Getting Attributes and Associations of Associated Objects

By default, the GetMetadata method gets only the Id, Name and Desc attributes of any associated objects that are returned by a request. If you set the OMI_ALL_SIMPLE (8) flag, you can get all of the XML attributes of the specified object and any associated objects. However, if you want to get specific attributes of associated objects, or associations of associated objects, you must set the OMI_TEMPLATE (4) flag and specify a template in the GetMetadata request.

A template is one or more additional property strings that you specify in the OPTIONS parameter of the GetMetadata method within a <TEMPLATES> element. The property strings specify additional attributes and associations to retrieve for the primary object in the INMETADATA parameter, an associated object that is requested in the INMETADATA parameter, or an associated object that is requested in another template. The attributes that are requested in the template are retrieved in addition to any attributes that are requested in the INMETADATA parameter or that are requested by other GetMetadata flags. For information about how to create a template, see Creating Templates for the Get Methods. SAS introduces several new template features in SAS 9.3, including a new template form.

The following is an example of a GetMetadata request that sets the OMI_TEMPLATE flag and specifies a template. Templates request additional attributes for both the specified object and associated objects requested in the INMETADATA parameter (<METADATA> element):

<GetMetadata>
 <Metadata>
   <Column Id="A53TPPVI.A5000001" Name="" Desc="" ColumnType="" SASFormat="">
    <Table/>
   </Column>
 </Metadata>
 <NS>SAS</NS>
 <!-- OMI_TEMPLATE -->
 <Flags>4</Flags>
 <Options>
  <Templates>
    <Column Id="" ColumnLength="" BeginPosition="" EndPosition=""/>
    <PhysicalTable Id="" Name="" Desc="" DBMSType="" MemberType=""/>
  </Templates>
 </Options>  
</GetMetadata>

In the request, note the following:

The <METADATA> element specifies the metadata type, an object instance identifier, four metadata type attributes, and the association name Table.
The <NS> element specifies the SAS namespace.
The <FLAGS> element specifies the number representing the OMI_TEMPLATE flag (4).
The <OPTIONS> element contains a <TEMPLATES> element and two property strings. Each property string is a template. The first template specifies additional attributes to retrieve for the Column object identified in the <METADATA> element. The second template specifies attributes to retrieve for the PhysicalTable object that is associated with the Column object through the Table association name that was requested in the <METADATA> element.

Here is an example of the output that is returned by the SAS Metadata Server:

<!-- Using the GETMETADATA method. -->

<Column Id="A53TPPVI.A5000001" Name="City" Desc="City of Sales Office" 
  ColumnType="12" SASFormat="$Char32." ColumnLength="32" BeginPosition="0" 
  EndPosition="0">
<Table>
<PhysicalTable Id="A53TPPVI.A4000001" Name="Sales Offices" 
  Desc="Sales offices in NW region" DBMSType="" MemberType=""/>
</Table>
</Column>

The GetMetadata method gets the values of the Name, Desc, ColumnType, SASFormat, ColumnLength, BeginPosition, and EndPosition attributes of the specified Column object. In addition, it gets the Id, Name, Desc, DBMSType, and MemberType attributes of the Column object's associated PhysicalTable object.