Getting and Updating Existing Objects

To update an existing metadata object, you must know its metadata object identifier. The SAS Java Metadata Interface provides several ways to get information about existing metadata objects. This section provides an example of one way to get information about the metadata objects created in Creating Objects. The example uses the getMetadataObjectsSubset method from the MdOMIUtil interface.

The getMetadataObjectsSubset method gets a list of metadata objects in the repository of a specified metadata type. The method supports the use of SAS Open Metadata Interface flags and options to enable you to specify properties to return in the request, and to filter the metadata objects that are returned by the request. In the example, the <TEMPLATES> and <XMLSELECT> elements and their corresponding flags get all PhysicalTable objects named “TableTest,” their associated Column and Keyword metadata objects, and all attributes of the objects. The PublicType attribute is included in the <XMLSELECT> search string to specify to process only PhysicalTable objects that have their PublicType attribute set.

The objects are created in the specified object store, and they can be edited.

/**
    * This example reads the newly created objects back from the 
    * SAS Metadata Server.
    * @param repository identifies the repository from which to read our objects.
    */
   public void readTable(CMetadata repository)
   {
      if(repository != null)
      {
         try
         {
            System.out.println("\nReading objects from the server...");

            // First we create an MdObjectStore as a container for the
            // objects that we will create/read/persist to the server as 
            // one collection.
            MdObjectStore store = _factory.createObjectStore();

            // The following statements define variables used within the 
            // getMetadataObjectsSubset method.These XML strings are used in conjunction
            // with SAS Open Metadata Interface flags. The <XMLSELECT> element
            // specifies filter criteria. The objects returned are filtered by the 
            // PublicType and Name values. The <TEMPLATES> element specifies the 
            // associations to be expanded for each object.

            String xmlSelect = "<XMLSELECT Search=\"*[@PublicType='Table' and " + 
                                 "@Name='TableTest']\"/>";
            String template = 
               "<Templates>" + 
                  "<PhysicalTable>" +
                    "<Columns/>" +
                  "</PhysicalTable>" +
                  "<Column>" + 
                     "<Keywords/>" + 
                  "</Column>" +
                "</Templates>";
            
            // Add the XMLSELECT and TEMPLATES strings together.
            String sOptions = xmlSelect + template; 

            // The following statements go to the server with a fully-qualified 
            // repository ID and specify the type of object we are searching for 
            // (MetadataObjects.PHYSICALTABLE) using the OMI_XMLSELECT, OMI_TEMPLATE,
            // OMI_ALL_SIMPLE, and OMI_GET_METADATA flags. OMI_ALL_SIMPLE specifies 
            // to get all simple attributes for all objects that are returned. 
            // OMI_GET_METADATA activates the GetMetadata flags in the GetMetadataObjects
            // request. 
            //
            // The table, column, and keyword will be read from the server and created 
            // within the specified object store.
            int flags = MdOMIUtil.OMI_XMLSELECT | MdOMIUtil.OMI_TEMPLATE | 
                           MdOMIUtil.OMI_ALL_SIMPLE | MdOMIUtil.OMI_GET_METADATA;
            List tableList = _factory.getOMIUtil().getMetadataObjectsSubset(store, 
                                                       repository.getFQID(),
                                                       MetadataObjects.PHYSICALTABLE,
                                                       flags,
                                                       sOptions);
            Iterator iter = tableList.iterator();
            while (iter.hasNext())
            {
               // Print the Name, Id, PublicType, UsageVersion, and ObjPath values 
               // of the table returned from the server. ObjPath is the folder location.
               PhysicalTable table = (PhysicalTable) iter.next();
               System.out.println("Found table: " + table.getName() + " (" + 
                                    table.getId() + ")");

               System.out.println("\tType: " + table.getPublicType());
               System.out.println("\tUsage Version: " + table.getUsageVersion());
               System.out.println("\tPath: " + _factory.getOMIUtil().getObjectPath(store, 
                                                   table, false));
               
               // Get the list of columns for this table.
               AssociationList columns = table.getColumns();
               for (int i = 0; i < columns.size(); i++)
               {
                  // Print the Name, Id, PublicType, UsageVersion, Desc, and ColumnName
                  // values for each column associated with the table.
                  Column column = (Column) columns.get(i);
                  System.out.println("Found column: " + column.getName() + " (" + 
                                       column.getId() + ")");
                  
                  System.out.println("\tType: " + column.getPublicType());
                  System.out.println("\tUsage Version: " + column.getUsageVersion());
                  System.out.println("\tDescription: " + column.getDesc());
                  System.out.println("\tColumnName: " + column.getColumnName());
                  
                  // Get the list of keywords associated with the columns.
                  AssociationList keywords = column.getKeywords();
                  for (int j = 0; j < keywords.size(); j++)
                  {
                     // Print the Name and Id values of each keyword associated with
                     // the column.
                     Keyword keyword = (Keyword) keywords.get(j);
                     System.out.println("Found keyword: " + keyword.getName() + " (" + 
                                          keyword.getId() + ")");
                  }
               }
            }

            // When finished, clean up the objects in the store if they 
            // are no longer being used.
            store.dispose();
         }
         catch (MdException e)
         {
            e.printStackTrace();
         }
         catch (RemoteException e)
         {
            e.printStackTrace();
         }
      }
   }

Here is the output of the code:

Reading objects from the server...
Found table: TableTest (A5PCE796.B8002WKO)
	Type: Table
	Usage Version: 1000000.0
	Path: /User Folders/sasdemo/My Folder/TableTest
Found column: ColumnTest (A5PCE796.B5008RAF)
	Type: Column
	Usage Version: 1000000.0
	Description: This is a description of a column
	ColumnName: MyTestColumnName
Found keyword: KeywordTest (A5PCE796.AX001O1D)

The output prints the name, metadata object identifier, and PublicType and UsageVersion values of the table and column objects. In addition, it prints the name and metadata object identifier of the Keyword object. And, it prints the path of the table in the SAS Folders tree, and the Description and ColumnName values of the column object.

For more information about the search criteria supported in the <XMLSELECT> element, see Filtering a GetMetadataObjects Request. For more information about the templates supported in the <TEMPLATES> element, see Understanding Templates.