Click OK to save your work.

7-38 Metadata Repository Builders Guide for Oracle Business Intelligence Enterprise Edition 9. If you are creating a complex join for ADF Business Component ViewObject or ViewLink instances, specify the ViewLink instance name or the ViewLink definition name in the ViewLink Name field. 10. To open Expression Builder, click the button to the right of the Expression pane. The expression displays in the Expression pane. The default join expression for ViewObject or ViewLink instances is arbitrary and has no meaning.

11. Click OK to save your work.

Deploying Opaque Views An opaque view is a Physical layer table that consists of a SELECT statement. When you need a new table, you should create a physical table or a materialized view. An opaque view should be used only if there is no other solution. See Appendix F, Exchanging Metadata with Databases to Enhance Query Performance for more information about materialized views. This section contains the following topics: ■ About Deploying Opaque Views ■ Deploying Opaque View Objects ■ Undeploying a Deployed View ■ When to Delete Opaque Views or Deployed Views ■ When to Redeploy Opaque Views About Deploying Opaque Views In the repository, opaque views appear as view tables in the data source, but the view does not actually exist until you deploy it. You deploy an opaque view in the data source using the Deploy Views utility. After deploying an opaque view, it is called a deployed view. Opaque views can be used without deploying them, but the Oracle BI Server has to generate a more complex query when an opaque view is encountered. To verify that opaque views are supported by a data source, check whether the CREATE_VIEW_SUPPORTED SQL feature is selected in the Database dialog, in the Features tab. See Specifying SQL Features Supported by a Data Source for instructions. Deploying Opaque View Objects In offline mode, the Deploy Views utility is available when importing from data sources with ODBC and DB2 CLI data sources. Oracle Native client drivers are also supported in the offline mode for deploying views. In online mode, view deployment is available for supported data sources using Import through server the settings on the client are ignored. Note: Data sources such as XLS and nonrelational data sources do not support opaque views and cannot run the view deployment utility. Working with Physical Tables, Cubes, and Joins 7-39 Using the Create View SELECT Statement The SQL statement for deploying opaque views in the Physical layer of the repository is available for supported data sources. To determine which of your data sources support opaque views, contact your system administrator or consult your data source documentation. Only repository variables can be used in the definition. An error is generated if a session variable is used in the view definition. Syntax CREATE VIEW view_name AS select_statement, Where: ■ select_statement is the user-entered SQL in the opaque view object. If SQL is invalid, the create view statement fails during view deployment. ■ view_name is one of the two following formats: schema.viewname, or viewname. The connection pool settings determine if the schema name is added. For opaque view objects, the right-click menu contains the Deploy Views option. When you select Deploy Views, the Create View SQL statement executes and attempts to create the deployed view objects. The following list describes the ways you can initiate view deployment and the results of each method: ■ Right-click a single opaque view object. When you select Deploy Views, the Create View SQL statement executes and attempts to create a deployed view for the object. ■ Right-click several objects. If at least one of the selected objects is an opaque view object, the right-click menu contains the Deploy Views option. When you select Deploy Views , the Create View SQL statement executes and attempts to create the deployed views for any qualifying objects. ■ Right-click a physical schema or physical catalog. If any opaque view object exists in the schema or catalog, the right-click menu contains the Deploy Views option. When you select Deploy Views, the Create View SQL statements for all qualifying objects execute and attempt to create deployed views for the qualifying objects contained in the selected schema or catalog. During deployment, names are assigned to the views. If you change the preassigned name, the new name must be alphanumeric and no more than 18 characters. If these guidelines are not followed, the object name is automatically transformed to a valid name using the following Name Transform algorithm: 1. All non-alphanumeric characters are removed. 2. If there are 16 or more characters after Step 1, the first 16 characters are kept. 3. Two digits starting from 00 to 99 are appended to the name to make the name unique in the corresponding context. After the deployment process completes, the following occurs: ■ Views that have been successfully and unsuccessfully deployed appear in a list. ■ For unsuccessful deployments, a brief reason appears in the list. ■ If deployment is successful, the object type of the opaque view changes from Select to None and the deployed view is treated as a regular table. 7-40 Metadata Repository Builders Guide for Oracle Business Intelligence Enterprise Edition If you change the type back to Select, the associated opaque views are dropped from the data source, or an error message appears. See When to Delete Opaque Views or Deployed Views for information about deleting deployed views. ■ In the Administration Tool, the view icon changes to the deployed view icon for successfully deployed views. To deploy an opaque view: 1. In the Physical layer of the Administration Tool, right-click the opaque view that you want to deploy.

2. In the right-click menu, select Deploy Views.