DATA Step Functions for Reading and Writing Metadata

Introduction to DATA Step Functions for Reading and Writing Metadata

What Are the DATA Step Functions for Reading and Writing Metadata?

These DATA step functions enable an administrator to set or return information about attributes, associations, and properties from metadata objects.

Name	Description
METADATA_DELASSN	Deletes all objects that make up the specified association
METADATA_DELOBJ	Deletes the first object that matches the specified URI
METADATA_GETATTR	Returns the value of the specified attribute for specified object
METADATA_GETNASL	Returns the nth association of the specified object
METADATA_GETNASN	Returns the nth associated object of the specified association
METADATA_GETNATR	Returns the nth attribute on the object specified by the URI
METADATA_GETNOBJ	Returns the nth object that matches the specified URI
METADATA_GETNPRP	Returns the nth property of the specified object
METADATA_GETNTYP	Returns the nth object type on the metadata server
METADATA_GETPROP	Returns the specified property of the specified object
METADATA_NEWOBJ	Creates a new metadata object
METADATA_PATHOBJ	Returns the Id and Type attributes of the specified folder object
METADATA_PAUSED	Determines whether the metadata server is paused
METADATA_PURGE	Purges the specified URI
METADATA_RESOLVE	Resolves a URI into an object on the metadata server
METADATA_SETASSN	Modifies an association list for an object
METADATA_SETATTR	Sets the specified attribute for the specified object
METADATA_SETPROP	Sets the specified property for the specified object
METADATA_VERSION	Returns the metadata server model version number

Referencing a Metadata Object with a URI

When you use a metadata DATA step function for reading and writing metadata, you specify an object by using a URI, which is a concept from SAS Open Metadata Architecture. For more information, see Metadata Object Identifiers and URIs. Here are examples for the DATA step functions for reading and writing metadata:

ID

omsobj: A57DQR88.AU000003

type/ID

omsobj: LogicalServer/A57DQR88.AU000003

type?@attribute='value'

omsobj: LogicalServer?@Name='SASApp - OLAP Server'

Notes:

The OMSOBJ: prefix is not case sensitive.
Escape characters are supported with the %nn URL escape syntax. For more information, see the URLENCODE function in SAS Language Reference: Dictionary.

Comparison of DATA Step Functions to Metadata Procedures

The METAOPERATE procedure and the METADATA procedure perform some of the same tasks as the DATA step functions for reading and writing metadata. These language elements can query metadata for reports, or make changes to specified objects.

PROC METAOPERATE has much simpler syntax and is easy to use. However, it supports a narrow range of tasks.

PROC METADATA can submit any method that is supported by the DoRequest method of the SAS Open Metadata Interface, including all methods of the IOMI class, and the Status method of the IServer class. PROC METADATA produces XML output. By using the XML LIBNAME engine and ODS, you can create reports.

In general, the DATA step functions perform the same tasks as the PROC METADATA methods. However, with the DATA step functions, you do not have to understand the XML hierarchy. You can create the same kind of ODS reports as you can with PROC METADATA. Instead of writing the output to an XML data set, you execute the DATA step within a macro, and assign macro variables to the returned values. Those variables become the columns in an output data set. See how these two examples create similar reports from their output: Example: Creating a Report with the DATA Step and Example: Creating a Report with the METADATA Procedure and the XML Engine.

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