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 Prepare 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 Data Integration objects with the following caveats and limitations:
- Tables: You cannot make changes to integrated tables in TimeXtender Data Integration. When you synchronize, any changes to the table in the database will be reflected in what you see in TimeXtender Data Integration. Tables created by TimeXtender Data Integration will not be integrated, including tables created by another instance or an earlier version of TimeXtender Data Integration.
- (Custom) views, user-defined functions, and stored procedures: These objects are integrated as regular TimeXtender Data Integration objects. This means that you can edit and deploy the scripts in TimeXtender Data Integration. 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 Data Integration or an external editor, but not both.
Warning: To prevent overriding your changes, follow these guidelines:
- Don't deploy a custom view, stored procedure, or user-defined function in TimeXtender Data Integration if you have made changes to it outside TimeXtender Data Integration.
- Don't synchronize a custom view, stored procedure, or user-defined function if you have made changes to it in TimeXtender Data Integration that have not been deployed.
Integrating existing objects
You can integrate objects that exist in a Prepare instance's data storage, e.g. because they were there when you added the instance or because you created/copied them later.
Objects created in TimeXtender Data Integration 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 Prepare 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 Data Integration will ask if you want to integrate them.
To integrate existing objects later, follow the steps below:
- Right-click the Prepare instance, click Advanced, and then click Integrate Existing Objects.
- 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 Data Integration will create a new data area for the tables, views, functions, and stored procedures.
- (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.
- 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.
- On the Summary page, verify that everything looks correct and then click Finish.
Note: If you want to map schemas in a specific way, e.g. multiple schemas mapped to the same data area, you can create the data areas first and assign the data areas schemas that match the data to be integrated.
Synchronizing integrated objects
If the integrated objects are changed outside TimeXtender Data Integration, the changes must be synchronized with TimeXtender Data Integration. The synchronization will simply align what you see in TimeXtender Data Integration with the objects found in the database.
To synchronize, you run the wizard again.
- Right-click the Prepare instance, click Advanced, and then click Integrate Existing Objects.
- 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.
- 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.
Remove integrated objects
To remove integrated objects, first delete the objects in SSMS, and then synchronize integrated objects as described above.
