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Oracle® OLAP Java API Developer's Guide
11g Release 2 (11.2)

Part Number E10795-06
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What's New

This preface describes the features of the Oracle OLAP Java API that are new in the 11g releases of Oracle OLAP.

What's New in 11.2

This topic describes the features of the Oracle OLAP Java API that Oracle has added since the initial 11g Release 1 (11.1). For a complete list of the packages, classes, fields, and methods that are new since 11.1, see the Overview of Oracle OLAP Java API Reference.

The following topics describe the new features since 11.1.

Supporting Legacy Metadata Objects

To support legacy 10g metadata objects, the Oracle OLAP Java API includes the following functionality.

Renaming Metadata Objects

In 11.2, you can use the setName method to rename a persistent 11g metadata object. In previous releases, you could use the MdmObject.setName method only once to specify a name for a persistent metadata object. You could not change the name after setting it. For more information on setting names, see "Getting and Setting Names".

Populating Hierarchy Lineage in an OLAP View

In a column for an attribute in an OLAP view, you can now automatically populate the rows for lower levels in a dimension hierarchy with the attribute values that are mapped at a higher level. For more information, see "Populating OLAP Views with Hierarchical Attribute Values".

Supporting Materialized Views

The following new features affect materialized views for OLAP cubes.

Enhancing the Build Process

The following topics describe new features that affect building analytic workspace metadata objects.

Specifying Serial or Parallel Builds

You can now create an oracle.olapi.syntax.LoadCommand that specifies the use of serial or parallel processing when loading data in an analytic workspace. The LoadCommand also has a PRUNE option, which specifies that the build spawns jobs only for the partitions for which measure data exists.

The LoadCommand class now has constructor methods as well as static constant fields that produce LoadCommand objects. One of the constructors takes the name of a CubeMap. With that constructor, you can specify loading data from single CubeMap rather than from all CubeMap objects.

The ClearCommand and SolveCommand classes also have serial and parallel processing options.

Tracking the Progress of a Build

With an oracle.olapi.data.source.BuildResult, an application can get the identification number for a build process. The DataProvider class has executeBuild methods that take a BuildResult.

An analytic workspace automatically generates the identification number during a build. You can use the build number to track the progress of a build.

Aggregating over Specified Dimension Members

With the oracle.olapi.syntax.AggregationFunctionExpression class, in an MdmModel you can aggregate measure values over specified dimension members. You specify the dimension members with an AggregateOverMembersClause. You can use an AggregationFunctionExpression as the Expression for an MdmCustomMember or the member expression of an MdmAssignment in the MdmModel.

Specifying a Language for a Dimension Attribute

You can now specify a language when mapping an attribute and you can map multiple languages to the same attribute. For more information, see "Specifying a Language for an Attribute" and "Specifying Multilingual Attributes".

Classifying and Grouping Metadata

The following new features allow you to add identifying metadata to objects.

Controlling the Export of XML Attributes

An implementation of the oracle.olapi.metadata.XMLWriterCallback interface provides Oracle OLAP the means to call back to an application while the MdmMetadataProvider is exporting the XML definition of an object. With an XMLWriterCallback, the application can specify whether or not to exclude an attribute or an owner name from the exported XML. For more information see "Exporting and Importing Metadata as XML Templates".

What's New in 11.1

Some aspects of the Oracle OLAP Java API are much the same as in previous releases, such as the ability to create queries with classes in the oracle.olapi.data.source package and to retrieve the data with classes in the oracle.olapi.data.cursor package. However, in Oracle OLAP 11g Release 1 (11.1) the metadata model of the API has changed and has many new features. The major new features are presented in the following topics.

Create Persistent Metadata Objects

The Oracle OLAP Java API now has the ability to create and maintain persistent metadata objects. The Oracle Database stores the metadata objects in the Oracle data dictionary.

To provide this new functionality, the Oracle OLAP Java API substantially revises the metadata model. The new model includes several new packages and has significant changes to some existing packages. For example, the oracle.olapi.metadata.mdm package has many new classes. It also has many new methods added to existing classes. For information on OLAP metadata objects, see Chapter 2, "Understanding OLAP Java API Metadata".

Some classes and methods are deprecated in the new model. For example, all of the classes in the oracle.olapi.metadata.mtm package are deprecated, and methods of other classes that use the mtm classes are also deprecated. Some mtm classes mapped transient mdm objects to relational database structures, such as columns in tables and views. Other mtm classes specified how Oracle OLAP performed operations such as aggregation or allocation of the values of custom measures. That functionality is replaced by classes in the oracle.olapi.metadata subpackages deployment, mapping, and mdm, and the oracle.olapi.syntax package. With the new classes, an application can create permanent metadata objects, map them to data sources, and specify the operations that provide values for measures.

Restrict Access to Persistent Objects

When an application commits the Transaction in which it has created top-level objects in the OLAP metadata model, such as instances of classes like AW, MdmCube, and MdmPrimaryDimension, those objects then exist in the Oracle data dictionary. They are available for use by ordinary SQL queries as well as for use by applications that use the Oracle OLAP Java API.

Because the metadata objects exist in the Oracle data dictionary, an Oracle Database DBA can restrict access to certain types of the metadata objects. A client application can set such restrictions by using the JDBC API to send standard SQL GRANT and REVOKE commands through the JDBC connection for the user session.

Define and Build Analytic Workspaces

An application can now define, build, and maintain analytic workspaces. This new functionality is provided by classes in the oracle.olapi.metadata subpackages deployment, mapping, and mdm, and the oracle.olapi.syntax package. In 10g releases of Oracle Database, that functionality was provided by a separate API, the Oracle OLAP Analytic Workspace Java API, which is entirely deprecated in this release. For more information see Chapter 2.

Export and Import XML Definitions

After defining a metadata object, an application can export that definition in an XML format. Analytic Workspace Manager refers to such a saved definition as a template. An application can also import the XML definition of a metadata object. The MdmMetadataProvider class has methods for exporting and importing the XML. For more information see "Exporting and Importing Metadata as XML Templates".

Use SQL-Like Expression Syntax

With the classes in the oracle.olap.syntax package, an application can create Java objects that are based on SQL-like expressions, functions, operators, and conditions. The SyntaxObject class has fromSyntax and toSyntax methods that an application can use to convert SQL expressions into Java objects or to get the SQL syntax from a Java object.

An application can create an Expression object by using the SyntaxObject.fromSyntax method or by using a constructor. For example, the following code creates a StringExpression using a fromSyntax method and another StringExpression using a constructor method. The mp object is the MdmMetadataProvider for the session.

StringExpression strExp1 = (StringExpression)
                     SyntaxObject.fromSyntax("'Hello world from syntax.'", mp);
StringExpression strExp2 = new StringExpression("Hello world from constructor.");

Share a Connection Between Multiple Sessions

Another new feature is the ability to have multiple user sessions that share the same JDBC connection to the Oracle Database instance and that share the same cache of metadata objects. This ability is provided by the UserSession class in the oracle.olapi.session package.

Specify a Metadata Reader Mode

To support legacy applications, the OLAP Java API provides a means of specifying a metadata reader that can recognize metadata objects that were created by a previous method. For more information, see "Supporting Legacy Metadata Objects".