

Indicates strategy for the join.

Keys

Indicates the keys in the synonym.

Length

Is the column length.

Nulls

Indicates whether or not the column can contain null data.

Number of Segments

Indicates the number of segments in the synonym.

Order

Indicates the order of the column in the segment.

Prefix

Indicates a prefix for the column.

Primary Key Tables

Indicates the primary key for the synonym.

Property

Indicates whether the column is an attribute or a measure.

Real Table Name

Indicates the actual name of the table or the physical file name.

Reference

Indicate a reference for the column to an index column.

Scale

Is the maximum number of digits to the right of the decimal.

SCD Type

Used for processing slowly changing dimensions.

Segment

Indicates the parent segment.

Size

Indicates the size of the synonym.

Source

Indicates the source of the synonym.

SQL Conversion Notes

Indicates how SQL is converted.

Table

Is the synonym that contains the column.

Title

Supplies a title to replace the column name normally used in reports.

Type

Is the type of object in an application directory.

The following columns are available from each column display option. The default columns are shown in bold.

  • Business View Editor.

    Belongs to Segment, Format, Expression, Description, Nulls, Segment, Type, Length, Scale, Alias, Title, SCD Type, Field Type, Index, Order, Property, Reference.

  • Calculator Functions.

    Format, Description, SQL Conversion Notes.

  • Calculator Source.

    Table, Format, Description, Nulls, Prefix, Segment, Type, Expression, Length, Scale, Alias, Title, SCD Type, Field Type, Index, Order, Property, Reference.

You can change the display order of the columns by moving them up or down using the arrows.



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Reference: Synonym Editor Traces Options Settings

Trace option settings enable you to configure tracing for the server.

You can enable tracing for all components, default components, or a set of custom components. Trace output can be directed to the Web Console log (etlgprint.log), or to the tscom3.trc or connection.trc trace files.



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Reference: Synonym Editor Run Options Settings

Run Options user preferences include determining the number of rows and columns to retrieve, as well as the default format when sampling data.

The Run Options settings pane has the following fields and options:

Maximum number of rows for test reports

Sets the number of rows retrieved to produce sample data when testing transformations or SQL. The default is 50.

Maximum number of columns for test reports

Sets the number of columns retrieved to produce sample data when testing transformations or SQL. The default is to retrieve all columns (with a highest value setting of 999999).

Test reports default format

Sets the format of reports for retrieving sample data when testing transformations or SQL. The default is Default. The following report formats are available:

  • Default. Formats numeric and date columns based on edit options in the synonym.
  • HTML. Produces the report in HTML format.
  • HTML - plain text. Produces the report in plain text format.
  • active report. Produces an HTML active report designed for offline analysis.
  • Excel. Produces the report in Excel format.
  • PDF. Produces the report in PDF format.
  • Unformatted. Does not apply formatting to numeric and date columns.
Stop after DBMS error

Sets the number of DBMS-related errors allowed before the server stops running the procedure.


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