E Public Objects

Warehouse Builder architecture comprises several classes of objects: First Class Objects, Second Class Objects, and so on. You can create user-defined properties and metadata snapshots on various Class Definition objects in the model that describes the Oracle Warehouse Builder metadata.

This appendix includes the following topics:

• About First Class Objects

• About Second Class Objects

• About Third and Fourth Class Objects

• Warehouse Builder Class Definition Objects

• Object Ownership Tree

About First Class Objects

A First Class Object (FCO) represents a component in the metadata repository that can be manipulated through the Warehouse Builder interface. First Class Objects often, but not always, own other objects. For example, a TABLE is a First Class Object that may own the following second class objects: TABLE_COLUMN, UNIQUE_KEY, FOREIGN_KEY, and CHECK_CONSTRAINT.

As a rule of thumb for those accessing Warehouse Builder through the graphic user interface, first class objects generally appear on the navigation tree. Similarly, users who access Warehouse Builder through OMB Plus can generalize FCOs as objects of OMBCREATE, OMBALTER, OMBRETRIEVE, and OMBDELETE commands.

About Second Class Objects

A Second Class Object (SCO) represents a dependent object component. An SCO is always owned by another object, and can, in turn, own objects itself. For example, the First Class Object MAPPING contains Second Class Object MAPPING_OPERATOR, which contains ATTRIBUTES.

As a rule of thumb for those accessing Warehouse Builder through the graphic user interface, Second Class Objects can only be manipulated through a First Class Object. Similarly, users who access Warehouse Builder through OMB Plus can only manipulate Second Class Object definitions through a command against a First Class Object.

About Third and Fourth Class Objects

Third and Fourth Class objects are relative rankings of objects owned by other objects. These refer only to objects whose ownership spans several layers. For example, INDEX_COLUMN is a Second Class Object in the scenario where a DIMENSTION_TABLE (which is a First Class Object) owns INDEX_COLUMN. However, INDEX_COLUMN becomes a Third Class Object in the scenario where the First Class Object CUBE_TABLE owns the Second Class Object INDEX, which in turn owns INDEX_COLUMN.

For more information on these rankings, refer to "Object Ownership Tree".

Warehouse Builder Class Definition Objects

Warehouse Builder class definition objects can be used as arguments to the OMBDESCRIBE CLASS_DEFINITION and OMBREDEFINE CLASS_DEFINITION commands.

The Class Definition objects known to Warehouse Builder are listed in the following columnar table which reads down the columns from left to right to conserve space.

ACTIVITY	FUNCTION_BASE OPERATOR	POSTMAPPING_PROCESS OPERATOR
ACTIVITYPARAMETER	GATEWAY_MODULE	PREMAPPING_PROCESS OPERATOR
ADVANCED_QUEUE	GROUP	PROCESS_DATA
ADVANCED_QUEUE OPERATOR	HIERARCHY	PROCESS_FLOW
AGGREGATOR OPERATOR	INDEX	PROCESS_FLOW_MODULE
BUSINESS_AREA	INDEX_COLUMN	PROCESS_FLOW_PACKAGE
BUSINESS_AREA_SHORTCUT	INPUT_PARAMETER OPERATOR	PROJECT
CHECK_CONSTRAINT	JOINER OPERATOR	RECORD
COLLECTION	KEY_LOOKUP OPERATOR	REF_CURSOR_TYPE
COLUMN	LEVEL	RUNTIME_REPOSITORY_CONNECTION
CONNECTOR	LEVEL_ATTRIBUTE	SAP_MODULE
CUBE OPERATOR	LOCATION	SEQUENCE
CUBE_TABLE	MAPPING	SEQUENCE OPERATOR
DEDUPLICATOR OPERATOR	MATERIALIZED_VIEW	SET_OPERATION OPERATOR
DIMENSION OPERATOR	MATERIALIZED_VIEW OPERATOR	SORTER OPERATOR
DIMENSION_TABLE	MEASURE	SPLITTER OPERATOR
EXPRESSION OPERATOR	NAME_AND_ADDRESS OPERATOR	SUBPROCESS
EXTERNAL_TABLE	OBJECT_TYPE	TABLE
EXTERNAL_TABLE OPERATOR	ORACLE_MODULE	TABLE OPERATOR
EXTERNAL_TABLE_COLUMN	OUTPUT_PARAMETER OPERATOR	TABLE_FUNCTION OPERATOR
FIELD	PACKAGE	TRANSFORMATION OPERATOR
FILTER OPERATOR	PARAMETER	TRANSITION
FLAT_FILE	PARAMETER_BASE OPERATOR	UNIQUE_KEY
FLAT_FILE OPERATOR	PIVOT OPERATOR	UNPIVOT OPERATOR
FLAT_FILE_MODULE	PLSQL_RECORD_TYPE	VARIABLES OPERATOR
FOREIGN_KEY	PLSQL_TABLE_TYPE	VIEW
FUNCTION	PROCEDURE	VIEW OPERATOR

Possible datatypes include:

• STRING

• INTEGER

• BOOLEAN

• DATE

Object Ownership Tree

Use this tree to identify First Class and Second Class Objects, and to identify which objects own other objects. Use this information to understand user-defined properties and metadata change management (metadata snapshots), as well as to orient yourself to Oracle Warehouse Builder architecture.

The following First Class Objects do not own other objects:

• PROJECT

• ORACLE_MODULE

• FLATFILE_MODULE

• SAP_MODULE

• GATEWAY_MODULE

• COLLECTION

• PROCESS_FLOW_MODULE

• PROCESS_FLOW_PACKAGE

• CONNECTOR

• LOCATION

• RUNTIME_REPOSITORY_CONNECTION

The following First Class Objects own other objects:

• ADVANCED_QUEUE

  Contains the following Second Class Object:

  • OBJECT_TYPE

• CUBE_TABLE

  Contains the following Second Class Objects:

  • COLUMN

  • FOREIGN_KEY

  • UNIQUE_KEY

  • INDEX: This contains the Third Class Object INDEX_COLUMN.

  • PARTITION

  • PARTITION_KEY

• DIMENSION TABLE

  Contains the following Second Class Objects:

  • COLUMN

  • FOREIGN_KEY

  • HIERARCHY

  • INDEX

  • INDEX_COLUMN

  • LEVEL: This contains the Third Class Objects: FOREIGN_KEY, LEVEL_ATTRIBUTE, and UNIQUE_KEY.

  • UNIQUE_KEY

  • PARTITION

  • PARTITION_KEY

• EXTERNAL TABLE

  Contains the following Second Class Objects:

  • CHECK_CONSTRAINT

  • EXTERNAL_TABLE_COLUMN

  • FOREIGN_KEY

  • UNIQUE_KEY

• FLAT_FILE_MODULE

  Contains the following Second Class Objects:

  • FLAT_FILE

  • RECORD: This contains the Third Class Object FIELD.

  • FIELD

• FUNCTION

  Contains the following Second Class Objects:

  • PARAMETER

• FUNCTION CATEGORY

  Contains the following Second Class Objects:

  • PLSQL_RECORD_TYPE

  • PLSQL_TABLE_TYPE

  • REF_CURSOR_TYPE

• MAPPING

  Contains the following Second Class Objects:

  • OPERATOR

  • ADVANCED_QUEUE OPERATOR

  • AGGREGATOR OPERATOR

  • CUBE OPERATOR

  • DATA_ENTITY OPERATOR

  • DATA_ENTITY_KEYS OPERATOR

  • DIMENSION OPERATOR

  • EXPRESSION OPERATOR

  • EXTERNAL_TABLE OPERATOR

  • FILTER OPERATOR

  • FLAT_FILE OPERATOR

  • FUNCTION_BASE OPERATOR

  • INPUT_PARAMETER OPERATOR

  • JOINER OPERATOR

  • KEY_LOOKUP OPERATOR

  • MATERIALIZED_VIEW OPERATOR

  • NAME_AND_ADDRESS OPERATOR

  • PARAMETER_BASE OPERATOR

  • PIVOT OPERATOR

  • POSTMAPPING_PROCESS OPERATOR

  • PREMAPPING_PROCESS OPERATOR

  • SEQUENCE OPERATOR

  • SET_OPERATION OPERATOR

  • SORTER OPERATOR

  • SPLITTER OPERATOR

  • TABLE OPERATOR

  • TABLE_FUNCTION OPERATOR

  • TRANSFORMATION OPERATOR

  • UNPIVOT OPERATOR

  • VARIABLES OPERATOR

  • VIEW OPERATOR: This contains the Third Class Object Group which contains the Fourth Class Object Parameter.

• MATERIALIZED_VIEW

  Contains the following Second Class Objects:

  • CHECK_CONSTRAINT

  • COLUMN

  • FOREIGN_KEY

  • UNIQUE_KEY

  • INDEX: This contains the Third Class Object INDEX_COLUMN.

  • PARTITION

  • PARTITION_KEY

• PROCEDURE

  Contains the following Second Class Object:

  • PARAMETER

• PROCESS_FLOW

  Contains the following Second Class Objects:

  • SUBPROCESS

  • PROCESS_DATA

  • ACTIVITY: This contains the Third Class Object ACTIVITYPARAMETER.

• SEQUENCE

  Contains the following Second Class Object:

  • COLUMN

• TABLE

  Contains the following Second Class Objects:

  • CHECK_CONSTRAINT

  • COLUMN

  • FOREIGN_KEY

  • UNIQUE_KEY

  • INDEX: This contains the Third Class Object INDEX_COLUMN.

  • PARTITION

  • PARTITION_KEY

• VIEW

  Contains the following Second Class Objects:

  • CHECK_CONSTRAINT

  • COLUMN

  • FOREIGN_KEY

  • UNIQUE_KEY

  • INDEX: This contains the Third Class Object INDEX_COLUMN.