Bookshelf v7.5: Working with Physical Columns

Siebel Analytics Server Administration Guide > Working in a Repository's Physical Layer > Physical Layer Objects >

Working with Physical Columns

Each table in the Physical layer of the Administration Tool has one or more physical columns. The properties of the column are set automatically when the column is imported.

Use the Physical Column dialog box to create or edit a physical column.

To create or edit a physical column

In the Physical layer of the Administration Tool, do one of the following:

To create a physical column, right-click a physical table and select New Physical Column from the shortcut menu.

To edit an existing physical table, double-click the physical column icon for the connection pool you want to edit.

In the Physical Column dialog box, enter a name for the physical column.

For XML data sources, this field will store and display the unqualified name of a column (attribute) in an XML document.

Click the Permissions button to open the Permissions dialog box, where you can assign user or group permissions to the physical column.

For information about assigning permissions to a physical column, see Setting Permissions for Repository Objects.

In the Type field, select a datatype for the physical column.

If applicable, specify the length of the datatype.

Select the Nullable option if the column is allowed to have null values.

The option Nullable in the Physical Columns dialog box indicates whether null values are allowed for the column. The datatype list indicates the datatype of the columns. This information is imported from the database when the column is imported to the Physical layer. It is generally safe to change a nullable value to a not nullable value in a physical column. Making the value nullable allows null values to be returned to the user, which is expected with certain functions and with outer joins. Use caution in changing the datatype values, however; setting the values to ones that are incorrect in the underlying data source might cause unexpected results.

If there are any datatype mismatches, correct them in the repository or reimport the columns with mismatched datatypes. If you reimport columns, you also need to remap any logical column sources that reference the remapped columns. The datatypes of logical columns depend on the datatypes of physical columns which are their sources. The Siebel Analytics Server will furnish these logical column datatypes to client applications.

The External Name field will store and display the fully qualified name of a column (attribute) in an XML document.

Siebel Analytics Server Administration Guide
Published: 23 June 2003