4.8.3 Editing a Composition Table

Joined Tables and Concatenated Tables are considered Composition Tables. A Composition Table, as well as a Mirrored Table, has two modes: Composition view and Default view.

Composition view shows the exact composition of the table. It displays graphical links between the tables and columns involved in the composition, and indicates the type of concatenation or join being used. You cannot edit a table's columns when the table is in Composition view.

Default view allows you to edit column attributes, such as sorting order, visibility, etc. When a Composition Table is in Default view, it looks similar to a regular Data Table. All of the table's composition information, such as join links, concatenation types, constituent tables, etc., is hidden from view.

To toggle a Composition Table to Composition view, click the 'Change View' button in the table title bar, and select 'Composition' from the menu. To toggle a Composition Table to Default view, click the 'Change View' button in the table title bar, and select 'Default' from the menu.

 

Example: Editing a Composition Table  >>

Assume that you have a Composition Table which is a union of two tables, one displaying information about customers in the state of NY and the other displaying information about the customers in the state of NJ. Both of these tables have a column named 'customer_id' which you would like to hide. They also both have a column named 'company_name' which you would like renamed to 'Company'.

To create this Composition Table, and then hide and rename columns in the Default view, follow the steps below:

1. Create a new Worksheet.

2. Expand the 'Data Source' node, 'Orders' node, and 'DWS' node.

3. Drag the 'NY Customers' query on to one of the empty cells in the Worksheet. This creates a new table, named 'NY Customers1'.

4. Drag the 'NJ Customers' query on to one of the empty cells in the Worksheet. This creates a new table, named 'NJ Customers1'.

5. Drag the 'NY Customers1' table until it is directly above or below the 'NJ Customers1' table. When the 'union' symbol appears, release the table to perform the concatenation.

 

A new Concatenated Table, 'Query1' is created. Notice that the 'Query1' table is in the 'Hierarchical' view since the 'union' sym­bol is visible on the left of the table, indicating its type, and the table's title row lists all of the tables participating in the union oper­ation.

 

6. Press the 'Change View' button in the table title bar, and select 'Default' from the menu.

 

7. Select the 'CUSTOMER_ID' cell and click on the 'Visibility' button to hide it.

8. Double-click the 'COMPANY_NAME' cell, and change the name to 'Company'.

 

9. Switch back to 'Composition' view by pressing the 'Change View' button in the table title bar. Select 'Composition' from the menu.

 

Notice that the column name change does not appear in the Com­position view. This is because the Composition view displays the base table information and the column name has not been changed for the base tables.

10. Preview the table. Notice that the 'CUTOMER_ID' field is hidden and the 'COMPANY_NAME' column header has been renamed to 'Company'.

 

 

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