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Using the Siebel Analytics Server XML Gateway


Using the Siebel Analytics Server XML Gateway, the metadata import process flattens the XML document to a tabular form using the stem of the XML filename (that is, the filename less the suffix) as the table name and the second level element in the XML document as the row delimiter. All leaf nodes are imported as columns belonging to the table. The hierarchical access path to leaf nodes is also imported.

The Siebel Analytics Server XML Gateway uses the metadata information contained in an XML schema. The XML schema is contained within the XML document or is referenced within the root element of the XML document. Siebel Systems currently supports the version of XML schema defined by Microsoft and implemented in its Internet Explorer 5 family of browsers.

Where there is no schema available, all XML data is imported as text data. In building the repository, you may alter the datatypes of the columns in the Physical layer, overriding the datatypes for the corresponding columns defined in the schema. The gateway will convert the incoming data to the desired type as specified in the Physical layer. You can also map the text datatype to other datatypes in the Business Model and Mapping layer of the Administration Tool, using the CAST operator.

At this time, the Siebel Analytics Server XML Gateway does not support:

NOTE:  The Siebel Analytics Server XML Gateway includes a Data Mining Adapter feature. It allows you to access data sources by calling an executable file or DLL for each record retrieved. For more information, see Using the Data Mining Adapter.

To import XML data using the Siebel Analytics Server XML Gateway

  1. From the Administration Tool toolbar, select File > Import.

    The Select ODBC Data Source dialog box appears.

  2. Select XML from the Connection Type drop-down list.

    The Type In Uniform Resource Locator dialog box appears, with the Connection Type set to XML.

  3. In the URL field, specify the XML data source URL.

    The Siebel Analytics Server XML Gateway supports all data sources described in the section Locating the XML URL.

    URLs can include repository or session variables. If you click the Browse button, the Select XML File dialog box appears, from which you can select a single file. If you hold the Shift key down and click the Browse button, the Browse For Folder dialog box appears, which lets you browse and select a directory. For more information about variables, see Using Variables in the Analytics Server Repository.

  4. Optionally, type either an Extensible Stylesheet Language Transformations (XSLT) file or XPath expression.

    Use the Browse button to browse for XSLT source files.

  5. Type an optional user ID and password in the appropriate fields for connections to HTTP sites that employ the HTTP Basic Authentication security mode.

    In addition to HTTP Basic Authentication security mode, the Siebel Analytics Server XML Gateway also supports Secure HTTP protocol and Integrated Windows Authentication (for Windows 2000), formerly called NTLM or Windows NT Challenge/Response authentication.

  6. Click OK to open the Import dialog box.
  7. Select the tables and columns and check the type of metadata you want to import.

    The default setting imports all objects and all metadata.

  8. Click Import to begin the import process.

    The Connection Pool dialog box appears.

  9. Type a name and optional description for the connection on the General tab. See Setting up Connection Pools for additional details.
  10. Click the XML tab to set additional connection properties, including the URL refresh interval and the length of time to wait for a URL to load before timing out.

    Because XML data sources are typically updated frequently and in real time, the Siebel Analytics Server XML Gateway allows users to specify a refresh interval for these data sources.

    For information about the refresh interval for XML data sources, see About the Refresh Interval for XML Data Sources in Query Caching in Siebel Analytics Server.

    The default time-out interval for queries (URL loading time-out) is 15 minutes.

  11. Click OK to complete the import.
  12. For additional control over the XML data sources, you can specify an XSLT file or an XPath expression for individual tables in the data sources from the Physical Table dialog box. If specified, these entries are used to overwrite corresponding XSLT or XPath entries in the Connection Pool for the respective physical tables.

 Siebel Analytics Server Administration Guide
 Published: 11 March 2004