Chapter 4 [ 145 ] Repeat the steps above for all of the elds contained in the data source for which you are creating the data load rule, until all of the elds are dened to Essbase. Now that you have updated the property settings on all of the elds, it would be a good idea to validate all of the eld denitions and properties against your database outline. In the very next step, we will see how to validate the data load rule le. Step 9: Validating the data load rules le In this step, we will validate the correctness of the denition that you have provided to the rule le. Please make sure you validate after making changes to the rule le. If there is any error, you will get errors while loading the data. To validate the data load rules le: 1. In EAS, open the Data Prep Editor. 2. Click on the Validate button (last button on the Data Prep Editor window), or you can click on Options and then click on Validate. 3. You should see a message, The rules le is correct for data loading, as shown here: This material is copyright and is licensed for the sole use by Paul Corcorran on 5th July 2009 8601 ave. p #1, , lubbock, , 79423 Download at Boykma.Com Loading Data into Essbase [ 146 ] 4. Let us actually remove the eld denition for the Field6 (go to Field, then Properties, then to Field 6 and remove the Field name) and now click on the Validate button. You should see an error message stating Field6 is not dened as shown here: Step 10: Saving the data load rules le Now that you have validated the data load rules le, and there are no errors, you can save the rules le. Remember to use the proper Essbase 8 character naming convention while saving the rules le. You can save the rules le in your local le system or on the Essbase server using the Essbase le system. We prefer to save all of the les on the Essbase server. The rule les will be saved with the .rul le extension in Application|Database directory on the Essbase server. Whatever place you choose to save your data load rules les, always try to be consistent to make things easier. Consistently saving les in the same location, or consistently naming Essbase database objects, only makes sense and provides easier and less costly support. To save the data load rules le with the Essbase default extension of .rul: 1. In EAS, open the Data Prep Editor. 2. Click on File | Save button to save the le. This material is copyright and is licensed for the sole use by Paul Corcorran on 5th July 2009 8601 ave. p #1, , lubbock, , 79423 Download at Boykma.Com Chapter 4 [ 147 ] Loading data into your database In the steps above, you learned how to create an Essbase data load rule. Now let us learn how to use this data load rules le to actually load data into your Essbase database. As with the Dimension Build, there are several ways to load data into an Essbase database. A few of the ways you can load data into an Essbase cube: • Using the EAS Outline Editor • Using EssCmd or MaxL script commands • Using your own API calls In the next few sections, let us discuss how you can achieve it using the EAS and MaxL statements. Using the EAS to load data into your Essbase cube Using EAS is the manual way of loading data into the cube. This method will probably look very familiar because it is almost identical to the Import Data step of the Export/Import Data process, which we discussed earlier in this chapter. To load data into an Essbase database, using EAS: 1. Navigate to your Application|Database. 2. Then click on Actions | Load Data for "ESSCAR". 3. The Data Load screen will be opened as shown here: This material is copyright and is licensed for the sole use by Paul Corcorran on 5th July 2009 8601 ave. p #1, , lubbock, , 79423 Download at Boykma.Com Loading Data into Essbase [ 148 ] The different elds present on the previous screenshot are: • Data Source Type: There are two types of data sources: Data File and SQL. If you have a comma or tab delimited data source le, you need to select Data File. If you are connecting to a relational database to use SQL statements, you need to select SQL. We will be selecting SQL as we will be loading the data from a relational database data source. • Mode: There are three options in mode: Load only, Build only, or Both. Here, you need to mention what you are going to do with this data source. Whether it is used to load data only, update the database outline only, or used for both database outline updates and data loads. Occasionally, as per our business requirement, if a new member value arrives in the data le and does not already exist in the Essbase database outline, you can specify Essbase to update the outline with the new member value and then perform the data load. See how smart Essbase is! This scenario can be achieved by selecting Both. In the Esscar cube we want to load only the data, so we select Load only. • Data Source (Data File): If you are using a data le instead of a relational database data source, you may need to specify the location of the data source le. The data source le can be on your Local System or on the Essbase Server. To select a data le, click on the button Find Data File and follow the prompts. Faster data loading In case of extremely large data les, if possible, deliver the data le to the Essbase server so the data load will process faster, since you will eliminate the network response time from the load process. • Rules File: If you have chosen the SQL option you must select a rules le name, as your SQL is embedded in the data load rules le. To select the data load rules le, click on the button Find Rules File and select the appropriate data load rules le. • Abort on Error: If this box is checked, the data load will abort on any data load error. This is not always the best choice because, depending on where the error is in the data, you may end up with a partial load. • Error File: This allows you to specify the error le location. Remember, there should not be any spaces in the path of the error le. • Overwrite: When the checkbox is selected, the data load process will overwrite the existing error le if any. If the named error le does not already exist, Essbase will create a new error le. This material is copyright and is licensed for the sole use by Paul Corcorran on 5th July 2009 8601 ave. p #1, , lubbock, , 79423 Download at Boykma.Com Chapter 4 [ 149 ] • SQL Username and Password: Here, you need to enter a valid username and password for the relational database you will be connecting to. Since we are using a relational database in this example, we need to provide a valid username and password. • Insert: This button in the data load form inserts another line so you can dene one more set of data load rules. This allows you certain exibility as it is sometimes necessary to load the same data source more than one time to get the desired load results. • Delete: This button in the data load form deletes the line that you have selected. Remember, once you click on the Delete button, it will not prompt you for conrmation, it will delete the line. Use carefully! • Save: It will save information you have for future use. The le will be saved in the standard XML format. • Open: It will open the existing XML le. • Execute in background: If this checkbox is selected, the data load will execute in the background and you can perform other tasks in EAS. • OK: Once you click on the OK button, the data load will commence using data load rules le you selected. The data will be loaded into the Essbase cube. If there are any errors loading the data, a warning message is displayed in the Data Load pane that states the data was only partially loaded into your Essbase database. The error log you have dened will contain information on any rejected data values. After you click on the OK button, the Data Load Results window will be opened as shown here: This material is copyright and is licensed for the sole use by Paul Corcorran on 5th July 2009 8601 ave. p #1, , lubbock, , 79423 Download at Boykma.Com . licensed for the sole use by Paul Corcorran on 5th July 20 09 8601 ave. p #1, , lubbock, , 794 23 Download at Boykma.Com Loading Data into Essbase [ 146 ] 4. Let us actually remove the eld denition. to use the proper Essbase 8 character naming convention while saving the rules le. You can save the rules le in your local le system or on the Essbase server using the Essbase le system Corcorran on 5th July 20 09 8601 ave. p #1, , lubbock, , 794 23 Download at Boykma.Com Chapter 4 [ 147 ] Loading data into your database In the steps above, you learned how to create an Essbase data load