Updating a schema holder

The Update/Add Table Definitions utility allows you to update a schema holder to reflect changes that you make to the data definitions in your data source.

Note: Using this utility to update the schema holder is the only way to make sure that your applications can access modifications or additions to a data source.

The Update/Add Table Definitions utility allows you to:

  • Add object definitions from the data source to a schema holder. Use this option if you add a new table, stored procedure, or view to the data source data definitions and want the schema holder to reflect the change.
  • Update existing object definitions in a schema holder to reflect a change in the supporting data-source object definitions. For example, an integer data type that is pulled from a MS SQL Server data source can be mapped to any of the following OpenEdge data types: INTEGER, DECIMAL, LOGICAL, or INT64. See Data types for more information about support for MS SQL Server data types and their equivalent OpenEdge data type mapping options.

To update a schema holder from the Data Administration tool:

  1. Access the Data Administration, if you are not already there, and select DataServer > MS SQL Server Utilities > Update/Add Table Definitions.

    The following dialog box appears:



  2. Type preselection criteria values into the fields and select data type options as required. These values preselect the data source objects that the utility uses to update the schema holder. By default, the wild card symbol (*) appears; it specifies that the utility uses all of the objects in the data source. For more information on data type options,
    Note:

    You should not specify an entry that consists exclusively of wild cards for each of the three entry fields in the dialog box. An entry that consists exclusively of wild cards might degrade the performance of the database when you perform a schema pull. (It will include system catalog files from the data source not typically included in user databases.)

    Consider whether you will choose to perform a schema pull that consists only of wild cards. Doing so might degrade your database's performance as the activity will include system catalog files that are not typically included in a user database.

    Check Default to OpenEdge DATETIME to automatically map MS SQL Server data types to the associated OpenEdge data type. If you have modified your client application to handle LOB data types, check Default to OpenEdge LOB to map the OpenEdge LOB data type to MS SQL Server equivalent of BLOB, or CLOB data types. For more information on mapping OpenEdge and MS SQL Server data types, see Support for OpenEdge ABL BLOB data type and Support for OpenEdge ABL CLOB data type.

  3. Choose OK.

    A dialog box like the following example lists the objects and table information that you have preselected:



  4. Select the objects that you want to update, then choose OK. When the update completes, you return to the Data Administration main window.

When the update completes, you are reminded to check the ds_upd.e file. This file contains information about the tables that did not support record IDs as well as other warnings.

When you update a definition, OpenEdge overwrites the old definition with the new one based on the current data source object. It also preserves the OpenEdge-specific table information. As a result, if you want to add a new column to a table in your data source and then update the definition, you do not have to re-enter all of the OpenEdge-specific information for the previously existing columns (fields) in the definition.

Note: When you update a table in the schema holder with the Update/Add Table Definitions utility, the information for the user-defined ROWID is lost. You must reselect an index to support the ROWID.