Creating Rules Files

A rules files tells Essbase what changes to make to the data source and outline during a data load or dimension build.

Note:

In rules files, record size is limited to 64 KB.

  To create a rules file:

  1. If you are creating the rules file on the Essbase Server, connect to the server.

    Connecting to the server is not necessary if you are creating the rules file on the client.

  2. Open Data Prep Editor.

    See “Creating Rules Files” or “Opening Rules Files” in the Oracle Essbase Administration Services Online Help.

    You can open Data Prep Editor with a new or existing rules file. After you open Data Prep Editor, put the editor in the correct mode. See “About Data Prep Editor” in the Oracle Essbase Administration Services Online Help.

  3. Open the data source.

    In Data Prep Editor, you can open data sources such as text files, spreadsheet files, and SQL data sources. Data Prep Editor displays the data source, enabling you to see what needs to be changed.

    • To open text files and spreadsheet files, see “Opening Data Files” in the Oracle Essbase Administration Services Online Help.

    • To open SQL data sources, see “Opening SQL Databases” in the Oracle Essbase Administration Services Online Help.

      To open an SQL data source, use SQL Interface. The Oracle Essbase SQL Interface Guide provides information on supported environments, installation, and connection to supported data sources. Contact your Essbase administrator for more information.

      You can define a substitution variable for the data source name (DSN). When you open a SQL data source, you can select the substitution variable for the value you want to use as the DSN. For example, you can create a substitution variable named Payroll_detail and create a rules file that specifies Payroll_detail as the substitution variable for the data source name. Before performing the data load or dimension build, you must set the value for Payroll_detail to the data source name you want to use; for example, an Oracle or IBM DB2 database. When a data load or dimension build is performed, the substitution variable value that Essbase Server finds at that time is used. See Using Substitution Variables.

      Note:

      When you open an SQL data source, the rules fields default to the SQL data source column names. If the names are not the same as the Essbase dimension names, map the fields to the dimensions. See Changing Field Names.