SAS Java Metadata Interface Overview

The SAS Java Metadata Interface provides a way to access metadata repositories through the use of client Java objects that represent server metadata. This enables users to perform metadata access tasks without having to have a deep understanding of the format of each XML method.
The API contains functionality used for the following:
  • connecting to the SAS Metadata Server
  • creating, reading, and writing Java object instances that represent SAS Metadata Model objects on the client, and propagating additions and changes to the SAS Metadata Server
In previous releases, there were two implementations of the SAS Java Metadata Interface:
  • A static version (contained in the com.sas.metadata package) for single-user applications that do not need to support objects in the SAS middle tier.
  • A remote version (contained in the com.sas.metadata.remote package) for applications that support single or multiple users. These applications might have objects that need to be sent to a remote environment, such as the SAS middle tier.
The static version has been deprecated in SAS 9.3. If a client uses the static version, it should be modified to use the remote version instead.
The com.sas.metadata.remote package is typically used with the com.sas.services.information package included with SAS Foundation Services software. The com.sas.services.information package provides a generic interface for interacting with heterogeneous data repositories from client applications. Heterogeneous data repositories include SAS metadata repositories, Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) repositories, and WebDAV repositories. Using the com.sas.services.information package, a client can create objects that provide a layer of abstraction. As a result, users do not need to know all of the details of the SAS Metadata Model. These objects typically wrap the SAS Metadata Model objects created by the SAS Java Metadata Interface. The com.sas.services.information package is described in the SAS Foundation Services Java class documentation. SAS Foundation Services is a component of SAS Integration Technologies. The Java class documentation is available at support.sas.com/93api.