Creating and Managing Aliases

An alias is an alternate name for a member or shared member. This chapter describes how to create and manage alias tables in an OLAP Server outline. It contains the following sections:

Introducing Aliases and Alias Tables

You can assign one or more alternate names, or aliases, to a member or a shared member. Aliases can improve the readability of an outline or a report. For example, members in the Sample Basic database's Product dimension are identified both by product codes, such as 100, and by more descriptive aliases, such as Cola.

Rules for Aliases

Use the following rules when creating aliases:

For information on creating alias combinations, see Creating Aliases for Member Combinations.

Introducing Alias Tables

Aliases are stored in one or more tables as part of a database outline. When you create a database outline, Essbase creates an empty alias table called Default. If you don't create any other alias tables, all of the aliases that you create are stored in the Default alias table.

If you want to create more than one alias for a member or set of members, create a new alias table and set it as your current alias table. Then create one or more new aliases. These aliases are stored in the new alias table. The last bullet in Rules for Aliases, for example, shows two alias tables. The first alias table is named Default and the second alias table is named Long Names. When users retrieve data, they see the aliases in whichever table that they pick. For more information, see Creating New Alias Tables and Setting Alias Tables.

Note: You can create up to 10 alias tables for each outline.

Format of an Alias Table

An alias table contains a column listing all of the members followed by a column listing all of the aliases that correspond to those members. Alias tables must use the following format:

This is a sample alias table:

$ALT_NAME
100              Cola
"member name 2"  "Alias Name 2"
$END 

Tip: Use the DISPLAYALIAS command in ESSCMD to view the all aliases in an alias table. See the Technical Reference in the docs directory for information about this command. See Automating the Production Environment for information about ESSCMD.

Creating Aliases for Members

You can create aliases for members. For more information on aliases, see Introducing Aliases and Alias Tables.

To create an alias in the Outline Editor:

  1. Select the member for which the alias is to be defined; for example, 100-10.
  2. Click the Data Dictionary button, , press the Enter key, or select Edit > Properties to open the Member Properties dialog box.
  3. Figure 102: Member Properties Dialog Box

  4. Enter the alias name (for example, Colas) into the Alias text box on the Member Info page.
  5. Note: Member names and alias name limits are specified in Limits.

Creating Aliases for Member Combinations

You can create aliases for non-attribute members that are based on member combinations, called alias combinations. For more information on aliases, see Introducing Aliases and Alias Tables.

To set an alias based on a member combination:

  1. In Outline Editor, select the member for which the alias is to be defined; for example, 100-10.
  2. Click the Data Dictionary button, , press the Enter key or select Edit > Properties to open the Member Properties dialog box.
  3. Click the Alias Combinations tab.
  4. Figure 103: Alias Combinations Page

  5. Click the Add button to open the Edit Alias dialog box to add a new alias to the list. Member names and alias names can be up to 79 characters long..
  6. Figure 104: Edit Alias Dialog Box

  7. Enter the alias in the Alias text box; for example, Cool Cola.
  8. Either enter the member combination string in the Member Combination String text box or select the members from the Dimension and Member list boxes. To expand or contract the Member List, double-click the box in front of the member name. To add the member to the combination list, select the member.
  9. Click OK.

Creating New Alias Tables

To create a new alias table for the selected outline:

  1. Select Outline > Aliases > Create Table to open the Create Alias Table dialog box.
  2. Figure 105: Create Alias Table Dialog Box

  3. Enter the name of the new alias table in the Name text box.
  4. Note: You can create up to 10 alias tables for an outline.

  5. If desired, set the new alias table as the current table by selecting Set as Current Table.
  6. Click OK.

Setting Alias Tables

Essbase uses the current alias table as the source for the aliases displayed in the outline. For more information on alias tables, see Introducing Alias Tables.

To set an alias table to be the current alias table:

  1. Select Outline > Aliases > Set Table to open the Set Current Alias Table dialog box.
  2. Figure 106: Set Current Alias Table Dialog Box

  3. Select the alias table from the Alias Table list box. If the alias table that you want to use is not in the list box, you must create it. See Creating New Alias Tables.
  4. Click OK.

Tip: You can view and set the current alias table without Application Manager:

Tool
Instructions
For More Information

Administration Services

Set Alias Table dialog box

Essbase Administration Services Online Help

ESSCMD

LISTALIASES

SETALIAS

Technical Reference in the docs directory



Copying Existing Alias Tables

To copy an alias table to a different name in the same outline:

  1. Select Outline > Aliases > Copy Table to open the Copy Alias Table dialog box.
  2. Figure 107: Copy Alias Table Dialog Box

  3. Select the alias table to copy from the From list box.
  4. Enter the new name of the alias table to copy it to in the To list box.
  5. Click OK.

Renaming Alias Tables

To change the names of existing alias tables:

  1. Select Outline > Aliases > Rename Table to open the Rename Alias Table dialog box.
  2. Figure 108: Rename Alias Table Dialog Box

  3. Select the alias table to rename from the From list box.
  4. Enter the new name of the alias table in the To list box.
  5. Click OK.

Deleting and Clearing Alias Tables

You can delete an alias table from the outline or you can clear all of the aliases from an alias table without deleting the alias table itself.

Deleting Alias Tables

To delete an alias table from the outline:

  1. Select Outline > Aliases > Delete Table to open the Delete Alias Table dialog box.
  2. Figure 109: Delete Alias Table Dialog Box

  3. Select the alias table to delete from the Alias Table list box.
  4. Click OK.

Clearing Alias Tables

To clear the contents of an alias table, that is, remove all of the entries in the table without deleting the table:

  1. Select Outline > Aliases > Clear Table to open the Clear Alias Table dialog box.
  2. Figure 110: Clear Alias Table Dialog Box

  3. Select the alias table to clear from the Alias Table list box.
  4. Click OK.

Importing and Exporting Alias Tables

You can import or export alias tables into an outline. For more information on alias tables, see Introducing Aliases and Alias Tables.

Importing an Alias Table

To import an alias table:

  1. Select File > Import > Alias Table to open the Import Server Alias Table Object dialog box.
  2. Figure 111: Import Alias Table Object Dialog Box

  3. Select the name of the alias table import file. Application Manager expects these names to end in .alt.
  4. Specify the location of the alias table import file by clicking either the Server or Client button.
  5. If you select Server, the import file must reside in the database directory under \ESSBASE\APP\application_name\database_name, where application_name and database_name represent the name of your application and database. Type the name of the alias table import file in the Object Name text box or select it from the Objects list box.

    If you select Client, the alias table can reside in either the application or database directory under \ESSBASE\CLIENT or on the drives accessible from the client file system. Click the File System button to select a file from a standard Open Client Data Files dialog box.

    Select the alias table import file to load.

    Note: The \ESSBASE\APP and \ESSBASE\CLIENT are the default directories specified during installation. You may have set these directories differently.

  6. Click OK.

You can also use the LOADALIAS command in ESSCMD to perform this task. To unload an alias table, use the UNLOADALIAS command in ESSCMD. See the Technical Reference in the docs directory for information about these commands. See Automating the Production Environment for information about ESSCMD.

Exporting an Alias Table

To export an alias table:

  1. Select File > Export Alias Table to open the Export Server Alias Table Object dialog box.
  2. Save the alias table to the desired location.

Tip: Use the LISTLINKEDOBJECTS and PURGELINKEDOBJECTS commands in ESSCMD to perform these tasks. See the Technical Reference in the docs directory for information about these commands. See Automating the Production Environment for information about ESSCMD.




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