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Data Shaper
Data Shaper
  • 🚀GETTING STARTED
    • What is Primeur Data Shaper
      • What is the Data Shaper Designer
      • What is the Data Shaper Server
      • What is the Data Shaper Cluster
    • How does the Data Shaper Designer work
      • Designer Views and Graphs
      • Data Shaper Graphs
      • Designer Projects and Sandboxes
      • Data Shaper Designer Reference
    • How do the Data Shaper Server and Cluster work
      • Data Shaper Server and Cluster
      • Data Shaper Server Reference
    • VFS Graph Components
      • DataOneFileDescriptor (DOFD) metadata
      • Passing parameters from Data One Contract to Data Shaper graph
      • Inheriting Data One context attributes in Data Shaper graph
  • DATA SHAPER DESIGNER
    • Configuration
      • Runtime configuration
        • Logging
        • Master Password
        • User Classpath
      • Data Shaper Server Integration
      • Execution monitoring
      • Java configuration
      • Engine configuration
      • Refresh Operation
    • Designer User Interface
      • Graph Editor with Palette of Components
      • Project Explorer Pane
      • Outline Pane
      • Tabs Pane
      • Execution Tab
      • Keyboard Shortcuts
    • Projects
      • Creating Data Shaper projects
      • Converting Data Shaper projects
      • Structure of Data Shaper projects
      • Versioning of server project content
      • Working with Data Shaper Server Projects
      • Project configuration
    • Graphs
      • Creating an empty graph
      • Creating a simple graph
        • Placing Components
        • Placing Components from Palette
        • Connecting Components with Edges
    • Execution
      • Successful Graph Execution
      • Run configuration
      • Connecting to a running job
      • Graph states
    • Common dialogs
      • URL file dialog
      • Edit Value dialog
      • Open Type dialog
    • Import
      • Import Data Shaper projects
      • Import from Data Shaper server sandbox
      • Import graphs
      • Import metadata
    • Export
      • Export graphs to HTML
      • Export to Data Shaper Server sandbox
      • Export image
      • Export Project as Library
    • Graph tracking
      • Changing record count font size
    • Search functionality
    • Working with Data Shaper server
      • Data Shaper server project basic principles
      • Connecting via HTTP
      • Connecting via HTTPS
      • Connecting via Proxy Server
    • Graph components
      • Adding components
      • Finding components
      • Edit component dialog box
      • Enable/disable component
      • Passing data through disabled component
      • Common properties of components
      • Specific attribute types
      • Metadata templates
    • Edges
      • Connecting Components with Edges
      • Types of Edges
      • Assigning Metadata to Edges
      • Colors of Edges
      • Debugging Edges
      • Edge Memory Allocation
    • Metadata
      • Records and Fields
        • Record Types
        • Data Types in Metadata
        • Data Formats
        • Locale and Locale Sensitivity
        • Time Zone
        • Autofilling Functions
      • Metadata Types
        • Internal Metadata
        • External (Shared) Metadata
        • SQL Query Metadata
        • Reading Metadata from Special Sources
      • Auto-propagated Metadata
        • Sources of Auto-Propagated Metadata
        • Explicitly Propagated Metadata
        • Priorities of Metadata
        • Propagation of SQL Query Metadata
      • Creating Metadata
        • Extracting Metadata from a Flat File
        • Extracting Metadata from an XLS(X) File
        • Extracting Metadata from a Database
        • Extracting Metadata from a DBase File
        • Extracting Metadata from Salesforce
        • SQL Query Metadata
        • User Defined Metadata
      • Merging Existing Metadata
      • Creating Database Table from Metadata and Database Connection
      • Metadata Editor
        • Opening Metadata Editor
        • Basics of Metadata Editor
        • Record Pane
        • Field Name vs. Label vs. Description
        • Details Pane
      • Changing and Defining Delimiters
      • Editing Metadata in the Source Code
      • Multi-value Fields
        • Lists and Maps Support in Components
        • Joining on multivalue fields (Comparison Rules)
    • Connections
      • Database Connections
        • Internal Database Connections
        • External (Shared) Database Connections
        • Database Connections Properties
        • Encryption of Access Password
        • Browsing Database and Extracting Metadata from Database Tables
        • Windows Authentication on Microsoft SQL Server
        • Snowflake Connection
        • Hive Connection
        • Troubleshooting
      • JMS Connections
      • QuickBase Connections
      • Hadoop Connections
      • Kafka Connections
      • OAuth2 Connections
      • MongoDB Connections
      • Salesforce Connections
    • Lookup Tables
      • Lookup Tables in Cluster Environment
      • Internal Lookup Tables
      • External (Shared) Lookup Tables
      • Types of Lookup Tables
    • Sequences
      • Persistent Sequences
      • Non Persistent Sequences
      • Internal Sequences
      • External (Shared) Sequences
      • Editing a Sequence
      • Sequences in Cluster Environment
    • Parameters
      • Internal Parameters
      • External (Shared) Parameters
      • Secure Graph Parameters
      • Graph Parameter Editor
      • Secure Graph Parameters
      • Parameters with CTL2 Expressions (Dynamic Parameters)
      • Environment Variables
      • Canonicalizing File Paths
      • Using Parameters
    • Internal/External Graph Elements
    • Dictionary
      • Creating a Dictionary
      • Using a Dictionary in Graphs
    • Execution Properties
    • Notes in Graphs
      • Placing Notes into Graph
      • Resizing Notes
      • Editing Notes
      • Formatted Text
      • Links from Notes
      • Folding Notes
      • Notes Properties
    • Transformations
      • Defining Transformations
      • Transform Editor
      • Common Java Interfaces
    • Data Partitioning (Parallel Running)
    • Data Partitioning in Cluster
      • High Availability
      • Scalability
      • Graph Allocation Examples
      • Example of Distributed Execution
      • Remote Edges
    • Readers
      • Common Properties of Readers
      • ComplexDataReader
      • DatabaseReader
      • DataGenerator
      • DataOneVFSReader
      • EDIFACTReader
      • FlatFileReader
      • JSONExtract
      • JSONReader
      • LDAPReader
      • MultiLevelReader
      • SpreadsheetDataReader
      • UniversalDataReader
      • X12Reader
      • XMLExtract
      • XMLReader
      • XMLXPathReader
    • Writers
      • Common Properties of Writers
      • DatabaseWriter
      • DataOneVFSWriter
      • EDIFACTWriter
      • FlatFileWriter
      • JSONWriter
      • LDAPWriter
      • SpreadsheetDataWriter
      • HIDDEN StructuredDataWriter
      • HIDDEN TableauWriter
      • Trash
      • UniversalDataWriter
      • X12Writer
      • XMLWriter
    • Transformers
      • Common Properties of Transformers
      • Aggregate
      • Concatenate
      • DataIntersection
      • DataSampler
      • Dedup
      • Denormalizer
      • ExtSort
      • FastSort
      • Filter
      • Map
      • Merge
      • MetaPivot
      • Normalizer
      • Partition
      • Pivot
      • Rollup
      • SimpleCopy
      • SimpleGather
      • SortWithinGroups
      • XSLTransformer
    • Joiners
      • Common Properties of Joiners
      • Combine
      • CrossJoin
      • DBJoin
      • ExtHashJoin
      • ExtMergeJoin
      • LookupJoin
      • RelationalJoin
    • Others
      • Common Properties of Others
      • CheckForeignKey
      • DBExecute
      • HTTPConnector
      • LookupTableReaderWriter
      • WebServiceClient
    • CTL2 - Data Shaper Transformation Language
    • Language Reference
      • Program Structure
      • Comments
      • Import
      • Data Types in CTL2
      • Literals
      • Variables
      • Dictionary in CTL2
      • Operators
      • Simple Statement and Block of Statements
      • Control Statements
      • Error Handling
      • Functions
      • Conditional Fail Expression
      • Accessing Data Records and Fields
      • Mapping
      • Parameters
      • Regular Expressions
    • CTL Debugging
      • Debug Perspective
      • Importing and Exporting Breakpoints
      • Inspecting Variables and Expressions
      • Examples
    • Functions Reference
      • Conversion Functions
      • Date Functions
      • Mathematical Functions
      • String Functions
      • Mapping Functions
      • Container Functions
      • Record Functions (Dynamic Field Access)
      • Miscellaneous Functions
      • Lookup Table Functions
      • Sequence Functions
      • Data Service HTTP Library Functions
      • Custom CTL Functions
      • CTL2 Appendix - List of National-specific Characters
      • HIDDEN Subgraph Functions
    • Tutorial
      • Creating a Transformation Graph
      • Filtering the records
      • Sorting the Records
      • Processing Speed-up with Parallelization
      • Debugging the Java Transformation
  • DATA SHAPER SERVER
    • Introduction
    • Administration
      • Monitoring
    • Using Graphs
      • Job Queue
      • Execution History
      • Job Inspector
    • Cluster
      • Sandboxes in Cluster
      • Troubleshooting
  • Install Data Shaper
    • Install Data Shaper
      • Introduction to Data Shaper installation process
      • Planning Data Shaper installation
      • Data Shaper System Requirements
      • Data Shaper Domain Master Configuration reference
      • Performing Data Shaper initial installation and master configuration
        • Creating database objects for PostgreSQL
        • Creating database objects for Oracle
        • Executing Data Shaper installer
        • Configuring additional firewall rules for Data Shaper
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On this page
  • SQL Query Metadata in CTL
  • Use Case
  • Limitations
  1. DATA SHAPER DESIGNER
  2. Metadata
  3. Metadata Types

SQL Query Metadata

SQL query metadata is generated dynamically during runtime from an SQL query. They are useful to create more generic graphs when working with databases.

The structure of SQL query metadata is generated only during the initialization phase of the graph and does not change during the run of the graph, i.e. the structure of the metadata can change between executions of a graph, but not during a single execution.

SQL query metadata was introduced in Data Shaper 5.3.0 and it is an improved concept of Dynamic metadata from previous versions. SQL query metadata is backward-compatible with dynamic metadata - by saving a graph in version 5.3.0 or newer, dynamic metadata is converted to an SQL query metadata.

SQL Query Metadata in CTL

SQL query metadata can be used as a type for variables in CTL code.

If a direct reference to a field is made, the Transform editor shows this warning: Field [field_name] may not exist in record with SQL query metadata [record_name]

Use Case

SQL query metadata allows you to create reusable graphs thanks to parameterization of the connection and query used, allowing you to use the same graph with multiple database tables or databases.

SQL query metadata is useful in cases where the exact fields of metadata are irrelevant, such as when dumping a DB table to a file. When columns are added to a table, it breaks metadata extracted from DB as the field counts no longer match. So if you use SQL query metadata, you no longer have to go back and manually add fields. If you want to enforce exact metadata structure, you should use metadata link:extracted from a database.

Limitations

In most aspects, the metadata behaves similarly to a non-SQL query metadata; however, there are some limitations:

  • an SQL query metadata cannot be exported or externalized;

  • it cannot be merged with a statically typed metadata;

  • SQL query metadata cannot be used if the database or the table does not exist during graph initialization;

  • the type of an SQL query metadata is always delimited.

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