Introduction

Using the Metadata Types Reference

The reference documentation for the SAS Metadata Model has been reorganized slightly in SAS 9.2 to make it more concise. The reference information for each metadata type includes:

the type's superclass, if any
a list of subtypes, if any
an overview and description of the type's usage
an Attributes table listing unique attributes, if any
a list of inherited attributes
an Associations table listing unique associations, if any
a list of inherited associations
details of unique attributes and associations.

Legend for Attributes Table

The following is an example of the Attributes table provided in the documentation for the PhysicalTable metadata type.

Name	Description	Type	Length
DBMSType	If this table resides in a DBMS, this attribute describes the type of the DBMS. These types are the same as the SAS engine types.	String	64
IsCompressed	This attribute indicates whether this table is compressed or not.	int
IsDBMSView	This attribute indicates that this physical table object represents a view in the DBMS	int
IsEncrypted	This attribute indicates whether this physical table is encrypted.	int
SASTableName	This is the name SAS software uses to refer to the table.	String	32

The Name and Description columns identify the unique attributes of this metadata type. Type contains each attribute's data type, and Length contains the attribute's allowed length. For more details about an attribute, select its name. The attribute names are linked to additional descriptive information provided lower in the reference document.

Inherited Attributes

Inherited attributes are listed directly underneath the Attributes table. Every metadata type inherits Name, Id, Desc, MetadataCreated, MetadataUpdated, ChangeState, and LockedBy attributes from the Root metadata type. Following that are attributes that the metadata type inherits from its supertypes. The attribute names are hotlinks. Select an attribute name to display detail information from the source document.

Legend for Associations Table

The Associations table lists associations that are unique to this metadata type. Only the first row of an Associations table is shown here.

Name	Cardinality	Description	Associated Types
Aggregations Partner: AggregationTables	0 to *	The aggregations associated with this table.	Aggregation

Name

Cardinality

Description

Associated Types

Aggregations

Partner:

AggregationTables

0 to *

The aggregations associated with this table.

Aggregation

In the table:

Name column

Aggregations: is the association name that describes the association from the perspective of the named metadata type (PhysicalTable).
Partner: AggregationTables: is the association name that describes the association from the perspective of the related object.
: indicates the resident side of an association, or where information will be stored about the association, if the association is a cross-repository reference. In this example, if the Aggregrations association name was used to create a cross-repository reference, information about the association would be persisted in the repository containing the partner object.

Cardinality column

stores a figure that indicates the required or optional nature of the association, and how many associations are supported under this association name. A "0" in the first position indicates the association is optional; a "1" indicates it is required. A "*" in the second position indicates multiple associated objects are supported; a "1" indicates only one associated object is allowed. For more information, see Understanding Associations.

Description column

a description of the purpose of the association.

Associated Types column

lists the metadata types that are supported as related objects in the association. In this example, one metadata type is supported: Aggregation.

The association names and metadata type names are hotlinks. For more information, select the name. Each unique association name is hotlinked to additional information lower in the document. Each partner association name is linked to additional information in the source document. Each metadata type name opens the source reference document.

Inherited Associations

Inherited associations are listed directly underneath the Associations table. The associations are inherited from the Root metadata type and any supertypes. The links are in the form AssociationName/PartnerName; that is, the first name describes the association from the perspective of the current metadata type; the second describes it from the perspective of the partner object. Associations are listed in alphabetical order.

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