1. Administrator's Guide
  2. Importing and Exporting Data and Metadata
  3. Working with the Outline Load Utility
  4. Exporting Data and Metadata from a Planning Application to a Flat File
  5. Exporting Metadata with the Outline Load Utility

Exporting Metadata with the Outline Load Utility

You can use the Outline Load utility to export metadata for a dimension to a flat file for Account, Period, Year, Scenario, Version, Currency, Entity, user-defined dimensions, attributes, UDAs, exchange rates, Smart Lists, and planning unit hierarchies. For information about the parameters used with this utility, see Command Line Parameters for the Outline Load Utility.

To export metadata with the Outline Load utility, specify the dimension name and provide the name of the file to which you are exporting. For example, you could use the following command to export metadata for the Entity dimension to a file called ent_export.csv: 

OutlineLoad /A:Acpt1 /U:admin  /-M /E:c:/ent_export.csv /D:Entity /L:c:/outlineLoad.log /X:c:/outlineLoad.exc

Example: Exporting user-defined dimensions with a space in the name

When exporting user-defined dimensions with a space in the name, enclose the name in quotation marks (" "). For example, you could use the following command to export metadata for the user-defined Line Item dimension:

OutlineLoad /A:pln1dv /U:admin  /-M /E:c:/LineItemUserDim_export.csv /D:"Line Item" /L:c:/outlineLoad.log /X:c:/outlineLoad.exc

Example: Exporting attribute dimensions

When exporting attribute dimensions, use the /D switch with the name of the attribute dimension without specifying attribute dimension type, as shown in the following example: 

OutlineLoad /A:pln1dv /U:admin /E:c:/AttribTextColor_export.csv /D:Color /L:c:/outlineLoad.log /X:c:/outlineLoad.exc

Example: Exporting with new line characters in the Description text field.

New line characters are supported in text fields for Description and Formula. A field that contains new line characters must be enclosed by quotation marks, as shown in the following example:

Currency, Description, Data Storage

USD,          "Description Line 1

Description Line 2

Description Line 3", Store

EUR,        "description for EUR", Store

Considerations for exporting metadata:

  • UDAs cannot be exported as a separate dimension. They are exported with the members to which they are assigned, similar to formulas.

  • The DTS Period type is recognized, but is not supported by the Outline Load utility. If you try to export DTS information, the utility displays an error in the log file.

  • If exported members have aliases in an alias table other than Default and these members are imported into another application, the alias table must be created manually in the application before the members are imported.

  • If a member has the same name as one of the member properties (for example, Description). Outline Load utility metadata export may have unexpected results.