Integrate existing objects

With the 'integrate existing objects' feature, you can use non-TimeXtender objects in TimeXtender. The objects - tables, views, user-defined functions, or stored procedures - could be from a non-TimeXtender data warehouse, or just a handful of tables updated by a custom script - the only prerequisite is that they exist in your data warehouse instance's data storage.

If you're integrating tables from XpertBI, you can import additional metadata for the tables in the form of descriptions and tags.

Editing and synchronizing objects   
The integrated objects can be used like native TimeXtender objects with the following caveats and limitations: 

• Tables: You cannot make changes to integrated tables in TimeXtender. When you synchronize, any changes to the table in the database will be reflected in what you see in TimeXtender. Tables created by TimeXtender will not be integrated, including tables created by another instance or an earlier version of TimeXtender.
• (Custom) views, user-defined functions, and stored procedures: These objects are integrated as regular TimeXtender objects. This means that you can edit and deploy the scripts in TimeXtender. At the same time, however, the scripts will be updated to reflect any changes made in the database when you synchronize. For this reason, we recommend that you make your changes either in TimeXtender or an external editor, but not both.

Integrating existing objects
You can integrate objects that exist in a data warehouse instance's data storage, e.g. because they were there when you added the instance or because you created/copied them later.

TimeXtender-created objects can coexist with integrated objects without issues as long as the names don't conflict. To prevent that, use different schemas for integrated tables and TimeXtender tables. You can also create a separate data warehouse instance just for the integrated objects to prevent conflicts and keep things tidy.

If any unknown objects are found the first time you open an instance, TimeXtender will ask if you want to integrate them. 

To integrate existing objects later, follow the steps below:

1. Right-click the data warehouse instance, click Advanced, and then click Integrate Existing Objects.
2. On the Select Schemas page, select the schemas that contain the data you want to integrate and then click Next. For each schema you select, TimeXtender will create a new data area for the tables, views, functions, and stored procedures. 
3. (Optional) Select Import additional metadata from XpertBI management database to import table descriptions and tags defined in XpertBI. If you select his option, enter the connection information for the management database on the next page of the wizard.
4. If one or more of the selected schemas are in use, the Map Schemas to Data Areas page will appear. For each schema, select the data area you want to map it to in the Data area column and click Next when you're done. 
5. On the Summary page, verify that everything looks correct and then click Finish.

Synchronizing integrated objects
If the integrated objects are changed outside TimeXtender, the changes must be synchronized with TimeXtender. The synchronization will simply align what you see in TimeXtender with the objects found in the database.

To synchronize, you run the wizard again.

1. Right-click the data warehouse instance, click Advanced, and then click Integrate Existing Objects.
2. On the Select Schemas page, previously selected schemas are preselected. For each schema, you can see the name of the data area it is mapped to, or "(New)" if the schema was not previously selected, in the Data area column. Select the schemas to integrate or synchronize and then click Next. 
3. On the Summary page, you can see a count of changes to preexisting schemas in addition to the new schemas listed. Verify that everything looks correct and then click Finish.