3 User Interface Tour

Modules

A module is a container for actions that appears in the Projects Navigator, and that corresponds to a specific location in the Locations Navigator. A single location can correspond to one or more modules. However, a given module can correspond to only one metadata location and data location at a time. You can create a new module from the Projects Navigator.

The association of a module to a location enables you to perform certain actions more easily. For example, group or batch actions such as creating snapshots, copying, validating, generating, deploying, and so on, can be performed on all the objects within a module by selecting an action on the context menu when the module is selected.

To define the target schema, begin by creating a module. The Oracle target module is the first of several modules you create in OWB.

Folders

You can create folders to organize all or some objects in a target module based on specific object characteristics. Related tables and views that must be generated or deployed together can be placed under a common folder. For example, you may create user folders to group tables based on their functionality (sales, marketing, administration and so forth).

Collections

Collections are structures in OWB that store the metadata you want to export to other tools and systems. Collections enable you to perform the following tasks:

• Organize a large logical warehouse

• Validate and generate a group of objects

When you create a collection, you do not create new objects or copies of existing objects. You create shortcuts pointing to objects already existing in the project. You can use a collection to quickly access a base object and make changes to it.

You can define more than one collection within a project and an object can be referenced by more than one collection. For example, each user that accesses a project can create his own collection of frequently used objects. The users can also add the same objects (such as mappings, tables, or process flows) to their separate collections.

Each user can also delete either the shortcut or the base object. Shortcuts to deleted objects are deleted in the collection. When you open an object in a collection, you obtain a lock on that object. OWB prevents other users from editing the same object from another collection.

Use the Create Collection Wizard to define a collection as follows.

To define a new collection

1. Select and expand a project node in the Projects Navigator.

2. Right-click the Collections node and select New.

   OWB displays the Welcome page for the Create Collections Wizard. This page lists the steps to create a collection. Click Next to proceed.

3. Provide information on the following pages of the Create Collection Wizard:

   • Name and Description Page

   • Contents Page

   • Summary Page

Design Center Menus

The Design Center contains the following menus:

• Design

• Edit

• View

• Tools

• Window

• Help

Design

The Design menu provides commands for creating a new object, and for configuring and editing parameters for the selected object. From this menu you import and export metadata to and from locations, objects, or folders. You validate the design of one or more selected objects. This menu provides commands for generating PL/SQL code and for deploying the PL/SQL code for one or more selected objects.

The Save command on the Design menu saves your changes to the workspace. The Revert to Saved command discards changes to the workspace.

Edit

The Design Center Edit menu contains commands as follows.

• Open Editor: Opens the editor for the selected object.

• Add/Remove Experts Here: Displays the Add/Remove Experts dialog box, which you use to add the name of an expert to the menu. This command is displayed only to administrative users.

• Cut: Deletes an object as part of a cut-and-paste operation.

• Copy: Copies an object as part of a copy-and-paste operation.

• Paste: Pastes a cut or copied object into a new folder. For example, an administrator can cut an expert from the Expert folder in the Project Navigator to the Public Experts folder in the Global Navigator.

• Delete: Deletes one or more selected objects. A warning message provides the option of moving the object to the recycle bin.

• Rename: Enables you to edit the name of an object.

• Find: Displays the Find dialog box, which you use to search for an object within the current project. Searches are case-sensitive, and find only the objects that are visible (that is, in an expanded folder).

• Properties: Displays the Properties dialog box for the selected object.

View

The Design Center View menu contains the following commands:

• Refresh: Refreshes the objects displayed in the Project Navigator with the objects in the workspace. In a multiple user environment, this tool updates the Design Center with changes that other users have saved.

• Expand: Displays the folders or objects in the selected folder.

• Expand All: Displays all folders, subfolders, and objects in the selected folder.

• Collapse: Hides all folders and objects in the selected folder, but does not collapse the subfolders. The next time the folder is expanded, the subfolders are either collapsed or expanded, as they were before.

• Collapse All: Hides all folders and objects in the selected folder, and collapses any subfolders. The next time the folder is expanded, all of the subfolders are collapsed.

• Data: Displays the Data Viewer for a deployed and executed data object.

• Profiling Results: Displays the profile for the selected data object. You must have already created the profile.

• Lineage: Opens the Metadata Dependency Manager with the lineage analysis of the selected object.

• Impact: Opens the Metadata Dependency Manager with the impact analysis of the selected object.

• Synchronize: Updates an external table with any changes to its source file.

• Validation Messages: Displays the Validation Results dialog box with the results from validating the selected object.

• Generated Scripts: Displays the Generated Scripts dialog box with the results from generating the selected object.

• Messages Log: Displays the message log for the current session. The messages log area includes an Extensions tab when any extensions that are loaded into the ADF cause an error to occur. The Extensions tab only appears if there are errors; otherwise, no extensions tab appears. Click the Extensions tab (if it appears) to see any errors.

Tools

The Design Center Tools menu contains the following commands:

• Control Center Manager: Displays the Control Center Manager, from which you can deploy objects, start ETL jobs, and view the logs of previous jobs.

• Job Monitor: Displays the Control Center Jobs window for the selected Control Center or configuration.

• Change Manager: Displays the Metadata Change Management window, from which you can manage snapshots.

• Metadata Dependency Manager: Displays the Metadata Dependency Manager, from which you can evaluate the impact of changes to one or more objects on other objects in your data warehouse.

• Repository Browser: Displays the Repository Browser in your default Web browser, from which you can view reports about the repository or the Control Center. The browser listener must be running.

• Optimize Repository: Refreshes the statistics for the database schema where the repository is located. This refresh improves the execution time of the SQL commands that the product sends to the database, and thereby improves OWB performance. You should optimize the repository after importing or creating a large amount of metadata.

• J2EE User Management: Opens the J2EE User Management window, from which a user with administrative privileges can manage J2EE users.

• SQL*Plus: Opens a SQL*Plus window.

• Recycle Bin: Opens the recycle bin, from which you can restore deleted objects.

• Clipboard: Displays the Clipboard Contents window, which displays information about the object currently cut or copied to the clipboard.

• Preferences: Displays the preferences associated with your login name.

Window

The Design Center Window menu contains commands for displaying and hiding the navigators and OMB*Plus.

Help

The Design Center Help menu provides access to the online help and other resources. Refer to "Getting Help for Oracle Warehouse Builder" for a description.

The Design Center Toolbar

The Design Center toolbar provides easy access to the most commonly used commands, which are also available from the menu bar and on popup menus that you can access by right-clicking an object.

OMB*Plus

OMB*Plus is an optional panel that is available from the Design Center. You can display or hide it by choosing OMB*Plus from the main menu. The OMB*Plus command window enables you to manage objects in the design workspace using the OMB*Plus scripting language.

With the OMB*Plus scripting language you can:

• Perform complex actions.

• Define sets of routine operations.

• Perform batch operations.

• Automate a series of conditional operations.

Projects Navigator

The Projects Navigator provides a tree that organizes the various object categories in the workspace into folders or containers. Database sources and targets, flat files, external tables, ETL mappings, process flows, data rules, data auditors, and so forth are listed in the order in which they appear in a project. Within the workspace you can have one or more projects, and within each project are various categories of objects. When you select an object, you can create a new one like it, or edit, validate, and deploy it.

Every workspace must have at least one project, which initially is named MY_PROJECT. You can rename this project or use it as a template to create additional projects. When you create a new project, the Project Welcome page provides a guide for configuration.

Locations Navigator

Use the Locations Navigator to manage locations, connectors, and control centers for the entire workspace from one central location. You can display or hide it by choosing Locations Navigator from the View menu.

You can create locations and control centers while defining other objects. When you create a module, you can define its location. When you create a configuration, you can define a control center. You can create modules and configurations in the Projects Navigator. In contrast to these objects, you can only create a connector in the Locations Navigator.

Globals Navigator

The Globals Navigator provides users access to a set of shared objects:

• Public Transformations

• Public Application Servers

• Public Code Templates

• Public Experts

• Public User Defined Modules

• Public Data Rules

• Configuration Templates

• Icon Sets

• Security

Users with administrative rights can create a new object or edit an existing one most easily by right-clicking the object or object folder, then choosing a command from the pop-up menu. They can also copy objects from the Projects Navigator and paste them into an appropriate folder in the Globals Navigator. In this way, any user can develop an object for use by the team, and an administrator can publish it in the Globals Navigator.

The Security folder is displayed only to administrative users. It enables them to manage the access rights of all workspace users to objects in the workspace.

The Globals Navigator is an optional panel in the Design Center. You can display or hide it by choosing Globals Navigator from the View menu.

Common Editor Components

In addition to the items listed in this section, editors typically contain Naming Mode, Rename Mode, Read/Write, and Validation Mode. The percent zoom and navigation mode are also indicated. You will find that editors are contextual and they can be customized. This section describes how editors appear when you first start using the Design Center, which is the main graphical user interface in OWB.

The following items are common to most editors in OWB:

• Title Bar: At the top of the editor, the title bar displays the name of the object, for example a mapping, and the access privileges you have on the object.

• Menu Bar: Below the title bar, the menu bar provides access to the editor commands. You can access the menu bar by clicking on one of its options or by using hot keys. For example, to access the Mapping menu, press Alt +M.

• Toolbar: Below the menu bar, the toolbar provides icons for commonly used commands.

• Canvas: The canvas provides the document area where you design and modify mappings.

• Indicator Bar: Along the lower edge of the editor there are mode icons, indicators, and descriptions.