Creating Aliases (Synonyms) for Presentation Layer Objects

Each presentation object can have a list of aliases (synonyms) for its name that can be used in Logical SQL queries.

To create the list of aliases, use the Alias tab in the Properties dialog for the appropriate presentation object (subject area, presentation table, presentation hierarchy, presentation level, or presentation column).

Because Presentation layer objects are often deleted and then re-created during the repository development process, it is best to wait until your logical business model is relatively stable before creating aliases for presentation objects.

You can use this feature to rename presentation objects without breaking references that any existing requests have to the old names, including requests from Answers, Oracle BI Publisher, or other Logical SQL clients. If you are still developing a new repository, you might want to wait until the repository is stable before renaming objects.

For example, consider a subject area called "Sample Sales Reduced" that contains a presentation table called "Facts Other." If you rename the presentation column called "# of Customers" to "Number of Customers," any requests that use "# of Customers" fail. However, if you add "# of Customers" to the list of synonyms in the Alias tab for the "Number of Customers" column, then queries containing both "# of Customers" and "Number of Customers" succeed and return the same results.

Note:

Consider the following:

  • Aliases for presentation objects do not appear in Answers or other query clients when creating new queries. Only the primary names of subject areas, hierarchies, levels, tables, and columns appear.

  • This feature works in a different way from SQL aliases or the alias feature in the Physical layer. It simply provides synonyms for object names, much like "synonyms" in SQL.

  • Aliases are created automatically when you rename presentation objects. For example, if you change Catalog to Catalog1, the original name Catalog is added to the Aliases list.

  • You cannot rename a Presentation layer object to a name that is already in use as an alias for an object of the same type.

To add or delete an alias for a presentation object:

  1. In the Presentation layer, double-click a presentation object, such as a subject area, table, column, or hierarchy.
  2. Click the Aliases tab.
  3. To add an alias, click the New button, and then type the text string to use for the alias.
  4. To delete an alias, select the alias you want to delete from the Aliases list, then click the Delete button.
  5. Click OK.