Of socks and men

Locations in Oracle Warehouse Builder (11gR2)

recombinantsocks — Tue, 21 Jun 2011 09:03:43 +0000

Connecting a mapping to a physical file so that files can be produced for other processes is a tortuous process. Running with multiple configurations in OWB allows all of the location and configuration detail to be setup in OWB.

OWB allows you to share locations between configurations. Thus a physical directory can be reused in your DEV TEST and PROD environments.

1. Create a location in the Files section of the Locations navigator. Ensure that the OS account that will be used to read the data can actually read the physical directory.

2. Make the location available (in Data Locations) in the relevant Control Center in the Locations Navigator.

3. Make the location in the Data Locations section of the relevant Module in your project in the Project Navigator. i.e. Edit the module and move the location into the Selected Locations list in the Data Locations section.

4. Configure the module to use the relevant location. The location is configured in the Identification section of the configuration.

The results of this process need to be deployed in Control Center.

Open the Control Center where the location should appear under the project container.

5. Register the location. Right click on the location under the project container and select the Register option.

6. Deploy the Connector. The reference to the files location is called a connector in Control Center. Find and select the location within the relevant database and deploy it by selecting the Create option and invoking the Deploy action. This will create a directory object in the Oracle database.

7. Deploy and execute the package that references the location. If this fails then it may be that the service account, that the Oracle database is running under, does not have permissions to the OS share or directory.

Simples!

Making a change to a location, such as changing a UNC path, requires that it is Unregistered in all of the Control Centers that it has been registered in. If you Edit the Location in the Locations navigator you will see a Registration view that shows all of the control centers where it has been registered.

Comparison Groups

recombinantsocks — Wed, 08 Jun 2011 14:00:18 +0000

Comparison groups can either be Family or Friend types. For Families an area may be classified into exclusive groups – Towns may be metropolitan or rural and can’t be both. For friend comparisons such as nearest neighbours an area will have different neighbours its own neighbours. Bristol adjoins BANES but BANES adjoining neighbours aren’t the same as Bristol’s.

Listing partitions in Oracle

recombinantsocks — Wed, 08 Jun 2011 11:01:35 +0000

If you have dba privs then …
SELECT * FROM dba_tab_partitions WHERE table_name = ‘T_Foo;
Else …
SELECT * FROM user_tab_partitions WHERE table_name = ‘T_Foo’;

There are a number of other views that are available in dba and user flavours.

Unpivot in Excel

recombinantsocks — Wed, 25 May 2011 15:03:59 +0000

Here’s the step by step guide http://spreadsheetpage.com/index.php/tip/creating_a_database_table_from_a_summary_table/

MS Project – Flags and Filters

recombinantsocks — Wed, 25 May 2011 14:11:37 +0000

A task, or sub task, can be flagged in Project as requiring special attention. All tasks that include flagged sub tasks can then be shown easily by applying a column filter to the flag column.
The flag marker can be shown as a red spot to make it stand out. Insert a Flag column in the table view (right click on column headings and select “Insert Column” Choose a suitable field from the list e.g. Flag1. Customise the field by right click on field, choose “Costomise Fields” and then use the “Graphical Indicators” button to select the appropriate image.

Powerpoint Autorecovery

recombinantsocks — Tue, 24 May 2011 11:01:10 +0000

MS Autorecovery keeps your valuable work in the following location…

C:\Documents and Settings\\Application Data\Microsoft\Office\Recent

e.g.

C:\Documents and Settings\recombinant\Application Data\Microsoft\Office\Recent

Note that the Application Data part of this path is a hidden directory that won’t necessary appear in Windows Explorer. You may, therefore, need to change your Folder Options in Windows Explorer or alternatively type the directory name in the address bar.

see for further details.

To copy and paste, or duplicate, a table in OWB

recombinantsocks — Tue, 17 May 2011 15:01:56 +0000

Don’t think that you are going to paste the table back into the Tables container (that would be too simple)!
Go, instead, to the project container where you will find the Paste option available.

OWB Location Registration

recombinantsocks — Thu, 05 May 2011 08:49:01 +0000

Locations are registered once, in the design repository. They can be used in multiple configurations e.g. in DEV, TEST and PROD configurations. You do not need to register the location in each configuration.
To make a location usable in a configuration you need to edit the Data Locations in the appropriate Control Center object within the Locations Navigator within warehouse builder.
Unregistering a location requires all objects deployed there, in all configurations, to be dropped.

SQL Developer – File based development

recombinantsocks — Tue, 03 May 2011 12:03:32 +0000

Oracle’s SQL Developer can do file based development and includes integration for source control systems. It also provides a method for editing and compiling server based objects. The two capabilities don’t quite mesh properly. The way that we work is that files are kept in Sourcesafe. Modifications are made to the source and installed on the server.
If there is an error with the script then the script output window reports the problem but doesn’t tell you where the error is as the line number reported is the line number in the package rather than in the script.
So – the way to get round this is to install the package from the file and then compile the package in the package body editor. The modified contents of the package body can be saved back to a file and stashed back to Sourcesafe.
This approach works iff your sourcesafe headers ($Date: etc) are included within the package body or spec rather than preceding the create or replace statement.
All a bit long winded!

SQL Developer – dbms_output

recombinantsocks — Tue, 03 May 2011 11:06:07 +0000

The dbms_output package enables a developer to attach to a piece of running code to get debug output whilst the code executes.
dbms_output.put_line makes the output available but does not launch a window in SQL Developer to catch the results.
There are two variants to getting the expected output.
1) SET SERVEROUTPUT ON
If this is included at the head of a script then the Script Output window will contain the expected message. So if you Run Script with the two lines highlighted…
set serveroutput on;
call dbms_output.put_line(‘STG’);

will yield

call dbms_output.put_line(‘STG’) succeeded.
STG

Note that the effect is temporary for the lifetime of the script execution rather than modally affecting the database connection that you are using. Thus if you follow that step with

call dbms_output.put_line(‘STG’);

you will only get

call dbms_output.put_line(‘STG’) succeeded.

because the SET SERVEROUTPUT is no longer in effect.

2) Display the DBMS Output window
Go to View -> Dbms Output and then use the green plus icon to enable DBMS_OUTPUT for a connection.
This has the effect of setting SERVEROUTPUT on and polling the connection on a regular basis. The results of a put_line will now appear in the new Dbms Output window and also in the Statement Output or Script output window according to whether Run Stement or Run Script is used