Using Expression Builder and Other Utilities 17-9
physical table mapping. Select Show Qualified Names to see the full context for each source.
If you select an invalid logical table source, or in other words, one that cannot be used for replacement, a message appears explaining why that source cannot be
used, and the check box for that source is disabled.
Note that invalid logical table sources do not appear in the list when Hide unusable logical table sources in Replace wizard
has been selected in the General
tab of the Options dialog. Instead, the Info button is displayed when a logical table source that maps to that column does not appear in the list. Click Info to see
details on why the physical objects could not be replaced in the logical table source or sources.
The Select Sources screen only appears if there are multiple logical table sources that map to the physical table you selected.
Click Next after you have selected logical table sources. 7.
The bottom pane of the Select Columns screen shows individual column mappings between the selected physical tables. If column names in the two
selected tables match, default column mappings appear in the bottom pane.
To add a column mapping to the list of mapped columns, first select a source column in the left pane. Then, select a replacement column in the right pane and
click Add.
To remove a column mapping from the list of mapped columns, select a row of mapped columns from the list and click Remove.
Figure 17–4 shows the Select Columns screen.
Figure 17–4 Select Columns Screen of the Replace Column or Table Wizard
8. When you have finished mapping columns between the selected physical tables,
click Next. 9.
When the repository is open in online mode, the Checkout screen appears. In online mode, objects need to be checked out before you can make changes to them.
Click Next to check out the necessary objects.
17-10 Metadata Repository Builders Guide for Oracle Business Intelligence Enterprise Edition
10.
The Finish screen displays a summary of the objects that will be replaced. If you want to make changes, click Back, or select a particular step from the navigation
panel.
11. Click Finish.
Using the Oracle BI Event Tables Utility
This utility lets you identify a table as an Oracle BI event polling table. An event polling table is a way to notify the Oracle BI Server that one or more physical tables
have been updated. Each row that is added to an event table describes a single update event. The cache system reads rows from, or polls, the event table, extracts the physical
table information from the rows, and purges cache entries that reference those physical tables.
For more information about event polling tables, see Cache Event Processing with an Event Polling Table in Oracle Fusion Middleware System Administrators Guide for Oracle
Business Intelligence Enterprise Edition.
To start the Oracle BI Event Tables utility: 1.
In the Administration Tool, select Tools, then select Utilities. 2.
Select Oracle BI Event Tables and click Execute.
Using the Externalize Strings Utility
You can use the Externalize Strings utility to localize the names of Presentation layer subject areas, tables, hierarchies, columns, and their descriptions. You can save these
text strings to an external file with ANSI, Unicode, and UTF-8 encoding options.
Before you can use the Externalize Strings utility, you must externalize strings in the Presentation layer. Note the following about externalizing strings in the Presentation
layer:
■
You can right-click any Presentation layer object, such as a subject area, presentation table, or presentation column, and choose Externalize Display
Names Generate Custom Names
or Externalize Descriptions Generate Custom Descriptions
to externalize strings.
■
Choosing one of these right-click externalization options automatically selects the Custom display name
or Custom description options in the Properties dialog for
the selected object and all of its child objects. For example, if you right-click a subject area and choose one of the externalization
options, the externalization flag is set on all presentation tables, columns, hierarchies, and levels within that subject area.
■
Running the Externalize Strings utility only externalizes those strings that have been selected for externalization in the Presentation layer.
For full information about using the Externalize Strings utility, see Localizing Metadata Names in the Repository in Oracle Fusion Middleware System Administrators
Guide for Oracle Business Intelligence Enterprise Edition.
To start the Externalize Strings utility: 1.
In the Administration Tool, select Tools, then select Utilities. 2.
Select Externalize Strings and click Execute.
Using Expression Builder and Other Utilities 17-11
Using the Rename Wizard
You can use the Rename Wizard to rename tables and columns in the Presentation layer and Business Model and Mapping layer. It provides a convenient way to
transform physical names to user-friendly names.
It is a best practice to rename objects in the Business Model and Mapping layer rather than the Presentation layer, for better maintainability. Giving user-friendly names to
logical objects rather than presentation objects ensures that the names can be reused in multiple subject areas. Also, it ensures that the names persist even when you need to
delete and re-create subject areas to incorporate changes to your business model.
Be aware that when you use the Rename Wizard to rename presentation columns, the Use Logical Column Name
property gets set to false.
To use the Rename Wizard: 1.
In the Administration Tool, select Tools, then select Utilities. Then, select Rename Wizard
and click Execute.
You can also access the Rename Wizard by right-clicking an object or set of objects in the Business Model and Mapping layer or Presentation layer, and then selecting
Rename Wizard
. The wizard starts in the Select Rules screen and only applies to the logical or presentation objects you selected.
2.
In the Select Objects screen, select the objects you want to rename. First, select the layer that contains the objects Presentation or Business Model and Mapping,
then select an object and click Add. Click Add Hierarchy to add all objects associated with the selected object.
Click Next after you have selected the objects you want to rename. 3.
In the Select Types screen, select the object types you want to rename, such as Subject Area, Logical Table, or Logical Column. Then, click Next.
4.
In the Select Rules screen, select the renaming rules you want to apply and click Add
. Select Change specified text to rename particular words or phrases.
The renaming rules are applied in the order in which they appear in the list. Select a rule that you have added and click Up or Down to change the order in which the
rules will be applied.
For example, say you want to rename the logical columns GlobalGROUP, GlobalSales, and GlobalCustomerName to Group, Sales, and Customer Name. To
achieve this, you can apply the following rules in the given order:
Insert space before each first uppercase letter, unless on the first position or there is a space already
All text lowercase First letter of each word capital
Change each occurance of Global to not case sensitive
Click Next after you have selected renaming rules. 5.
When the repository is open in online mode, the Checkout screen appears. In online mode, objects need to be checked out before you can make changes to them.
Click Next to check out the necessary objects.
6.
The Finish screen displays a summary of the objects that will be renamed. If you want to make changes to the list of renamed objects, click Back, or select a
particular step from the navigation panel. Click Finish to rename the objects.
Figure 17–5 shows the Rename Wizard.
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Figure 17–5 Rename Wizard
Using the Update Physical Layer Wizard
You can use the Update Physical Layer Wizard to update database objects in the Physical layer of a repository, based on their current definitions in the back-end
database. This wizard is not available for repositories that are open in read-only mode, because they are not available for updating.
When the wizard processes the update, the Oracle BI Server connects to each back-end database. The objects in the Physical layer are compared with those in the back-end
database. Explanatory text alerts you to differences between objects as defined in the database in the Physical layer and as defined the back-end database, such as data
type-length mismatches and objects that are no longer found in the back-end database. For example, if an object exists in the database in the Physical layer of the repository
but not in the back-end database, the following text is displayed:
Object does not exist in the database and will be deleted The wizard does not add columns or tables to the repository that exist in the back-end
database, but not in the repository. Additionally, the wizard does not update column key assignments. It checks that there is a column in the repository that matches the
column in the database, and then, if the values do not match, the wizard updates the type and length of the column in the repository.
The connection pool settings for each database need to match the connection pool settings used when the objects were last imported into the Physical layer from the
back-end database. See Creating or Changing Connection Pools
for more information about connection pool settings.
To update objects in the Physical layer: 1.
In the Administration Tool, select Tools, then select Utilities. 2.
Select Update Physical Layer and click Execute.
The databases in the Physical layer of the repository are listed in the left pane of the wizard.
Using Expression Builder and Other Utilities 17-13
3.
In the Select Database screen, select the databases that you want to update in the left pane, and then click Add. To remove a database from the update list in the
right pane, select it and click Remove.
4. Click Next.
