Informatica Scenario Based

1.
JUN 15
SQL Transformation with examples
================================================================================ ==== ========= SQL Transformation with examples Use: SQL Transformation is a connected transformation used to process SQL queri es in the midstream of a pipeline. We can insert, update, delete and retrieve rows from th e database at run time using the SQL transformation. Use SQL transformation in script mode to run DDL (data definition language) statements like creating or dropping the tables.
The following SQL statements can be used in the SQL transformation. . . . . . Data Definition Statements (CREATE, ALTER, DROP, TRUNCATE, RENAME) DATA MANIPULATION statements (INSERT, UPDATE, DELETE, MERGE) DATA Retrieval Statement (SELECT) DATA Control Language Statements (GRANT, REVOKE) Transaction Control Statements (COMMIT, ROLLBACK)
Scenario: Let s say we want to create a temporary table in mapping while workflow is running for some intermediate calculation. We can use SQL transformation in script mode to a chieve the same. Below we will see how to create sql transformation in script mode with an exampl e where we will create a table in mapping and will insert some rows in the same table.
Solution:
Step 1: Create two text files in the $PMSourceFileDir directory with some sql queries.
1. sql_script.txt File contains the below Sql queries (you can have multiple sql queries in file s eparated by semicolon)
create table create_emp_table (emp_id number,emp_name varchar2(100))
2. sql_script2.txt File contains the below Sql queries (you can have multiple sql queries in file s eparated by semicolon)
insert into create_emp_table values (1,'abc')
These are the script files to be executed by SQL transformation on database serv er.
Step 2: We need a source which contains the above script file names with a complete path . So, I created another file in the $PMSourceFileDir directory to store these scri pt file names as Sql_script_input.txt.
File contains the list of files with their complete path: E:\softs\Informatica\server\infa_shared\SrcFiles\sql_script.txt E:\softs\Informatica\server\infa_shared\SrcFiles\sql_script2.txt
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-cDH4chEMxtU/T9sltLgGtLI/AAAAAAAAEyA/4afTWFfxDUg/s1600/ input.bmp data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAPAAAP///wAAACH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAICRAEAOw == data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAPAAAP///wAAACH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAICRAEAOw == data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAPAAAP///wAAACH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAICRAEAOw == data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAPAAAP///wAAACH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAICRAEAOw == Step 3: Now we will create a mapping to execute the script files using the SQL transform ation.
Go to the mapping designer tool, source analyzer and Import from file =>then creates source definition by selecting a file Sql_script_input.txt Locate d at E:\softs\Informatica\server\infa_shared\SrcFiles. Source definition will look like
Similarly create a target definition, go to target designer and create a target flat file with result and error ports. This is shown in the below image
Step 4: . Go to the mapping designer and create a new mapping. . Drag the flat file into the mapping designer. . Go to the Transformation in the toolbar, Create, select the SQL transformation , enter a name and click on create. . Now select the SQL transformation options as script mode and DB type as Oracle and click ok.
. The SQL transformation is created with the default ports. . Now connect the source qualifier transformation ports to the SQL transformatio n input port. . Drag the target flat file into the mapping and connect the SQL transformation output ports to the target. . Save the mapping. The mapping flow image is shown in the below picture.
. Go to the workflow manager; create a new workflow and session. . Edit the session. For source, enter the source & target file directory. . For the SQL transformation, enter the oracle database relational connection as shown below.
. Save the workflow and run it. . Open the target file, you will find the below data.
"PASSED"; "PASSED";
"PASSED"; -: for sql_script.txt, where it will crate the table and "PASSED"; -: For sql_scriptw.txt, where it will insert rows in to the table
Fire a select query on the database to check whether table is created or not.
============================================================================= Posted 5 weeks ago by Prafull Dangore
2. JUN 7
Efficient SQL Statements : SQL Tunning Tips
Efficient SQL Statements This is an extremely brief look at some of the factors that may effect the effic iency of your SQL and PL/SQL code. It is not intended as a thorough discussion of the area and should not be used as such. . . . . . . . . . . Check Your Stats Why Indexes Aren't Used Caching Tables EXISTS vs. IN Presence Checking Inequalities When Things Look Bad! Driving Tables (RBO Only) Improving Parse Speed Packages Procedures and Functions
Check Your Stats The Cost Based Optimizer (CBO) uses statistics to decide which execution plan to use. If these statistics are incorrect the decision made by the CBO may be incorrect. For this reason it is important to make sure that these statistics ar e
refreshed regularly. The following article will help you achieve this aim. . Cost Based Optimizer (CBO) and Database Statistics
Why Indexes Aren't Used The presence of an index on a column does not guarantee it will be used. The following is a small list of factors that will prevent an index from being used.
. The optimizer decides it would be more efficient not to use the index. If your query is returning the majority of the data in a table, then a full table scan is prob ably going to be the most efficient way to access the table.
. You perform a function on the indexed column i.e. WHERE UPPER(name) = 'JONES'. The solution to this is to use a Function-Based Index. . You perform mathematical operations on the indexed column i.e. WHERE salary + 1 = 10001 . You concatenate a column i.e. WHERE firstname || ' ' || lastname = 'JOHN JONES ' . You do not include the first column of a concatenated index in the WHERE claus e of your statement. For the index to be used in a partial match, the first column (leading-edge) must be used. Index Skip Scanning in Oracle 9i and above allow indexes to be used even when the leading edge is not referenced. . The use of 'OR' statements confuses the Cost Based Optimizer (CBO). It will ra rely choose to use an index on column referenced using an OR statement. It will even ignore optimizer hints in this situation. The only way of guaranteeing the use o f indexes in these situations is to use an INDEX hint.
EXISTS vs. IN The EXISTS function searches for the presence of a single row meeting the stated criteria as opposed to the IN statement which looks for all occurrences. TABLE1 - 1000 rows TABLE2 - 1000 rows (A) SELECT t1.id FROM table1 t1 WHERE t1.code IN (SELECT t2.code FROM table2 t2); (B) SELECT t1.id FROM table1 t1 WHERE EXISTS (SELECT '1' FROM table2 t2 WHERE t2.code = t1.code) For query A, all rows in TABLE2 will be read for every row in TABLE1. The effect will be 1,000,000 rows read from items. In the case of query B, a maximum of 1 row from TABLE2 will be read for each row of TABLE1, thus reducing the processing
overhead of the statement. Rule of thumb: . If the majority of the filtering criteria are in the subquery then the IN vari ation may be more performant. . If the majority of the filtering criteria are in the top query then the EXISTS variation may be more performant.
I would suggest they you should try both variants and see which works the best. Note. In later versions of Oracle there is little difference between EXISTS and IN operations. Presence Checking
The first question you should ask yourself is, "Do I need to check for the prese nce of a record?" Alternatives to presence checking include: . Use the MERGE statement if you are not sure if data is already present. . Perform an insert and trap failure because a row is already present using theDUP_VAL_ON_INDEX exception handler. . Perform an update and test for no rows updated using SQL%ROWCOUNT.
If none of these options are right for you and processing is conditional on the presence of certain records in a table, you may decide to code something like th e following. SELECT Count(*) INTO v_count FROM items WHERE item_size = 'SMALL';
IF v_count = 0 THEN -- Do processing related to no small items present END IF; If there are many small items, time and processing will be lost retrieving multi ple records which are not needed. This would be better written like one of the following. SELECT COUNT(*) INTO v_count FROM items WHERE item_size = 'SMALL' AND rownum = 1;
IF v_count = 0 THEN -- Do processing related to no small items present END IF; OR
SELECT COUNT(*) INTO v_count FROM dual WHERE EXISTS (SELECT 1 FROM items WHERE item_size = 'SMALL');
IF v_count = 0 THEN -- Do processing related to no small items present END IF; In these examples only single a record is retrieved in the presence/absence chec k. Inequalities If a query uses inequalities (item_no > 100) the optimizer must estimate the number of rows returned before it can decide the best way to retrieve the data. This estimation is prone to errors. If you are aware of the data and it's distri bution you can use optimizer hints to encourage or discourage full table scans to impro ve
performance. If an index is being used for a range scan on the column in question, the performance can be improved by substituting >= for >. In this case, item_no > 100 becomes item_no >= 101. In the first case, a full scan of the index will occ ur. In the second case, Oracle jumps straight to the first index entry with an item_ no of 101 and range scans from this point. For large indexes this may significantly reduce the number of blocks read. When Things Look Bad! If you have a process/script that shows poor performance you should do the following: . Write sensible queries in the first place! . Identify the specific statement(s) that are causing a problem. The simplest wa y to do this is to use SQL Trace, but you can try running the individual statements u sing SQL*Plus and timing them (SET TIMING ON) . Use EXPLAIN to look at the execution plan of the statement. Look for any full table accesses that look dubious. Remember, a full table scan of a small table is ofte n more efficient than access by index. . Check to see if there are any indexes that may help performance. . Try adding new indexes to the system to reduce excessive full table scans. Typically, foreign key columns should be indexed as these are regularly used in join conditions. On occasion it may be necessary to add composite (concatenated) indexes that will only aid individual queries. Remember, excessive indexing can reduce INSERT, UPDATE and DELETE performance.
Driving Tables (RBO Only) The structure of the FROM and WHERE clauses of DML statements can be tailored to improve the performance of the statement. The rules vary depending on whether the database engine is using the Rule or Cost based optimizer. The situation is further complicated by the fact that the engine may perform a Merge Join or a Nested Loop join to retrieve the data. Despite this, there are a few rules you c an use to improve the performance of your SQL. Oracle processes result sets a table at a time. It starts by retrieving all the data for the first (driving) table. Once this data is retrieved it is used to limit the n umber of rows processed for subsequent (driven) tables. In the case of multiple table joi ns, the driving table limits the rows processed for the first driven table. Once processed, this combined set of data is the driving set for the second driven ta ble etc. Roughly translated into English, this means that it is best to process tabl
es that will retrieve a small number of rows first. The optimizer will do this to the be st of it's ability regardless of the structure of the DML, but the following factors m ay help. Both the Rule and Cost based optimizers select a driving table for each query. I f a decision cannot be made, the order of processing is from the end of the FROM clause to the start. Therefore, you should always place your driving table at th e end of the FROM clause. Subsequent driven tables should be placed in order so that those retrieving the most rows are nearer to the start of the FROM clause.
Confusingly, the WHERE clause should be writen in the opposite order, with the driving tables conditions first and the final driven table last. ie. FROM d, c, b, a WHERE a.join_column = 12345 AND a.join_column = b.join_column AND b.join_column = c.join_column AND c.join_column = d.join_column; If we now want to limit the rows brought back from the "D" table we may write th e following. FROM d, c, b, a WHERE a.join_column = 12345 AND a.join_column = b.join_column AND b.join_column = c.join_column AND c.join_column = d.join_column AND d.name = 'JONES'; Depending on the number of rows and the presence of indexes, Oracle my now pick "D" as the driving table. Since "D" now has two limiting factors (join_column an d name), it may be a better candidate as a driving table so the statement may be better written as follows. FROM c, b, a, d WHERE d.name = 'JONES' AND d.join_column = 12345 AND d.join_column = a.join_column AND a.join_column = b.join_column AND b.join_column = c.join_column This grouping of limiting factors will guide the optimizer more efficiently maki ng table "D" return relatively few rows, and so make it a more efficient driving ta ble. Remember, the order of the items in both the FROM and WHERE clause will not force the optimizer to pick a specific table as a driving table, but it may infl uence it's decision. The grouping of limiting conditions onto a single table will redu ce the number of rows returned from that table, and will therefore make it a stronger candidate for becoming the driving table.
Caching Tables Queries will execute much faster if the data they reference is already cached. F or small frequently used tables performance may be improved by caching tables. Normally, when full table scans occur, the cached data is placed on the Least Recently Used (LRU) end of the buffer cache. This means that it is the first dat a to be paged out when more buffer space is required. If the table is cached (ALTER TABLE employees CACHE;) the data is placed on the Most Recently Used (MRU) end of the buffer, and so is less likely to be paged out before it is re-queried. Ca ching tables may alter the CBO's path through the data and should not be used without careful consideration. Improving Parse Speed Execution plans for SELECT statements are cached by the server, but unless the exact same statement is repeated the stored execution plan details will not be
reused. Even differing spaces in the statement will cause this lookup to fail. U se of bind variables allows you to repeatedly use the same statements whilst changing the WHERE clause criteria. Assuming the statement does not have a cached execution plan it must be parsed before execution. The parse phase for statement s can be decreased by efficient use of aliasing. If an alias is not present, the e ngine must resolve which tables own the specified columns. The following is an example . Bad Statement Good Statement SELECT first_name, last_name, country FROM employee, countries WHERE country_id = id AND lastname = 'HALL'; SELECT e.first_name, e.last_name, c.country FROM employee e, countries c WHERE e.country_id = c.id AND e.last_name = 'HALL';
Packages Procedures and Functions When an SQL statement, or anonymous block, is passed to the server it is processed in three phases. Phase Actions Parse
Syntax Check and Object Resolution Execution Necessary Reads and Writes performed Fetch Resultant rows are Retrieved, Assembled, Sorted and Returned
The Parse phase is the most time and resource intensive. This phase can be avoided if all anonymous blocks are stored as Database Procedures, Functions, Packages or Views. Being database objects their SQL text and compiled code is stored in Data Dictionary and the executable copies reside in the Shared Pool.
Posted 7th June by Prafull Dangore
3. JUN 7
Function : NVL2 and COALESCE
NVL2 The NVL2 function accepts three parameters. If the first parameter value is not null it returns the value in the second parameter. If the first parameter value is null, it returns the th ird parameter. The following query shows NVL2 in action.
SQL> SELECT * FROM null_test_tab ORDER BY id;
ID COL1 COL2 COL3 COL4 ---------- ---------- ---------- ---------- ---------1 ONE TWO THREE FOUR 2 TWO THREE FOUR 3 THREE FOUR 4 THREE THREE
4 rows selected.
SQL> SELECT id, NVL2(col1, col2, col3) AS output FROM null_test_tab ORDER BY id;
ID OUTPUT ---------- ---------1 TWO 2 THREE 3 THREE 4 THREE
4 rows selected.
SQL>
COALESCE The COALESCE function was introduced in Oracle 9i. It accepts two or more parame ters and returns the first non-null value in a list. If all parameters contain null values, it return s null. SQL> SELECT id, COALESCE(col1, col2, col3) AS output FROM null_test_tab ORDER BY id;
ID OUTPUT ---------- ---------1 ONE 2 TWO 3 THREE 4 THREE
4 rows selected.
SQL>
Posted 7th June by Prafull Dangore
4. FEB 8
Load the session statistics such as Session Start & End Time, Success Rows, Failed Rows and Rejected Rows etc. into a database table for audit/log purpose.
Scenario:
Load the session statistics such as Session Start & End Time, Success Rows, Fail ed Rows and Rejected Rows etc. into a database table for audit/log purpose.
Solution:
After performing the below solution steps your end workflow will look as follows : START => SESSION1 => ASSIGNMENT TASK => SESSION2 SOLUTION STEPS SESSION1 This session is used to achieve your actual business logic. Meaning this session will perform your actual data load. It can be anything File Table..File or Table.Table, File . WORKFLOW VARIABLES Create the following workflow variables. => $$Workflowname => $$SessionStartTime => $$SessionEndTime => $$TargetSuccessrows => $$TargetFailedRows ASSIGNMENT TASK Use the Expression tab in the Assignment Task and assign as follows: $$workflowname = $PMWorkflowName $$sessionStartTime = $ SESSION1.StartTime $$SessionEndTime = $ SESSION1.Endtime $$ TargetSuccessrows = $ SESSION1. TgtSuccessRows $$ TargetFailedRows = $ SESSION1. TgtFailedRows SESSION2 This session is used to load the session statistics into a database table. => This should call a mapping say m_sessionLog
=> This mapping m_sessionLog should have mapping variables for the above defined workflow variables such as $$wfname, $$Stime, $$Etime, $$TSRows and $$TFRows. => This mapping m_sessionLog should use a dummy source and it must have a expres sion transformation and a target => database Audit table) => Inside the expression you must assign the mapping variables to the output por ts workflowname=$$wfname starttime=$$Stime endtime=$$Etime SucessRows=$$TSRows FailedRows=$$TFRows => Create a target database table with the following columns Workflowname, start time, end time, success rows and failed rows. => Connect all the required output ports to the target which is nothing but your audit table. PRE-Session Variable => Session 2: In the Pre-session variable assignment tab assign the mapping vari able = workflow variable => In our case $$wfname=$$workflowname $$Stime=$$sessionStartTime $$Etime=$$sessionEndTime $$TSRows=$$TargetSuccessrows $$TFRows=$$TargetFailedrows Workflow Execution
Posted 8th February by Prafull Dangore
5. DEC 30
Use Target File Path in Parameter File
Scenario: I want to use mapping parameter to store target file path. My question is can de fine file path in parameter file? If possible can anyone explain how to assign target file path as parameter?
Solution: You can define the file path in parameter file. $OutputFileName=your file path here Give the above mentioned parameter in your parameter file.
Posted 30th December 2011 by Prafull Dangore
6. DEC 27
Insert and reject records using update strategy.
Scenario: Insert and reject records using update strategy. There is an emp table and from that table insert the data to targt where sal<300 0 and reject other rows. Solution: 1. connect out-puts from SQF to Update Strategy transformation.
2. In properties of Update Strategy write the condition like this IIF(SAL<3000,DD_INSERT,DD_REJECT)
3. Connectthe Update Strategy to target
7. DEC 27
Convert Numeric Value to Date Format
Scenario: Suppose you are importing a flat file emp.csv and hire_date colummn is in numeri c format, like 20101111 .Our objective is convert it to date,with a format 'YYYYMMDD'. Source EMPNO HIRE_DATE(numeric) ------- ----------1 20101111 2 20090909 Target EMPNO HIRE_DATE (date) ------ ----------1 11/11/2010 2 09/09/2009
Solution:
1. Connect SQF to an expression. 2. In expression make hire_date as input only and make another port hire_date1 a s o/p port with date data type. 3. In o/p port of hire_date write condition like as below
TO_DATE(TO_CHAR(hire_date), YYYYMMDD )
2. DEC 26
How to change a string to decimal with 2 decimal places in informatica?
Scenario: How to change a string to decimal with 2 decimal places in informatica? Eg:: input data 12345678 I want output as 123456.78
Solution:
output = to_decimal(to_integer(input)/100,2)
OR
SUBSTR(INPUT_FIELD, 1, LENGTH(INPUT_FIELD) - 2) || '.' || SUBSTR(INPUT_FIELD, -2 )
3. DEC 26
Append the data in a flat file for a daily run
Scenario:
I have the flat file in our server location; I want to append the data in a flat file for a daily run. Solution:
We have an option in Informatica "Append if exists" in target session propertie s.
4. DEC 22
Convert Day No. to corresponding month and date of year
Scenario: Suppose you have a source is like this Source E_NO YEAR DAYNO ------ --------- - --------1 01-JAN-07 301 2 01-JAN-08 200 Year column is a date and dayno is numeric that represents a day ( as in 365 for 31-Dec-Year). Convert the Dayno to corresponding year's month and date and then send to target . Target E_NO YEAR_MONTH_DAY ------ --------- ---------1 29-OCT-07 2 19-JUL-08 Solution: Use below date format in exp transformation
Add_to_date(YEAR, DD ,DAYNO)
Posted 22nd December 2011 by Prafull Dangore
5. DEC 22
How to delete duplicate rows in a table?
Scenario: How to delete duplicate rows in a table?
Solution:
delete from emp a where rowid != (select max(rowid) from emp b where a.empno=b.e mpno); OR delete from emp a where rowid != (select min(rowid) from emp b where a.empno=b.e mpno);
6. DEC 22
How to get nth max salaries ?
Scenario: How to get nth max salaries ?
Solution: select distinct hiredate from emp a where &n = (select count(distinct sal) from emp b where a.sal >= b.sal);
7. DEC
22
How to get 3 Max & Min salaries?
Scenario: How to get 3 Max & Min salaries?
Solution:
Max - select distinct sal from emp a where 3 >= (select count(distinct sal) from emp b where a.sal <= b.sal) order by a.sal desc;
Min - select distinct sal from emp a where 3 >= (select count(distinct sal) from emp b where a.sal >= b.sal);
8. DEC 22
Find FIRST & LAST n records from a table.
Scenario: Find FIRST & LAST n records from a table.
Solution: First - select * from emp where rownum <= &n;
Last - select * from emp minus select * from emp where rownum <= (select count(* ) - &n from emp);
9. DEC 22
Find the 3rd MAX & MIN salary in the emp table
Scenario:
Find the 3rd MAX & MIN salary in the emp table
Solution:
Max select distinct sal from emp e1 where 3 = (select count(distinct sal) from emp e2 where e1.sal <= e2.sal);
Min select distinct sal from emp e1 where 3 = (select count(distinct sal) from emp e2 where e1.sal >= e2.sal);
10. DEC 22
Sql query to find EVEN & ODD NUMBERED records from a table.
Scenario: Sql query to find EVEN & ODD NUMBERED records from a table.
Solution:
Even - select * from emp where rowid in (select decode(mod(rownum,2),0,rowid, nu ll) from emp);
Odd - select * from emp where rowid in (select decode(mod(rownum,2),0,null ,rowi d) from emp);
11. DEC 22
SQL questions which are the most frequently asked in interviews.
Complex Queries in SQL ( Oracle )
. To fetch ALTERNATE records from a table. (EVEN NUMBERED) select * from emp where rowid in (select decode(mod(rownum,2),0,rowid, null) fro
m emp); . To select ALTERNATE records from a table. (ODD NUMBERED) select * from emp where rowid in (select decode(mod(rownum,2),0,null ,rowid) fro m emp); . Find the 3rd MAX salary in the emp table. select distinct sal from emp e1 where 3 = (select count(distinct sal) from emp e 2 where e1.sal <= e2.sal); . Find the 3rd MIN salary in the emp table. select distinct sal from emp e1 where 3 = (select count(distinct sal) from emp e 2where e1.sal >= e2.sal); . Select FIRST n records from a table. select * from emp where rownum <= &n; . Select LAST n records from a table select * from emp minus select * from emp where rownum <= (select count(*) - &n from emp); . List dept no., Dept name for all the departments in which there are no employe es in the department. select * from dept where deptno not in (select deptno from emp); alternate solution: select * from dept a where not exists (select * from emp b w here a.deptno = b.deptno);
altertnate solution: select empno,ename,b.deptno,dname from emp a, dept b where a.deptno(+) = b.deptno and empno is null; . How to get 3 Max salaries ? select distinct sal from emp a where 3 >= (select count(distinct sal) from emp b where a.sal <= b.sal) order by a.sal desc; . How to get 3 Min salaries ? select distinct sal from emp a where 3 >= (select count(distinct sal) from emp b where a.sal >= b.sal); . How to get nth max salaries ? select distinct hiredate from emp a where &n = (select count(distinct sal) from emp b where a.sal >= b.sal); . Select DISTINCT RECORDS from emp table. select * from emp a where rowid = (select max(rowid) from emp b where a.empno=b. empno); . How to delete duplicate rows in a table? delete from emp a where rowid != (select max(rowid) from emp b where a.empno=b.e mpno); . Count of number of employees in department wise. select count(EMPNO), b.deptno, dname from emp a, dept b where a.deptno(+)=b.dept no group by b.deptno,dname; . Suppose there is annual salary information provided by emp table. How to fetch monthly salary of each and every employee? select ename,sal/12 as monthlysal from emp; . Select all record from emp table where deptno =10 or 40. select * from emp where deptno=30 or deptno=10; . Select all record from emp table where deptno=30 and sal>1500. select * from emp where deptno=30 and sal>1500; . Select all record from emp where job not in SALESMAN or CLERK. select * from emp where job not in ('SALESMAN','CLERK'); . Select all record from emp where ename in 'BLAKE','SCOTT','KING'and'FORD'. select * from emp where ename in('JONES','BLAKE','SCOTT','KING','FORD'); . Select all records where ename starts with S and its lenth is 6 char. select * from emp where ename like'S____'; . Select all records where ename may be any no of character but it should end wi th R . select * from emp where ename like'%R'; . Count MGR and their salary in emp table. select count(MGR),count(sal) from emp; . In emp table add comm+sal as total sal . select ename,(sal+nvl(comm,0)) as totalsal from emp; . Select any salary <3000 from emp table. select * from emp where sal> any(select sal from emp where sal<3000); . Select all salary <3000 from emp table. select * from emp where sal> all(select sal from emp where sal<3000); . Select all the employee group by deptno and sal in descending order. select ename,deptno,sal from emp order by deptno,sal desc;
. How can I create an empty table emp1 with same structure as emp? Create table emp1 as select * from emp where 1=2; . How to retrive record where sal between 1000 to 2000? Select * from emp where sal>=1000 And sal<2000 . Select all records where dept no of both emp and dept table matches. select * from emp where exists(select * from dept where emp.deptno=dept.deptno)
. If there are two tables emp1 and emp2, and both have common record. How can I fetch all the recods but common records only once? (Select * from emp) Union (Select * from emp1) . How to fetch only common records from two tables emp and emp1? (Select * from emp) Intersect (Select * from emp1) . How can I retrive all records of emp1 those should not present in emp2? (Select * from emp) Minus (Select * from emp1) . Count the totalsa deptno wise where more than 2 employees exist. SELECT deptno, sum(sal) As totalsal FROM emp GROUP BY deptno HAVING COUNT(empno) > 2
12. DEC 22
. To fetch ALTERNATE records from a table. (EVEN NUMBERED) select * from emp where rowid in (select decode(mod(rownum,2),0,rowid, null) fro m emp); . To select ALTERNATE records from a table. (ODD NUMBERED) select * from emp where rowid in (select decode(mod(rownum,2),0,null ,rowid) fro m emp); . Find the 3rd MAX salary in the emp table. select distinct sal from emp e1 where 3 = (select count(distinct sal) from emp e 2 where e1.sal <= e2.sal); . Find the 3rd MIN salary in the emp table. select distinct sal from emp e1 where 3 = (select count(distinct sal) from emp e 2where e1.sal >= e2.sal);
. Select FIRST n records from a table. select * from emp where rownum <= &n; . Select LAST n records from a table select * from emp minus select * from emp where rownum <= (select count(*) - &n from emp); . List dept no., Dept name for all the departments in which there are no employe es in the department. select * from dept where deptno not in (select deptno from emp); alternate solution: select * from dept a where not exists (select * from emp b w here a.deptno = b.deptno); altertnate solution: select empno,ename,b.deptno,dname from emp a, dept b where a.deptno(+) = b.deptno and empno is null;
. How to get 3 Max salaries ? select distinct sal from emp a where 3 >= (select count(distinct sal) from emp b where a.sal <= b.sal) order by a.sal desc; . How to get 3 Min salaries ? select distinct sal from emp a where 3 >= (select count(distinct sal) from emp b where a.sal >= b.sal); . How to get nth max salaries ? select distinct hiredate from emp a where &n = (select count(distinct sal) from emp b where a.sal >= b.sal); . Select DISTINCT RECORDS from emp table. select * from emp a where rowid = (select max(rowid) from emp b where a.empno=b. empno); . How to delete duplicate rows in a table? delete from emp a where rowid != (select max(rowid) from emp b where a.empno=b.e mpno); . Count of number of employees in department wise. select count(EMPNO), b.deptno, dname from emp a, dept b where a.deptno(+)=b.dept no group by b.deptno,dname; . Suppose there is annual salary information provided by emp table. How to fetch monthly salary of each and every employee? select ename,sal/12 as monthlysal from emp; . Select all record from emp table where deptno =10 or 40. select * from emp where deptno=30 or deptno=10; . Select all record from emp table where deptno=30 and sal>1500. select * from emp where deptno=30 and sal>1500; . Select all record from emp where job not in SALESMAN or CLERK. select * from emp where job not in ('SALESMAN','CLERK'); . Select all record from emp where ename in 'BLAKE','SCOTT','KING'and'FORD'. select * from emp where ename in('JONES','BLAKE','SCOTT','KING','FORD'); . Select all records where ename starts with S and its lenth is 6 char. select * from emp where ename like'S____'; . Select all records where ename may be any no of character but it should end wi th R . select * from emp where ename like'%R'; . Count MGR and their salary in emp table. select count(MGR),count(sal) from emp; . In emp table add comm+sal as total sal . select ename,(sal+nvl(comm,0)) as totalsal from emp; . Select any salary <3000 from emp table. select * from emp where sal> any(select sal from emp where sal<3000); . Select all salary <3000 from emp table. select * from emp where sal> all(select sal from emp where sal<3000); . Select all the employee group by deptno and sal in descending order. select ename,deptno,sal from emp order by deptno,sal desc; . How can I create an empty table emp1 with same structure as emp? Create table emp1 as select * from emp where 1=2; . How to retrive record where sal between 1000 to 2000? Select * from emp where sal>=1000 And sal<2000
. Select all records where dept no of both emp and dept table matches. select * from emp where exists(select * from dept where emp.deptno=dept.deptno) . If there are two tables emp1 and emp2, and both have common record. How can I fetch all the recods but common records only once?
(Select * from emp) Union (Select * from emp1) . How to fetch only common records from two tables emp and emp1? (Select * from emp) Intersect (Select * from emp1) . How can I retrive all records of emp1 those should not present in emp2? (Select * from emp) Minus (Select * from emp1) . Count the totalsa deptno wise where more than 2 employees exist. SELECT deptno, sum(sal) As totalsal FROM emp GROUP BY deptno HAVING COUNT(empno) > 2
13. DEC 22
Informatica Quiz: Set 2
Quiz: Informatica Set 2 A lookup transformation is used to look up data in Explanation: . . . . . flat file Relational table view synonyms All of the above (correct)
Which value returned by NewLookupRow port says that Integration Service does not update or insert the row in the cache? Explanation: . 3 (wrong) . 2
. 1 . 0
Which one need a common key to join? Explanation: . source qualifier . joiner (correct) . look up
Which one support hetrogeneous join? Explanation:
. source qualifier . joiner (correct) . look up
What is the use of target loader? Explanation: . Target load order is first the data is load in dimension table and then fact t able. . Target load order is first the data is load in fact table and then dimensional table. . Load the data from different target at same time. (wrong)
Which one is not tracing level? Explanation: . . . . . terse verbose initialization verbose initialization terse initialization (correct)
Which output file is not created during session running? Explanation: . . . . . Session log workflow log Error log Bad files cache files (correct)
Is Fact table is normalised ? Explanation: . yes
. no (correct)
Which value returned by NewLookupRow port says that Integration Service inserts the row into the cache? Explanation: . . . . 0 (wrong) 1 2 3
Which transformation only works on relational source? Explanation: . . . . lookup Union joiner Sql (correct)
Which are both connected and unconnected? Explanation: . . . . External Store Procedure (omitted) Stote Procedure (correct) Lookup (correct) Advanced External Procedure Transformation
Can we generate alpha-numeric value in sequence generator? Explanation: . yes . no (correct)
Which transformation is used by cobol source? Explanation: . . . . Advanced External Procedure Transformation Cobol Transformation Unstructured Data Transformation Normalizer (correct)
What is VSAM normalizer transformation? Explanation: . The VSAM normalizer transformation is the source qualifier transformation for a COBOL source definition. . The VSAM normalizer transformation is the source qualifier transformation for a flat file source definition. . The VSAM normalizer transformation is the source qualifier transformation for a xml source definition. (wrong) . Non of these
What is VSAM normalizer transformation? Explanation: . The VSAM normalizer transformation is the source qualifier transformation for a COBOL source definition. . The VSAM normalizer transformation is the source qualifier transformation for a flat file source definition. . The VSAM normalizer transformation is the source qualifier transformation for a xml source definition. (wrong) . Non of these
14. DEC 22
Informatica Quiz: Set 1
Quiz: Informatica Set 1 Which one is not correct about filter transformation? Explanation: Filter generally parses single condition. For multiple condition we can use router . . . . Act as a 'where' condition Can't passes multiple conditions Act like 'Case' in pl/sql (wrong) If one record does not match condition, the record is blocked
Can we calculate in aggrigator ? Explanation: . No . Yes (correct)
Which one is not a type of fact? Explanation: . . . . Semi-aditive Additive Confirm fact Not additive (wrong)
Which one is not a type of dimension ? Explanation: . . . . Conformed dimension Rapidly changing dimension (correct) Junk dimension Degenerated dimension
Which of these not correct about Code Page? Explanation: . A code page contains encoding to specify characters in a set of one or more la nguages . A code page contains decoding to specify characters in a set of one or more la nguages . In this way application stores, receives, and sends character data. . Non of these (wrong)
What is a mapplet? Explanation: . . . . Combination of reusable transformation. Combination of reusable mapping Set of transformations and it allows us to reuse (correct) Non of these
What does reusable transformation mean? Explanation: . . . . It can be re-used across repositories I can only be used in mapplet. It can use in multiple mapping only once It can use in multiple mapping multiple times (correct)
Which one is not an option in update strategy? Explanation: . . . . dd_reject 4 (correct) 2 dd_delete
Can we update records without using update strategy? Explanation: . Yes (correct) . No
How to select distinct records form Source Qualifier? Explanation: . Choose 'non duplicate' option . Choose 'select distinct' option (correct) . Choose 'Select non duplicate'
What type of repository is no available in Informatica Repository Manager? Explanation: . . . . . Standalone Repository Local Repository User Defined Versioned Repository Manual Repository (wrong)
Joiner does not support flat file. Explanation: . False (correct)
. True
How to execute PL/SQL script from Informatica mapping? Explanation: . . . . Lookup Store Procdure (correct) Expression Non of these
NetSal= bassic+hra. In which transformation we can achive this? Explanation: . . . . Aggrigator Lookup Filter Expression (correct)
Which one is not an active transformation? Explanation: . . . . Sequence generator Normalizer Sql Store Procedure (wrong)
15. DEC 22
How large is the database,used and free space?
Scenario: How large is the database,used and free space?
Solution:
select round(sum(used.bytes) / 1024 / 1024 / 1024 ) || ' GB' "Database Size" , round(sum(used.bytes) / 1024 / 1024 / 1024 ) round(free.p / 1024 / 1024 / 1024) || ' GB' "Used space" , round(free.p / 1024 / 1024 / 1024) || ' GB' "Free space" from (select bytes from v$datafile union all select bytes from v$tempfile union all select bytes from v$log) used , (select sum(bytes) as p from dba_free_space) free
group by free.p
16. DEC 20
Batch File to Append Date to file name
Scenario: Batch File to Append Date to file name
Solution: @echo off REM Create a log file with the current date and time in the filename
REM the ~4 in the Date skips the first four characters of the echoed date stamp and writes the remainder and so on set LOG_FILE_NAME=Example_File_Name.%date:~4,2%%date:~7,2%%date:~10,4%.%time:~0,2%%t ime:~3,2%%time:~6,2%.txt Echo This is much easier in UNIX > c: emp\%LOG_FILE_NAME% :exit OR @echo off for /F "tokens=2,3,4 delims=/ " %%i in ('date/t') do set y=%%k for /F "tokens=2,3,4 delims=/ " %%i in ('date/t') do set d=%%k%%i%%j for /F "tokens=5-8 delims=:. " %%i in ('echo.^| time ^| find "current" ') do set t=%%i%%j set t=%t%_ if "%t:~3,1%"=="_" set t=0%t% set t=%t:~0,4% set "theFilename=%d%%t%" echo %theFilename%
17. DEC 19
PL/SQL Interview Questions
1. What is PL/SQL ?
PL/SQL is Oracle's Procedural Language extension to SQL. PL/SQL's language synta x, structure and datatypes are similar to that of ADA. The language includes object oriented prog ramming techniques such as encapsulation, function overloading, information hiding (all but inherit ance), and so, brings state-of-the-art programming to the Oracle database server and a variety of Orac le tools. PL SQL is a block structured programming language. It combines data manipulatio n & data processing power. It supports all SQL data types. Also has its own data types i, e BOOLEAN,BINARY INTEGER
2. What is the basic structure of PL/SQL ? A PL/SQL block has three parts: a declarative part, an executable part, and an exception-handling part.
First comes the declarative part, in which items can be declared. Once declared, items can be manipulated in the executable part. Exceptions raised during execution can be dealt with in the exception-handling part.
3. What are the components of a PL/SQL block ?
PL/SQL Block contains : Declare : optional Variable declaration Begin : Manadatory Procedural statements. Exception : Optional any errors to be trapped End : Mandatory 5. What are the datatypes a available in PL/SQL ? Following are the datatype supported in oracle PLSQL Scalar Types BINARY_INTEGER DEC DECIMAL DOUBLE PRECISION FLOAT INT INTEGER NATURAL NATURALN NUMBER NUMERIC PLS_INTEGER POSITIVE POSITIVEN REAL SIGNTYPE SMALLINT CHAR CHARACTER LONG LONG RAW NCHAR NVARCHAR2 RAW ROWID STRING UROWID VARCHAR VARCHAR2 DATE INTERVAL DAY TO SECOND INTERVAL YEAR TO MONTH TIMESTAMP TIMESTAMP WITH LOCAL TIME ZONE TIMESTAMP WITH TIME ZONE BOOLEAN Composite Types RECORD TABLE
VARRAY LOB Types BFILE BLOB CLOB NCLOB Reference Types REF CURSOR REF object_type 6. What are % TYPE and % ROWTYPE ? What are the advantages of using these over datatypes?% TYPE provides the data type of a variable or a database column to th at variable. % ROWTYPE provides the record type that represents a entire row of a table or vi ew or columns selected in the cursor. The advantages are : I. Need not know about variable's data type ii. If the database definition of a column in a table changes, the data type of a variable changes accordingly. Advantage is, if one change the type or size of the column in the table, it will be reflected in our program unit without making any change. %type is used to refer the column's datatype where as %rowtype is used to refer the whole record in a table. 7. What is difference between % ROWTYPE and TYPE RECORD ? % ROWTYPE is to be used whenever query returns a entire row of a table or view. TYPE rec RECORD is to be used whenever query returns columns of different table or views and variables. E.g. TYPE r_emp is RECORD (eno emp.empno% type,ename emp ename %type); e_rec emp% ROWTYPE cursor c1 is select empno,deptno from emp; e_rec c1 %ROWTYPE. 8. What is PL/SQL table ? A PL/SQL table is a one-dimensional, unbounded, sparse collection of homogenous elements, indexed by integers One-dimensional A PL/SQL table can have only one column. It is, in this way, similar to a one-di mensional array. Unbounded or Unconstrained There is no predefined limit to the number of rows in a PL/SQL table. The PL/SQL table grows dynamically as you add more rows to the table. The PL/SQL table is, in this way, very different from
an array. Related to this definition, no rows for PL/SQL tables are allocated for this str ucture when it is defined. Sparse In a PL/SQL table, a row exists in the table only when a value is assigned to th at row. Rows do not have to be defined sequentially. Instead you can assign a value to any row in th e table. So row 15 could have a value of `Fox' and row 15446 a value of `Red', with no other rows d efined in between. Homogeneous elements Because a PL/SQL table can have only a single column, all rows in a PL/SQL table contain values of the same datatype. It is, therefore, homogeneous. With PL/SQL Release 2.3, you can have PL/SQL tables of records. The resulting ta ble is still, however, homogeneous. Each row simply contains the same set of columns. Indexed by integers PL/SQL tables currently support a single indexing mode: by BINARY_INTEGER. This number acts as the "primary key" of the PL/SQL table. The range of a BINARY_INTEGER is from -23 1-1 to 231-1, so you have an awful lot of rows with which to work 9. What is a cursor ? Why Cursor is required ?
Cursor is a named private SQL area from where information can be accessed. Cursors are required to process rows individually for queries returning multiple rows. 10. Explain the two type of Cursors ? implicit cursor: implicit cursor is a type of cursor which is automatically main tained by the Oracle server itself.implicit cursor returns only one row. Explicit Cursor: Explicit Cursor is defined by the Proframmer,and it has for phases:declare,open,fetch and close.explicit Cursor returns more than one row. 11. What are the PL/SQL Statements used in cursor processing ? DECLARE CURSOR cursor name, OPEN cursor name, FETCH cursor name INTO or Record t ypes, CLOSE cursor name. 12. What are the cursor attributes used in PL/SQL ? %ISOPEN - to check whether cursor is open or not % ROWCOUNT - number of rows fetched/updated/deleted. % FOUND - to check whether cursor has fetched any row. True if rows are fetched . % NOT FOUND - to check whether cursor has fetched any row. True if no rows are featched. These attributes are proceeded with SQL for Implicit Cursors and with Cursor nam e for Explicit Cursors 13. What is a cursor for loop ? Cursor for loop implicitly declares %ROWTYPE as loop index,opens a cursor, fetch es rows of values from active set into fields in the record and closes when all the records have been processed. eg. FOR emp_rec IN C1 LOOP salary_total := salary_total +emp_rec sal; END LOOP; cursor for loop is use for automatically open ,fetch,close 15. Explain the usage of WHERE CURRENT OF clause in cursors ? PL/SQL provides the WHERE CURRENT OF clause for both UPDATE and DELETE statement s inside a cursor in order to allow you to easily make changes to the most recently fetched row of data. The general format for the WHERE CURRENT OF clause is as follows:
UPDATE table_name SET set_clause WHERE CURRENT OF cursor_name;DELETE FROM table_name WHERE CURRENT OF cursor_name; Notice that the WHERE CURRENT OF clause references the cursor and not the record into which the next fetched row is deposited. The most important advantage to using WHERE CURRENT OF where you need to change the row fetched last is that you do not have to code in two (or more) places the criteri a used to uniquely identify a row in a table. Without WHERE CURRENT OF, you would need to repeat th e WHERE clause of your cursor in the WHERE clause of the associated UPDATEs and DELETEs. As a resu lt, if the table structure changes in a way that affects the construction of the primary key, you have to make sure that each SQL statement is upgraded to support this change. If you use WHERE CUR RENT OF, on the other hand, you only have to modify the WHERE clause of the SELECT statement. This might seem like a relatively minor issue, but it is one of many areas in yo ur code where you can leverage subtle features in PL/SQL to minimize code redundancies. Utilization of WHERE CURRENT OF, %TYPE, and %ROWTYPE declaration attributes, cursor FOR loops, local modularizati on, and other PL/SQL language constructs can have a big impact on reducing the pain you may ex perience when you maintain your Oracle-based applications. Let's see how this clause would improve the previous example. In the jobs cursor FOR loop above, I want to UPDATE the record that was currently FETCHed by the cursor. I do this in the UPDATE statement by repeating the same WHERE used in the cursor because (task, year) ma kes up the primary key of this table: WHERE task = job_rec.task AND year = TO_CHAR (SYSDATE, 'YYYY'); This ogic this ural code is a less than ideal situation, as explained above: I have coded the same l in two places, and code must be kept synchronized. It would be so much more convenient and nat to be able to the equivalent of the following statements:
Delete the record I just fetched.
or: Update these columns in that row I just fetched.
A perfect fit for WHERE CURRENT OF! The next version of my winterization program below uses this clause. I have also switched to a simple loop from FOR loop because I want to ex it conditionally from the loop: DECLARE CURSOR fall_jobs_cur IS SELECT ... same as before ... ; job_rec fall_jobs_cur%ROWTYPE;BEGIN OPEN fall_jobs_cur; LOOP FETCH fall_jobs_cur INTO job_rec; IF fall_jobs_cur%NOTFOUND THEN EXIT; ELSIF job_rec.do_it_yourself_flag = 'YOUCANDOIT' THEN UPDATE winterize SET responsible = 'STEVEN' WHERE CURRENT OF fall_jobs_cur; COMMIT; EXIT; END IF; END LOOP; CLOSE fall_jobs_cur;END; 16. What is a database trigger ? Name some usages of database trigger ? A database trigger is a stored procedure that is invoked automatically when a pr edefined event occurs. Database triggers enable DBA's (Data Base Administrators) to create additional r elationships between separate databases. For example, the modification of a record in one database could trigger the modi fication of a record in a second database. 17. How many types of database triggers can be specified on a table ? What are t hey ? Insert Update Delete
Before Row o.k. o.k. o.k. After Row o.k. o.k. o.k.
Before Statement o.k. o.k. o.k.
After Statement o.k. o.k. o.k.
If FOR EACH ROW clause is specified, then the trigger for each Row affected by t he statement.
If WHEN clause is specified, the trigger fires according to the returned Boolean
value.
the different types of triggers: * Row Triggers and Statement Triggers * BEFORE and AFTER Triggers * INSTEAD OF Triggers * Triggers on System Events and User Events 18. What are two virtual tables available during database trigger execution ? The table columns are referred as OLD.column_name and NEW.column_name. For triggers related to INSERT only NEW.column_name values only available. For triggers related to UPDATE only OLD.column_name NEW.column_name values only available. For triggers related to DELETE only OLD.column_name values only available. The two virtual table available are old and new. 19.What happens if a procedure that updates a column of table X is called in a d atabase trigger of the same table ?
To avoid the mutation table error ,the procedure should be declared as an AUTON OMOUS TRANSACTION. By this the procedure will be treated as an separate identity. 20. Write the order of precedence for validation of a column in a table ? I. done using Database triggers. ii. done using Integarity Constraints. 21. What is an Exception ? What are types of Exception ? . Predefined Do not declare and allow the Oracle server to raise implicitly
NO_DATA_FOUND TOO_MANY_ROWS INVALID_CURSOR ZERO_DIVIDE INVALID_CURSOR
WHEN EXCEPTION THEN
. Non predefined Declare within the declarative section and allow allow Oracle server to raise implicitly o SQLCODE o SQLERRM Returns the numeric value for the seeor code Returns the message associated with error number
DECLARE -- PRAGMA EXCEPTION_INIT (exception, error_number) RAISE WHEN EXCEPTION_NAME THEN
. User defined Declare within the declarative section and raise explicitly.
IF confidition the RAISE EXCEPTION or RAISE_APPLICATION_ERROR 22. What is Pragma EXECPTION_INIT ? Explain the usage ? Pragma exception_init Allow you to handle the Oracle predefined message by you'r own message. means you can instruct compiler toassociatethe specific message to oracle predef ined message at compile time.This way you Improve the Readbility of your program,and handle it a ccoding to your own way. It should be declare at the DECLARE section. example declare salary number; FOUND_NOTHING exception; Pragma exception_init(FOUND_NOTHING ,100);
begin select sal in to salaryfrom emp where ename ='ANURAG'; dbms_output.put_line(salary); exception WHEN FOUND_NOTHING THEN dbms_output.put_line(SQLERRM); end; 23. What is Raise_application_error ? Raise_application_error is used to create your own error messages which can be m ore descriptive than named exceptions. Syntax is:Raise_application_error (error_number,error_messages); where error_number is between -20000 to -20999.. 24. What are the return values of functions SQLCODE and SQLERRM ? Pl / Sql Provides Error Information via two Built-in functions, SQLCODE & SQLERR M. SQLCODE Returns the Current Error Code. Returns 1. SQLERRM Returns the Current Error Message Text. Returns " User Defined Exception "
25. Where the Pre_defined_exceptions are stored ? PL/SQL declares predefined exceptions in the STANDARD package. 26. What is a stored procedure ? Stored Procedure is the PlSQL subprgram stored in the databasse . Stored Procedure A program running in the database that can take complex actions based on the inp uts you send it. Using a stored procedure is faster than doing the same work on a client, because the program runs right inside the databaseserver. Stored procedures are nomally written in PL/SQL or Java. advantages fo Stored Procedure Extensibility,Modularity, Reusability, Maintainability and one time compilation. 28. What are the modes of parameters that can be passed to a procedure ? 1.in: in parameter mode is used to pass values to subprogram when invoked. 2.out: out is used to return values to callers of subprograms 3.in out: it is used to define in and out 29. What are the two parts of a procedure ? PROCEDURE name (parameter list.....) is local variable declarations
BEGIN Executable statements. Exception. exception handlers
end; 31. Give the structure of the function ? FUNCTION name (argument list .....) Return datatype is local variable declarations Begin executable statements Exception execution handlers
End; 32. Explain how procedures and functions are called in a PL/SQL block ? Procedure can be called in the following ways a) CALL <procedure name> direc b) EXCECUTE <procedure name> from calling environment c) <Procedure name> from other procedures or functions or packages Functions can be called in the following ways a) EXCECUTE <Function name> from calling environment. Always use a variable to g et the return value. b) As part of an SQL/PL SQL Expression 33. What are two parts of package ? The two parts of package are PACKAGE SPECIFICATION & PACKAGE BODY. Package Specification contains declarations that are global to the packages and local to the schema.
Package Body contains actual procedures and local declaration of the procedures and cursor declarations. 33.What is difference between a Cursor declared in a procedure and Cursor declar ed in a package specification ? A cursor declared in a package specification is global and can be accessed by ot her procedures or procedures in a package. A cursor declared in a procedure is local to the procedure that can not be acces sed by other procedures. The scope of A cursor declared in a procedure is limited to that procedure only. The Scope of cursor declared in a package specification is global . Example: create or replace package curpack is cursor c1 is select * from emp; end curpack; This will create a package Now You can use this cursor any where. Like: set serveroutput on begin for r1 in curpack.c1 loop dbms_output.put_line(r1.empno||' '||r1.ename); end loop; end; this will dispaly all empno and enames. It will be better to use ref cursor in packages 35. How packaged procedures and functions are called from the following? a. Stored procedure or anonymous block b. an application program such a PRC *C, PRO* COBOL c. SQL *PLUS
a. PACKAGE NAME.PROCEDURE NAME (parameters); variable := PACKAGE NAME.FUNCTION NAME (arguments); EXEC SQL EXECUTE b. BEGIN PACKAGE NAME.PROCEDURE NAME (parameters) variable := PACKAGE NAME.FUNCTION NAME (arguments); END; END EXEC;
c. EXECUTE PACKAGE NAME.PROCEDURE if the procedures does not have any out/in-out parameters. A function can not be called. 36.Name the tables where characteristics of Package, procedure and functions are stored ? The Data dictionary tables/ Views where the characteristics of subprograms and P ackages are stored are mentioned below a) USER_OBJECTS, ALL_OBJECTS, DBA_OBJECTS b) USER_SOURCE, ALL_SOURCE, DBA_SOURCE c) USER_DEPENCENCIES d) USER_ERRORS, ALL_ERRORS, DBA_ERRORS 37. What is Overloading of procedures ? Overloading procs are 2 or more procs with the same name but different arguments . Arguments needs to be different by class it self. ie char and Varchar2 are from same class. Packages The main advantages of packages are 1- Since packages has specification and body separate so, whenever any ddl is ru n and if any
proc/func(inside pack) is dependent on that, only body gets invalidated and not the spec. So any other proc/func dependent on package does not gets invalidated. 2- Whenever any func/proc from package is called, whole package is loaded into m emory and hence all objects of pack is availaible in memory which means faster execution if any is called. And since we put all related proc/func in one package this feature is useful as we may nee d to run most of the objects. 3- we can declare global variables in the package 38.Is it possible to use Transaction control Statements such a ROLLBACK or COMMI T in Database Trigger ? Why ? Autonomous Transaction is a feature of oracle 8i which maintains the state of its transactions and save it , to affect with the commit or rollback of the surrounding transactions.
Here is the simple example to understand this :-
ora816 SamSQL :> declare 2 Procedure InsertInTest_Table_B 3 is 4 BEGIN 5 INSERT into Test_Table_B(x) values (1); 6 Commit; 7 END ; 8 BEGIN 9 INSERT INTO Test_Table_A(x) values (123); 10 InsertInTest_Table_B; 11 Rollback; 12 END; 13 / PL/SQL procedure successfully completed. ora816 SamSQL :> Select * from Test_Table_A; X---------- 123 ora816 SamSQL :> Select * from Test_Table_B; X---------- 1
Notice in above pl/sql COMMIT at line no 6 , commits the transaction at line-no 5 and line-no 9. The Rollback at line-no 11 actually did nothing. Commit/ROLLBACK at nested transactions will commit/rollback all other DML transaction before that. PRAGMA AUTONOMOUS_TRANSACTION override this behavior. Let us the see the following example with PRAGMA AUTONOMOUS_TRANSACTION. 39. What is difference between a PROCEDURE & FUNCTION ? A function always return a values while procedure can return one or more values through Parameters. A function can call directly by sql statement like select "func_name" from dual while procedure cannot.
40. What is Data Concarency and Consistency?
Concurrency How well can multiple sessions access the same data simultaneously Consistency How consistent is the view of the data between and within multiple sessions, tra nsactions or statements 41. Talk about "Exception Handling" in PL/SQL? the exception are written to handle the exceptions thrown by programs. we have user defined and system exception. user defined exception are the exception name given by user (explicitly decalred and used) and they are raised to handle the specific behaviour of program. system exceptions are raised due to invalid data(you dont have to deaclre these) . few examples are when no_data_found, when others etc. 44. Can we use commit or rollback command in the exception part of PL/SQL block? Yes, we can use the TCL commands(commit/rollback) in the exception block of a st ored procedure/function. The code in this part of the program gets executed like thos e in the body without any restriction. You can include any business functionality whenever a condition in main block(body of a proc/func) fails and requires a follow-thru process to terminate the execution gracefully! DECALRE .. BEGIN . EXCEPTION WHEN NO_DATA_FOUND THEN
INSERT INTO err_log( err_code, code_desc) VALUES( 1403 , No data found )
COMMIT; RAISE;
END 46. What is bulk binding please explain me in brief ? Bulk Binds (BULK COLLECT , FORALL ) are a PL/SQL technique where, instead of mul tiple individual SELECT, INSERT, UPDATE or DELETE statements are executed to retrieve from, or store data in, at table, all of the operations are carried out at once, in bulk. This avoids the context-switching you get when the PL/SQL engine has to pass ove r to the SQL engine, then back to the PL/SQL engine, and so on, when you individually access rows one at a time. To do bulk binds with Insert, Update and Delete statements, you enclose th e SQL statement within a PL/SQL FORALL statement. To do bulk binds with Select statements, you include the Bulk Collect INTO a col lection clause in the SELECT Statement instead of using Simply into . Collections, BULK COLLECT and FORALL are the new features in Oracle 8i, 9i and 1 0g PL/SQL that can really make a different to you PL/SQL performance Bulk Binding is used for avoiding the context switching between the sql engine a nd pl/sql engine. If we use simple For loop in pl/sql block it will do context switching between sql and pl/sql engine for each row processing that degrades the performance of pl/sql bloack. So that for avoiding the context switching betn two engine we user FORALL keywor d by using the collection pl/sql tables for DML. forall is pl/sql keyword. It will provides good result and performance increase. 47.Why Functions are used in oracle ?Can Functions Return more than 1 values?Why Procedures are used in oracle ?What are the Disadvantages of packages?What are the Global Variables in Packages? The functions are used where we can't used the procedure.i.e we can use a functi on the in select statments,in the where clause of delete/update statments.But the procedure can't used like that. It is true that function can return only one value, but a function can be used t o return more than one
value,by There is atements used the
using out parameters and also by using ref cursors. no harm in using the out parameter,when functins are used in the DML st we can't out parameter(as per rules).
49. What are the restrictions on Functions ? Function cannot have DML statemets and we can use select statement in function If you create function with DML statements we get message function will be creat ed But if we use in select statement we get error 50. What happens when a package is initialized ? when a package is initialised that is called for the first time the entire packa ge is loaded into SGA and any variable declared in the package is initialises. 52. What is PL/SQL table? Pl/Sql table is a type of datatype in procedural language Extension.It has two c olumns.One for the index,say Binary index And another column for the datas,which might further exte nd to any number of rows (not columns)in future. PL/SQL table is nothing but one dimensional array. It is used to hold similar ty pe of data for temporary storage. Its is indexed by binary integer. 3. can i write plsql block inside expection Yes you can write PL/SQL block inside exception section. Suppose you want to ins ert the exception detail into your error log table, that time you can write insert into statement in exception part. To handle the exception which may be raised in your exception part, you can write t he PL/SQL code in exception part. 54. Can e truncate some of the rows from the table instead of truncating the ful l table. You can truncate few rows from a table if the table is partitioned. You can trun cate a single partition and keep remaining. CREATE TABLE parttab ( state VARCHAR2(2), sales NUMBER(10,2)) PARTITION BY LIST (state) ( PARTITION northwest VALUES ('OR', TABLESPACE uwdata, PARTITION southwest VALUES ('AZ', TABLESPACE uwdata); INSERT INTO parttab VALUES ('OR', INSERT INTO parttab VALUES ('WA', INSERT INTO parttab VALUES ('AZ', INSERT INTO parttab VALUES ('CA',
'WA') 'CA') 100000); 200000); 300000); 400000);
COMMIT; SELECT * FROM parttab; ALTER TABLE parttab TRUNCATE PARTITION southwest; SELECT * FROM parttab; 56. What is the difference between a reference cursor and normal cursor ? REF cursors are different than your typical, standard cursors. With standard cur sors, you know the cursor's query ahead of time. With REF cursors, you do not have to know the quer y ahead of time. With REF Cursors, you can build the cursor on the fly Normal Cursor is a Static Cursor. Refernce Cursor is used to create dynamic cursor. There are two types of Ref Cursors: 1. Weak cursor and 2.Strong cursor Type ref_name is Ref cursor [return type] [return type] means %Rowtype
if Return type is mentioned then it is Strong cursor else weak cursor The Reference cursor does not support For update clause. Normal cursor is used to process more than one record in plsql. Refcusor is a type which is going to hold set of records which can be sent out t hrough the procedure or function out variables. we can use Ref cursor as an IN OUT parameter . 58. Based on what conditions can we decide whether to use a table or a view or a materialized view ? Table is the basic entity in any RDBMS , so for storing data you need table . for view - if you have complex query from which you want to extract data again a nd again , moreover it is a standard data which is required by many other user also for REPORTS gene ration then create view . Avoid to insert / update / delete through view unless it is essential. ke ep view as read only (FOR SHOWING REPORTS) for materialized view - this view ia mainly used in datawarehousing . if you hav e two databases and you want a view in both databases , remember in datawarehousing we deal in GB or TB datasize . So create a summary table in a database and make the replica(materialized view) in other database. when to create materialized view[1] if data is in bulk and you need same data in more than one database then cre ate summary table at one database and replica in other databases [2] if you have summary columns in projection list of query. main advatages of materialized view over simple view are [1] it save data in database whether simple view's definition is saved in databa se [2] can create parition or index on materialize view to enhance the performance of view , but cannot on simple view. 59. What is the difference between all_ and user_ tables ? . An ALL_ view displays all the information accessible to the current user, incl uding information from the current user's schema as well as information from objects in other schemas, if the current user has access to those objects by way of grants of privileges or roles. While . A USER_ view displays all the information from the schema of the current user. No special privileges are required to query these views. User_tables data dictionary contains all the tables created by the users under t hat schema. whereas All_tables stores all the tables created in different schema. If any use r id have the Grants for access table of diff. schema then he can see that table through this diction ary. 61. what is p-code and sourcecode ? P-code is Pre-complied code stored in Public cache memory of System Global Area after the Oracle instance is started, whereas sourcecode is a simple code of sp, package, trigger , functions etc which
are stored in Oracle system defined data dictionary. Every session of oracle acc ess the p-code which have the Execute permission on that objects. Source code stored in user_objects data dictinary for user defined Store proc, T rigger, Package, Function. DBA_object stores all the db objects in sp. DB. ALL_objects stores all the db objects in sp. schema. Source code: The code say a PLSQL block that the user types for the exectionP-Co de: The source code after -Syntax check, Parse tree generation, Symantic check, and further exe cution of the parse tree..giving the final P-code ready for data fetch or manipulation ... 63. Is there any limitation on no. of triggers that can be created on a table? There is no limit on number of triggers on one table. you can write as many u want for insert,update or delte by diff names. if table has got n columns. we can create n triggers based on each column. 64.What happens when DML Statement fails?A.User level rollbackB.Statement Level RollbackC.Sustem evel Rollback
When a DML statement executes (fails/sucess) an automatic Commit is executed. Eg : Create a table t1. Insert a record in t1. Then again to create the same object t1. 65.What steps should a programmer should follow for better tunning of the PL/SQL blocks? SQL Queries Best Practices
1. Always use the where clause in your select statement to narrow the number of rows returned. If we don t use a where clause, the Oracle performs a full table scan on our table and returns all of the rows.
2. Use EXISTS clause instead of IN clause as it is more efficient than IN and pe rforms faster.
Ex:
Replace SELECT * FROM DEPT WHERE DEPTNO IN (SELECT DEPTNO FROM EMP E) With SELECT * FROM DEPT D WHERE EXISTS (SELECT 1 FROM EMP E WHERE D.DEPTNO = E.DEPTNO)
Note: IN checks all rows. Only use IN if the table in the sub-query is extremely small.
3. When you have a choice of using the IN or the BETWEEN clauses in your SQL, us e the BETWEEN clause as it is much more efficient than IN. Depending on the range of numbers in a BETWEEN, the optimizer will choose to do a full table scan or use the index.
4. Avoid WHERE clauses that are non-sargable. Non-sargable search arguments in t
he WHERE clause, such as "IS NULL", "OR", "<>", "!=", "!>", "!<", "NOT", "NOT EXISTS", "NOT IN", "NOT LIKE", and "LIKE %500" can prevent the query optimizer from using an index to perform a sea rch. In addition, expressions that include a function on a column, or expressions that have the sa me column on both sides of the operator, are not sargable.
Convert multiple OR clauses to UNION ALL.
5. Use equijoins. It is better if you use with indexed column joins. For maximum performance when joining two or more tables, the indexes on the columns to be joined should have the same data type.
6. Avoid a full-table scan if it is more efficient to get the required rows thro ugh an index. It decides full table scan if it has to read more than 5% of the table data (for large tables).
7. Avoid using an index that fetches 10,000 rows from the driving table if you c ould instead use another index that fetches 100 rows and choose selective indexes.
8. Indexes can't be used when Oracle is forced to perform implicit datatype conv ersion.
9. Choose the join order so you will join fewer rows to tables later in the join order. l use smaller table as driving table l have first join discard most rows
10. Set up the driving table to be the one containing the filter condition that eliminates the highest percentage of the table.
11. In a where clause (or having clause), constants or bind variables should alw ays be on the right hand side of the operator.
12. Do not use SQL functions in predicate clauses or WHERE clauses or on indexed columns, (e.g. concatenation, substr, decode, rtrim, ltrim etc.) as this prevents the use of th e index. Use function based indexes where possible
SELECT * FROM EMP WHERE SUBSTR (ENAME, 1, 3) =
KES
Use the LIKE function instead of SUBSTR ()
13. If you want the index used, don t perform an operation on the field.
Replace SELECT * FROM EMPLOYEE WHERE SALARY +1000 = :NEWSALARY
With SELECT * FROM EMPLOYEE WHERE SALARY = :NEWSALARY 1000
14. All SQL statements will be in mixed lower and lower case. All reserve words will be capitalized and all user-supplied objects will be lower case. (Standard)
15. Minimize the use of DISTINCT because it forces a sort operation.
16. Try joins rather than sub-queries which result in implicit joins
Replace SELECT * FROM A WHERE A.CITY IN (SELECT B.CITY FROM B)
With SELECT A.* FROM A, B WHERE A.CITY = B.CITY
17. Replace Outer Join with Union if both join columns have a unique index:
Replace SELECT A.CITY, B.CITY FROM A, B WHERE A.STATE=B.STATE (+)
With SELECT A.CITY, B.CITY FROM A, B WHERE A.STATE=B.STATE UNION SELECT NULL, B.CITY FROM B WHERE NOT EXISTS (SELECT 'X' FROM A.STATE=B.STATE)
18. Use bind variables in queries passed from the application (PL/SQL) so that t he same query can be reused. This avoids parsing. 19. Use Parallel Query and Parallel DML if your system has more than 1 CPU.
20. Match SQL where possible. Applications should use the same SQL statements wh erever possible to take advantage of Oracle's Shared SQL Area. The SQL must match exact ly to take advantage of this.
21. No matter how many indexes are created, how much optimization is done to que ries or how many caches and buffers are tweaked and tuned if the design of a database is fau lty, the performance of the overall system suffers. A good application starts with a good design.
22. The following operations always require a sort:
SELECT DISTINCT SELECT UNIQUE SELECT ....ORDER BY...
SELECT....GROUP BY... CREATE INDEX CREATE TABLE.... AS SELECT with primary key specification Use of INTERSECT, MINUS, and UNION set operators Unindexed table joins Some correlated sub-queries
Also the order in which the conditions are given in the 'WHERE' cluase are very important while performing a 'Select' query. The Performance Difference is unnoticed ifother wis e the query is run on a Massive Database. For example for a select statement, SELECT Emp_id FROM Emp_table WHERE Last_Name = 'Smith' AND Middle_Initial = 'K' AND Gender = 'Female'; The look up for matches in the table is performed by taking the conditions in th e WHERE cluase in the reverse order i.e., first all the rows that match the criteria Gender = 'Fem ale' are returned and in these returned rows, the conditon Last_Name = 'Smith' is looked up. There fore, the order of the conditions in the WHERE clause must be in such a wa y that the last condition gives minimum collection of potential match rows and the next conditio n must pass on even little and so on. So, if we fine tune the above query, it should look like, SELECT Emp_id FROM Emp_table WHERE Gender = 'Female' AND Middle_Initial = 'K' AN D Last_Name = 'Smith' ; as Last_Name Smith would return far more less number of ro ws than Gender = 'Female' as in the former case. 66.what is difference between varray and nested table.can u explain in brief and clear my these concepts.also give a small and sweet example of both these. Varry and Nestead table both are belongs to CollectionsThe Main difference is Va rray has Upper bound, where as Nestead table doesn't. It's size is unconstrained like any other database tableNestead table can be stored in DatabaseSyntax of Nestead TableTYPE nes_tabt ype IS TABLE OF emp.empno%type;nes_tab nes_tabtype;Syntax of VarryTYPE List_ints_t IS VARRAY( 8) OF NUMBER(2);aList List_ints_t:=List_ints_t(2,3,5,1,5,4); Nested table can be indexed where as VArray can't. 69. What is PL/Sql tables?Is cursor variable store in PL/SQL table? pl/sql table is temparary table which is used to store records temrparaily in PL /SQL Block, whenever block completes execution, table is also finished. 71. What is the DATATYPE of PRIMARY KEY
Binary Integer 72.What is the difference between User-level, Statement-level and System-level R ollback? Can you please give me example of each? 1. System - level or transaction level Rollback the current transaction entirely on errors. This was the unique behavior of old drivers becauase PG has no savepoint functionality until 8.0. 2. Statement Rollback the current (ODBC) statement on errors (in case of 8.0 or later version servers). The driver calls a SAVEPOINT command just before starting each (ODBC) statement and automatically ROLLBACK to the savepoint on errors or RELEASE it on success. If you expect Oracle-like automatic per statement rollback, please use this level. 3. User Level You can(have to) call some SAVEPOINT commands and rollback to a savepoint on errors by yourself. Please note you have to rollback the current transcation or ROLLBACK to a savepoint on errors (by yourself) to continue
the application 74. Details about FORCE VIEW why and we can use Generally we are not supposed to create a view without base table. If you want t o create any view without base table that is called as Force View or invalid view. Syntax: CREATE FORCE VIEW AS < SELECT STATMENT >; That View will be created with the message View created with compilation errors Once you create the table that invalid view will become as valid one. 75. 1) Why it is recommonded to use INOUT instead of OUT parameter type in a pro cedure? 2) What happen if we will not assign anything in OUT parameter type in a procedu re? Hi,OUT parameter will be useful for returning the value from subprogram, value c an be assigned only once and this variable cannot be assigned to another variable.IN OUT parame ter will be used to pass the value to subprogram and as well as it can be used to return the value t o caller of subprogram. It acts as explicitly declared variable. Therefore it can be assigne d value and its value can be assigned to another variable.So IN OUT will be useful than OUT parameter. 1) IN OUT and OUT selection criteria depends upon the program need.if u want to retain the value that is being passed then use seperate (IN and OUT)otherwise u can go for IN OUT.2)If nothing is assigned to a out parameter in a procedure then NULL will be returned for that p arameter. 78. What is autonomous Transaction? Where are they used? Autonomous transaction is the transaction which acts independantly from the call ing part and could commit the process done. example using prgma autonomous incase of mutation problem happens in a trigger. 79. How can I speed up the execution of query when number of rows in the tables increased Standard practice is 1. Indexed the columns (Primary key) 2. Use the indexed / Primary key columns in the where clause 3. check the explain paln for the query and avoid for the nested loops / full ta ble scan (depending on the size of data retrieved and / or master table with few rows) 80. What is the purpose of FORCE while creating a VIEW usually the views are created from the basetable if only the basetable exists. The purpose of FORCE keyword is to create a view if the underlying base table do esnot exists. ex : create or replace FORCE view <viewname> as <query> while using the above syntax to create a view the table used in the query statem ent doesnot necessary to exists in the database 83. What is Mutation of a trigger? why and when does it oocur? A table is said to be a Mutating table under the following three circumstances 1) When u try to do delete, update, insert into a table through a trigger and at the same time u r trying to select the same table. 2) The same applies for a view 3) Apart from that, if u r deleting (delete cascade),update,insert on the parent
table and doing a select in the child tableAll these happen only in a row level trigger 90. How to handle exception in Bulk collector? During bulk collect you can save the exception and then you can process the exce ption. Look at the below given example: DECLARE TYPE NumList IS TABLE OF NUMBER; num_tab NumList := NumList(10,0,11,12,30,0,20,199,2,0,9,1); errors NUMBER; BEGIN FORALL i IN num_tab.FIRST..num_tab.LAST SAVE EXCEPTIONS DELETE * FROM emp WHERE sal > 500000/num_tab(i); EXCEPTION WHEN OTHERS THEN -- this is not in the doco, thanks to JL for pointing this out errors := SQL%BULK_EXCEPTIONS.COUNT;
dbms_output.put_line('Number of errors is ' || errors); FOR i IN 1..errors LOOP -- Iteration is SQL%BULK_EXCEPTIONS(i).ERROR_INDEX; -- Error code is SQL%BULK_EXCEPTIONS(i).ERROR_CODE; END LOOP;END; 91.#1 What are the advantages and disadvantages of using PL/SQL or JAVA as the p rimary programming tool for database automation. #2 Will JAVA replace PL/SQL? Internally the Oracle database supports two procedural languages, namely PL/SQL and Java. This leads to questions like "Which of the two is the best?" and "Will Oracle ever de support PL/SQL in favour of Java?". Many Oracle applications are based on PL/SQL and it would be difficult of Oracle to ever desupport PL/SQL. In fact, all indications are that PL/SQL still has a bright future ahead of it. Many enhancements are still being made to PL/SQL. For example, Oracle 9iDB supports n ative compilation of Pl/SQL code to binaries. PL/SQL and Java appeal to different people in different job roles. The following table briefly describes the difference between these two language environments: PL/SQL: . Data centric and tightly integrated into the database . Proprietary to Oracle and difficult to port to other database systems . Data manipulation is slightly faster in PL/SQL than in Java . Easier to use than Java (depending on your background) Java: . Open standard, not proprietary to Oracle . Incurs some data conversion overhead between the Database and Java type system s . Java is more difficult to use (depending on your background)
110. 1.What 2.What 3.What 4.What 5.what is bulk collect? is instead trigger is the difference between Oracle table & PL/SQL table? R built in Packages in Oracle? is the difference between row migration & row changing?
1.What is bulk collect? Bulk collect is part of PLSQL collection where data is stored/ poped up into a v ariable. example: declare type sal_rec is table of number; v_sal sal_rec; begin select sal bulk collect into v_sal from emp; for r in 1.. v_sal.count loop dbms_output.put_line(v_sal(r)); end loop; end; 2.What is instead trigger instead triggers are used for views. 3.What is the difference between Oracle table & PL/SQL table? Table is logical entity which holds the data in dat file permanently . where as scope of plsql table is limited to the particular block / procedure . refer above example sal_rec table will hold data only till programme is reaching to end;
4.What R built in Packages in Oracle? There R more then 1000 oracle builtin packges like: Dbms_output, dbms_utility dbms_pipe ............. 5.what is the difference between row migration & row changing? Migration: The data is stored in blocks whic use Pctfree 40% and pctused 60% ( normally). The 40% space is used for update and delete stateme nts . when a condition may arise that update/delete statement takes more then pctfree then it takes the space from anther block. this is called migration. RowChaining: while inserting the data if data of one row takes more then one blo ck then this row is stored in two blocks and rows are chained. insted of triggers: They provide a transparent way of modifying view that can't be modified directly through SQL,DML statement. 111.Can anyone tell me the difference between instead of trigger, database trigg er, and schema trigger? INSTEAD OF Trigger control operation on view , not table. They can be used to ma ke nonupdateable views updateable and to override the behvior of view that are updatea ble. Database triggers fire whenever the database startup or is shutdown, whenever a user logs on or log off, and whenever an oracle error occurs. these tigger provide a means of tracki ng activity in the database if we have created a view that is based on join codition then its not possibe to apply dml operations like insert, update and delete on that view. So what we can do is we can create instead off trigger and perform dml operations on the view. 131. HI,What is Flashback query in Oracle9i...? Flahsback is used to take your database at old state like a system restore in wi ndows. No DDL and DML is allowed when database is in flashback condition. user should have execute permission on dbms_flashback package for example: at 1030 am from scott user : delete from emp; commit; at 1040 am I want all my data from emp table then ? declare cursor c1 is select * from emp; emp_cur emp%rowtype; begin dbms_flashback.enable_at_time(sysdate - 15/1440); open c1; dbms_flashback.disable; loop fetch c1 into emp_cur; exit when c1%notfound; insert into emp values(emp_cur.empno, emp_cur.ename, emp_cur.job, emp_cur.mgr,emp_cur.hiredate, emp_cur.sal, emp_cur.comm, emp_cur.deptno); end loop; commit; end;
/ select * from emp;
14 rows selected 132. what is the difference between database server and data dictionary Database server is collection of all objects of oracle Data Dictionary contains the information of for all the objects like when create d, who created etc. Database server is a server on which the instance of oracle as server runs..wher eas datadictionary is the collection of information about all those objects like tables indexes vie ws triggers etc in a database.. 134. Mention the differences between aggregate functions and analytical function s clearly with examples? Aggregate functions are sum(), count(), avg(), max(), min() like: select sum(sal) , count(*) , avg(sal) , max(sal) , min(sal) from emp; analytical fuction differ from aggregate function some of examples: SELECT ename "Ename", deptno "Deptno", sal "Sal", SUM(sal) OVER (ORDER BY deptno, ename) "Running Total", SUM(SAL) OVER (PARTITION BY deptno ORDER BY ename) "Dept Total", ROW_NUMBER() OVER (PARTITION BY deptno ORDER BY ENAME) "Seq" FROM emp ORDER BY deptno, ename SELECT * FROM ( SELECT deptno, ename, sal, ROW_NUMBER() OVER ( PARTITION BY deptno ORDER BY sal DESC ) Top3 FROM emp ) WHERE Top3 <= 3 136. what are the advantages & disadvantages of packages ? Modularity,Easier Application Design,Information Hiding,Added Functionality,Bett er Performance, Disadvantages of Package - More memory may be required on the Oracle database se rver when using Oracle PL/SQL packages as the whole package is loaded into memory as soon as any object in the package is accessed. Disadvantages: Updating one of the functions/procedures will invalid other objec ts which use different functions/procedures since whole package is needed to be compiled. we cant pass parameters to packages 137. What is a NOCOPY parameter? Where it is used? NOCOPY Parameter Option Prior to Oracle 8i there were three types of parameter-passing options to proced ures and functions: . IN: parameters are passed by reference . OUT: parameters are implemented as copy-out . IN OUT: parameters are implemented as copy-in/copy-out
The technique of OUT and IN OUT parameters was designed to protect original valu es of them in case exceptions were raised, so that changes could be rolled back. Because a copy of the parameter set was made, rollback could be done. However, this method imposed significant CPU a nd memory
overhead when the parameters were large data collections for example, PL/SQL Table or VARRAY types. With the new NOCOPY option, OUT and IN OUT parameters are passed by reference, w hich avoids copy overhead. However, parameter set copy is not created and, in case of an exc eption rollback, cannot be performed and the original values of parameters cannot be restored. Here is an example of using the NOCOPY parameter option: TYPE Note IS RECORD( Title VARCHAR2(15), Created_By VARCHAR2(20), Created_When DATE, Memo VARCHAR2(2000));TYPE Notebook IS VARRAY(2000) OF Note;CREATE OR REPLACE PROCEDURE Update_Notes(Customer_Notes IN OUT NOCOPY Notebook) ISBEGIN ...END; NOCOPY is a hint given to the compiler, indicating that the parameter is passed as a reference and hence actual value should not be copied in to the block and vice versa. The proc essing will be done accessing data from the original variable. (Which other wise, oracle copies the data from the parameter variable into the block and then copies it back to the variable after processing. This would put extra burdon on the server if the parameters are of large collections/sizes) For better understanding of NOCOPY parameter, I will suggest u to run the follow ing code and see the result. DECLARE n NUMBER := 10; PROCEDURE do_something ( n1 IN NUMBER, n2 IN OUT NUMBER, n3 IN OUT NOCOPY NUMBER) IS BEGIN n2 := 20; DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE(n1); -- prints 10 n3 := 30; DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE(n1); -- prints 30 END; BEGIN do_something(n, n, n); DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE(n); -- prints 20 END; 138. How to get the 25th row of a table. select * from Emp where rownum < 26 minus select * from Emp where rownum<25 SELECT * FROM EMP A WHERE 25=(SELECT COUNT(*) FROM EMP BWHERE A.EMPNO>B.EMPNO); 139. What is Atomic transaction? An atomic transaction is a database transaction or a hardware transaction which either completely occurs, or completely fails to occur. A prosaic example is pregnancy - you can't be "halfway pregnant"; you either are or you aren't 140. What is materialized view?
A materialized view is a database object that contains the results of a query. T hey are local copies of data located remotely, or are used to create summary tables based on aggregation s of a table's data. Materialized views, which store data based on remote tables are also, know as snapshots.A materialized view can query tables, views, and other materialized views. Collect ively these are called master tables (a replication term) or detail tables (a data warehouse term). 141. How to change owner of a table?
Owner of a table is the schema name which holds the table. To change the owner j ust recreate the table in the new schema and drop the previous table 142. How can i see the time of execution of a sql statement? sqlplus >set time on 144. what happens when commit is given in executable section and an error occurs ?please tell me what ha Whenever the exception is raised ..all the transaction made before will be commi ted. If the exception is not raised then all the transaction will be rolled back. 145. Wheather a Cursor is a Pointer or Reference? cursor is basically a pointer as it's like a address of virtual memory which is being used storage related to sql query & is made free after the values from this memory is being u sed 146. What will happen to an anonymus block,if there is no statement inside the b lock?eg:-declarebeginend We cant have declare begin end we must have something between the begin and the end keywords otherwise a compilation error will be raised. 147.Can we have same trigger with different names for a table? eg: create trigger trig1 after insert on tab1; and eg: create trigger trig2 after insert on tab1; If yes,which trigger executes first. The triggers will be fired on the basis of TimeStamp of their creation in Data D ictionary. The trigger with latest timestamp will be fired at last. 148.creating a table, what is the difference between VARCHAR2(80) and VARCHAR2(8 0 BYTE)? Historically database columns which hold alphanumeric data have been defined usi ng the number of bytes they store. This approach was fine as the number of bytes equated to the n umber of characters when using single-byte character sets. With the increasing use of mul tibyte character sets to support globalized databases comes the problem of bytes no longer equati ng to characters.Suppose we had a requirement for a table with an id and description c olumn, where the description must hold up to a maximum of 20 characters.We then decide to make a multilingual version of our application and use the same table definition in a new instance w ith a multibyte character set. Everything works fine until we try of fill the column with 20 two -byte characters. All of a sudden the column is trying to store twice the data it was before and we have a problem.Oracle9i has solved this problem with the introduction of character and byte length seman tics. When defining an alphanumeric column it is now possible to specify the length in 3 different w ays: 1. VARCHAR2(20) 2. VARCHAR2(20 BYTE) 3. VARCHAR2(20 CHAR)Option 1 uses the default length semantics defined by the NLS_LENGTH_SEMANTICS parameter which defaults to
BYTE. Option 2 allows only the specified number of bytes to be stored in the column, r egardless of how many characters this represents. Option 3 allows the specified number of charact ers to be stored in the column regardless of the number of bytes this equates to. 151. how to insert a music file into the database LOB datatypes can be used to store blocks of unstructured data like graphic imag es, video, audio, etc 152. what is diff between strong and weak ref cursors A strong REF CURSOR type definition specifies a return type, but a weak definiti on does not. DECLARE TYPE EmpCurTyp IS REF CURSOR RETURN emp%ROWTYPE; -- strong
TYPE GenericCurTyp IS REF CURSOR; -- weak in a strong cursor structure is predetermined --so we cannot query having differ ent structure other than emp%rowtype in weak cursor structure is not predetermined -- so we can query with any struct ure Strong Ref cursor type is less Error prone, because oracle already knows what ty pe you are going to return as compare to weak ref type. 154. Explain, Is it possible to have same name for package and the procedure in that package. Yes, its possible to have same name for package and the procedure in that packag e. 159. Without closing the cursor, If you want to open it what will happen. If err or, get what is the error If you reopen a cursor without closing it first,PL/SQL raises the predefined exc eption CURSOR_ALREADY_OPEN. 161. What is PRAGMA RESTRICT_REFERENCES: By using pragma_restrict_references we can give the different status to function s,Like WNDB(WRITE NO DATA BASE),RNDB(read no data base),Write no package state,read no packge state.W 164. What is difference between PL/SQL tables and arrays? array is set of values of same datatype.. where as tables can store values of di ff datatypes.. also tables has no upper limit where as arrays has. 168. How do you set table for read only access ? If you update or delete the records in the table, at the same time, no body can update or delete the same records which you updated or deleted because oracle lock the data which u u pdated or deleted. Select for update 169. What are the disadvantages of Packages and triggers?? Disadvantages of Packages: 1. You cannot reference remote packaged variables directly or indirectly.. 2. Inside package you cannot reference host variable.. 3. We are not able to grant a procedure in package.. Disadvantages of Trigger: 1. Writing more number of codes.. 170. How to disable a trigger for a particular table ? alter trigger <trigger_name> disable 172. how can we avoid duplicate rows. without using distinct command Using Self join like : select dup.column from tab a,tab b where a.dup.column=b.dup.column and a.rowid<> b.rowid
This query will return the first row for each unique id in the table. This query could be used as part of
a delete statement to remove duplicates if needed. SELECT ID FROM func t1 WHERE ROWID = (SELECT MIN (ROWID) FROM func WHERE ID = t1.ID) Also: You can use a group by without a summary function SELECT ID FROM func t1
GROUP BY id 173. Why we use instead of trigger. what is the basic structure of the instead o f trigger. Explain speci Conceptually, INSTEAD OF triggers are very simple. You write code that the Oracl e server will execute when a program performs a DML operation on the view. Unlike a conventional BEFOR E or AFTER trigger, an INSTEAD OF trigger takes the place of, rather than supplements, Orac le's usual DML behavior. (And in case you're wondering, you cannot use BEFORE/AFTER triggers on any type of view, even if you have defined an INSTEAD OF trigger on the view.) CREATE OR REPLACE TRIGGER images_v_insert INSTEAD OF INSERT ON images_v FOR EACH ROW BEGIN /* This will fail with DUP_VAL_ON_INDEX if the images table || already contains a record with the new image_id. */ INSERT INTO images VALUES (:NEW.image_id, :NEW.file_name, :NEW.file_type, :NEW.bytes); IF :NEW.keywords IS NOT NULL THEN DECLARE /* Note: apparent bug prevents use of :NEW.keywords.LAST. || The workaround is to store :NEW.keywords as a local || variable (in this case keywords_holder.) */ keywords_holder Keyword_tab_t := :NEW.keywords; BEGIN FOR the_keyword IN 1..keywords_holder.LAST LOOP INSERT INTO keywords VALUES (:NEW.image_id, keywords_holder(the_keyword)); END LOOP; END; END IF; END; Once we've created this INSTEAD OF trigger, we can insert a record into this obj ect view (and hence into bothunderlying tables) quite easily using: INSERT INTO images_v VALUES (Image_t(41265, 'pigpic.jpg', 'JPG', 824, Keyword_tab_t('PIG', 'BOVINE', 'FARM ANIMAL'))); This statement causes the INSTEAD OF trigger to fire, and as long as the primary key value (image_id = 41265) does not already exist, the trigger will insert the data into the appro priate tables. Similarly, we can write additional triggers that handle updates and deletes. The se triggers use the predictable clauses INSTEAD OF UPDATE and INSTEAD OF DELETE. 180. what is the difference between database trigger and application trigger? Database triggers are backend triggeres and perform as any event occurs on datab
se level (ex. Inset,update,Delete e.t.c) wheras application triggers are froentend triggers an d perform as any event taken on application level (Ex. Button Pressed, New Form Instance e.t. c) 185. Compare EXISTS and IN Usage with advantages and disadvantages. exist is faster than IN Command exist do full table scan...so it is faster than IN Use Exists whenever possible. EXISTS only checks the existence of records (True/ False), and in the case of IN each and every records will be checked. performace wise EXISTS is bett er. 189. Which type of binding does PL/SQL use? it uses latebinding so only we cannot use ddl staments directly
it uses dynamicbinding 191. Why DUAL table is not visible? Because its a dummy table.
18. DEC 19
How do you identify existing rows of data in the target table using lookup transformation?
Scenario: How do you identify existing rows of data in the target table using lookup trans formation?
Solution:
There are two ways to lookup the target table to verify a row exists or not: 1. Use connect dynamic cache lookup and then check the values of NewLookuprow Ou tput port to decide whether the incoming record already exists in the table / cache or not.
2. Use Unconnected lookup and call it from an expression transformation and chec k the Lookup condition port value (Null/ Not Null) to decide whether the incoming record alre ady exists in the table or not.
19. DEC 19
What is Load Manager?
Scenario: What is Load Manager?
Solution:
While running a Workflow, the PowerCenter Server uses the Load Manager process a nd the Data Transformation Manager Process (DTM) to run the workflow and carry out work flow tasks. When the PowerCenter Server runs a workflow,
The Load Manager performs the following tasks: 1. Locks the workflow and reads workflow properties. 2. Reads the parameter file and expands workflow variables. 3. Creates the workflow log file. 4. Runs workflow tasks. 5. Distributes sessions to worker servers. 6. Starts the DTM to run sessions. 7. Runs sessions from master servers. 8. Sends post-session email if the DTM terminates abnormally.
When the PowerCenter Server runs a session, the DTM performs the following tasks : 1. Fetches session and mapping metadata from the repository. 2. Creates and expands session variables. 3. Creates the session log file. 4. Validates session code pages if data code page validation is enabled. Checks query Conversions if data code page validation is disabled. 5. Verifies connection object permissions. 6. Runs pre-session shell commands. 7. Runs pre-session stored procedures and SQL. 8. Creates and runs mapping, reader, writer, and transformation threads to extra ct, transformation, and load data. 9. Runs post-session stored procedures and SQL. 10. Runs post-session shell commands. 11. Sends post-session email.
20. DEC 19
In which conditions we can not use joiner transformation (Limitations of joiner transformation)?
Scenario: In which conditions we can not use joiner transformation (Limitations of joiner transformation)?
Solution:
1. When our data comes through Update Strategy transformation or in other words after Update strategy we cannot add joiner transformation
2. We cannot connect a Sequence Generator transformation directly before the Joi ner transformation. The Joiner transformation does not match null values. For example if both EMP_ID 1 and EMP_ID2 from the example above contain a row with a null value the PowerCenter Server do es not consider them a match and does not join the two rows. To join rows with null values you c an replace null input with default values and then join on the default values.
21. DEC 19
How can U improve session performance in aggregator transformation?
Scenario: How can U improve session performance in aggregator transformation?
Solution:
You can use the following guidelines to optimize the performance of an Aggregato r transformation.
Use sorted input to decrease the use of aggregate caches.
Sorted input reduces the amount of data cached during the session and improves s ession performance. Use this option with the Sorter transformation to pass sorted data to the Aggregator transformation.
Limit connected input/output or output ports.
Limit the number of connected input/output or output ports to reduce the amount of data the Aggregator transformation stores in the data cache.
Filter before aggregating.
If you use a Filter transformation in the mapping place the transformation befor e the Aggregator transformation to reduce unnecessary aggregation.
22. DEC
19
How can you recognize whether or not the newly added rows in the source are gets insert in the target?
Scenario: How can you recognize whether or not the newly added rows in the source are gets insert in the target?
Solution:
In the Type2 mapping we have three options to recognize the newly added rows Version number Flagvalue Effective date Range
If it is Type 2 Dimension the above answer is fine but if u want to get the info of all the insert statements and Updates you need to use session log file where you configure it t o verbose.
You will get complete set of data which record was inserted and which was not.
23. DEC 19
What is Slowly Changing Dimensions (SCD) ?
Slowly Changing Dimensions
Dimensions that change over time are called Slowly Changing Dimensions. For inst ance, a product price changes over time; People change their names for some reason; Coun try and State names may change over time. These are a few examples of Slowly Changing Dimensio ns since some changes are happening to them over a period of time.
Slowly Changing Dimensions are often categorized into three types namely Type1, Type2 and Type3. The following section deals with how to capture and handling these change s over time. The "Product" table mentioned below contains a product named, Product1 with Prod uct ID being the primary key. In the year 2004, the price of Product1 was $150 and over the t ime, Product1's price changes from $150 to $350. With this information, let us explain the three types of Slowly Changing Dimensions. Product Price in 2004:
Product ID(PK) Year Product Name Product Price 1 2004 Product1 $150 1.SCD TYPE1(Slowly Changing Dimension) : contains current data.
2.SCD TYPE2(Slowly Changing Dimension) : contains current data + complete histor ical data.
3.SCD TYPE3(Slowly Changing Dimension) : contains current data + one type histor ical data.
Type 1: Overwriting the old values. In the year 2005, if the price of the product changes to $250, then the old valu es of the columns "Year" and "Product Price" have to be updated and replaced with the new values. In this Type 1, there is no way to find out the old value of the product "Product1" in year 2004 since the table now contains only the new price and year information. Product Product ID(PK) Year Product Name Product Price 1 2005 Product1 $250
Type 2: Creating an additional record. In this Type 2, the old values will not be replaced but a new row containing the new values will be added to the product table. So at any point of time, the difference between the old values and new values can be retrieved and easily be compared. This would be very useful for re porting purposes. Product Product ID(PK) Year Product Name Product Price 1 2004 Product1 $150 1 2005 Product1 $250 The problem with the above mentioned data structure is "Product ID" cannot store duplicate values of "Product1" since "Product ID" is the primary key. Also, the current data stru cture doesn't clearly specify the effective date and expiry date of Product1 like when the change to i
ts price happened. So, it would be better to change the current data structure to overcome the abov e primary key violation. Product Product ID(PK) Effective DateTime(PK) Year Product Name Product Price Expiry DateTime 1 01-01-2004 12.00AM 2004 Product1 $150 12-31-2004 11.59PM 1 01-01-2005 12.00AM 2005 Product1 $250 In the changed Product table's Data structure, "Product ID" and "Effective DateT ime" are composite primary keys. So there would be no violation of primary key constraint. Addition of new columns, "Effective DateTime" and "Expiry DateTime" provides the information about the pr oduct's effective date and expiry date which adds more clarity and enhances the scope of this tabl e. Type2 approach may need additional space in the data base, since for every changed record, an a dditional row has to be stored. Since dimensions are not that big in the real world, additional sp ace is negligible.
Type 3: Creating new fields. In this Type 3, the latest update to the changed values can be seen. Example men tioned below illustrates how to add new columns and keep track of the changes. From that, we are able to see the current price and the previous price of the product, Product1. Product
Product ID(PK) Current Year Product Name Current Product Price Old Product Price Old Year 1 2005 Product1 $250 $150 2004 The problem with the Type 3 approach, is over years, if the product price contin uously changes, then the complete history may not be stored, only the latest change will be stor ed. For example, in year 2006, if the product1's price changes to $350, then we would not be able to see the complete history of 2004 prices, since the old values would have been updated with 2005 p roduct information. Product Product ID(PK) Year Product Name Product Price Old Product Price Old Year 1 2006 Product1 $350 $250 2005
Example: In order to store data, over the years, many application designers in e ach branch have made their individual decisions as to how an application and database shoul d be built. So source systems will be different in naming conventions, variable measurements, e ncoding structures, and physical attributes of data. Consider a bank that has got severa l branches in several countries, has millions of customers and the lines of business of the enterprise are savings, and loans. The following example explains how the data is integrated from source sys tems to target systems. Example of Source Data System Name Attribute Name Column Name Datatype Values Source System 1 Customer Application Date CUSTOMER_APPLICATION_DATE NUMERIC(8,0) 11012005
Source System 2 Customer Application Date CUST_APPLICATION_DATE DATE 11012005 Source System 3 Application Date APPLICATION_DATE DATE 01NOV2005 In the aforementioned example, attribute name, column name, datatype and values are entirely different from one source system to another. This inconsistency in data can be a voided by integrating the data into a data warehouse with good standards. Example of Target Data(Data Warehouse) Target System Attribute Name Column Name Datatype Values Record #1 Customer Application Date CUSTOMER_APPLICATION_DATE DATE 01112005 Record #2 Customer Application Date CUSTOMER_APPLICATION_DATE DATE 01112005 Record #3 Customer Application Date CUSTOMER_APPLICATION_DATE DATE 01112005 In the above example of target data, attribute names, column names, and datatype s are consistent throughout the target system. This is how data from various source systems is in tegrated and accurately stored into the data warehouse.
24. DEC
19
What is Dimension Table?
Dimension Table Dimension table is one that describes the business entities of an enterprise, re presented as hierarchical, categorical information such as time, departments, locations, and products. Dimension tables are sometimes called lookup or reference tables. Location Dimension In a relational data modeling, for normalization purposes, country lookup, state lookup, county lookup, and city lookups are not merged as a single table. In a dimension al data modeling (star schema), these tables would be merged as a single table called LOCATION DI MENSION for performance and slicing data requirements. This location dimension helps to comp are the sales in one region with another region. We may see good sales profit in one region and l oss in another region. If it is a loss, the reasons for that may be a new competitor in that ar ea, or failure of our marketing strategy etc. Example of Location Dimension:
Country Lookup Country Code Country Name DateTimeStamp USA United States Of America 1/1/2005 11:23:31 AM State Lookup State Code State Name DateTimeStamp NY New York 1/1/2005 11:23:31 AM FL Florida 1/1/2005 11:23:31 AM CA California 1/1/2005 11:23:31 AM NJ New Jersey 1/1/2005 11:23:31 AM County Lookup
County Code County Name DateTimeStamp NYSH Shelby 1/1/2005 11:23:31 AM FLJE Jefferson 1/1/2005 11:23:31 AM CAMO Montgomery 1/1/2005 11:23:31 AM NJHU Hudson 1/1/2005 11:23:31 AM City Lookup City Code City Name DateTimeStamp NYSHMA Manhattan 1/1/2005 11:23:31 AM FLJEPC Panama City 1/1/2005 11:23:31 AM CAMOSH San Hose 1/1/2005 11:23:31 AM NJHUJC Jersey City 1/1/2005 11:23:31 AM Location Dimension Location Dimension Id Country Name State Name County Name City Name DateTime Stamp
1 USA New York Shelby Manhattan 1/1/2005 11:23:31 AM 2 USA Florida Jefferson Panama City 1/1/2005 11:23:31 AM 3 USA California Montgomery San Hose 1/1/2005 11:23:31 AM 4 USA New Jersey Hudson Jersey City 1/1/2005 11:23:31 AM
Product Dimension In a relational data model, for normalization purposes, product category lookup, product subcategory lookup, product lookup, and and product feature lookups are are not mer ged as a single table. In a dimensional data modeling(star schema), these tables would be merged as a single table called PRODUCT DIMENSION for performance and slicing data requirements. Example of Product Dimension: Figure 1.9
Product Category Lookup Product Category Code Product Category Name DateTimeStamp 1 Apparel 1/1/2005 11:23:31 AM 2 Shoe 1/1/2005 11:23:31 AM Product Sub-Category Lookup Product Sub-Category Code Product Sub-Category Name DateTime Stamp 11 Shirt 1/1/2005 11:23:31 AM 12 Trouser 1/1/2005 11:23:31 AM 13 Casual 1/1/2005 11:23:31 AM 14 Formal 1/1/2005 11:23:31 AM Product Lookup Product Code Product Name DateTimeStamp 1001 Van Heusen 1/1/2005 11:23:31 AM 1002 Arrow 1/1/2005 11:23:31 AM 1003 Nike 1/1/2005 11:23:31 AM
1004 Adidas 1/1/2005 11:23:31 AM Product Feature Lookup Product Feature Code Product Feature Description DateTimeStamp 10001 Van-M 1/1/2005 11:23:31 AM 10002 Van-L 1/1/2005 11:23:31 AM 10003 Arr-XL 1/1/2005 11:23:31 AM 10004 Arr-XXL 1/1/2005 11:23:31 AM 10005 Nike-8 1/1/2005 11:23:31 AM 10006 Nike-9 1/1/2005 11:23:31 AM 10007 Adidas-10 1/1/2005 11:23:31 AM 10008 Adidas-11 1/1/2005 11:23:31 AM Product Dimension Product Dimension Id Product Category Name Product Sub-Category Name Product Nam e Product Feature Desc DateTime Stamp 100001 Apparel Shirt Van Heusen Van-M 1/1/2005 11:23:31 AM 100002 Apparel Shirt Van Heusen Van-L 1/1/2005 11:23:31 AM 100003 Apparel Shirt Arrow Arr-XL 1/1/2005 11:23:31 AM 100004 Apparel Shirt Arrow Arr-XXL 1/1/2005 11:23:31 AM 100005 Shoe Casual Nike Nike-8 1/1/2005 11:23:31 AM
100006 Shoe Casual Nike Nike-9 1/1/2005 11:23:31 AM 100007 Shoe Casual Adidas Adidas-10 1/1/2005 11:23:31 AM 100008 Shoe Casual Adidas Adidas-11 1/1/2005 11:23:31 AM
Organization Dimension In a relational data model, for normalization purposes, corporate office lookup, region lookup, branch lookup, and employee lookups are not merged as a single table. In a dimen sional data modeling(star schema), these tables would be merged as a single table called ORG ANIZATION DIMENSION for performance and slicing data. This dimension helps us to find the products sold or serviced within the organiz ation by the employees. In any industry, we can calculate the sales on region basis, branch b asis and employee basis. Based on the performance, an organization can provide incentives to emplo yees and subsidies to the branches to increase further sales. Example of Organization Dimension: Figure 1.10
Corporate Lookup Corporate Code Corporate Name DateTimeStamp CO American Bank 1/1/2005 11:23:31 AM Region Lookup Region Code Region Name DateTimeStamp SE South East 1/1/2005 11:23:31 AM MW Mid West 1/1/2005 11:23:31 AM Branch Lookup Branch Code Branch Name DateTimeStamp FLTM Florida-Tampa 1/1/2005 11:23:31 AM ILCH Illinois-Chicago 1/1/2005 11:23:31 AM Employee Lookup Employee Code Employee Name DateTimeStamp E1 Paul Young 1/1/2005 11:23:31 AM
E2 Chris Davis 1/1/2005 11:23:31 AM Organization Dimension Organization Dimension Id Corporate Name Region Name Branch Name Employee Name D ateTime Stamp 1 American Bank South East Florida-Tampa Paul Young 1/1/2005 11:23:31 AM 2 American Bank Mid West Illinois-Chicago Chris Davis 1/1/2005 11:23:31 AM
Time Dimension In a relational data model, for normalization purposes, year lookup, quarter loo kup, month lookup, and week lookups are not merged as a single table. In a dimensional data modelin g(star schema), these tables would be merged as a single table called TIME DIMENSION for perform ance and slicing data.
This dimensions helps to find the sales done on date, weekly, monthly and yearly basis. We can have a trend analysis by comparing this year sales with the previous year or thi s week sales with the previous week. Example of Time Dimension: Figure 1.11
Year Lookup Year Id Year Number DateTimeStamp
1 2004 1/1/2005 11:23:31 AM 2 2005 1/1/2005 11:23:31 AM Quarter Lookup Quarter Number Quarter Name DateTimeStamp 1 Q1 1/1/2005 11:23:31 AM 2 Q2 1/1/2005 11:23:31 AM 3 Q3 1/1/2005 11:23:31 AM 4 Q4 1/1/2005 11:23:31 AM Month Lookup Month Number Month Name DateTimeStamp 1 January 1/1/2005 11:23:31 AM 2 February 1/1/2005 11:23:31 AM 3 March 1/1/2005 11:23:31 AM 4 April 1/1/2005 11:23:31 AM 5 May 1/1/2005 11:23:31 AM 6 June 1/1/2005 11:23:31 AM 7 July 1/1/2005 11:23:31 AM 8 August 1/1/2005 11:23:31 AM 9 September 1/1/2005 11:23:31 AM 10 October 1/1/2005 11:23:31 AM 11 November 1/1/2005 11:23:31 AM 12 December 1/1/2005 11:23:31 AM Week Lookup Week Number Day of Week DateTimeStamp 1 Sunday 1/1/2005 11:23:31 AM 1 Monday 1/1/2005 11:23:31 AM 1 Tuesday 1/1/2005 11:23:31 AM 1 Wednesday 1/1/2005 11:23:31 AM 1 Thursday 1/1/2005 11:23:31 AM 1 Friday 1/1/2005 11:23:31 AM
1 Saturday 1/1/2005 11:23:31 AM 2 Sunday 1/1/2005 11:23:31 AM 2 Monday 1/1/2005 11:23:31 AM 2 Tuesday 1/1/2005 11:23:31 AM 2 Wednesday 1/1/2005 11:23:31 AM 2 Thursday 1/1/2005 11:23:31 AM 2 Friday 1/1/2005 11:23:31 AM 2 Saturday 1/1/2005 11:23:31 AM Time Dimension Time Dim Id Year No Day of Year Quarter No Month No Month Name Month Day No Week No Day of Week Cal Date DateTime Stamp 1 2004 1 Q1 1 January 1 1 5 1/1/2004 1/1/2005 11:23:31 AM 2 2004 32 Q1 2 February 1 5 1 2/1/2004 1/1/2005 11:23:31 AM 3 2005 1 Q1 1 January 1 1 7 1/1/2005 1/1/2005 11:23:31 AM 4 2005 32 Q1 2 February 1 5 3 2/1/2005 1/1/2005 11:23:31 AM
25. DEC 19
What is Fact Table?
Fact Table The centralized table in a star schema is called as FACT table. A fact table typ ically has two types of columns: those that contain facts and those that are foreign keys to di mension tables. The primary key of a fact table is usually a composite key that is made up of all of its foreign keys. In the example fig 1.6 "Sales Dollar" is a fact(measure) and it can be added acr oss several dimensions. Fact tables store different types of measures like additive, non additive and se mi additive measures. Measure Types Additive - Measures that can be added across all dimensions. Non Additive - Measures that cannot be added across all dimensions. Semi Additive - Measures that can be added across few dimensions and not with ot hers. A fact table might contain either detail level facts or facts that have been agg regated (fact tables that contain aggregated facts are often instead called summary tables). In the real world, it is possible to have a fact table that contains no measures or facts. These tables are called as Factless Fact tables. Steps in designing Fact Table Identify a business process for analysis (like sales). Identify measures or facts (sales dollar). Identify dimensions for facts (product dimension, location dimension, time dimen sion, organization dimension). List the columns that describe each dimension.(region name, branch name, region
name). Determine the lowest level of summary in a fact table (sales dollar). for a product in a year within a location sold or serviced by an employee
26. DEC 19
Steps in designing Star Schema
Steps in designing Star Schema Identify a business process for analysis (like sales). Identify measures or facts (sales dollar). Identify dimensions for facts (product dimension, location dimension, time dimen sion, organization dimension). List the columns that describe each dimension.(region name, branch name, region name). Determine the lowest level of summary in a fact table(sales dollar). Important aspects of Star Schema & Snow Flake Schema In a star schema every dimension will have a primary key. In a star schema, a dimension table will not have any parent table. Whereas in a snow flake schema, a dimension table will have one or more parent t ables.
Hierarchies for the dimensions are stored in the dimensional table itself in sta r schema. Whereas hierarchies are broken into separate tables in snow flake schema. These hierachies helps to drill down the data from topmost hierarchies to the lowermost hierarchies.
27. DEC 19
What is update strategy and what are the options for update strategy?
Scenario: What is update strategy and what are the options for update strategy?
Solution:
Informatica processes the source data row-by-row. By default every row is marked to be inserted in the target table. If the row has to be updated/inserted based on som e logic Update Strategy transformation is used. The condition can be specified in Update Strate gy to mark the processed row for update or insert.
Following options are available for update strategy :
DD_INSERT : If this is used the Update Strategy flags the row for insertion. Equ ivalent numeric value of DD_INSERT is 0.
DD_UPDATE : If this is used the Update Strategy flags the row for update. Equiva lent numeric value of DD_UPDATE is 1. DD_DELETE : If this is used the Update Strategy flags the row for deletion. Equi valent numeric value of DD_DELETE is 2. DD_REJECT : If this is used the Update Strategy flags the row for rejection. Equ ivalent numeric value of DD_REJECT is 3.
28. DEC 19
What is aggregator transformation? & what is Incremental Aggregation?
Scenario:
What is aggregator transformation? & what is Incremental Aggregation?
Solution:
The Aggregator transformation allows performing aggregate calculations, such as averages and sums. Unlike Expression Transformation, the Aggregator transformation can only b e used to perform calculations on groups. The Expression transformation permits calculatio ns on a row-byrow basis only.
Aggregator Transformation contains group by ports that indicate how to group the data. While grouping the data, the aggregator transformation outputs the last row of each gr oup unless otherwise specified in the transformation properties.
Various group by functions available in Informatica are : AVG, COUNT, FIRST, LAS T, MAX, MEDIAN, MIN, PERCENTILE, STDDEV, SUM, VARIANCE.
Whenever a session is created for a mapping Aggregate Transformation, the sessio n option for Incremental Aggregation can be enabled. When PowerCenter performs incremental ag gregation, it passes new source data through the mapping and uses historical cache data to per form new aggregation calculations incrementally.
29. DEC 19
What are the different types of locks?
Scenario: What are the different types of locks?
Solution:
There are five kinds of locks on repository objects: 1. Read lock => Created when you open a repository object in a folder for which you do not have write permission. Also created when you open an object with an existing write lock. 2. Write lock => Created when you create or edit a repository object in a folder for which you have write permission. 3. Execute lock => Created when you start a session or batch, or when the Inform atica Server starts a scheduled session or batch. 4. Fetch lock => Created when the repository reads information about repository objects from the database.
5. Save lock => Created when you save information to the repository.
30. DEC 19
What is Shortcuts, Sessions, Batches, mapplets, mappings, Worklet & workflow?
Scenario: What is Shortcuts, Sessions, Batches, mapplets, mappings, Worklet & wo rkflow?
Solution:
Shortcuts? We can create shortcuts to objects in shared folders. Shortcuts provide the easi est way to reuse objects. We use a shortcut as if it were the actual object, and when we make a c hange to the original object, all shortcuts inherit the change.
Shortcuts to folders in the same repository are known as local shortcuts. Shortc uts to the global repository are called global shortcuts.
We use the Designer to create shortcuts.
Sessions and Batches
Sessions and batches store information about how and when the Informatica Server moves data through mappings. You create a session for each mapping you want to run. You can group several sessions together in a batch. Use the Server Manager to create sessions and batc hes.
Mapplets You can design a mapplet to contain multiple mappings within a folder, a repository, or a transformations each time, you can create a mapplet tances of the mapplet to individual mappings. Use create mapplets. sets of transformation logic to be reused in domain. Rather than recreate the same set of containing the transformations, then add ins the Mapplet Designer tool in the Designer to
Mappings A mapping specifies how to move and transform data from sources to targets. Mapp ings include source and target definitions and transformations. Transformations describe how the Informatica Server transforms data. Mappings can also include shortcuts, reusable transforma tions, and mapplets. Use the Mapping Designer tool in the Designer to create mappings.
session A session is a set of instructions to move data from sources to targets.
workflow A workflow is a set of instructions that tells the Informatica server how to exe cute the tasks.
Worklet Worklet is an object that represents a set of tasks.
31. DEC 19
Informetica PowerCenter 8.x Architecture
Informetica PowerCenter 8.x Architecture
data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAPAAAP///wAAACH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAICRAEAOw ==
The PowerCenter domain is the fundamental administrative unit in PowerCenter. Th e domain supports the administration of the distributed services. A domain is a collection of nodes an d services that you can group in folders based on administration ownership.
A node is the logical representation of a machine in a domain. One node in the d omain acts as a gateway to receive service requests from clients and route them to the appropriate service and node. Services and processes run on nodes in a domain. The availability of a service or process on a node depends on how you configure the service and the node.
Services for the domain include the Service Manager and a set of application ser vices:
Service Manager. A service that manages all domain operations. It runs the appli cation services and performs domain functions on each node in the domain. Some domain functions include authe ntication, authorization, and logging. For more information about the Service Manager, see Service Manager . Application services. Services that represent PowerCenter server-based functiona lity, such as the Repository Service and the Integration Service. The application services that runs on a nod e depend on the way you configure the services.
32.
DEC 16
What is a Star Schema? Which Schema is preferable in performance oriented way? Why?
Scenario:
What is a Star Schema? Which Schema is preferable in performance oriented way? W hy?
Solution: A Star Schema is composed of 2 kinds of tables, one Fact Table and multiple Dim ension Tables.
It is called a star schema because the entity-relationship diagram between dime nsions and fact tables resembles a star where one fact table is connected to multiple d imensions. The center of the star schema consists of a large fact table and it points towards t he dimension tables.
data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAPAAAP///wAAACH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAICRAEAOw == The advantage of star schema are slicing down, performance increase and easy und erstanding of data.
F1act Table contains the actual transactions or values that are being analyzed. Dimension Tables contain descriptive information about those transactions or val ues.
. In Star Schemas, Dimension Tables are denormalized tables and Fact Tables are highly normalized.
Star Schema
Star Schema is preferable because less number of joins will result in performanc e. Because Dimension Tables are denormalized, there will be no need to go for joins all the time. Steps in designing Star Schema Identify a business process for analysis(like sales). Identify measures or facts (sales dollar). Identify dimensions for facts(product dimension, location dimension, time dimens ion, organization dimension). List the columns that describe each dimension.(region name, branch name, region name). Determine the lowest level of summary in a fact table(sales dollar). Important aspects of Star Schema & Snow Flake Schema In a star schema every dimension will have a primary key. In a star schema, a dimension table will not have any parent table. Whereas in a snow flake schema, a dimension table will have one or more parent t
ables. Hierarchies for the dimensions are stored in the dimensional table itself in sta r schema.
Whereas hierachies are broken into separate tables in snow flake schema. These h ierachies helps to drill down the data from topmost hierachies to the lowermost hierarchies.
33. DEC 16
Informatica Case study Informatica Case study
Scenario:
Data has to be moved from a legacy application to Siebel staging tables (EIM). T he client will provide the data in a delimited flat file. This file contains Contact records wh ich need to be loaded into the EIM_CONTACT table. Some facts A contact can be uniquely identified by concatenating the First name with the La st name and Zip code. Known issues A potential problem with the load could be the telephone number which is current ly stored as a string (XXX-YYY-ZZZZ format). We need to convert this into (XXX) YYYYYYY format where XX X is the area code in brackets followed by a space and the 7 digit telephone number. Any extensions should be dropped. Requirements The load should have a batch number of 100. If the record count exceeds 500, inc rement the batch number by 5 Since the flat file may have duplicates due to alphabet case issues, its been de cided that all user keys
on the table should be stored in uppercase. For uniformity sake, the first name and last name should also be loaded in uppercase Error logging As per client s IT standards, its expected that any data migration run would provi de a automated high level report (a flat file report is acceptable) which will give information on how many records were read, loaded successfully and failed due to errors.
Output expected from case study: 1. Informatica mapping from flat file to EIM_CONTACT table 2. Log file created for error logging
2. DEC
16
Informatica Training Effectiveness Assessment
Informatica Training Effectiveness Assessment
Trainee:
Trainer:
Date of training:
1. Informatica is an ETL tool where ETL stands for a. Extract b. Evaluate c. Extract d. Evaluate Transform Transform Test Test Load Load Load Load
2. Informatica allows for the following: a. One source multiple targets to be loaded within the same mapping multiple targets to be loaded within the same mapping single target to be loaded within the same mapping multiple targets to be loaded provided mapplets are used wit
b. Multiple source c. Multiple sources d. Multiple sources hin the mapping
3. The ____ manages the connections to the repository from the Informatica clien t application a. Repository Server
b. Informatica Server c. Informatica Repository Manager d. Both a & b
4. During development phase, its best to use what type of tracing levels to debu g errors a. Terse tracing b. Verbose tracing c. Verbose data tracing d. Normal tracing
5. During Informatica installation, what is the installation sequence? a. Informatica Client, Repository Server, Informatica Server b. Informatica Server, Repository Server, Informatica Client c. Repository Server, Informatica Server, Informatica Client d. Either of the above is fine, however, to create the repository we need the In formatica client installed and the repository server process should be running
6. There is a requirement to concatenate the first name and last name from a fla t file and use this concatenated value at 2 locations in the target table. The best way to achieve t his functionality is by using the a. Expression transformation
b. Filter transformation c. Aggregator transformation d. Using the character transformation
7. The workflow monitor does not allow the user to edit workflows. a. True b. False
8. There is a requirement to increment a batch number by one for every 5000 reco rds that are loaded. The best way to achieve this is: 1. 2. 3. 4. Use Mapping parameter in the session Use Mapping variable in the session Store the batch information in the workflow manager Write code in a transformation to update values as required
9. There is a requirement to reuse some complex logic across 3 mappings. The bes t way to achieve this is: a. Create a mapplet to encapsulate the reusable functionality and call this in t he 3 mappings b. Create a worklet and reuse this at the session level during execution of the mapping c. Cut and paste the code across the 3 mappings d. Keep this functionality as a separate mapping and call this mapping in 3 diff erent mappings this would make the code modular and reusable
10. You imported a delimited flat file ABC.TXT from you workstation into the Sourc e qualifier in Informatica client. You then proceeded with developing a mapping and validated i t for correctness using the Validate function. You then set it up for execution in the workflow mana ger. When you execute the mapping, you get an error stating that the file was not found. The m ost probable cause of this error is: a. Your mapping is not correct and the file is not being parsed correctly by the
source qualifier b. The file cannot be loaded from your workstation, it has to be on the server c. Informatica did not have access to the NT directory on your workstation where the file is stored d. You forgot to mention the location of the file in the workflow properties and hence the error
11. Various administrative functions such as folder creation and user access con trol are done using: a. Informatica Administration console b. Repository Manager c. Informatica Server d. Repository Server
12. You created a mapping a few months back which is not invalid because the dat abase schema underwent updates in the form of new column extensions. In order to fix the prob lem, you would: a. Re-import the table definitions from the database b. Make the updates to the table structure manually in the mapping c. Informatica detects updates to table structures automatically. All you have t o do is click on Validate option for the mapping d. None of the above. The mapping has to be scrapped and a new one needs to be c reated
13. The parameter file is used to store the following information a. Workflow parameters, session parameters, mapping parameters and variables b. Workflow variables, session variables, mapping variables
c. Mapping parameters, session constants, workflow constants.
14. The Gantt chart view in Informatica is useful for: a. Tracking dependencies for sessions and mappings b. Schedule workflows c. View progress of workflows and view overall schedule d. Plan start and end dates / times for each workflow run
15. When using the debugger function, you can stop execution at the following: a. Errors or breakpoints b. Errors only c. Breakpoints only d. First breakpoint after the error occurs
16. There is a requirement to selectively update or insert values in the target table based on the value of a field in the source table. This can be achieved using: a. Update Strategy transformation b. Aggregator transformation c. Router transformation d. Use the Expression transformation to write code for this logic
17. A mapping can contain more than one source qualifier t is imported. a. True b. False
one for each source tha
18. Which of the following sentences are accurate a. Power Channels are used to improve data migration across WAN / LAN networks b. Power Channels are adapters that Informatica provides for various ERP / CRM p ackages c. Power Connect are used to improve data migration across WAN / LAN networks
d. None of the above
19. To create a valid mapping in Informatica, at a minimum, the following entiti es are required: a. Source, Source Qualifier, Transformation, Target b. Source Qualifier, Transformation, Target c. Source and Target d. Source, Transformation, Target
20. When one imports a relational database table using the Source Analyzer, it a lways creates the following in the mapping: a. An instance of the table with a source qualifier with a one to one mapping fo r each field b. Source sorter with one to one mapping for each field c. None of the above
Name:
Score:
Pass / Fail:
Ans: 1. a 2. b 3. a 4. c 5. a 6. a 7. a 8. b 9. a 10. b 11. b 12. a,b 13. a 14. c 15. a 16. a 17. b8. a 19. a 20. a
3. DEC 16
What is difference between mapping Parameter, SESSION Parameter, Database connection session parameters? It s possible to create 3parameters at a time? If Possible which one will fire FIRST?
Scenario:
What is difference between mapping Parameter, SESSION Parameter, Database connec tion session parameters? It s possible to create 3parameters at a time? If Possible which one w ill fire FIRST?
Solution:
We can pass all these three types of parameters by using Perameterfile.we can de clare all in one parameter file.
A mapping parameter is set at the mapping level for values that do not change fr om session to session for example tax rates.
Session parameter is set at the session level for values that can change from se sion to session, such
as database connections for DEV, QA and PRD environments.
The database connection session parameters can be created for all input fields t o connection objects. For example, username, password, etc. It is possible to have multiple parameters at a time? The order of execution is wf/s/m.
4. DEC 16
What is parameter file? & what is the difference between mapping level and session level variables?
Scenario:
What is parameter file? & what is the difference between mapping level and sessi on level variables?
Solution:
Parameter file it will supply the values to session level variables and mapping level variables. Variables are of two types: . Session level variables . Mapping level variables
Session level variables are of four types: . $DBConnection_Source . $DBConnection_Target . $InputFile . $OutputFile
Mapping level variables are of two types: . Variable . Parameter What is the difference between mapping level and session level variables? Mapping level variables always starts with $$. A session level variable always starts with $.
5. DEC 16
What is Worklet?
Scenario:
What is Worklet?
Solution:
Worklet is a set of reusable sessions. We cannot run the worklet without workflo w. If we want to run 2 workflow one after another. . 1. If both workflow exists in same folder we can create 2 worklet rather than creating 2 workfolws. . 2. Finally we can call these 2 worklets in one workflow. . 3. There we can set the dependency. ............. If both workflows exists in different folders or repository then w e cannot create worklet.
. 5. We can set the dependency between these two workflow using shell script is one approach. ..............The other approach is event wait and event rise.
6. DEC 16
Differences between dynamic lookup cache and static lookup cache?
Scenario:
Differences between dynamic lookup cache and static lookup cache?
Solution:
Dynamic Lookup Cache Static Lookup Cache In dynamic lookup the cache memory will get refreshed as soon as the record get inserted or updated/deleted in the lookup table. In static lookup the cache memory will not get refreshed even though record inserted or updated in the lookup table it will refresh only in the next session run. When we configure a lookup transformation to use a dynamic lookup cache, you can only use the equality operator in the lookup
condition. NewLookupRow port will enable automatically. It is a default cache. Best example where we need to use dynamic cache is if suppose first record and last record both are same but there is a change in the address. What informatica mapping has to do here is first record needs to get insert and last record should get update in the target table. If we use static lookup first record it will go to lookup and check in the lookup cache based on the condition it will not find the match so it will return null value then in the router it will send that record to insert flow. But still this record dose not available in the cache memory so when the last record comes to lookup it will check in the cache it will not find the match so it returns null value again it will go to insert flow through router but it is suppose to go to update flow because cache didn t get refreshed when the first record get inserted into target table.
7. DEC 16
What is the difference between joiner and lookup?
Scenario:
What is the difference between joiner and lookup?
Solution:
Joiner Lookup In joiner on multiple matches it will return all matching records. In lookup it will return either first record or last record or any value or error value. In joiner we cannot configure to use persistence cache, shared cache, uncached and dynamic cache Where as in lookup we can configure to use persistence cache, shared cache, uncached and dynamic cache. We cannot override the query in joiner We can override the query in lookup to fetch the data from multiple tables. We can perform outer join in joiner transformation. We cannot perform outer join in lookup transformation. We cannot use relational operators in joiner
transformation.(i.e. <,>,<= and so on) Where as in lookup we can use the relation operators. (i.e. <,>,<= and so on)
8. DEC 15
Syllabus for Informatica Professional Certification
Skill Set Inventory Informatica Professional Certification Examination S PowerCenter 8 Mapping Design Includes Informatica PowerCenter 8.1.1
The PowerCenter 8 Mapping Design examination is composed of the fourteen section s listed below. In order to ensure that you are prepared for the test, review the subtopics asso ciated with each section. The Informatica documentation is an excellent source of information on the material that will be covered in the
examination. If you are thoroughly knowledgeable in the areas mentioned in this Skill Set Inventory, you will do well on the examination. The examination is designed to test for expert level knowledge. Informatica strong ly urges you to attain a complete understanding of these topics before you attempt to take the examination. Hands-on experience with the software is the best way to gain t his understanding. 1. Designer configuration
A. Be familiar with the rules for using shared and non-shared folders. B. Understand the meaning of each of the Designer configuration options.
C. Know what Designer options can be configured separately for each client machi ne. D. Be familiar with the Designer toolbar functions, such as Find.
2. Transformation ports
A. B. C. D. rt
Know the rules for linking transformation ports together. Know the rules for using and converting the PowerCenter datatypes. Know what types of transformation ports are supported and the uses for each. Be familiar with the types of data operations that can be performed at the po level.
3. Source and target definitions
A. Understand how editing source and target definitions affects associated objec ts such as mappings and mapplets. B. Understand how the repository stores referential integrity. C. Know how to edit flat file definitions at any time. D. Know the types of source and target definitions PowerCenter supports.
E. Know how to determine if a session is considered to have heterogeneous target s. F. Understand the rules and guidelines of overriding target types.
4. Validation
A. Know all the possible reasons why an expression may be invalid. B. Understand how to use strings correctly in PowerCenter expressions. C. Know the rules regarding connecting transformations to other transformations. D. Know the rules for mapping and mapplet validation.
5. Transformation language
A. Be familiar with all transformation language functions and key words. B. Know how the Integration Service evaluates expressions. C. Be able to predict the output or result of a given expression. 6. Source Qualifier transformation
A. Understand how the Source Qualifier transformation handles datatypes. B. Know how the default query is generated and the rules for modifying it. C. Understand how to use the Source Qualifier transformation to perform various types of joins.
7. Aggregator transformation
A. Know how to use PowerCenter aggregate functions. B. Understand how to be able to use a variable port in an Aggregator transformat ion. C. Be able to predict the output of a given Aggregator transformation. D. Know the rules associated with defining and using aggregate caches.
8. Sorter and Sequence Generator transformations
A. Know the rules and guidelines for using the Sorter transformation.
B. Know how the Integration Service processes data at a Sorter transformation. C. Understand how the Sorter transformation uses hardware resources. D. Understand the meaning and use of the Distinct Output Rows Sorter transformat ion property. E. Understand the difference in the ports used in the Sequence Generator transfo rmation and how each can be used.
9. Lookup transformation
A. Know the rules and guidelines for using connected and unconnected Lookup tran sformations. B. Know the ways a Lookup transformation may cause a session to fail. C. Be familiar with the meaning of all Lookup transformation properties. D. Know how the Integration Service processes a dynamic lookup cache. E. Know what types of Lookup transformations are supported under various configu rations.
10. Joiner transformation
A. Know how to create and use Joiner transformations. B. Know how to configure a Joiner transformation for sorted input. C. Understand the supported join types and options available for controlling the join.
11. Update Strategy transformation
A. Know how to use an Update Strategy transformation in conjunction with the ses sion properties. B. Understand how an Update Strategy transformation affects downstream transform ations. C. Be familiar with the Update Strategy transformation properties and options. D. Know what can happen to a given row for each different type of row operation.
12. Filter and Router transformations
A. Understand how to create and use Router and Filter Transformations.
13. Mapplets and reusable logic
A. B. C. D.
Be familiar with the rules and guidelines regarding mapplets. Know how to use mapplet Output transformations and output groups. Know the rules regarding active and passive mapplets. Know the rules and guidelines for copying parts of a mapping.
14. Data preview
A. Know the connectivity requirements and options for previewing data using the PowerCenter Client. B. Know the rules and guidelines for previewing data using the PowerCenter Clien
t.
Skill Set Inventory Informatica Professional Certification Examination R PowerCenter 8 Architecture and Administration Includes Informatica PowerCenter 8.1.1
The PowerCenter 8 Architecture and Administration examination is composed of the twelve sections listed below. In order to ensure that you are prepared for the test, re view the subtopics associated with each section. The Informatica documentation is an excellent sour ce of information on the material that will be covered in the examination. If you are thoroughly knowledgeable in the areas mentioned in this Skill Set Inventory, you will do we ll on the examination. The examination is designed to test for expert level knowledge. Informatica strong ly urges you to attain a complete understanding of these topics before you attempt to take the examination. Hands-on experience with the software is the best way to gain t his understanding..
1. Platform components and Service Architecture
A. Know what operations can be performed with each client tool (Administration C onsole, Repository Manager, Designer, Workflow Manager, Workflow Monitor). B. Know the purpose and uses for each of the windows in the client tools (Output window, Details window, Navigator window, Task View, Gantt Chart View, etc). C. Be able to specify which components are necessary to perform various developm ent and maintenance operations. D. Know the purpose and uses for each of the tabs and folders in the PowerCenter Administration Console.
2. Nomenclature
A. Be able to define all object types and properties used by the client and serv ice tools. B. Be familiar with the properties of the Repository Service and the Integration Service. C. Know the meaning of the terms used to describe development and maintenance operations. D. Know how to work with repository variables. E. Understand the relationships between all PowerCenter object types. F. Know which tools are used to create and modify all objects.
3. Repository Service
A. Know how each client and service component communicates with relational datab ases. B. Be familiar with the connectivity options that are available for the differen t tools. C. Understand how the client and service tools access flat files, COBOL files, a nd XML
Files. D. Know the requirements for using various types of ODBC drivers with the client tools. E. Know the meaning of all database connection properties. F. Be familiar with the sequence of events involving starting the Repository Ser vice. G. Know which repository operations can be performed from the command line. H. Know how local and global repositories interact.
4. Installation
A. Understand the basic procedure for installing the client and service software . B. Know what non-Informatica hardware and software is required for installation. C. Be familiar with network related requirements and limitations. D. Know which components are needed to perform a repository upgrade. E. Be familiar with the data movement mode options.
5. Security
A. Be familiar with the security permissions for application users. B. Be familiar with the meaning of the various user types for an Informatica sys tem. C. Know the basic steps for creating and configuring application users.
D. Understand how user security affects folder operations. E. Know which passwords and other key information are needed to install and conn ect new client software to a service environment.
6. Object sharing
A. Understand the differences between copies and shortcuts. B. Know which object properties are inherited in shortcuts. C. Know the rules associated with transferring and sharing objects between folde rs. D. Know the rules associated with transferring and sharing objects between repos itories.
7. Repository organization and migration
A. B. . C. D. . E.
Understand the various options for organizing a repository. Be familiar with how a repository stores information about its own properties Be familiar with metadata extensions. Know the capabilities and limitations of folders and other repository objects Know what type of information is stored in the repository.
8. Database connections A. Understand the purpose and relationships between the different types of code pages. B. Know the differences between using native and ODBC database connections in th e Integration Service. C. Understand how and why the client tools use database connectivity. D. Know the differences between client and service connectivity.
9. Workflow Manager configuration
A. Know what privileges and permissions are needed to perform various operations with the Workflow Manager. B. Be able to identify which interface features in the Workflow Manager are user configurable. C. Be familiar with database, external loader, and FTP configuration using the W orkflow Manager.
10. Workflow properties
A. Be familiar with all user-configurable workflow properties. B. Know what permissions are required to make all possible changes to workflow properties. C. Know the reasons why a workflow may fail and how these reasons relate to the workflow properties. D. Know the rules for linking tasks within a workflow. E. Be familiar with the properties and rules of all types of workflow tasks. F. Know how to use a workflow to read a parameter file.
11. Running and monitoring workflows
A. Know what types of privileges and permissions are needed to run and schedule workflows. B. Understand how and why target rows may be rejected for loading. C. Be familiar with the rules associated with workflow links. D. Understand how tasks behave when run outside of a workflow. E. Know which mapping properties can be overridden at the session level. F. Know how to work with reusable workflow schedules.
12. Workflow and task errors
A. Know how to abort or stop a workflow or task. B. Understand how to work with workflow and session log files. C. Understand how to work with reject files. D. Know how to use the Workflow Monitor to quickly determine the status of any w orkflow or task
Skill Set Inventory Informatica Professional Certification Examination U PowerCenter 8 Advanced Mapping Design Includes Informatica PowerCenter 8.1.1
The PowerCenter 8 Advanced Mapping Design examination is composed of the section s listed below. All candidates should be aware that Informatica doesn t recommend preparing for certification exams only by studying the software documentation. The exams are i ntended for candidates who have acquired their knowledge through hands-on experience. This S kill Set Inventory is intended to help you ensure that there are no gaps in your knowledg e. If you are thoroughly knowledgeable in the areas mentioned in this Skill Set Inventory, the re will not be any surprises when you take the examination. The examination is designed to test for expert level knowledge. Informatica strong ly
urges you to attain a complete understanding of these topics before you attempt to take the examination. Hands-on experience with the software is the best way to gain t his understanding.
1. XML sources and targets
A.Be familiar with the procedures and methods involved in defining an XML source definition. B. Know how to define and use an XML target definition. C. Know the limitations associated with using XML targets. D. Understand how XML definitions are related to code pages. E. Know how to edit existing XML definitions. F. Understand how the Designer validates XML sources.
2. Datatype formats and conversions
A.Understand the date/time formats available in the transformation language. B. Be familiar with how transformation functions handle null values.
C.Know the valid input datatypes for the various conversion functions. D. Know how transformation functions behave when given incorrectly formatted arguments. E.Know how to extract a desired subset of data from a given input (the hour from a date/time value, for example).
3. The Debugger
A. Be familiar with the procedure to run a debug session. B. Know the rules for working with breakpoints. C. Know how to test expressions in a debug session. D.Be familiar with the options available while using the Debugger. E.Know how Debugger session properties and breakpoints can be saved.
4. Custom and Union transformations
A. Understand how the Custom transformation works. B.Understand the rules and guidelines of the Custom and Union transformations; modes, input and output groups, scope, etc. C. Know the purpose of the Union transformation.
5. User-defined functions
A. Know how to create user-defined functions. B. Know the scope of user-defined functions. C.Know how to use and manage user-defined functions. D. Understand the different properties for user-defined functions. E. Know how to create expressions with user-defined functions.
6. Normalizer transformation
A. Be familiar with the possible uses of the Normalizer transformation. B. Understand how to read a COBOL data source in a mapping. C. Be familiar with the rules regarding reusable Normalizer transformations. D.Know how the OCCURS and REDEFINES COBOL keywords affect the Normalizer transformation.
7.Lookup transformation caching and performance
A. Know the difference between static and dynamic lookup caches. B.Know the advantages and disadvantages of dynamic lookup caches. C. Be familiar with the rules regarding Lookup SQL overrides. D.Know how to improve Lookup transformation performance. E.Know how to use a dynamic Lookup transformation in a mapping.
8. Mapping parameters and variables
A.Understand the differences between mapping parameters and variables.
B. C. D. E.
Know how to create and use mapping parameters and variables. Understand what affects the value of a mapping variable. Know the parameter order of precedence. Understand how to use the property mapping variable aggregation type.
F.Be familiar with the rules affecting parameters used with mapplets and reusabl e transformations.
9. Transaction control
A.Understand how the Transaction Control transformation works and the purpose of each related variable. B.Know how to create and use a Transaction Control transformation in a mapping. C.Know the difference between effective and ineffective Transaction Control transformations and what makes it effective or ineffective. D.Know the rules and guidelines for using Transaction Control transformations in a mapping. E.Understand the meaning and purpose of a transaction control unit.
10. Advanced expressions
A. Be familiar with all special functions, such as ABORT and ERROR. B.Know the allowable input datatypes for the Informatica transformation language functions. C.Know how to use expressions to set variables. D. Know the details behind the meaning and use of expression time stamps. E. Understand how to use the system variables.
11. Mapping optimization
A.Know how to collect and view performance details for transformations in a
mapping. B.Know how to use local variables to improve transformation performance. C. Know when is the best time in the development cycle to optimize mappings. D.Be familiar with specific mapping optimization techniques described in the PowerCenter documentation.
12. Version control
A. Know the difference between a deleted object and a purged object. B. Understand parent/child relationships in a versioned repository. C.Understand how to view object history and how/when objects get versioned.
13. Incremental Aggregation
A.Understand how incremental aggregation works. B.Know how to use incremental aggregation C. Know how to work with the session Sort Order property. D.Know which files are created when a session using incremental aggregation runs.
14. Global SDK
15. Installation and Support
9. DEC 15
Informatica Performance Tuning
Scenario: Informatica Performance Tuning
Solution:
Identifying Target Bottlenecks -----------------------------The most common performance bottleneck occurs when the Informatica Server writes to a target database. You can identify target bottlenecks by configuring the session to writ e to a flat file target. If the session performance increases significantly when you write to a flat file, you h ave a target bottleneck. Consider performing the following tasks to increase performance: * Drop indexes and key constraints. * Increase checkpoint intervals. * Use bulk loading. * Use external loading. * Increase database network packet size. * Optimize target databases. Identifying Source Bottlenecks -----------------------------If the session reads from relational source, you can use a filter transformation , a read test mapping, or a
database query to identify source bottlenecks: * Filter Transformation - measure the time taken to process a given amount of da ta, then add an always false filter transformation in the mapping after each source qualifier so that n o data is processed past the filter transformation. You have a source bottleneck if the new session runs in a bout the same time. * Read Test Session - compare the time taken to process a given set of data usin g the session with that for a session based on a copy of the mapping with all transformations after the source qualifier removed with the source qualifiers connected to file targets. You have a source bottlene ck if the new session runs in about the same time. * Extract the query from the session log and run it in a query tool. Measure the time taken to return the first row and the time to return all rows. If there is a significant difference in time, you can use an optimizer hint to eliminate the source bottleneck Consider performing the following tasks to increase performance: * Optimize the query. * Use conditional filters.
* Increase database network packet size. * Connect to Oracle databases using IPC protocol. Identifying Mapping Bottlenecks ------------------------------If you determine that you do not have a source bottleneck, add an Always False f ilter transformation in the mapping before each target definition so that no data is loaded into the tar get tables. If the time it takes to run the new session is the same as the original session, you have a map ping bottleneck. You can also identify mapping bottlenecks by examining performance counters. Readfromdisk and Writetodisk Counters: If a session contains Aggregator, Rank, o r Joiner transformations, examine each Transformation_readfromdisk and Transformation_wri tetodisk counter. If these counters display any number other than zero, you can improve session perfo rmance by increasing the index and data cache sizes. Note that if the session uses Incremental Aggreg ation, the counters must be examined during the run, because the Informatica Server writes to disk when s aving historical data at the end of the run. Rowsinlookupcache Counter: A high value indicates a larger lookup, which is more likely to be a bottleneck Errorrows Counters: If a session has large numbers in any of the Transformation_ errorrows counters, you might improve performance by eliminating the errors. BufferInput_efficiency and BufferOutput_efficiency counters: Any dramatic differ ence in a given set of BufferInput_efficiency and BufferOutput_efficiency counters indicates inefficien cies that may benefit from tuning. To enable collection of performance data: 1. Set session property Collect Performance Data (on Performance tab) 2. Increase the size of the Load Manager Shared Memory by 200kb for each session in shared memory that you configure to create performance details. If you create performance deta ils for all sessions, multiply the MaxSessions parameter by 200kb to calculate the additional shared m emory requirements. To view performance details in the Workflow Monitor: 1. While the session is running, right-click the session in the Workflow Monitor and choose Properties. 2. Click the Performance tab in the Properties dialog box. To view the performance details file: 1. Locate the performance details file. The Informatica Server names the file se ssion_name.perf, and stores it in the same directory as the session log. 2. Open the file in any text editor. General Optimizations --------------------Single-pass reading - instead of reading the same data several times, combine ma ppings that use the same set of source data and use a single source qualifier Avoid unnecessary data conversions: For example, if your mapping moves data from an Integer column to a Decimal column, then back to an Integer column, the unnecessary data type c onversion slows
performance. Factor out common expressions/transformations and perform them before data pipel ines split Optimize Char-Char and Char-Varchar Comparisons by using the Treat CHAR as CHAR On Read option
in the Informatica Server setup so that the Informatica Server does not trim tra iling spaces from the end of Char source fields. Eliminate Transformation Errors (conversion errors, conflicting mapping logic, a nd any condition set up as an error, such as null input). In large numbers they restrict performance becaus e for each one, the Informatica Server pauses to determine its cause, remove the row from the data f low and write it to the session log or bad file. As a short term fix, reduce the tracing level on sessions that must generate lar ge numbers of errors. Optimize lookups ---------------Cache lookups if o the number of rows in the lookup table is significantly less than the typical number of source rows o un-cached lookups perform poorly (e.g. they are based on a complex view or an unindexed table) Optimize Cached lookups o Use a persistent cache if the lookup data is static o Share caches if several lookups are based on the same data set o Reduce the number of cached rows using a SQL override with a restriction o Index the columns in the lookup ORDER BY o Reduce the number of co
10. DEC 15
Informatica OPB table which have gives source table and the mappings and folders using an sql query
Scenario:
Solution:
- SQL query
select OPB_SUBJECT.SUBJ_NAME, OPB_MAPPING.MAPPING_NAME, OPB_SRC.source_name from opb_mapping, opb_subject, opb_src, opb_widget_inst where opb_subject.SUBJ_ID = opb_mapping.SUBJECT_ID and OPB_MAPPING.MAPPING_ID = OPB_WIDGET_INST.MAPPING_ID and OPB_WIDGET_Inst.WIDGET_ID = OPB_SRC.SRC_ID
and OPB_widget_inst.widget_type=1;
11. DEC 15
What is Pushdown Optimization and things to consider
Scenario: What is Pushdown Optimization and things to consider
Solution: The process of pushing transformation logic to the source or target database by Informatica Integration service is known as Pushdown Optimization. When a session is configured to run f or Pushdown Optimization, the Integration Service translates the transformation logic into SQL queries and sends the SQL queries to the database. The Source or Target Database executes the SQL queries to process the transformations. How does Pushdown Optimization (PO) Works? The Integration Service generates SQL statements when native database driver is used. In case of ODBC drivers, the Integration Service cannot detect the database type and generates A NSI SQL. The Integration Service can usually push more transformation logic to a database if a native dri ver is used, instead of an ODBC driver. For any SQL Override, Integration service creates a view (PM_*) in the database while executing the session task and drops the view after the task gets complete. Similarly it also create s equences (PM_*) in the database. Database schema (SQ Connection, LKP connection), should have the Create View / C reate Sequence Privilege,
else the session will fail. Few Benefits in using PO . There is no memory or disk space required to manage the cache in the Informati ca server for Aggregator, Lookup, Sorter and Joiner Transformation, as the transformation logic is pushed to database. . SQL Generated by Informatica Integration service can be viewed before running the session through Optimizer viewer, making easier to debug. . When inserting into Targets, Integration Service do row by row processing usin g bind variable (only soft parse only processing time, no parsing time). But In case of Pushdown Optimizati on, the statement will be executed once.
Without Using Pushdown optimization: INSERT INTO EMPLOYEES(ID_EMPLOYEE, EMPLOYEE_ID, FIRST_NAME, LAST_NAME, EMAIL, PHONE_NUMBER, HIRE_DATE, JOB_ID, SALARY, COMMISSION_PCT, MANAGER_ID,MANAGER_NAME, DEPARTMENT_ID) VALUES (:1, :2, :3, :4, :5, :6, :7, :8, :9, :10, :11, :12, :13) ecutes 7012352 times With Using Pushdown optimization INSERT INTO EMPLOYEES(ID_EMPLOYEE, EMPLOYEE_ID, FIRST_NAME, LAST_NAME, EMAIL, PHONE_NUMBER, HIRE_DATE, JOB_ID, SALARY, COMMISSION_PCT, MANAGER_ID, MANAGER_NAM E, DEPARTMENT_ID) SELECT CAST(PM_SJEAIJTJRNWT45X3OO5ZZLJYJRY.NEXTVAL AS NUMBER(15, 2)), ex
EMPLOYEES_SRC.EMPLOYEE_ID, EMPLOYEES_SRC.FIRST_NAME, EMPLOYEES_SRC.LAST_NAME, CAST((EMPLOYEES_SRC.EMAIL || @gmail.com ) AS VARCHAR2(25)), EMPLOYEES_SRC.PHONE_NUM BER, CAST(EMPLOYEES_SRC.HIRE_DATE AS date), EMPLOYEES_SRC.JOB_ID, EMPLOYEES_SRC.SALAR Y, EMPLOYEES_SRC.COMMISSION_PCT, EMPLOYEES_SRC.MANAGER_ID, NULL, EMPLOYEES_SRC.DEPARTMENT_ID FROM (EMPLOYEES_SRC LEFT OUTER JOIN EMPLOYEES PM_Alkp_emp_mgr_1 ON (PM_Alkp_emp_mgr_1.EMPLOYEE_ID = EMPLOYEES_SRC.MANAGER_ID)) WHERE ((EMPLOYEES_SRC.MANAGER_ID = (SELECT PM_Alkp_emp_mgr_1.EMPLOYEE_ID FROM EMPLOYEE S PM_Alkp_emp_mgr_1 WHERE (PM_Alkp_emp_mgr_1.EMPLOYEE_ID = EMPLOYEES_SRC.MANAGER_I D))) OR (0=0)) executes 1 time Things to note when using PO There are cases where the Integration Service and Pushdown Optimization can prod uce different result sets for the same transformation logic. This can happen during data type conversion, handling null values, case sensitivity, sequence generation, and sorting of data. The database and Integration Service produce different output when the following settings and conversions are different: . Nulls treated as the highest or lowest value: While sorting the data, the Inte gration Service can treat null values as lowest, but database treats null values as the highest valu e in the sort order. . SYSDATE built-in variable: Built-in Variable SYSDATE in the Integration Servic e returns the current date and time for the node running the service process. However, in the database , the SYSDATE returns the current date and time for the machine hosting the database. If the time zone of the machine hosting the database is not the same as the time zone of the machine running the Integration Service process, the results can vary. . Date Conversion: The Integration Service converts all dates before pushing tra nsformations to the database and if the format is not supported by the database, the session fails. . Logging: When the Integration Service pushes transformation logic to the datab ase, it cannot trace all the events that occur inside the database server. The statistics the Integration Ser vice can trace depend on the type of pushdown optimization. When the Integration Service runs a session confi gured for full pushdown optimization and an error occurs, the database handles the errors. When the data base handles errors, the Integration Service does not write reject rows to the reject file.
12. DEC 14
Informatica Interview Questionnaire
Informatica Interview Questionnaire
1. What are the components of Informatica? And what is the purpose of each?
Ans: Informatica Designer, Server Manager & Repository Manager. Designer for Cre ating Source & Target definitions, Creating Mapplets and Mappings etc. Server Manager for creating ses sions & batches, Scheduling the sessions & batches, Monitoring the triggered sessions and batches, giving post a nd pre session commands, creating database connections to various instances etc. Repository Manage for Creating an d Adding repositories, Creating &
editing folders within a repository, Establishing users, groups, privileges & fo lder permissions, Copy, delete, backup a repository, Viewing the history of sessions, Viewing the locks on various object s and removing those locks etc.
2. What is a repository? And how to add it in an informatica client?
Ans: It s a location where all the mappings and sessions related information is st ored. Basically it s a database where the metadata resides. We can add a repository through the Repository manager.
3. Name at least 5 different types of transformations used in mapping design and state the use of each.
Ans: Source Qualifier Source Qualifier represents all data queries from the sour ce, Expression Expression performs simple calculations, Filter Lookup Filter serves as a conditional filter, Lookup looks up values and passes to other objects,
Aggregator - Aggregator performs aggregate calculations.
4. How can a transformation be made reusable?
Ans: In the edit properties of any transformation there is a check box to make i t reusable, by checking that it becomes reusable. You can even create reusable transformations in Transformation develop er.
5. How are the sources and targets definitions imported in informatica designer? How to create Target definition for flat files?
Ans: When you are in source analyzer there is a option in main menu to Import th e source from Database, Flat File, Cobol File & XML file, by selecting any one of them you can import a source defi nition. When you are in Warehouse Designer there is an option in main menu to import the target from Database, XML from File and XML from sources you can select any one of these.
There is no way to import target definition as file in Informatica designer. So while creating the target definition for a file in the warehouse designer it is created considering it as a table, and then in the session properties of that mapping it is specified as file.
6. Explain what is sql override for a source table in a mapping. Ans: The Source Qualifier provides the SQL Query option to override the default query. You can enter any SQL statement supported by your source database. You might enter your own SELECT sta tement, or have the database perform aggregate calculations, or call a stored procedure or stored function to read the data and perform some tasks. 7. What is lookup override?
Ans: This feature is similar to entering a custom query in a Source Qualifier tr ansformation. When entering a Lookup SQL Override, you can enter the entire override, or generate and edit the defaul t SQL statement. The lookup query override can include WHERE clause.
8. What are mapplets? How is it different from a Reusable Transformation? Ans: A mapplet is a reusable object that represents a set of transformations. It allows you to reuse transformation logic and can contain as many transformations as you need. You create mapplets i n the Mapplet Designer. Its different than a reusable transformation as it may contain a set of transfor mations, while a reusable transformation is a single one. 9. How to use an oracle sequence generator in a mapping?
Ans: We have to write a stored procedure, which can take the sequence name as in put and dynamically generates a nextval from that sequence. Then in the mapping we can use that stored procedure through a procedure transformation.
10. What is a session and how to create it? Ans: A session is a set of instructions that tells the Informatica Server how an d when to move data from sources to targets. You create and maintain sessions in the Server Manager.
11. How to create the source and target database connections in server manager?
Ans: In the main menu of server manager there is menu Server Configuration , in tha t there is the menu Database connections . From here you can create the Source and Target database connections.
12. Where are the source flat files kept before running the session?
Ans: The source flat files can be kept in some folder on the Informatica server or any other machine, which is in its domain.
13. What are the oracle DML commands possible through an update strategy?
Ans: dd_insert, dd_update, dd_delete & dd_reject.
14. How to update or delete the rows in a target, which do not have key fields?
Ans: To Update a table that does not have any Keys we can do a SQL Override of t he Target Transformation by specifying the WHERE conditions explicitly. Delete cannot be done this way. In t his case you have to specifically mention the Key for Target table definition on the Target transformation in the Warehouse Designer and delete the row using the Update Strategy transformation.
15. What is option by which we can run all the sessions in a batch simultaneousl y? Ans: In the batch edit box there is an option called concurrent. By checking tha t all the sessions in that Batch will run concurrently.
16. Informatica settings are available in which file? Ans: Informatica settings are available in a file pmdesign.ini in Windows folder .
17. How can we join the records from two heterogeneous sources in a mapping? Ans: By using a joiner.
18. Difference between Connected & Unconnected look-up.
Ans: An unconnected Lookup transformation exists separate from the pipeline in t he mapping. You write an expression using the :LKP reference qualifier to call the lookup within another transformation. While the connected lookup forms a part of the whole flow of mapping.
19. Difference between Lookup Transformation & Unconnected Stored Procedure Tran sformation Which one is faster ?
20. Compare Router Vs Filter & Source Qualifier Vs Joiner.
Ans: A Router transformation has input ports and output ports. Input ports resid e in the input group, and output ports reside in the output groups. Here you can test data based on one or more group f ilter conditions. But in filter you can filter data based on one or more conditions before writing it to targets.
A source qualifier can join data coming from same source database. While a joine r is used to combine data from heterogeneous sources. It can even join data from two tables from same database.
A source qualifier can join more than two sources. But a joiner can join only tw o sources.
21. How to Join 2 tables connected to a Source Qualifier w/o having any relation ship defined ?
Ans: By writing an sql override.
22. In a mapping there are 2 targets to load header and detail, how to ensure th at header loads first then detail table.
Ans: Constraint Based Loading (if no relationship at oracle level) OR Target Loa d Plan (if only 1 source qualifier for both tables) OR select first the header target table and then the detail table w hile dragging them in mapping.
23. A mapping just take 10 seconds to run, it takes a source file and insert int o target, but before that there is a Stored Procedure transformation which takes around 5 minutes to run and gives ou tput Y or N . If Y then continue feed or else stop the feed. (Hint: since SP transformation takes more t ime compared to the mapping, it shouldn t run row wise).
Ans: There is an option to run the stored procedure before starting to load the rows.
Data warehousing concepts
1.What is difference between view and materialized view?
Views contains query whenever execute views it has read from base table Where as M views loading or replicated takes place only once, which gives you be tter query performance
Refresh m views 1.on commit and 2. on demand (Complete, never, fast, force)
2.What is bitmap index why it s used for DWH?
A bitmap for each key value replaces a list of rowids. Bitmap index more efficie nt for data warehousing because low cardinality, low updates, very efficient for where class 3.What is star schema? And what is snowflake schema?
The center of the star consists of a large fact table and the points of the star are the dimension tables.
Snowflake schemas normalized dimension tables to eliminate redundancy. That is, the Dimension data has been grouped into multiple tables instead of one large table.
Star schema contains demoralized dimension tables and fact table, each primary k ey values in dimension table associated with foreign key of fact tables. Here a fact table contains all business measures (normally numeric data) and for eign key values, and dimension tables has details about the subject area.
Snowflake schema basically a normalized dimension tables to reduce redundancy in the dimension tables
4.Why need staging area database for DWH?
Staging area needs to clean operational data before loading into data warehouse. Cleaning in the sense your merging data which comes from different source
5.What are the steps to create a database in manually?
create os service and create init file and start data base no mount stage then g ive create data base command.
6.Difference between OLTP and DWH?
OLTP system is basically application orientation (eg, purchase order it is funct ionality of an application) Where as in DWH concern is subject orient (subject in the sense custorer, produc t, item, time) OLTP Application Oriented Used to run business Detailed data Current up to date Isolated Data Repetitive access Clerical User Performance Sensitive Few Records accessed at a time (tens) Read/Update Access No data redundancy Database Size 100MB-100 GB DWH Subject Oriented Used to analyze business Summarized and refined Snapshot data Integrated Data Ad-hoc access Knowledge User Performance relaxed Large volumes accessed at a time(millions) Mostly Read (Batch Update) Redundancy present Database Size 100 GB - few terabytes
7.Why need data warehouse?
A single, complete and consistent store of data obtained from a variety of diffe rent sources made available to end users in a what they can understand and use in a business context.
A process of transforming data into information and making it available to users in a timely enough manner to make a difference Information
Technique for assembling and managing data from various sources for the purpose of answering business questions. Thus making decisions that were not previous possible
8.What is difference between data mart and data warehouse?
A data mart designed for a particular line of business, such as sales, marketing , or finance.
Where as data warehouse is enterprise-wide/organizational
The data flow of data warehouse depending on the approach
9.What is the significance of surrogate key?
Surrogate key used in slowly changing dimension table to track old and new value s and it s derived from primary key.
10.What is slowly changing dimension. What kind of scd used in your project?
Dimension attribute values may change constantly over the time. (Say for example customer dimension has customer_id,name, and address) customer address may change over time. How will you handle this situation? There are 3 types, one is we can overwrite the existing record, second one is cr eate additional new record at the time of change with the new attribute values. Third one is create new field to keep new values in the original dimension table .
11.What is difference between primary key and unique key constraints?
Primary key maintains uniqueness and not null values Where as unique constrains maintain unique values and null values
12.What are the types of index? And is the type of index used in your project?
Bitmap index, B-tree index, Function based index, reverse key and composite inde x. We used Bitmap index in our project for better performance.
13.How is your DWH data modeling(Details about star schema)?
14.A table have 3 partitions but I want to update in 3rd partitions how will you do?
Specify partition name in the update statement. Say for example Update employee partition(name) a, set a.empno=10 where ename= Ashok 15.When you give an update statement how memory flow will happen and how oracles allocate memory for that?
Oracle first checks in Shared sql area whether same Sql statement is available i f it is there it uses. Otherwise allocate memory in shared sql area and then create run time memory in Private sql area to create parse tree and execution plan. Once it completed stored in the shared sql area wherein previously allocat ed memory
16.Write a query to find out 5th max salary? In Oracle, DB2, SQL Server
Select (list the columns you want) from (select salary from employee order by sa lary) Where rownum<5
17.When you give an update statement how undo/rollback segment will work/what ar e the steps?
Oracle keep old values in undo segment and new values in redo entries. When you say rollback it replace old values from undo segment. When you say commit erase the undo segment values and keep ne w vales in permanent.
Informatica Administration
18.What is DTM? How will you configure it?
DTM transform data received from reader buffer and its moves transformation to t ransformation on row by row basis and it uses transformation caches when necessary.
19.You transfer 100000 rows to target but some rows get discard how will you tra ce them? And where its get loaded?
Rejected records are loaded into bad files. It has record indicator and column i ndicator.
Record indicator identified by (0-insert,1-update,2-delete,3-reject) and column indicator identified by (D-valid,Ooverflow,N-null,T-truncated).
Normally data may get rejected in different reason due to transformation logic
20.What are the different uses of a repository manager?
Repository manager used to create repository which contains metadata the informa tica uses to transform data from source to target. And also it use to create informatica user s and folders and cop y, backup and restore the repository
21.How do you take care of security using a repository manager?
Using repository privileges, folder permission and locking.
Repository privileges(Session operator, Use designer, Browse repository, Create session and batches, Administer repository, administer server, super user)
Folder permission(owner, groups, users)
Locking(Read, Write, Execute, Fetch, Save)
22.What is a folder?
Folder contains repository objects such as sources, targets, mappings, transform ation which are helps logically organize our data warehouse.
23.Can you create a folder within designer?
Not possible
24.What are shortcuts? Where it can be used? What are the advantages?
There are 2 shortcuts(Local and global) Local used in local repository and globa l used in global repository. The advantage is reuse an object without creating multiple objects. Say for example a source definition want to use in 10 mappings in 10 different folder without creating 10 multiple source you create 1 0 shotcuts.
25.How do you increase the performance of mappings?
Use single pass read(use one source qualifier instead of multiple SQ for same ta ble) Minimize data type conversion (Integer to Decimal again back to Integer) Optimize transformation(when you use Lookup, aggregator, filter, rank and joiner ) Use caches for lookup Aggregator use presorted port, increase cache size, minimize input/out port as m uch as possible Use Filter wherever possible to avoid unnecessary data flow
26.Explain Informatica Architecture?
Informatica consist of client and server. Client tools such as Repository manage r, Designer, Server manager. Repository data base contains metadata it read by informatica server used read d ata from source, transforming and loading into target.
27.How will you do sessions partitions?
It s not available in power part 4.7
Transformation
28.What are the constants used in update strategy?
DD_INSERT, DD_UPDATE, DD_DELETE, DD_REJECT
29.What is difference between connected and unconnected lookup transformation?
Connected lookup return multiple values to other transformation Where as unconnected lookup return one values If lookup condition matches Connected lookup return user defined default values Where as unconnected lookup return null values Connected supports dynamic caches where as unconnected supports static
30.What you will do in session level for update strategy transformation?
In session property sheet set Treat rows as
Data Driven
31.What are the port available for update strategy , sequence generator, Lookup, stored procedure transformation?
Transformations Port Update strategy Input, Output Sequence Generator Output only Lookup Input, Output, Lookup, Return Stored Procedure Input, Output
32.Why did you used connected stored procedure why don t use unconnected stored pr ocedure?
33.What is active and passive transformations?
Active transformation change the no. of records when passing to targe(example fi lter) where as passive transformation will not change the transformation(example expre ssion)
34.What are the tracing level?
Normal It contains only session initialization details and transformation detail s no. records rejected, applied Terse - Only initialization details will be there Verbose Initialization t the transformation. Verbose data Normal setting information plus detailed information abou
Verbose init. Settings and all information about the session
35.How will you make records in groups?
Using group by port in aggregator
36.Need to store value like 145 into target when you use aggregator, how will yo u do that?
Use Round() function
37.How will you move mappings from development to production database?
Copy all the mapping from development repository and paste production repository while paste it will promt whether you want replace/rename. If say replace informatica replace all the source table s with repository database.
38.What is difference between aggregator and expression?
Aggregator is active transformation and expression is passive transformation Aggregator transformation used to perform aggregate calculation on group of reco rds really Where as expression used perform calculation with single record
39.Can you use mapping without source qualifier?
Not possible, If source RDBMS/DBMS/Flat file use SQ or use normalizer if the sou rce cobol feed
40.When do you use a normalizer?
Normalized can be used in Relational to denormilize data.
41.What are stored procedure transformations. Purpose of sp transformation. How did you go about using your project?
Connected and unconnected stored procudure. Unconnected stored procedure used for data base level activities such as pre and post load
Connected stored procedure used in informatica level for example passing one par ameter as input and capturing return value from the stored procedure.
Normal - row wise check Pre-Load Source - (Capture source incremental data for incremental aggregation) Post-Load Source - (Delete Temporary tables) Pre-Load Target - (Check disk space available) Post-Load Target (Drop and recreate index)
42.What is lookup and difference between types of lookup. What exactly happens w hen a lookup is cached. How does a dynamic lookup cache work.
Lookup transformation used for check values in the source and target tables(prim ary key values). There are 2 type connected and unconnected transformation Connected lookup returns multiple values if condition true Where as unconnected return a single values through return port. Connected lookup return default user value if the condition does not mach Where as unconnected return null values Lookup cache does: Read the source/target table and stored in the lookup cache 43.What is a joiner transformation?
Used for heterogeneous sources(A relational source and a flat file) Type of joins: Assume 2 tables has values(Master - 1, 2, 3 and Detail - 1, 3, 4)
Normal(If the condition mach both master and detail tables then the records will be displaced. Result set 1, 3) Master Outer(It takes all the rows from detail table and maching rows from maste
r table. Result set 1, 3, 4)
Detail Outer(It takes all the values from master source and maching values from detail table. Result set 1, 2, 3) Full Outer(It takes all values from both tables)
44.What is aggregator transformation how will you use in your project?
Used perform aggregate calculation on group of records and we can use conditiona l clause to filter data
45.Can you use one mapping to populate two tables in different schemas?
Yes we can use
46.Explain lookup cache, various caches?
Lookup transformation used for check values in the source and target tables(prim ary key values).
Various Caches:
Persistent cache (we can save the lookup cache files and reuse them the next tim e process the lookup transformation)
Re-cache from database (If the persistent cache not synchronized with lookup tab le you can configure the lookup transformation to rebuild the lookup cache)
Static cache (When the lookup condition is true, Informatica server return a val ue from lookup cache and it s does not update the cache while it processes the lookup transformation)
Dynamic cache (Informatica server dynamically inserts new rows or update existin g rows in the cache and the target. Suppose if we want lookup a target table we can use dynamic cache)
Shared cache (we can share lookup transformation between multiple transformation s in a mapping. 2 lookup in a mapping can share single lookup cache)
47.Which path will the cache be created?
User specified directory. If we say c:\ all the cache files created in this dire ctory.
48.Where do you specify all the parameters for lookup caches?
Lookup property sheet/tab.
49.How do you remove the cache files after the transformation?
After session complete, DTM remove cache memory and deletes caches files. In case using persistent cache and Incremental aggregation then caches files wil l be saved.
50.What is the use of aggregator transformation?
To perform Aggregate calculation
Use conditional clause to filter data in the expression Sum(commission, Commissi on >2000)
Use non-aggregate function iif (max(quantity) > 0, Max(quantitiy), 0))
51.What are the contents of index and cache files?
Index caches files hold unique group values as determined by group by port in th e transformation.
Data caches files hold row data until it performs necessary calculation.
52.How do you call a store procedure within a transformation?
In the expression transformation create new out port in the expression write :sp .stored procedure name(arguments)
53.Is there any performance issue in connected & unconnected lookup? If yes, How ?
Yes
Unconnected lookup much more faster than connected lookup why because in unconne cted not connected to any other transformation we are calling it from other transformation so it minimize lookup cache value
Where as connected transformation connected to other transformation so it keeps values in the lookup cache.
54.What is dynamic lookup?
When we use target lookup table, Informatica server dynamically insert new value s or it updates if the values exist and passes to target table.
55.How Informatica read data if source have one relational and flat file?
Use joiner transformation after source qualifier before other transformation.
56.How you will load unique record into target flat file from source flat files has duplicate data?
There are 2 we can do this either we can use Rank transformation or oracle exter nal table In rank transformation using group by port (Group the records) and then set no.
of rank 1. Rank transformation return one value from the group. That the values will be a unique one.
57.Can you use flat file for repository?
No, We cant
58.Can you use flat file for lookup table?
No, We cant
59.Without Source Qualifier and joiner how will you join tables?
In session level we have option user defined join. Where we can write join condi tion.
60.Update strategy set DD_Update but in session level have insert. What will hap pens?
Insert take place. Because this option override the mapping level option
Sessions and batches
61.What are the commit intervals?
Source based commit (Based on the no. of active source records(Source qualifier) reads. Commit interval set 10000 rows and source qualifier reads 10000 but due to transformation logic 3000 rows get rejected when 7000 reach target commit will fire, so writer buffer does not rows held the buffer)
Target based writer t will
based commit (Based on the rows in the buffer and commit interval. Target commit set 10000 but buffer fills every 7500, next time buffer fills 15000 now commit statemen fire then 22500 like go on.)
62.When we use router transformation?
When we want perform multiple condition to filter out data then we go for router . (Say for example source records 50 filter condition mach 10 records remaining 40 records get filter out but still w e want perform few more filter condition to filter remaining 40 records.)
63.How did you schedule sessions in your project?
Run once (set 2 parameter date and time when session should start)
Run Every (Informatica server run session at regular interval as we configured, parameter Days, hour, minutes, end on, end after, forever)
Customized repeat (Repeat every 2 days, daily frequency hr, min, every week, eve ry month)
Run only on demand(Manually run) this not session scheduling.
64.How do you use the pre-sessions and post-sessions in sessions wizard, what fo r they used?
Post-session used for email option when the session success/failure send email. For that we should configure Step1. Should have a informatica startup account and create outlook profile for that user Step2. Configure Microsoft exchange server in mail box applet(control panel) Step3. Configure informatica server miscellaneous tab have one option called MS exchange profile where we have specify the outlook profile name.
Pre-session used for even scheduling (Say for example we don t know whether source file available or not in particular directory. For that we write one DOS command to move file directory t o destination and set event based scheduling option in session property sheet Indicator file wait for).
65.What are different types of batches. What are the advantages and dis-advantag es of a concurrent batch?
Sequential(Run the sessions one by one)
Concurrent (Run the sessions simultaneously)
Advantage of concurrent batch:
It s takes informatica server resource and reduce time it takes run session separa tely. Use this feature when we have multiple sources that process large amount of data in one session. Split sessions and put into one concurrent batches to complete quickly.
Disadvantage
Require more shared memory otherwise session may get failed
66.How do you handle a session if some of the records fail. How do you stop the session in case of errors. Can it be achieved in mapping level or session level?
It can be achieved in session level only. In session property sheet, log files t ab one option is the error handling Stop on ------ errors. Based on the error we set informatica server stop the session.
67.How you do improve the performance of session.
If we use Aggregator transformation use sorted port, Increase aggregate cache si ze, Use filter before aggregation so that it minimize unnecessary aggregation.
Lookup transformation use lookup caches
Increase DTM shared memory allocation
Eliminating transformation errors using lower tracing level(Say for example a ma pping has 50 transformation when transformation error occur informatica server has to write in session log file i t affect session performance)
68.Explain incremental aggregation. Will that increase the performance? How?
Incremental aggregation capture whatever changes made in source used for aggrega te calculation in a session, rather than processing the entire source and recalculating the same calculation each time session run. Therefore it improve session performance.
Only use incremental aggregation following situation:
Mapping have aggregate calculation Source table changes incrementally Filtering source incremental data by time stamp
Before Aggregation have to do following steps:
Use filter transformation to remove pre-existing records
Reinitialize aggregate cache when source table completely changes for example in cremental changes happing daily and complete changes happenings monthly once. So when the source table com pletely change we have reinitialize the aggregate cache and truncate target table use new source table. Choose Reinitialize cache in the
aggregation behavior in transformation tab
69.Concurrent batches have 3 sessions and set each session run if previous compl ete but 2nd fail then what will happen the batch?
Batch will fail
General Project
70. How many mapping, dimension tables, Fact tables and any complex mapping you did? And what is your database size, how frequently loading to DWH?
I did 22 Mapping, 4 dimension table and one fact table. One complex mapping I di d for slowly changing dimension table. Database size is 9GB. Loading data every day 71. What are the different transformations used in your project?
Aggregator, Expression, Filter, Sequence generator, Update Strategy, Lookup, Sto red Procedure, Joiner, Rank, Source Qualifier.
72. How did you populate the dimensions tables?
73. What are the sources you worked on? Oracle
74. How many mappings have you developed on your whole dwh project?
45 mappings
75. What is OS used your project?
Windows NT
76. Explain your project (Fact table, dimensions, and database size)
Fact table contains all business measures (numeric values) and foreign key value s, Dimension table contains details about subject area like customer, product
77.What is difference between Informatica power mart and power center?
Using power center we can create global repository Power mart used to create local repository Global repository configure multiple server to balance session load Local repository configure only single server
78.Have you done any complex mapping?
Developed one mapping to handle slowly changing dimension table.
79.Explain details about DTM?
Once we session start, load manager start DTM and it allocate session shared mem ory and contains reader and writer. Reader will read source data from source qualifier using SQL statement a nd move data to DTM then DTM transform data to transformation to transformation and row by row basis finally move data to writer then writer write data into target using SQL statement.
I-Flex Interview (14th May 2003)
80.What are the key you used other than primary key and foreign key?
Used surrogate key to maintain uniqueness to overcome duplicate value in the pri mary key.
81.Data flow of your Data warehouse(Architecture)
DWH is a basic architecture (OLTP to Data warehouse from DWH OLAP analytical and report building.
82.Difference between Power part and power center?
Using power center we can create global repository Power mart used to create local repository Global repository configure multiple server to balance session load Local repository configure only single server
83.What are the batches and it s details?
Sequential(Run the sessions one by one)
Concurrent (Run the sessions simultaneously)
Advantage of concurrent batch:
It s takes informatica server resource and reduce time it takes run session separa tely. Use this feature when we have multiple sources that process large amount of data in one session. Split sessions and put into one concurrent batches to complete quickly.
Disadvantage
Require more shared memory otherwise session may get failed
84.What is external table in oracle. How oracle read the flat file
Used for read flat file. Oracle internally write SQL loader script with control file.
85.What are the index you used? Bitmap join index?
Bitmap index used in data warehouse environment to increase query response time, since DWH has low cardinality, low updates, very efficient for where clause.
Bitmap join index used to join dimension and fact table instead reading 2 differ ent index.
86.What are the partitions in 8i/9i? Where you will use hash partition?
In oracle8i there are 3 partition (Range, Hash, Composite) In Oracle9i List partition is additional one
Range (Used for Dates values for example in DWH ( Date values are Quarter 1, Qua rter 2, Quarter 3, Quater4)
Hash (Used for unpredictable values say for example we cant able predict which v alue to allocate which partition then we go for hash partition. If we set partition 5 for a column oracle allocat e values into 5 partition accordingly).
List (Used for literal values say for example a country have 24 states create 24 partition for 24 states each)
Composite (Combination of range and hash)
91.What is main difference mapplets and mapping?
Reuse the transformation in several mappings, where as mapping not like that.
If any changes made in mapplets it automatically inherited in all other instance mapplets.
92. What is difference between the source qualifier filter and filter transforma tion? Source qualifier filter only used for relation source where as Filter used any k ind of source.
Source qualifier filter data while reading where as filter before loading into t arget.
93. What is the maximum no. of return value when we use unconnected transformation?
Only one.
94. What are the environments in which informatica server can run on?
Informatica client runs on Windows 95 / 98 / NT, Unix Solaris, Unix AIX(IBM)
Informatica Server runs on Windows NT / Unix
Minimum Hardware requirements
Informatica Client Hard disk 40MB, RAM 64MB
Informatica Server Hard Disk 60MB, RAM 64MB
95. Can unconnected lookup do everything a connected lookup transformation can d o?
No, We cant call connected lookup in other transformation. Rest of things it s pos sible
96. In 5.x can we copy part of mapping and paste it in other mapping?
I think its possible
97. What option do you select for a sessions in batch, so that the sessions run one after the other?
We have select an option called Run if previous completed
98. How do you really know that paging to disk is happening while you are using a lookup transformation? Assume you have access to server?
We have collect performance data first then see the counters parameter lookup_re adtodisk if it s greater than 0 then it s read from disk
Step1. Choose the option rty sheet.
Collect Performance data in the general tab session prope
Step2. Monitor server then click server-request . session performance details Step3. Locate the performance details file named called session_name.perf file i n the session log file directory Step4. Find out counter parameter lookup_readtodisk if it s greater than 0 then in formatica read lookup table values from the disk. Find out how many rows in the cache see Lookup_rowsincache
99. List three option available in informatica to tune aggregator transformation ?
Use Sorted Input to sort data before aggregation Use Filter transformation before aggregator
Increase Aggregator cache size
100.Assume there is text file as source having a binary field to, to source qual ifier What native data type informatica will convert this binary field to in source qualifier?
Binary data type for relational source for flat file ?
101.Variable v1 has values set as 5 in designer(default), 10 in parameter file, 15 in repository. While running session which value informatica will read?
Informatica read value 15 from repository
102. Joiner transformation is joining two tables s1 and s2. s1 has 10,000 rows a nd s2 has 1000 rows . Which table you will set master for better performance of joiner
transformation? Why?
Set table S2 as Master table because informatica server has to keep master table in the cache so if it is 1000 in cache will get performance instead of having 10000 rows in cache
103. Source table has 5 rows. Rank in rank transformation is set to 10. How many rows the rank transformation will output?
5 Rank
104. How to capture performance statistics of individual transformation in the m apping and explain some important statistics that can be captured?
Use tracing level Verbose data
105. Give a way in which you can implement a real time scenario where data in a table is changing and you need to look up data from it. How will you configure the lookup transformation f or this purpose?
In slowly changing dimension table use type 2 and model 1
106. What is DTM process? How many threads it creates to process data, explain e ach thread in brief?
DTM receive data from reader and move data to transformation to transformation o n row by row basis. It s create 2 thread one is reader and another one is writer
107. Suppose session is configured with commit interval of 10,000 rows and sourc e has 50,000 rows explain the commit points for source based commit & target based commit. Assume appropri ate value wherever required?
Target Based commit (First time Buffer size full 7500 next time 15000)
Commit Every 15000, 22500, 30000, 40000, 50000
Source Based commit(Does not affect rows held in buffer)
Commit Every 10000, 20000, 30000, 40000, 50000
108.What does first column of bad file (rejected rows) indicates?
First Column - Row indicator (0, 1, 2, 3)
Second Column
Column Indicator (D, O, N, T)
109. What is the formula for calculation rank data caches? And also Aggregator, data, index caches?
Index cache size = Total no. of rows * size of the column in the lookup conditio n (50 * 4)
Aggregator/Rank transformation Data Cache size = (Total no. of rows * size of th e column in the lookup condition) + (Total no. of rows * size of the connected output ports)
110. Can unconnected lookup return more than 1 value? No
INFORMATICA TRANSFORMATIONS
. Aggregator . Expression
. External Procedure . Advanced External Procedure . Filter . Joiner . Lookup . Normalizer . Rank . Router . Sequence Generator . Stored Procedure . Source Qualifier . Update Strategy . XML source qualifier
Expression Transformation
- You can use ET to calculate values in a single row before you write to the tar get - You can use ET, to perform any non-aggregate calculation - To perform calculations involving multiple rows, such as sums of averages, use the Aggregator. Unlike ET the Aggregator Transformation allow you to group and sort data
Calculation To use the Expression Transformation to calculate values for a single row, you m ust include the following ports. - Input port for each value used in the calculation - Output port for the expression NOTE You can enter multiple expressions in a single ET. As long as you enter only one expression for each port, you can create any number of output ports in the Expression Transformation. In this way, you can use one expression transformation rather than creating separate transformations for each calculatio n that requires the same set of data. Sequence Generator Transformation
- Create keys - Replace missing values - This contains two output ports that you can connect to one or more transformat ions. The server generates a value each time a row enters a connected transformation, even if that value is not use d. - There are two parameters NEXTVAL, CURRVAL - The SGT can be reusable - You can not edit any default ports (NEXTVAL, CURRVAL)
SGT Properties - Start value
- Increment By - End value - Current value - Cycle (If selected, server cycles through sequence range. Otherwise, Stops with configured end value) - Reset - No of cached values
NOTE - Reset is disabled for Reusable SGT - Unlike other transformations, you cannot override SGT properties at session le vel. This protects the integrity of sequence values generated. Aggregator Transformation
Difference between Aggregator and Expression Transformation
We can use Aggregator to perform calculations on groups. Where as the Expressio n transformation permits you to calculations on row-by-row basis only.
The server performs aggregate calculations as it reads and stores necessary data group and row data in an aggregator cache.
When Incremental aggregation occurs, the server passes new source data through t he mapping and uses historical cache data to perform new calculation incrementally.
Components - Aggregate Expression - Group by port - Aggregate cache
When a session is being run using aggregator transformation, the server creates Index and data caches in memory to process the transformation. If the server requires more space, it stores overflo w values in cache files.
NOTE
The performance of aggregator transformation can be improved by using Sorted Inpu t option . When this is selected, the server assumes all data is sorted by group.
Incremental Aggregation
- Using this, you apply captured changes in the source to aggregate calculation in a session. If the source changes only incrementally and you can capture changes, you can configure the session to process only those changes - This allows the sever to update the target incrementally, rather than forcing it to process the entire source and recalculate the same calculations each time you run the session.
Steps: - The first time you run a session with incremental aggregation enabled, the ser ver process the entire source. - At the end of the session, the server stores aggregate data from that session ran in two files, the index file and data file. The server creates the file in local directory. - The second time you run the session, use only changes in the source as source data for the session. The server then performs the following actions: (1) For each input record, the session checks the historical information in the index file for a corresponding group, then: If it finds a corresponding group The server performs the aggregate operation incrementally, using the aggregate d ata for that group, and saves the incremental changes. Else Server create a new group and saves the record data Posted 14th December 2011 by Prafull Dangore
13. DEC 13
Router T/R is active or passive, what is reason behind that?
Scenario:
Router T/R is active but some people are saying some times passive, what is reas on behind that?
Solution: First of all Every Active transformation is a Passive transformation, but every passive not Active. In Router Transformation there is a special feature with Default group. Because of Default Group it s passive. We can avoid this Default group by some transformation Settings, Now It s Active.
14. DEC 13
If the source has duplicate records as id and name columns, values: 1 a, 1 b, 1 c, 2 a, 2 b, the target should be loaded as 1 a+b+c or 1 a||b||c, what transformations should be used for this?
Scenario: If the source has duplicate records as id and name columns, values: 1 a, 1 b, 1 c, 2 a, 2 b, the target should be loaded as 1 a+b+c or 1 a||b||c, what transformations should be used fo r this?
Solution: Follow the below steps - smiler exp 1. user a sorter transformation and sort the data as per emp_id 2. Use Exp transformation:
Create blow ports V_emp_id = emp_id V_previous_emp_id = emp_id V_emp_name = emp_name V_emp_full_name = iif(V_emp_id = V_previous_emp_id , V_emp_name|| || V_emp_full_name, V_emp_name) O_emp_full_name = V_emp_full_name O_counter = iif(O_counter is null,1,O_counter+1) 3. output will look like
emp_id emp_name Counter 101 soha 1 101 soha ali 2 101 soha ali kahn 3 102 Siva 4 102 Siva shanker 5 102 Siva shanker Reddy 6
4. Send Emp_id and Counter to Agg, where take a max counter for each id so o/p w ill be
Emp_id Counter
101 3 102 6 5. Joint output of step three and 4, you will get desire output as Emp_id Emp_name 101 Soha ali Kahn 102 Siva shanker Reddy
2. DEC 13
I have a flat file, in which I have two fields emp_id, emp_name. The data is like this- emp_id emp_name 101 soha 101 ali 101 kahn 102 Siva 102 shanker 102 Reddy How to merge the names so that my output is like this Emp_id Emp_name 101 Soha ali Kahn 102 Siva shanker Reddy
Scenario: I have a flat file, in which I have two fields emp_id, emp_name. The data is lik e thisemp_id emp_name 101 soha 101 ali 101 kahn 102 Siva 102 shanker 102 Reddy How to merge the names so that my output is like this
Emp_id Emp_name 101 Soha ali Kahn 102 Siva shanker Reddy
Solution: Follow the below steps 1. user a sorter transformation and sort the data as per emp_id 2. Use Exp transformation:
Create blow ports V_emp_id = emp_id V_previous_emp_id = emp_id V_emp_name = emp_name V_emp_full_name = iif(V_emp_id = V_previous_emp_id , V_emp_name|| || V_emp_full_name, V_emp_name)
O_emp_full_name = V_emp_full_name O_counter = iif(O_counter is null,1,O_counter+1) 3. output will look like
emp_id emp_name Counter 101 soha 1 101 soha ali 2 101 soha ali kahn 3 102 Siva 4 102 Siva shanker 5 102 Siva shanker Reddy 6
4. Send Emp_id and Counter to Agg, where take a max counter for each id so o/p w ill be
Emp_id Counter 101 3 102 6 5. Joint output of step three and 4, you will get desire output as Emp_id Emp_name 103 Soha ali Kahn 104 Siva shanker Reddy
3. DEC 12
Difference between data mart and data warehouse
Scenario: Difference between data mart and data warehouse
Solution:
Data Mart Data Warehouse Data mart is usually sponsored at the department level and developed with a specific issue or subject in mind, a data mart is a data warehouse with a focused objective. Data warehouse is a Subject-Oriented, Integrated, Time-Variant, Nonvolatile collection of data in support of decision making . A data mart is used on a business division/ department level. A data warehouse is used on an enterprise level A Data Mart is a subset of data from a Data Warehouse. Data Marts are built for specific user groups. A Data Warehouse is simply an integrated consolidation of data from a variety of sources that is specially designed to support strategic and tactical decision making. By providing decision makers with only a subset The main objective of Data Warehouse is to
of data from the Data Warehouse, Privacy, Performance and Clarity Objectives can be attained. provide an integrated environment and coherent picture of the business at a point in time.
4. DEC 12
What is the difference between snow flake and star schema
Scenario: What is the difference between snow flake and star schema
Solution:
Star Schema Snow Flake Schema The star schema is the simplest data warehouse scheme. Snowflake schema is a more complex data warehouse model than a star schema.
In star schema each of the dimensions is represented in a single table .It should not have any hierarchies between dims. In snow flake schema at least one hierarchy should exists between dimension tables. It contains a fact table surrounded by dimension tables. If the dimensions are denormalized, we say it is a star schema design. It contains a fact table surrounded by dimension tables. If a dimension is normalized, we say it is a snow flaked design. In star schema only one join establishes the relationship between the fact table and any one of the dimension tables. In snow flake schema since there is relationship between the dimensions tables it has to do many joins to fetch the data. A star schema optimizes the performance by keeping queries simple and providing fast response time. All the information about the each level is stored in one row. Snowflake schemas normalize dimensions to eliminated redundancy. The result is more complex queries and reduced query performance. It is called a star schema because the diagram resembles a star. It is called a snowflake schema because the diagram resembles a snowflake.
5. DEC
12
Difference between OLTP and DWH/DS/OLAP
Scenario: Difference between OLTP and DWH/DS/OLAP
Solution:
OLTP DWH/DSS/OLAP OLTP maintains only current information. OLAP contains full history. It is a normalized structure. It is a de-normalized structure. Its volatile system. Its non-volatile system. It cannot be used for reporting purpose. It s a pure reporting system. Since it is normalized structure so here it requires multiple joins to fetch the data. Here it does not require much joins to fetch the data. It s not time variant. Its time variant. It s a pure relational model. It s a dimensional model.
6. DEC 12
Differences between rowid and rownum
Scenario: Differences between rowid and rownum
Solution:
Rowid Rownum Rowid is an oracle internal id that is allocated every time a new record is inserted in a table. This ID is unique and cannot be changed by the user. Rownum is a row number returned by a select statement. Rowid is permanent. Rownum is temporary. Rowid is a globally unique identifier for a row in a database. It is created at the time the row is inserted into the table, and destroyed when The rownum pseudocoloumn returns a number indicating the order in which oracle selects the row from a table or set of joined
it is removed from a table. rows.
7. DEC 12
Differences between stored procedure and functions
Scenario: Differences between stored procedure and functions
Solution:
Stored Procedure Functions Stored procedure may or may not return values. Function should return at least one output parameter. Can return more than one parameter using OUT argument. Stored procedure can be used to solve the business logic. Function can be used to calculations Stored procedure is a pre-compiled statement.
But function is not a pre-compiled statement. Stored procedure accepts more than one argument. Whereas function does not accept arguments. Stored procedures are mainly used to process the tasks. Functions are mainly used to compute values Cannot be invoked from SQL statements. E.g. SELECT Can be invoked form SQL statements e.g. SELECT Can affect the state of database using commit. Cannot affect the state of database. Stored as a pseudo-code in database i.e. compiled form. Parsed and compiled at runtime.
8. DEC 12
Differences between where clause and having clause
Scenario: Differences between where clause and having clause
Solution:
Where clause Having clause Both where and having clause can be used to filter the data. Where as in where clause it is not mandatory. But having clause we need to use it with the group by. Where clause applies to the individual rows. Where as having clause is used to test some condition on the group rather than on individual rows. Where clause is used to restrict rows. But having clause is used to restrict groups. Restrict normal query by where Restrict group by function by having In where clause every record is filtered based on where. In having clause it is with aggregate records (group by functions).
9. DEC 12
What is the difference between view and materialized view?
Scenario:
What is the difference between view and materialized view?
Solution:
View Materialized view A view has a logical existence. It does not contain data. A materialized view has a physical existence. Its not a database object. It is a database object. We cannot perform DML operation on view. We can perform DML operation on materialized view. When we do select * from view it will fetch the data from base table. When we do select * from materialized view it will fetch the data from materialized view. In view we cannot schedule to refresh. In materialized view we can schedule to refresh.
We can keep aggregated data into materialized view. Materialized view can be created based
on multiple tables.
Materialized View Materialized view is very essential for reporting. If we don t have the materializ ed view it will directly fetch the data from dimension and facts. This process is very slow sinc e it involves multiple joins. So the same report logic if we put in the materialized view. We can fetch the data directly from materialized view for reporting purpose. So that we can avoid multiple join s at report run time. It is always necessary to refresh the materialized view. Then it can simply perf orm select statement on materialized view.
10. DEC 12
SQL command to kill a session/sid
Scenario: SQL command to kill a session/sid
Solution:
ALTER SYSTEM KILL SESSION 'sid,serial#';
Query to find SID :
select module, a.sid,machine, b.SQL_TEXT,piece from v$session a,v$sqltext b where status='ACTIVE' and a.SQL_ADDRESS=b.ADDRESS --and a.USERNAME='NAME' and sid=95 order by sid,piece;
Query to find serial#
select * from v$session where type = 'USER' and status = 'ACTIVE';--t0 get seria l no
11.
DEC 12
SQL command to find execution timing of a query Like total execution time and so far time spent
Scenario: SQL command to find execution timing of a query Like total execution time and so far time spent
Solution:
select target, sofar, totalwork, round((sofar/totalwork)*100,2) pct_done from v$session_longops where SID=95 and serial#=2020;
Query to find SID :
Query to find serial#
select * from v$session where type = 'USER' and status = 'ACTIVE';--t0 get seria l no
12. DEC 12
Query to find the SQL text of running procedure
Scenario: How to find which query part/query of Procedure is running?
Solution:
13. DEC 7
Design a mapping to load the first record from a flat file into one table A, the last record from a flat file into table B and the remaining records into table C?
Scenario: Design a mapping to load the first record from a flat file into one table A, the last record from a flat file into table B and the remaining records into table C?
Solution:
Please follow the below steps 1. From source qualifier pass data to the exp1 transformation, Add an variable p ort as 2. V_row_number. We can assign value to variable V_row_number by two ways 1. By using sequence generator 2. By using below logic in the expression transformation
V_ row_number =V_ row_number +1 O_ row_number =V_ row_number
Input, O_ row_number a, 1, b, 2, c, 3, d, 4, e, 5,
3. Table A - In one pipeline, send data from exp transformation to filter where you filter out first row as O_ row_number = 1 to table A. 4. Table B - Now again there are two ways to identify last records,
1. ny by 2.
Pass all rows from exp1 transformation to agg transformation and don t select a column in group port,it will sent last record to table B. By using max in agg
5. Table c - Now send out of step 4 to an exp2 transformation, where you will ge t O_ row_number=5 then add a dummy port into a same exp with value 1 now join this exp2 with the v ery first exp1 so that you will get output like below
Input, O_ row_number, O_ last_row_number a, 1, 5 b, 2, 5 c, 3, 5 d, 4, 5 e, 5, 5
Now pass the data to filter and add condition add O_ row_number <> 1 and O_ row_ number <> O_ last_row_number
14. DEC 7
Separating duplicate and non-duplicate rows to separate tables
Scenario: Separating duplicate and non-duplicate rows to separate tables Solution:
Please follow the below steps 1. After source qualifier, send data to aggregator transformation and use count agg function 2. after aggregator transformation, pass data to the Router in which create two route as duplicate where count>1and non-duplicate where count=1 3. Then send data to the respective target tables
15. DEC 7
Converion columns to rows without using Normaliser transformation
Scenario:
We have a source table containing 3 columns : Col1, Col2 and Col3. There is only 1 row in the table as follows: Col1 Col2 Col3 a b c
There is target table contain only 1 column Col. Design a mapping so that the ta rget table contains 3 rows as follows: Col a b c
Without using Normaliser transformation.
Solution:
Please follow the below steps 1. After source qualifier, send data to three different Exp transformation like pass Col1 to Exp1,Col2 to Exp2 and Col3 to Exp3 2. Then pass data from Exp1,Exp2 & Exp3 to 3 instances of same target table.
16. DEC 7
What are the limitations of Informatica scheduler? Scenario: What are the limitations of Informatica scheduler?
Solution:
1. It will unscheduled the wf if there is a failure in previous run (the IS remo ves the workflow from the schedule.) 2. If you want to run the workflow based on the success or failure of other appl ication job like mainframe job you need help of third party tool (like control m, maestro,autosys , tivoli)
Note: You can depend on operating system native schedulers like [Windows Schedul er - Windows or crontab - Unix] else any third party scheduling tool to run which gives more flexibility in setting time and more control over running the job.
17. DEC 6
Combining Sessions which Read Data from Different Schemas
Scenario:
I have to combine 32 sessions which read data from different (32) schemas and lo ad target to same table. Can you please tell me how to read parameter file which contain schema connectio ns?
Solution:
If you want to parameterize connection, setup the session to use connection vari ables instead of specific connections e.g. $DBConnection<Name>. Then specify the value for the co nnection variable in the parameter file. Posted 6th December 2011 by Prafull Dangore
18. DEC 6
Command to Run Workflow with Conditions Scenario:
I have to see whether a file has been dropped in a particular location. If the f
ile dropped , then the workflow should run Solution: To run from window server: IF exist E:\softs\Informatica\server\infa_shared\SrcFiles\FILE_NAME*.csv pmcmd startworkflow -sv service -d Dom -u userid -p password wf_workflow_name Posted 6th December 2011 by Prafull Dangore
19. DEC 6
Informatica Logic Building - select all the distinct regions and apply it to 'ALL'
Scenario: I have a task for which I am not able to find a logic. It is exception handling. I have a column 'region' in table 'user'. 1 user can belong to more than 1 regio n. Total I have 10 regions. Exception is 1 user has 'ALL' in the region column. I have to select al l the distinct regions and apply it to 'ALL'. the output should have 10 records of the user correspondi ng to each region. How can I equal 'ALL' to 10 regions and get 10 records into the target? Scenario: Please follow the below steps 1. Use two flow in your mapping in first flow pass all data with Region != 'ALL' 2. In second flow pass the data with Region=ALL to exp where create 10 output po rt with value of 10 region 3. then pass all columns to normalizer and in Normalizer create o/p port in whic h for Region port set occurrence to 10. 3. Pass data to target table. Posted 6th December 2011 by Prafull Dangore
20. DEC 2
Concatenate the Data of Just the First Column of a Table in One Single Row Scenario: Concatenate the Data of Just the First Column of a Table in One Single Row
Solution:
Step 1: pass Emp_Number to expression transformation. Step 2: in expression transformation use variable port var1 : var2 var2 : Emp_Number var3 : IIF(ISNULL(var1),Emp_Number,var3||' '||Emp_Number) Step 3: In outport port out_Emp_Number : var3 Step 4: Pass this port through aggregator transformation. Don't do any group by or aggregation.
21. NOV 29
How to pass parameters to Procedures and Functions in PL/SQL ? Parameters in Procedure and Functions:
In PL/SQL, we can pass parameters to procedures and functions in three ways. 1) IN type parameter: These types of parameters are used to send values to store d procedures. 2) OUT type parameter: These types of parameters are used to get values from sto red procedures. This is similar to a return type in functions. 3) IN OUT parameter: These types of parameters are used to send values and get v alues from stored procedures. NOTE: If a parameter is not explicitly defined a parameter type, then by default it is an IN type parameter. 1) IN parameter: This is similar to passing parameters in programming languages. We can pass values to the stored procedure through these parameters or variables. This type of parameter is a read only parameter. We can assign the value of IN type parameter to a variable or use it in a query, but we cannot change its value inside the procedure. The General syntax to pass a IN parameter is CREATE [OR REPLACE] PROCEDURE procedure_name ( param_name1 IN datatype, param_name12 IN datatype ... ) . param_name1, param_name2... are unique parameter names. . datatype - defines the datatype of the variable. . IN - is optional, by default it is a IN type parameter.
2) OUT Parameter: The OUT parameters are used to send the OUTPUT from a procedur e or a function. This is a write-only parameter i.e, we cannot pass values to OUT param ters while executing the stored procedure, but we can assign values to OUT parameter inside
the stored procedure and the calling program can recieve this output value. The General syntax to create an OUT parameter is CREATE [OR REPLACE] PROCEDURE proc2 (param_name OUT datatype) The parameter should be explicity declared as OUT parameter. 3) IN OUT Parameter: The IN OUT parameter allows us to pass values into a procedure and get output va lues from the procedure. This parameter is used if the value of the IN parameter can be change d in the calling program. By using IN OUT parameter we can pass values into a parameter and return a value to the calling program using the same parameter. But this is possible only if the value passed to the procedure and output value have a same datatype. This parameter is used if the value of th e parameter will be
changed in the procedure. The General syntax to create an IN OUT parameter is CREATE [OR REPLACE] PROCEDURE proc3 (param_name IN OUT datatype) The below examples show how to create stored procedures using the above three ty pes of parameters. Example1: Using IN and OUT parameter: Let s create a procedure which gets the name of the employee when the employee id is passed. 1> CREATE OR REPLACE PROCEDURE emp_name (id IN NUMBER, emp_name OUT NUMBER) 2> IS 3> BEGIN 4> SELECT first_name INTO emp_name 5> FROM emp_tbl WHERE empID = id; 6> END; 7> / We can call the procedure emp_name 1> DECLARE 2> empName varchar(20); 3> CURSOR id_cur SELECT id FROM emp_ids; 4> BEGIN 5> FOR emp_rec in id_cur 6> LOOP 7> emp_name(emp_rec.id, empName); 8> dbms_output.putline('The employee ' || empName || ' has id ' || emprec.id); 9> END LOOP; 10> END; 11> / In the above PL/SQL Block In line no 3; we are creating a cursor id_cur which contains the employee id. In line no 7; we are calling the procedure emp_name , we are passing the id as IN par ameter and empName as OUT parameter. In line no 8; we are displaying the id and the employee name which we got from t in this way from a PL/SQL Block.
he procedure emp_name . Example 2: Using IN OUT parameter in procedures: 1> CREATE OR REPLACE PROCEDURE emp_salary_increase 2> (emp_id IN emptbl.empID%type, salary_inc IN OUT emptbl.salary%type) 3> IS 4> tmp_sal number; 5> BEGIN 6> SELECT salary 7> INTO tmp_sal 8> FROM emp_tbl 9> WHERE empID = emp_id; 10> IF tmp_sal between 10000 and 20000 THEN 11> salary_inout := tmp_sal * 1.2; 12> ELSIF tmp_sal between 20000 and 30000 THEN 13> salary_inout := tmp_sal * 1.3; 14> ELSIF tmp_sal > 30000 THEN 15> salary_inout := tmp_sal * 1.4; 16> END IF; 17> END; 18> / The below PL/SQL block shows how to execute the above 'emp_salary_increase' proc edure.
1> DECLARE 2> CURSOR updated_sal is 3> SELECT empID,salary 4> FROM emp_tbl; 5> pre_sal number; 6> BEGIN 7> FOR emp_rec IN updated_sal LOOP 8> pre_sal := emp_rec.salary; 9> emp_salary_increase(emp_rec.empID, emp_rec.salary); 10> dbms_output.put_line('The salary of ' || emp_rec.empID || 11> ' increased from '|| pre_sal || ' to '||emp_rec.salary); 12> END LOOP; 13> END; 14> /
Posted 29th November 2011 by Prafull Dangore
22. NOV 29
Explicit Cursors Explicit Cursors An explicit cursor is defined in the declaration section of the PL/SQL Block. It is created on a SELECT Statement which returns more than one row. We can provide a suitable name for the cursor. The General Syntax for creating a cursor is as given below: CURSOR cursor_name IS select_statement; . cursor_name A suitable name for the cursor. . select_statement A select query which returns multiple rows.
How to use Explicit Cursor? There are four steps in using an Explicit Cursor. . DECLARE the cursor in the declaration section. . OPEN the cursor in the Execution Section. . FETCH the data from cursor into PL/SQL variables or records in the Execution S ection. . CLOSE the cursor in the Execution Section before you end the PL/SQL Block.
1) Declaring a Cursor in the Declaration Section: DECLARE CURSOR emp_cur IS SELECT *
FROM emp_tbl WHERE salary > 5000; In the above example we are creating a cursor emp_cur on a query which returns th e records of all the employees with salary greater than 5000. Here emp_tbl in the table which contains records of all the employees. 2) Accessing the records in the cursor: Once the cursor is created in the declaration section we can access the cursor i n the execution section of the PL/SQL program. How to access an Explicit Cursor? These are the three steps in accessing the cursor. 1) Open the cursor. 2) Fetch the records in the cursor one at a time. 3) Close the cursor. General Syntax to open a cursor is: OPEN cursor_name; General Syntax to fetch records from a cursor is: FETCH cursor_name INTO record_name; OR FETCH cursor_name INTO variable_list; General Syntax to close a cursor is: CLOSE cursor_name; When a cursor is opened, the first row becomes the current row. When the data is fetched it is copied to the record or variables and the logical pointer moves to the next row and it becomes the current row. On every fetch statement, the pointer moves to the next row. If you want to fetch after the last row, the program will throw an error. When there is more than one row i n a cursor we can use loops along with explicit cursor attributes to fetch all the records. Points to remember while fetching a row: We can fetch the rows in a cursor to a PL/SQL Record or a list of variables crea ted in the PL/SQL Block. If you are fetching a cursor to a PL/SQL Record, the record should have the same structure as the cursor. If you are fetching a cursor to a list of variables, the variables should be lis ted in the same order in the fetch statement as the columns are present in the cursor. General Form of using an explicit cursor is: DECLARE
variables; records; create a cursor; BEGIN OPEN cursor; FETCH cursor; process the records; CLOSE cursor; END; Lets Look at the example below Example 1: 1> DECLARE
2> emp_rec emp_tbl%rowtype; 3> CURSOR emp_cur IS 4> SELECT * 5> FROM 6> WHERE salary > 10; 7> BEGIN 8> OPEN emp_cur; 9> FETCH emp_cur INTO emp_rec; 10> dbms_output.put_line (emp_rec.first_name || ' ' || emp_rec.last_name); 11> CLOSE emp_cur; 12> END; In the above example, first we are creating a record emp_rec of the same structure as of table emp_tbl in line no 2. We can also create a record with a cursor by replacing the t able name with the cursor name. Second, we are declaring a cursor emp_cur from a select query in line no 3 - 6. Third, we are opening the cursor in the execution section in line no 8. Fourth, we are fetching the cursor to the record in line no 9. Fifth, we are displaying the first_name and last_name o f the employee in the record emp_rec in line no 10. Sixth, we are closing the cursor in line no 11. What are Explicit Cursor Attributes? Oracle provides some attributes known as Explicit Cursor Attributes to control t he data processing while using cursors. We use these attributes to avoid errors while accessing cur sors through OPEN, FETCH and CLOSE Statements. When does an error occur while accessing an explicit cursor? a) When we try to open a cursor which is not closed in the previous operation. b) When we try to fetch a cursor after the last operation. These are the attributes available to check the status of an explicit cursor. Attributes Return values Example %FOUND TRUE, if fetch statement returns at least one row.
Cursor_name%FOUND FALSE, if fetch statement doesn t return a row. %NOTFOUND TRUE, , if fetch statement doesn t return a row. Cursor_name%NOTFOUND FALSE, if fetch statement returns at least one row. %ROWCOUNT The number of rows fetched by the fetch statement Cursor_name%ROWCOUNT If no row is returned, the PL/SQL statement returns an error. %ISOPEN TRUE, if the cursor is already open in the program Cursor_name%ISNAME FALSE, if the cursor is not opened in the program.
Using Loops with Explicit Cursors:
Oracle provides three types of cursors namely SIMPLE LOOP, WHILE LOOP and FOR LO OP. These loops can be used to process multiple rows in the cursor. Here I will modi fy the same example for each loops to explain how to use loops with cursors. Cursor with a Simple Loop: 1> DECLARE 2> CURSOR emp_cur IS 3> SELECT first_name, last_name, salary FROM emp_tbl; 4> emp_rec emp_cur%rowtype; 5> BEGIN 6> IF NOT sales_cur%ISOPEN THEN 7> OPEN sales_cur; 8> END IF; 9> LOOP 10> FETCH emp_cur INTO emp_rec; 11> EXIT WHEN emp_cur%NOTFOUND; 12> dbms_output.put_line(emp_cur.first_name || ' ' ||emp_cur.last_name 13> || ' ' ||emp_cur.salary); 14> END LOOP; 15> END; 16> / In the above example we are using two cursor attributes %ISOPEN and %NOTFOUND. In line no 6, we are using the cursor attribute %ISOPEN to check if the cursor i s open, if the condition is true the program does not open the cursor again, it directly moves to line no 9. In line no 11, we are using the cursor attribute %NOTFOUND to check whether the fetch returned any row. If there is no rows found the program would exit, a condition which exi sts when you fetch the cursor after the last row, if there is a row found the program continues. We can use %FOUND in place of %NOTFOUND and vice versa. If we do so, we need to reverse the logic of the program. So use these attributes in appropriate instances. Cursor with a While Loop: Lets modify the above program to use while loop. 1> DECLARE
2> CURSOR emp_cur IS 3> SELECT first_name, last_name, salary FROM emp_tbl; 4> emp_rec emp_cur%rowtype; 5> BEGIN 6> IF NOT sales_cur%ISOPEN THEN 7> OPEN sales_cur; 8> END IF; 9> FETCH sales_cur INTO sales_rec; 10> WHILE sales_cur%FOUND THEN 11> LOOP 12> dbms_output.put_line(emp_cur.first_name || ' ' ||emp_cur.last_name 13> || ' ' ||emp_cur.salary); 15> FETCH sales_cur INTO sales_rec; 16> END LOOP; 17> END; 18> / In the above example, in line no 10 we are using %FOUND to evaluate if the first fetch statement in line no 9 returned a row, if true the program moves into the while loop. In the loop we use fetch statement again (line no 15) to process the next row. If the fetch statement is not executed once before the while loop the while condition will return false in the first instanc e and the while loop is
skipped. In the loop, before fetching the record again, always process the recor d retrieved by the first fetch statement, else you will skip the first row. Cursor with a FOR Loop: When using FOR LOOP you need not declare a record or variables to store the curs or values, need not open, fetch and close the cursor. These functions are accomplished by the FO R LOOP automatically. General Syntax for using FOR LOOP: FOR record_name IN cusror_name LOOP process the row... END LOOP; Let s use the above example to learn how to use for loops in cursors. 1> DECLARE 2> CURSOR emp_cur IS 3> SELECT first_name, last_name, salary FROM emp_tbl; 4> emp_rec emp_cur%rowtype; 5> BEGIN 6> FOR emp_rec in sales_cur 7> LOOP 8> dbms_output.put_line(emp_cur.first_name || ' ' ||emp_cur.last_name 9> || ' ' ||emp_cur.salary); 10> END LOOP; 11>END; 12> / In the above example, when the FOR loop is processed a record emp_rec of structure e mp_cur gets created, the cursor is opened, the rows are fetched to the record emp_rec and the cursor is closed after the last row is processed. By using FOR Loop in your program, you c an reduce the number of lines in the program. NOTE: In the examples given above, we are using backward slash / at the end of the program. This indicates the oracle engine that the PL/SQL program has ended and it can begin p rocessing the statements.
Posted 29th November 2011 by Prafull Dangore
23. NOV 24
how to check table size in oracle 9i ? Scenario : how to check table size in oracle 9i ? Solution : select segment_name table_name, sum(bytes)/(1024*1024) table_size_meg from user_extents
where segment_type='TABLE' and segment_name = 'TABLE_NAME' GROUP BY segment_name Posted 24th November 2011 by Prafull Dangore
24. NOV 1
how to do the incremental loading using mapping variable Scenario:
how to do the incremental loading using mapping variable
Solution: Step 1: create a mapping variable, $$MappingDateVariable. In the source qualifie r, create a filter to read only rows whose transaction date equals $$MappingDateVariable, such as: tra nsaction_date = $$MappingDateVariable
(I am assuming you have a column in your source table called, transaction date o r any date column to help do incremental load).
Step 2: Create a mapping variable, $$MappingDateVariable and hard code the value from which date you need to extract.
Step 3: In the mapping, use the variable function to set the variable value to i ncrement one day each time the session runs.
lets say you set the initial value of $$MappingDateVariable as 11/16/2010. The f
irst time the integration service runs the session, it reads only rows dated 11/16/2010. And w ould set $$MappingDateVariable to 11/17/2010. It saves 11/17/2010 to the repository at th e end of the session. The next time it runs the session, it reads only rows from 11/17/2010.
Posted 1st November 2011 by Prafull Dangore
25. NOV 1
Data type conversion issue Scenario: We are creating hundreds of passthrough mappings that need to store numeric sour ce data columns
as varchar2 string columns in the target Oracle staging tables. (This is to bypa ss a current iDQ bug where large numbers are presented in profiling results in scientific notation KB 117753).
Unfortunaly Powercentre pads all available significant places with zeros.
E.g. a source column (15,2) passing value 12.3 into a target column of varchar2( 20) will populate with "12.3000000000000".
Can this be avoided without manipulating each mapping with an additional express ion with a string function and new output port for each column? Solution:
Enabling high pression ensures the source data type (both scale and prescision i ntact).
So if you want to avoid trailing 0's, u can use TRIM function in the SQ override query. Posted 1st November 2011 by Prafull Dangore
26. NOV 1
i get out put file frist field like #id,e_ID,pt_Status, but i dont want # Scenario:
my source .csv stg oracle tgt .csv i get out put first field #along with columan name. and i want to delete dummy files my server is windows
Solution:
It is not a problem.You need to provide the targetfile path and the name in the input filename and output filename you can provide the file location and the name you want to have in the target file (final file).
Ex:
Oracle_emp(source)--> SQ-->Logic-->TGT(emp.txt)(Flatfile)
In post session sucess command
sed 's/^#//g' d:\Informaticaroot\TGTfiles\ emp.txt > d:\Informaticaroot\TGTfiles \
Posted 1st November 2011 by Prafull Dangore
27. OCT 21
Need to get the lastest ID Scenario: We have data from source is coming as below Source is Oracle database:
OLD_ID NEW_ID ---------- ---------101 102 102 103 103 104 105 106 106 108 Need the output as below. OLD_ID NEW_ID ---------- -----------101 104 102 104 103 104 105 108 106 108
Can anyone help me todo this in informatica. Solution: Mapping def Exp2 Sq --> Exp1 --> ---->Jnr ----> TGT Agg Explnation: In exp1 ,add tow variable shown below OLD_ID NEW_ID Diff_of_rows New_id ---------- ---------- ----------------- ---------101 102 1 (1) 1 102 103 1 (102-101) 1 103 104 1 (103-102) 1 105 106 2 (105-103) 2 106 108 1 (106-105) 2
Diff_of_rows - you have to maintain the old_id of prev row in exp variable,then you have to minus it with current row lod_id New_id - starting with one, if value of prev row of Diff_of_rows does not match with current row Diff_of_rows,increment value of new_id by 1. Thane send below rows to Exp 2 OLD_ID NEW_ID New_id ---------- ---------- - ---------101 102 1 102 103 1 103 104 1 105 106 2 106 108 2 and in Agg o/p NEW_ID New_id ---------- ---------104 1 108 2 Then join exp2 o/p with agg o/p based on New_id column so you will get required o/p OLD_ID NEW_ID ---------- -----------101 104 102 104 103 104 105 108 106 108 Posted 21st October 2011 by Prafull Dangore
28. OCT
21
Aborting a Session in Informatica 8.6.1 Scenario: I am trying to abort a session in the workflow monitor by using 'Abort' option. But the status of the session is still being shown as 'Aborting' and remains sam e for the past 4 days. Finally I had to request the UNIX team to kill the process. Could anybody let me know the reason behind this as I couldn't find any info in the log file as well. Solution: - If the session you want to stop is a part of batch, you must stop the batch - If the batch is part of nested batch, stop the outermost batch - When you issue the stop command, the server stops reading data. It continues p rocessing and writing data and committing data to targets - If the server cannot finish processing and committing data, you can issue the ABORT command. It is similar to stop command, except it has a 60 second timeout. If the server can not finish processing and committing data within 60 seconds, You need to kill DTM process and terminat es the session. As you said to kill the process we need to contact UNIX Admin. But last time I coordinated with oracle team updated OPB table info related work flow status. Posted 21st October 2011 by Prafull Dangore
29. OCT 20
Condition to Check for NULLS and SPACES in Informatica Scenario:
I have String data and I want to filter out NULLS and SPACES from that set of Da ta. What can be the condition given in Informatica to check for NULLS and SPACES in ONE EXPRESSION OR FILTER TRANSFORMATION.
Solution: Use LENGTH(LTRIM(RTRIM(column_name)))<>0 in filter transformation.
OR IIF(ISNULL(column_name) or LTRIM(RTRIM(column_name)) = '', 0, 1) -- do this in e xp t/n and use this flag in filte. Posted 20th October 2011 by Prafull Dangore
30. OCT 20
Combining multiple rows as one based on matching colum value of multiple rows Scenario:
I have my source data like below: ID Line-no Text 529 3 DI-9001 529 4 DI-9003 840 2 PR-031 840 2 DI-9001 616 1 PR-029 874 2 DI-9003 874 1 PR-031 959 1 PR-019 Now I want my target to be ID Line-no Text 529 3 DI-9001 529 4 DI-9003 840 2 PR-031&DI-9001 616 1 PR-029 874 2 DI-9003 874 1 PR-031 959 1 PR-019 It means if both the ID and the LINE_NO both are same then the TEXT should conca tenate, else no change Solution: The mapping flow like this: source-->sq-->srttrans-->exptrans--->aggtrans--->target srttrans--->sort by ID, line_no ASC order exp-->use variable ports as ID(I/O) Line_no(i/o) Text(i)
text_v : iif(ID=pre_id and Line_no=pre_line_no,Text_v||'&'||Text,Text) pre_id(v):ID pre_line_no(v):Line_no Text_op:Text_v Aggtrans-->group by ID and Line_no. It will return last row which is concatenation of text Then pass to the Target. Posted 20th October 2011 by Prafull Dangore
31. OCT 20
How to Read the Data between 2 Single Quotes Scenario:
I have a record like this: field1 = "id='102',name='yty,wskjd',city='eytw' " Note: sometimes data might come as [id,name, city] or sometimes it might come as [code,name,id]. It varies... I need to store the value of field1 into different fields, value1 = id='102' value2 = name='yty,wskjd' value3 = city='eytw' If I split the record based on comma(,) then the result wont come as expected as there is a comma(,) in value of name. Is there a way where we can achieve the solution in easier way i.e., if a comma comes in between two single quotes then we have to suppress the comma(,). I gave a try wi th different inbuilt functions but couldnt make it. Is there a way to read the data in between 2 single quotes ???
Solution: Please try below solution it may help u in some extent Field1 = "id='102',name='yty,wskjd',city='eytw' " Steps 1. v_1 = Replace(field1, '"' , '') --i.e. no space 2. v_2 = substring-after ( v_1, id= ) --O/P '102',name='yty,wskjd',city='eytw' 3. v_3 = substring-after ( v_1, name= ) --O/P 'yty,wskjd',city='eytw' 4. v_4 = substring-after ( v_1, city= ) --O/P 'eytw'
5. v_5 = substring-before(v_2, name) --O/P '102', 6. v_6 = substring-before ( v_3, city ) --O/P 'yty,wskjd',
7. value1 = replace(v_5,',','') --O/P '102' 8. value3 = replace(v_6,',','') --O/P 'yty,wskjd' 7. value3 = v_4 --O/P 'eytw'
Posted 20th October 2011 by Prafull Dangore
32. OCT 20
How to use Lookup Transformation for Incremental data loading in target table? Scenario:
how to load new data from one table to another.
For eg: i have done a mapping from source table (Which contain bank details) to target table.
For first time i will load all the data from source to target, if i have run th e mapping second day, i need to get the data which is newly entered in the source table.
First time it have to load all the data from source to target, for second or th ird time, if there is any new record in the source table, only that record must load to the target, by comparing both source and the target.
How to use the lookup transformation for this issue?
Solution:
1) In mapping, create a lookup on target table and select dynamic lookup cache i n property tab, once you check it you can see NewLookupRow column in lookup port through which you ca n identify whether incoming rows are new or existing. So after lookup you can use router to insert or update it in target table. Also in lookup port, you can use associate port to compare the specific/all colu mns of target table lookup with source column.its a connected lookup where you send a source rows to lookup as input and/or output ports and lookup ports as output and lookup.
OR 2) If there is any primary key column in the target table then we can create a l ookup on the target table and match the TGT primary key with the source primary key.If the lookup fi nds a match then ignore those records ,if there is no match then insert those record into the tar get
The logic should be as below
SQ--> LKP--> FILTER-->TGT
In lookup match the ID column from src with ID column in the target .The lookup will return the ID's if it is avail in the target else it will return null value.
In filter allow only null ID values which is returing from the lookup. OR 3. If you have any datestamp in the source table then you can pull only the newl y inserted records from the source table based on the time stamp (this approach will applicable onl y if the source table has a lastmodifieddate column).
33. OCT 20
Is it possible to use a parameter to specify the 'Table Name Prefix'? Scenario: Is it possible to use a parameter to specify the 'Table Name Prefix'? Solution:
Yes, you can use the parameter for specifying the tablename prefix. Say suppose if you have table x with different tablename prefix like p1.x and p2 .x
you can load into the tables seperately by specifying the tablenameprefix value in the parameter file. All you need to do is to create a workflow variable and assign value to the vari able in the param file.Use that variable in the table prefix property
34.
OCT 19
Informatica PowerCenter performance - Lookups Informatica PowerCenter performance - Lookups Lookup performance Lookup is an important and a useful transformation when used effectively. What is a lookup transformation? It is just not another transformation which fet ches you data to look against the source data. It is a transformation when used improperl y, makes your flow run for ages. I now try to explain different scenarios where you can face problems with Lookup and also how to tackle them. Unwanted columns: By default, when you create a lookup on a table, PowerCenter gives you all the c olumns in the table, but be sure to delete the unwanted columns from the lookup as they af fect the lookup cache very much. You only need columns that are to be used in lookup cond ition and the ones that have to get returned from the lookup. SQL query: We will start from the database. Find the execution plan of the SQL override and see if you can add some indexes or hints to the query to make it fetch data faster. You may have to take the help of a database developer to accomplish this if you, yourself are no t an SQLer. Size of the source versus size of lookup: Let us say, you have 10 rows in the source and one of the columns has to be chec ked against a big table (1 million rows). Then PowerCenter builds the cache for the lookup table and then checks the 10 source rows against the cache. It takes more time to buil d the cache of 1 million rows than going to the database 10 times and lookup against t he table directly. Use uncached lookup instead of building the static cache, as the number of sourc e rows is quite less than that of the lookup. Conditional call of lookup: Instead of going for connected lookups with filters for a conditional lookup cal l, go for unconnected lookup. Is the single column return bothering for this? Go ahead and change the SQL override to concatenate the required columns into one big column. Break them at the calling side into individual columns again. JOIN instead of Lookup: In the same context as above, if the Lookup transformation is after the source q ualifier and
there is no active transformation in-between, you can as well go for the SQL ove r ride of source qualifier and join traditionally to the lookup table using database joins , if both the tables are in the same database and schema. Increase cache: If none of the above seems to be working, then the problem is certainly with the cache. The cache that you assigned for the lookup is not sufficient to hold the data or ind ex of the lookup. Whatever data that doesn't fit into the cache is spilt into the cache fi les designated in $PMCacheDir. When the PowerCenter doesn't find the data you are lookingup in the cache, it swaps the data from the file to the cache and keeps doing this until i t finds the data. This is quite expensive for obvious reasons being an I/O operation. Increa se the cache so that the whole data resides in the memory. What if your data is huge and your whole system cache is less than that? Don't p romise PowerCenter the amount of cache that it can't be allotted during the runtime. If you promise 10 MB and during runtime, your system on which flow is running runs out of cache and can only assign 5MB. Then PowerCenter fails the session with an error. Cachefile file-system: In many cases, if you have cache directory in a different file-system than that of the hosting server, the cache file piling up may take time and result in latency. So with th e help of your system administrator try to look into this aspect as well. Useful cache utilities: If the same lookup SQL is being used in someother lookup, then you have to go fo r shared cache or reuse the lookup. Also, if you have a table that doesn't get dat a updated or inserted quite often, then use the persistent cache because the consecutive runs of the flow don't have to build the cache and waste time. Posted 19th October 2011 by Prafull Dangore
35. OCT 19
PowerCenter objects PowerCenter objects
Introduction Introduction
A repository is the highest physical entity of a project in PowerCenter.
A folder is a logical entity in a PowerCenter project. For example, Customer_Dat a is a folder. A workflow is synonymous to a set of programs in any other programming language. A mapping is a single program unit that holds the logical mapping between source and target with required transformations. A mapping will just say a source table by
name EMP exists with some structure. A target flat file by name EMP_FF exists wi th some structure. The mapping doesn t say in which schema this EMP table exists and in which physical location this EMP_FF table going to be stored. A session is the physical representation of the mapping. The session defines wha t a maping didn t do. The session stores the information about where this EMP table co mes from. Which schema, with what username and password can we access this table in that schema. It also tells about the target flat file. In which physical locatio n the file is going to get created. A transformation is a sub-program that performs a specific task with the input i t gets and returns some output. It can be assumed as a stored procedure in any database . Typical examples of transformations are Filter, Lookup, Aggregator, Sorter etc. A set of transformations, that are reusable can be built into something called m applet. A mapplet is a set of transformations aligned in a specific order of execution. As with any other tool or programing language, PowerCenter also allows parameter s to be passed to have flexibility built into the flow. Parameters are always passed as data in flat files to PowerCenter and that file is called the parameter file. Posted 19th October 2011 by Prafull Dangore
36. OCT 19
Dynamically generate parameter files Scenario:
Dynamically generate parameter files
Solution: Parameter file format for PowerCenter: For a workflow parameter which can be used by any session in the workflow, below is the format in which the parameter file has to be created. [Folder_name:WF.Workflow_Name] $$parameter_name1=value
$$parameter_name2=value For a session parameter which can be used by the particular session, below is th e format in which the parameter file has to be created. [Folder_name:WF.Workflow_Name:ST.Session_Name] $$parameter_name1=value $$parameter_name2=value
3. Parameter handling in a data model: To have flexibility in maintaining the parameter files. To reduce the overhead for the support to change the parameter file every time a value of a parameter changes To ease the deployment, all the parameters have to be maintained in Oracle or any database tables and a PowerCenter session is created to generate the parameter file in the required format automat ically. For this, 4 tables are to be created in the database: 1. FOLDER table will have entries for each folder. 2. WORKFLOWS table will have the list of each workflow but with a reference to t he FOLDERS table to say which folder this workflow is created in. 3. PARAMETERS table will hold all the parameter names irrespective of folder/wor kflow. 4. PARAMETER_VALUES table will hold the parameter of each session with reference s to PARMETERS table for parameter name and WORKFLOWS table for the workflow name. Wh en the session name is NULL, that means the parameter is a workflow variable which can be used across all the sessions in the workflow. To get the actual names because PARAMETER_VALUES table holds only ID columns of workflow and parameter, we create a view that gets all the names for us in the required f ormat of the parameter file. Below is the DDL for the view. a. Parameter file view: CREATE OR REPLACE VIEW PARAMETER_FILE ( HEADER, DETAIL ) AS select '['fol.folder_name'.WF:' wfw.workflow_name']' header ,pmr.parameter_namenvl2(dtl.logical_name, '_'dtl.logical_name, NULL)'=' dtl.value detail from folder fol ,parameters pmr ,WORKFLOWS wfw ,PARAMETER_VALUES dtl
where fol.id = wfw.folder_id and dtl.pmr_id = pmr.id and dtl.wfw_id = wfw.id and dtl.session_name is null UNION select '['fol.folder_name'.WF:' wfw.workflow_name'.ST:' dtl.session_name']' head er ,decode(dtl.mapplet_name, NULL, NULL, dtl.mapplet_name'.') pmr.parameter_namenvl2(dtl.logical_name, '_'dtl.logical_name, NULL)'=' dtl.value detail from folder fol ,parameters pmr ,WORKFLOWS wfw ,PARAMETER_VALUES dtl where fol.id = wfw.folder_id and dtl.pmr_id = pmr.id and dtl.wfw_id = wfw.id and dtl.session_name is not null b. FOLDER table ID (NUMBER) FOLDER_NAME (varchar50) DESCRIPTION (varchar50) c. WORKFLOWS table ID (NUMBER) WORKFLOW_NAME (varchar50) FOLDER_ID (NUMBER) Foreign Key to FOLDER.ID DESCRIPTION (varchar50) d. PARAMETERS table ID (NUMBER) PARAMETER_NAME (varchar50) DESCRIPTION (varchar50) e. PARAMETER_VALUES table ID (NUMBER) WF_ID (NUMBER) PMR_ID (NUMBER) LOGICAL_NAME (varchar50) VALUE (varchar50) SESSION_NAME (varchar50) LOGICAL_NAME is a normalization initiative in the above parameter logic. For exa mple, in a mapping if we need to use $$SOURCE_FX as a parameter and also $$SOURCE_TRANS as another mapping parameter, instead of creating 2 different parameters in the PAR AMETERS table, we create one parameter $$SOURCE. Then FX and TRANS will be two LOGICAL_NAME rec ords of the PARAMETER_VALUES table. m_PARAMETER_FILE is the mapping that creates the parameter file in the desired f ormat and the corresponding session name is s_m_PARAMETER_FILE.
data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAPAAAP///wAAACH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAICRAEAOw == Posted 19th October 2011 by Prafull Dangore
37. OCT 19
How to generate target file names (like YYYYMMDDHH24:MISS.csv) dynamically from the mapping? Scenario:
How to generate target file names (like YYYYMMDDHH24:MISS.csv) dynamically from the mapping?
Solution:
In order to generate the target file names from the mapping, we should make use of the special "FileName" port in the target file. You can't create this special port from the usual New port button. There is a special button with label "F" on it to the right most corner of the t arget flat file when viewed in "Target Designer". Below two screen-shots tell you how to create the special port in your target fi le.
data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAPAAAP///wAAACH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAICRAEAOw ==
Once this is done, the job is done. When you want to create the file name with a timestamp attached to it, just use a port from an Expression transformation before the target to pa ss a value of Output Port with expression $$FILE_NAMEto_char(sessstarttime, 'YYYYMMDDHH24:MISS')'.csv '. Please note that $$FILE_NAME is a parameter to the mapping and I've used sesssta rttime because it will be constant through out the session run. If you use sysdate, it will change if you have 100s of millions of records and i f the session may run for an hour, each second a new file will get created. Please note that a new file gets created with the current value of the port when the port value which maps to the FileName changes. We'll come to the mapping again. This mapping generates two files. One is a dumm y file with zero bytes size and the file name is what is given in the Session properties under 'M appings' tab for target file name. The other file is the actual file created with the desired file name and data. Posted 19th October 2011 by Prafull Dangore
38. OCT
18
To find the inserted deleted and updted rows count Scenario:
I want to find the no.of rows inserted,updated and deleted on the successful exe cution of a session. These details are present only in the session log file so how to grep these deta ils from the log file? or Is there anyother method? I actually have to insert these details into a table.The other details which i h ave to include in the table are session name, target table name,sesion start time,session end time. Thus my table structure is Session_name Tgt_Table_name Start_time End_time Inserted_count Deleted_count Updated_count
Solution:
Hey u will get ths info through INFA metadata tables
39. OCT 18
How to load first,last,remaining records into different targets when source is a flat file? Scenario:
How to load first,last,remaining records into different targets when source is a flat file?
Solution:
If you are using seq and aggregator then the mapping flow should be like below
-->AGG SRC-->SQ-->EXP -->JNR-->RTR-->TGT1 SEQ--> -->TGT2 -->TGT3
In router if seq value =1 then that record will go to target1 if seq value and agg count out put equal that means that is last record so it ha s to go to target 3 the remaining all records has to pass to target 2.
for sql query to get first, last and remaining records try the below
For First record: select * from emp where rownum=1;
For Last record: select * from (select * from (select empno,ename,sal,job,mgr,rownum from emp) or der by rownum DESC) where rownum=1;
For remaining record you can use minus function with above out puts. Posted 18th October 2011 by Prafull Dangore
40. OCT 18
Email date in subject line Scenario:
Is there a way to add the sysdate to the email subject sent from Informatica?
I am running a mapping which create an error file. I am sending this error at th e end of the process via an email. But the requirement is to send it with some text as error report a nd the system in the subject line.
Solution: Below is the approach,
Create a workflow variable $$Datestamp as datetime datatype.In assignment task a ssign the sysdate to that variable and in email subject use the $$Datestamp variable and i t will send the timestamp in the subject.
41. OCT 18
Route records as UNIQUE AND DUPLICATE Scenario:
I HAVE A SRC TABLE AS :
A B C C B D B
I HAVE 2 TGT TABLES UNIQUE AND DUPLICATE :
The first table should contain the following output A D The second target should contain the following output B B B C C hOW DO I DO THIS :
Solution: Try the following approach.
AGG--> SRC-->SQ--------------> JNR--> RTR-->TGT1 -->TGT2
from source pass all the data to aggregator and group by source column. one one out put port count(column)
so from agg you have two ports out puts COLUMN,COUNT A,1 B,2 C,2 D,1
Now join this data with source based on column.
Out put of joiner will be like below COLUMN,COUNT A,1 B,3 C,2 C,2 B,3 D,1 B,3
In router create two groups one for Unique and another one for duplicate
Unique=(count=1) Duplicate=(count>1) Posted 18th October 2011 by Prafull Dangore
42. OCT 18
Informatica Source Qualifier (Inner Joins ) Scenario: have an 3 tables ENO ENAM HIREDATE 001 XXX MAY/25/2009 002 JJJJ OCT/12/2010 008 KKK JAN/02/2011 006 HJJH AUG/12/2012 ENO S-ID 001 OO 002 OO 007 OO ENO V-ID 006 DD 008 DD 001 DD Using informatica source qualifier or other transformations I should be able to club the above tables in such a way that if the HIREDATE>JAN/01/2011 then eno should select v-id and i
f HIREDATE<JAN/01/2011 the ENO should select s-id and make a target table leaving the ID columns blank based on condition IT SHOULD HAVE EITHER S-ID OR V-ID BUT NOT BOTH . ENO ENAM HIREDATE S-ID V-ID Please give me the best advice for the following situation. Solution:
Better u do it in source qualifier sql query by case statement select ENO,ENAM,HIREDATE, CASE WHEN (HIREDATE<JAN/01/2011 THEN table2.s-id ELSE table3.s-id END from table1 a,table2 b,table3 c where a.eno=b.eno and b.eno=c.eno; OR You can use lookup . Second table and third table can be used as lookup. In an expression: s_id= IF (HIREDATE<JAN/01/2011, lkp_2nd_tbl,NULL) v_id=IF(HIREDATE>JAN/01/2011,lkp_3rd_table,NULL ) Posted 18th October 2011 by Prafull Dangore
43. OCT 18
CMN_1650 A duplicate row was attempted to be inserted into a dynamic lookup cache Dynamic lookup error. Scenario:
I have 2 ports going through a dynamic lookup, and then to a router. In the rout er it is a simple case of inserting new target rows (NewRowLookup=1) or rejecting existing rows (NewRowLookup=0). However, when I run the session I'm getting the error: "CMN_1650 A duplicate row was attempted to be inserted into a dynamic lookup cac he Dynamic lookup error. The dynamic lookup cache only supports unique condition ke ys." I thought that I was bringing through duplicate values so I put a distinct on th e SQ. There is also a not null filter on both ports. However, whilst investigating the initial error that is logged for a specific pa ir of values from the source, there is only 1 set of them (no duplicates). The pair exists on the target so surely should just return from the dynamic lookup newrowlookup=0.
Is this some kind of persistent data in the cache that is causing this to think that it is
duplicate data? I haven't got the persistent cache or recache from database flag s checked. Solution: This occurs when the table on which the lookup is built has duplicate rows. Sinc e a dynamic cached lookup cannot be created with duplicate rows, the session fails w ith this error. Make sure there are no duplicate rows in the table before starting the session. OR Do a Select DISTINCT in the lookup cache SQL.
OR
Make sure the data types of source and look up fields match and extra spaces are trimmed, looks like the match is failing between src and lkp so the lookup is tr ying to insert the row in cache even though its present already.
44. OCT 18
Update Strategy for Deleting Records in Informatica Scenario: I am using an update strategy transformation for deleting records from my target table. In my Warehouse Designer, I have defined one column (say col1) as Primary Key and anot her column (say col2) as Primary/Foreign Key. My target has rows like this: Col1 Col2 Col3 ---1 A value1
2 A value2 3 B value3 I want to delete the record from the target which has the combination (Col1="2" and Col2="A"). Will linking the fields Col1 and Col2 from the Update Strategy transformation to the Target serve the purpose? Solution: Define both the columns as primary key in target definition and link only col1 a nd col2 in mapping.
This will serve your purpose. BTW, if you do only delete then update strategy is not required at all. Posted 18th October 2011 by Prafull Dangore
45. OCT 18
Target Rows as Update or Insert Option in the Target Scenario:
When you have the option to treat target rows as update or Insert option in the target why do you need lookup transformation. I mean why do you need a look up transformation with update strategy in a mapping to mark the records for update or Insert when you have update else Insert option in the target? Is there any difference between both? Can someone please let me know wha t is the difference and when to use which option?
Solution: In slowly growing targets (Delta loads) target is loaded incrementally. You need to know a particular record is existing or not in target target. Look up is used to cache the Target records and compare the incoming records with the records in Target. If incoming record is new it will be insert in target otherwise not. Expression is used to flag a record whether it is a new or existing. If it is new Record is flagged as 'I' with the sense of Insert. In Slowly Changing Dimensions(SCD), History of dimension is maintained. Hence if a record exists in the Target and if it needs to update then it will be flagged as 'U' with sense of Update. Posted 18th October 2011 by Prafull Dangore
46. OCT 17
How to Fill Missing Sequence Numbers in Surrogate Key Column in Informatica Scenario: Hello all, I am new to working with surrogate key columns in database. Recently I developed a workflow/mapping that populates an SCD table with a surrogate key column. For ea ch record that is inserted, I created a logic in expression t/r such that it generates a new seque nce number. This
seems fine and works OK. Now, We have a purge logic that runs every day in post-sql that will delete reco rds that have not been updated for the last 10 days. Due to this reason, after testing the ETL pro cess for over 15 days, I find a lot of gaps in the surrogate key column. Is there a way/logic in Informatica with which I can fill these gaps while loadi ng the target and create a new sequence number only if there a no gaps? Or can this be done at database l evel? I searched over the Internet but did not find any solution whatsoever. Please advise. Solutions: Hello, If you can make a bit changes to ur mapping u can achive it. 1. First delete the record which is not been used from last 10 days in per-sql i nstead of deleting at the end. 2. load the all data in temp table including old and new. 3. Now load all the data in target table with sequence generator.in sg change th e setting so that its value reset to 0 for every new run. OR
47. OCT 17
Surrogate Key Scenario:
What is a surrogate key and where do you use it? Solution: A surrogate key is a substitution for the natural primary key. It is just a unique identifier or number for each row that can be used for the p rimary key to the table. The only requirement for a surrogate primary key is that it is unique for each r
ow in the table. Data warehouses typically use a surrogate, (also known as artificial or identity key), key for the dimension tables primary keys. They can use Infa sequence generator, or Oracle s equence, or SQL Server Identity values for the surrogate key.
It is useful because the natural primary key (i.e. Customer Number in Customer t able) can change and this makes updates more difficult. Some tables have columns such as AIRPORT_NAME or CITY_NAME which are stated as t he primary keys (according to the business users) but ,not only can these change, i ndexing on a numerical value is probably better and you could consider creating a surrogate k ey called, say, AIRPORT_ID. This would be internal to the system and as far as the client is con cerned you may display only the AIRPORT_NAME. Posted 17th October 2011 by Prafull Dangore
48. OCT 14
Unique Constraint Violated Scenario: Database errors occurred: ORA-00001: unique constraint (INF_PRACTICE1.SYS_C00163872) violated Database driver error. Function Name : Execute SQL Stmt : INSERT INTO D_CLAIM_INJURY_SAMPLEE(CK_SUM,DM_ROW_PRCS_DT,DM_RO W_PRCS_UPDT_DT,CLAIM_INJRY_SID,DM_CRRNT_ROW_IND,INCDT_ID,ENAME,J OB,FIRSTNAME,LASTNAME) VALUES ( ?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?) Database driver error... Function Name : Execute Multiple SQL Stmt : INSERT INTO D_CLAIM_INJURY_SAMPLEE(CK_SUM,DM_ROW_PRCS_DT,DM_RO W_PRCS_UPDT_DT,CLAIM_INJRY_SID,DM_CRRNT_ROW_IND,INCDT_ID,ENAME,J OB,FIRSTNAME,LASTNAME) VALUES ( ?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?) Solution: check the definition of unique index columns and then below query on source to f ine out thd duplicate rows. if index def like create index on targettable(col1,col2,col3); select col1,col2,col3,count(1) from sourcetable group by col1,col2,col3 having count(1)>1 either u have to delete those records from source or use agg in informatica mapp ing
49. OCT 13
Validating Multiple Sessions in Informatica Scenario: Is there anyway of validating multiple workflows and their respective sessions a t the same time in Informatica. Validating them separately is tedious. Solution: Best approach is to create a worklet instead of workflow then put a set of sessi ons in worklet then call all those worklets in single workflow. After doing this, you can validate your workflow which contains the multiple wor klet to validate multiple sessions.
50. OCT 13
Informatica Workflow Execution based on Conditions Scenario:
I have a table which contains a single row which has a column ABC. The value of ABC defines different scenarios. For ex. if the value of ABC is say 1, 1st workflow should be executed; if 2, 2nd workflow should be executed and so on.
Solution:
If there are few values 1,2,3 for ABC Then we can have filter in the mapping having source table with column ABC. Filter the records with condition ABC=1,ABC=2,ABC=3 and load target tables in three different mappings. Create three different sessions and then use decision task in workflow level as If tgtsuccessrows=1 for session1 then run worklet1 If tgtsuccessrows=2 for session2 then run worklet2 If tgtsuccessrows=2 for session3 then run worklet3 Posted 13th October 2011 by Prafull Dangore
51. OCT 13
Finding Objects in Checkout Status Scenario: So, does anyone know of a way to find what objects are in checkout status and w ho has it checked out? Solution: Under the Repository database, there must be folders that you have created. Open that folder and then right click and goto version->find checkouts->all users. This will show the history of changes made and saved on that particular code. It will show you details such as last check-out, last-saved time, saved-by, etc. Posted 13th October 2011 by Prafull Dangore
52. OCT 13
Convert data as per specific region Scenario : Convert date as per specific region Solution: Specifying an NLS parameter for an SQL function means that any User Session NLS parameters (or
the lack of) will not affect evaluation of the function. This feature may be important for SQL statements that contain numbers and dates as string literals. For example, the following query is evaluated correctly only if the language spe cified for dates is American: SELECT ENAME FROM EMP WHERE HIREDATE > '1-JAN-01'
This can be made independent of the current date language by specifying NLS_DATE_LANGUAGE: SELECT ENAME FROM EMP WHERE HIREDATE > TO_DATE('1-JAN-01','DD-MON-YY', 'NLS_DATE_LANGUAGE = AMERICAN')
Using all numerics is also language-independent:
SELECT ENAME FROM EMP WHERE HIREDATE > TO_DATE('1-01-01','DD-MM-YY') NLS settings include Character set, Language and Territory Common character sets: WE8ISO8859P15 European English includes euro character US7ASCII American English The DATE datatype always stores a four-digit year internally. If you use the standard date format DD-MON-YY YY will assume a year in the range 1900-1999 - it is strongly recommended you ap ply a specific format mask. Posted 13th October 2011 by Prafull Dangore
53. OCT 13
Compare the Total Number of Rows in a Flat File with the Footer of the Flat File Scenario : I have a requirement where I need to find the number of rows in the f lat file and then compare the row count with the row count mentioned in the footer of the flat fil e. Solution :
Using Infomratica:
I believe you can identify the data records from the trailer record. you can us e following method to identify the count of the records 1. use router to create two data streams ; one for data records & other for trai ler record 2. use aggregator (with out defining any group key) and use count() aggregate fu nction now both data stream will have single record. 3.use joiner to get one record from these two data streams it will give you two different count ports in single record 4. use expression for comparing the counts and proceed as per you rules.
Using UNIX :
If you are on Unix, then go for a couple of line script or commands: Count number of lines in file by wc -l. Assign the count to variable x = (wc -l) - 1 i.e. neglecting footer record.
Grep the number of records from footer using grep/sed. Assign it to variable y. Now equate both these variables and take decision.
54. OCT 11
Loading Multiple Flat Files using one mapping Scenario: Can any one explain that how can we load multiple flat files using one mapping Solution:
Use Indirect option in session properties and give file_list name. In the file l ist you can have actual file names with complete path. Ex: In Session Properties SourceFileType --- Indirect and File Name ABC.txt ABC.txt will contain all the input file names with complete path. like /home/.../...filename.dat /home/.../...filename1.dat
55. OCT
11
Capture filename while using indirect file Scenario : I have 5 source files which I am planning to load using indirect file as they all are of same format and go to same target table. One requirement is to capture the source fil e name in the target. Is there any simple way to achieve this? The filename column is there only for f ile targets, not for file sources. Solution: Sol 1. Effective with PowerCenter 8.5 there is an option called Add Currently Processed Flat File Name Port. If this flat file source option is selected, the file name port will be added in the ports of the source. To add the CurrentlyProcessedFileName port: 1. Open the flat file source definition in the Source Analyzer.
2. Click the Properties tab. 3. Select Add Currently Processed Flat File Name Port. The Designer adds the CurrentlyProcessedFileName port as the last column on the Columns tab. The CurrentlyProcessedFileName port is a string port with default precision of 2 56 characters. 4. Click the Columns tab to see your changes. You may change the precision of the CurrentlyProcessedFileName port if you wish. 5. To remove the CurrentlyProcessedFileName port, click the Properties tab and c lear the Add Currently Processed Flat File Name Port check box. For previous versions a shell script or batch file can be used in a pre-session command task. ------- Short desc Double click flat file source and Go to Properties tab and check "Add Currently Processed Flat File Name Port" check box. This will add a column "CurrentlyProcessedFileName" in fla t file columns list. So simple, Isn't it? or Sol 2. You can append Filename to the file using Shell script...
--#!/bin/ksh
for a in $(ls *.CSV) do
fname=$( echo $a | tr Hi, You can append Filename Hi, You can append Filename ) sed -i -e "s/$/ t$/g" $
done; exit 0 --This adds file name for all .CSV files. Here the delimiter is TAB. you can chang e the script according to your spec.
56. OCT 11
CurrentlyProcessedFileName port in source coming as NULL Issue - The "CurrentlyProcessedFileName" port is coming properly in test environ ment. I imported the same objects into stage. But in stage, "CurrentlyProcessedFileName" port is always coming as NULL. Solution 1. Edit source defn by removing CurrentlyProcessedFileName port and add again, t his should solve your problem. Posted 11th October 2011 by Prafull Dangore
57. APR 19
How PL/SQL Exceptions Are Raised ?
How PL/SQL Exceptions Are Raised Internal exceptions are raised implicitly by the run-time system, as are user-de fined exceptions that you have associated with an Oracle error number using EXCEPTION_INIT. However, other user -defined exceptions must be raised explicitly by RAISE statements. Raising Exceptions with the RAISE Statement PL/SQL blocks and subprograms should raise an exception only when an error makes it undesirable or impossible to finish processing. You can place RAISE statements for a given exce ption anywhere within the scope of that exception. In Example 10-6, you alert your PL/SQL block to a userdefined exception named out_of_stock.
Example 10-6 Using RAISE to Force a User-Defined Exception DECLARE out_of_stock EXCEPTION; number_on_hand NUMBER := 0; BEGIN IF number_on_hand < 1 THEN RAISE out_of_stock; -- raise an exception that we defined END IF; EXCEPTION WHEN out_of_stock THEN -- handle the error DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE('Encountered out-of-stock error.'); END;
You can also raise a predefined exception explicitly. That way, an exception han dler written for the predefined exception can process other errors, as Example 10-7 shows: Example 10-7 Using RAISE to Force a Pre-Defined Exception DECLARE acct_type INTEGER := 7; BEGIN IF acct_type NOT IN (1, 2, 3) THEN RAISE INVALID_NUMBER; -- raise predefined exception END IF; EXCEPTION WHEN INVALID_NUMBER THEN DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE('HANDLING INVALID INPUT BY ROLLING BACK.'); ROLLBACK; END; / How PL/SQL Exceptions Propagate When an exception is raised, if PL/SQL cannot find a handler for it in the curre nt block or subprogram, the exception propagates. That is, the exception reproduces itself in successive enc losing blocks until a handler is found or there are no more blocks to search. If no handler is found, PL/SQL retu rns an unhandled exception error to the host environment. Exceptions cannot propagate across remote procedure calls done through database links. A PL/SQL block cannot catch an exception raised by a remote subprogram. For a workaround, see " Defining Your Own Error Messages: Procedure RAISE_APPLICATION_ERROR". Figure 10-1, Figure 10-2, and Figure 10-3 illustrate the basic propagation rules . Figure 10-1 Propagation Rules: Example 1 Description of the illustration lnpls009.gif Figure 10-2 Propagation Rules: Example 2
Description of the illustration lnpls010.gif Figure 10-3 Propagation Rules: Example 3 Description of the illustration lnpls011.gif An exception can propagate beyond its scope, that is, beyond the block in which it was declared, as shown in Example 10-8. Example 10-8 Scope of an Exception BEGIN DECLARE ---------- sub-block begins past_due EXCEPTION; due_date DATE := trunc(SYSDATE) - 1; todays_date DATE := trunc(SYSDATE); BEGIN
IF due_date < todays_date THEN RAISE past_due; END IF; END; ------------- sub-block ends EXCEPTION WHEN OTHERS THEN ROLLBACK; END; /
Because the block that declares the exception past_due has no handler for it, th e exception propagates to the enclosing block. But the enclosing block cannot reference the name PAST_DUE, bec ause the scope where it was declared no longer exists. Once the exception name is lost, only an OTHERS h andler can catch the exception. If there is no handler for a user-defined exception, the calling appl ication gets this error: ORA-06510: PL/SQL: unhandled user-defined exception Reraising a PL/SQL Exception Sometimes, you want to reraise an exception, that is, handle it locally, then pa ss it to an enclosing block. For example, you might want to roll back a transaction in the current block, then lo g the error in an enclosing block. To reraise an exception, use a RAISE statement without an exception name, which is allowed only in an exception handler: Example 10-9 Reraising a PL/SQL Exception DECLARE salary_too_high EXCEPTION; current_salary NUMBER := 20000; max_salary NUMBER := 10000; erroneous_salary NUMBER; BEGIN BEGIN ---------- sub-block begins IF current_salary > max_salary THEN
RAISE salary_too_high; -- raise the exception END IF; EXCEPTION WHEN salary_too_high THEN -- first step in handling the error DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE('Salary ' || erroneous_salary || ' is out of range.'); DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE('Maximum salary is ' || max_salary || '.'); RAISE; -- reraise the current exception END; ------------ sub-block ends EXCEPTION WHEN salary_too_high THEN -- handle the error more thoroughly erroneous_salary := current_salary; current_salary := max_salary; DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE('Revising salary from ' || erroneous_salary || ' to ' || current_salary || '.'); END; / Handling Raised PL/SQL Exceptions When an exception is raised, normal execution of your PL/SQL block or subprogram stops and control transfers to its exception-handling part, which is formatted as follows:
EXCEPTION WHEN exception1 THEN -- handler for exception1 sequence_of_statements1 WHEN exception2 THEN -- another handler for exception2 sequence_of_statements2 ... WHEN OTHERS THEN -- optional handler for all other errors sequence_of_statements3 END; To catch raised exceptions, you write exception handlers. Each handler consists of a WHEN clause, which specifies an exception, followed by a sequence of statements to be executed when that exception is raised. These statements complete execution of the block or subprogram; control does not return to where the exception was raised. In other words, you cannot resume processing where you lef t off. The optional OTHERS exception handler, which is always the last handler in a blo ck or subprogram, acts as the handler for all exceptions not named specifically. Thus, a block or subprogr am can have only one OTHERS handler. Use of the OTHERS handler guarantees that no exception will go unhandled. If you want two or more exceptions to execute the same sequence of statements, l ist the exception names in the WHEN clause, separating them by the keyword OR, as follows: EXCEPTION WHEN over_limit OR under_limit OR VALUE_ERROR THEN -- handle the error If any of the exceptions in the list is raised, the associated sequence of state ments is executed. The keyword OTHERS cannot appear in the list of exception names; it must appear by i tself. You can have any number of exception handlers, and each handler can associate a list of exception s with a sequence of statements. However, an exception name can appear only once in the exception-han dling part of a PL/SQL block or subprogram. The usual scoping rules for PL/SQL variables apply, so you can reference local a nd global variables in an exception handler. However, when an exception is raised inside a cursor FOR loop , the cursor is closed implicitly before the handler is invoked. Therefore, the values of explicit curs or attributes are not available in the handler. Exceptions Raised in Declarations Exceptions can be raised in declarations by faulty initialization expressions. F or example, the following declaration raises an exception because the constant credit_limit cannot store n umbers larger than 999: Example 10-10 Raising an Exception in a Declaration
DECLARE credit_limit CONSTANT NUMBER(3) := 5000; -- raises an error BEGIN NULL; EXCEPTION WHEN OTHERS THEN -- Cannot catch the exception. This handler is never called. DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE('Can''t handle an exception in a declaration.'); END; /
Handlers in the current block cannot catch the raised exception because an excep tion raised in a declaration propagates immediately to the enclosing block. Handling Exceptions Raised in Handlers
When an exception occurs within an exception handler, that same handler cannot c atch the exception. An exception raised inside a handler propagates immediately to the enclosing block, which is searched to find a handler for this new exception. From there on, the exception propagates normally . For example: EXCEPTION WHEN INVALID_NUMBER THEN INSERT INTO ... -- might raise DUP_VAL_ON_INDEX WHEN DUP_VAL_ON_INDEX THEN ... -- cannot catch the exception END; Branching to or from an Exception Handler A GOTO statement can branch from an exception handler into an enclosing block. A GOTO statement cannot branch into an exception handler, or from an exception h andler into the current block. Retrieving the Error Code and Error Message: SQLCODE and SQLERRM In an exception handler, you can use the built-in functions SQLCODE and SQLERRM to find out which error occurred and to get the associated error message. For internal exceptions, SQLCO DE returns the number of the Oracle error. The number that SQLCODE returns is negative unless the Oracle error is no data found, in which case SQLCODE returns +100. SQLERRM returns the corresponding error message . The message begins with the Oracle error code. For user-defined exceptions, SQLCODE returns +1 and SQLERRM returns the message User-Defined Exception unless you used the pragma EXCEPTION_INIT to associate the exception n ame with an Oracle error number, in which case SQLCODE returns that error number and SQLERRM returns the corresponding error message. The maximum length of an Oracle error message is 512 characters includi ng the error code, nested messages, and message inserts such as table and column names. If no exception has been raised, SQLCODE returns zero and SQLERRM returns the me ssage: ORA-0000: normal, successful completion. You can pass an error number to SQLERRM, in which case SQLERRM returns the messa ge associated with that error number. Make sure you pass negative error numbers to SQLERRM. Passing a positive number to SQLERRM always returns the message user-defined exc eption unless you pass +100, in which caseSQLERRM returns the message no data found. Passing a zer o to SQLERRM always returns the message normal, successful completion. You cannot use SQLCODE or SQLERRM directly in a SQL statement. Instead, you must assign their values to local variables, then use the variables in the SQL statement, as shown in Exampl e 10-11. Example 10-11 Displaying SQLCODE and SQLERRM
CREATE TABLE errors (code NUMBER, message VARCHAR2(64), happened TIMESTAMP); DECLARE name employees.last_name%TYPE; v_code NUMBER; v_errm VARCHAR2(64); BEGIN SELECT last_name INTO name FROM employees WHERE employee_id = -1; EXCEPTION WHEN OTHERS THEN v_code := SQLCODE; v_errm := SUBSTR(SQLERRM, 1 , 64); DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE('Error code ' || v_code || ': ' || v_errm); -- Normally we would call another procedure, declared with PRAGMA -- AUTONOMOUS_TRANSACTION, to insert information about errors.
INSERT INTO errors VALUES (v_code, v_errm, SYSTIMESTAMP); END; /
The string function SUBSTR ensures that a VALUE_ERROR exception (for truncation) is not raised when you assign the value ofSQLERRM to err_msg. The functions SQLCODE and SQLERRM are esp ecially useful in the OTHERS exception handler because they tell you which internal exception was raised. When using pragma RESTRICT_REFERENCES to assert the purity of a stored function, you cannot specify the constraints WNPS andRNPS if the function calls SQLCODE or SQLERRM. Catching Unhandled Exceptions Remember, if it cannot find a handler for a raised exception, PL/SQL returns an unhandled exception error to the host environment, which determines the outcome. For example, in the Oracle P recompilers environment, any database changes made by a failed SQL statement or PL/SQL block are rolled b ack. Unhandled exceptions can also affect subprograms. If you exit a subprogram succe ssfully, PL/SQL assigns values to OUT parameters. However, if you exit with an unhandled exception, PL/S QL does not assign values to OUT parameters (unless they are NOCOPYparameters). Also, if a stored subprogr am fails with an unhandled exception, PL/SQL does not roll back database work done by the subprog ram. You can avoid unhandled exceptions by coding an OTHERS handler at the topmost le vel of every PL/SQL program. Tips for Handling PL/SQL Errors In this section, you learn techniques that increase flexibility. Continuing after an Exception Is Raised An exception handler lets you recover from an otherwise fatal error before exiti ng a block. But when the handler completes, the block is terminated. You cannot return to the current blo ck from an exception handler. In the following example, if the SELECT INTO statement raises ZERO_DIVIDE, you c annot resume with the INSERT statement: CREATE TABLE employees_temp AS SELECT employee_id, salary, commission_pct FROM employees;
DECLARE sal_calc NUMBER(8,2); BEGIN INSERT INTO employees_temp VALUES (301, 2500, 0); SELECT salary / commission_pct INTO sal_calc FROM employees_temp WHERE employee_id = 301; INSERT INTO employees_temp VALUES (302, sal_calc/100, .1); EXCEPTION WHEN ZERO_DIVIDE THEN NULL; END; /
You can still handle an exception for a statement, then continue with the next s tatement. Place the statement in its own sub-block with its own exception handlers. If an error occurs in the sub-block, a local handler can
catch the exception. When the sub-block ends, the enclosing block continues to e xecute at the point where the sub-block ends, as shown in Example 10-12. Example 10-12 Continuing After an Exception DECLARE sal_calc NUMBER(8,2); BEGIN INSERT INTO employees_temp VALUES (303, 2500, 0); BEGIN -- sub-block begins SELECT salary / commission_pct INTO sal_calc FROM employees_temp WHERE employee_id = 301; EXCEPTION WHEN ZERO_DIVIDE THEN sal_calc := 2500; END; -- sub-block ends INSERT INTO employees_temp VALUES (304, sal_calc/100, .1); EXCEPTION WHEN ZERO_DIVIDE THEN NULL; END; /
In this example, if the SELECT INTO statement raises a ZERO_DIVIDE exception, th e local handler catches it and sets sal_calc to 2500. Execution of the handler is complete, so the sub-bloc k terminates, and execution continues with the INSERT statement. See alsoExample 5-38, "Collection Exception s". You can also perform a sequence of DML operations where some might fail, and pro cess the exceptions only after the entire operation is complete, as described in "Handling FORALL Excepti ons with the %BULK_EXCEPTIONS Attribute". Retrying a Transaction After an exception is raised, rather than abandon your transaction, you might wa nt to retry it. The technique is:
1. Encase the transaction in a sub-block. 2. Place the sub-block inside a loop that repeats the transaction. 3. Before starting the transaction, mark a savepoint. If the transaction succeed s, commit, then exit from the loop. If the transaction fails, control transfers to the exception handler, wher e you roll back to the savepoint undoing any changes, then try to fix the problem. In Example 10-13, the INSERT statement might raise an exception because of a dup licate value in a unique column. In that case, we change the value that needs to be unique and continue w ith the next loop iteration. If the INSERT succeeds, we exit from the loop immediately. With this technique, you should use a FOR or WHILE loop to limit the number of attempts. Example 10-13 Retrying a Transaction After an Exception CREATE TABLE results ( res_name VARCHAR(20), res_answer VARCHAR2(3) ); CREATE UNIQUE INDEX res_name_ix ON results (res_name); INSERT INTO results VALUES ('SMYTHE', 'YES'); INSERT INTO results VALUES ('JONES', 'NO');
DECLARE name VARCHAR2(20) := 'SMYTHE'; answer VARCHAR2(3) := 'NO'; suffix NUMBER := 1; BEGIN FOR i IN 1..5 LOOP -- try 5 times
BEGIN -- sub-block begins SAVEPOINT start_transaction; -- mark a savepoint /* Remove rows from a table of survey results. */ DELETE FROM results WHERE res_answer = 'NO'; /* Add a survey respondent's name and answers. */ INSERT INTO results VALUES (name, answer); -- raises DUP_VAL_ON_INDEX if two respondents have the same name COMMIT; EXIT; EXCEPTION WHEN DUP_VAL_ON_INDEX THEN ROLLBACK TO start_transaction; -- undo changes suffix := suffix + 1; -- try to fix problem name := name || TO_CHAR(suffix); END; -- sub-block ends END LOOP; END; /
Using Locator Variables to Identify Exception Locations Using one exception handler for a sequence of statements, such as INSERT, DELETE , or UPDATE statements, can mask the statement that caused an error. If you need to know which statement failed, you can use a locator variable: Example 10-14 Using a Locator Variable to Identify the Location of an Exception CREATE OR REPLACE PROCEDURE loc_var AS stmt_no NUMBER; name VARCHAR2(100); BEGIN stmt_no := 1; -- designates 1st SELECT statement SELECT table_name INTO name FROM user_tables WHERE table_name LIKE 'ABC%';
stmt_no := 2; -- designates 2nd SELECT statement SELECT table_name INTO name FROM user_tables WHERE table_name LIKE 'XYZ%'; EXCEPTION WHEN NO_DATA_FOUND THEN DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE('Table name not found in query ' || stmt_no); END; / CALL loc_var();
Overview of PL/SQL Compile-Time Warnings To make your programs more robust and avoid problems at run time, you can turn o n checking for certain warning conditions. These conditions are not serious enough to produce an error and keep you from compiling a subprogram. They might point out something in the subprogram that pr oduces an undefined result or might create a performance problem. To work with PL/SQL warning messages, you use the PLSQL_WARNINGS initialization parameter, the DBMS_WARNING package, and theUSER/DBA/ALL_PLSQL_OBJECT_SETTINGS views. PL/SQL Warning Categories
PL/SQL warning messages are divided into categories, so that you can suppress or display groups of similar warnings during compilation. The categories are: . SEVERE: Messages for conditions that might cause unexpected behavior or wrong results, such as aliasing problems with parameters. . PERFORMANCE: Messages for conditions that might cause performance problems, su ch as passing a VARCHAR2 value to aNUMBER column in an INSERT statement. . INFORMATIONAL: Messages for conditions that do not have an effect on performan ce or correctness, but that you might want to change to make the code more maintainable, such as unreac hable code that can never be executed. The keyword All is a shorthand way to refer to all warning messages. You can also treat particular messages as errors instead of warnings. For exampl e, if you know that the warning message PLW-05003represents a serious problem in your code, including 'E RROR:05003' in the PLSQL_WARNINGS setting makes that condition trigger an error message (PLS_05 003) instead of a warning message. An error message causes the compilation to fail. Controlling PL/SQL Warning Messages To let the database issue warning messages during PL/SQL compilation, you set th e initialization parameter PLSQL_WARNINGS. You can enable and disable entire categories of warnin gs (ALL, SEVERE, INFORMATIONAL, PERFORMANCE), enable and disable specific message n umbers, and make the database treat certain warnings as compilation errors so that those conditio ns must be corrected. This parameter can be set at the system level or the session level. You can also set it for a single compilation by including it as part of the ALTER PROCEDURE ... COMPILE statement. You might turn on all warnings during development, turn off all warnings when deploying for production, or turn on some warnings when working on a particular subprogram where you are concerned with some aspect, suc h as unnecessary code or performance. Example 10-15 Controlling the Display of PL/SQL Warnings -- To focus on one aspect ALTER SESSION SET PLSQL_WARNINGS='ENABLE:PERFORMANCE'; -- Recompile with extra checking ALTER PROCEDURE loc_var COMPILE PLSQL_WARNINGS='ENABLE:PERFORMANCE' REUSE SETTINGS;
-- To turn off all warnings ALTER SESSION SET PLSQL_WARNINGS='DISABLE:ALL'; -- Display 'severe' warnings, don't want 'performance' warnings, and -- want PLW-06002 warnings to produce errors that halt compilation ALTER SESSION SET PLSQL_WARNINGS='ENABLE:SEVERE', 'DISABLE:PERFORMANCE', 'ERROR:06002'; -- For debugging during development ALTER SESSION SET PLSQL_WARNINGS='ENABLE:ALL';
Warning messages can be issued during compilation of PL/SQL subprograms; anonymo us blocks do not produce any warnings. The settings for the PLSQL_WARNINGS parameter are stored along with each compile d subprogram. If you recompile the subprogram with a CREATE OR REPLACE statement, the current setting s for that session are used. If you recompile the subprogram with an ALTER ...COMPILE statement, the cu rrent session setting might be used, or the original setting that was stored with the subprogram, depe nding on whether you include the REUSE SETTINGS clause in the statement. For more information, see ALTER FUNCTION, ALTER PACKAGE, andALTER PROCEDURE in Oracle Database SQL Ref erence. To see any warnings generated during compilation, you use the SQL*Plus SHOW ERRO RS command or query the USER_ERRORS data dictionary view. PL/SQL warning messages all use the prefix PLW.
Using the DBMS_WARNING Package If you are writing a development environment that compiles PL/SQL subprograms, y ou can control PL/SQL warning messages by calling subprograms in the DBMS_WARNING package. You might a lso use this package when compiling a complex application, made up of several nested SQL*Plus scripts , where different warning settings apply to different subprograms. You can save the current state of thePL SQL_WARNINGS parameter with one call to the package, change the parameter to compile a particular set o f subprograms, then restore the original parameter value. For example, Example 10-16 is a procedure with unnecessary code that could be re moved. It could represent a mistake, or it could be intentionally hidden by a debug flag, so you might or might not want a warning message for it. Example 10-16 Using the DBMS_WARNING Package to Display Warnings -- When warnings disabled, the following procedure compiles with no warnings CREATE OR REPLACE PROCEDURE unreachable_code AS x CONSTANT BOOLEAN := TRUE; BEGIN IF x THEN DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE('TRUE'); ELSE DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE('FALSE'); END IF; END unreachable_code; / -- enable all warning messages for this session CALL DBMS_WARNING.set_warning_setting_string('ENABLE:ALL' ,'SESSION'); -- Check the current warning setting SELECT DBMS_WARNING.get_warning_setting_string() FROM DUAL;
-- Recompile the procedure and a warning about unreachable code displays ALTER PROCEDURE unreachable_code COMPILE; SHOW ERRORS;
In Example 10-16, you could have used the following ALTER PROCEDURE without the call toDBMS_WARNINGS.set_warning_setting_string: ALTER PROCEDURE unreachable_code COMPILE PLSQL_WARNINGS = 'ENABLE:ALL' REUSE SETTINGS;
Posted 19th April 2011 by Prafull Dangore
58. APR 19
What are the different types of pragma and where can we use them?
=========================================== ============================= What are the different types of pragma and where can we use them? Pragma is a keyword in Oracle PL/SQL that is used to provide an instruction to t he compiler. The syntax for pragmas are as follows PRAMA The instruction is a statement that provides some instructions to the compiler. Pragmas are defined in the declarative section in PL/SQL. The following pragmas are available: AUTONOMOUS_TRANSACTION: Prior to Oracle 8.1, each Oracle session in PL/SQL could have at most one active transaction at a given time. In other words, changes were all or nothing. Oracle8i PL/SQL addresses that short c omings with the AUTONOMOUS_TRANSACTION pragma. This pragma can perform an autonomous transaction within a PL/SQL block between a BEGIN and END statement without affecting the entire tran saction. For instance, if rollback or commit needs to take place within the block without effective the tr ansaction outside the block, this type of pragma can be used. EXCEPTION_INIT: The most commonly used pragma, this is used to bind a user defined exception to a particular error number. For example: Declare I_GIVE_UP EXCEPTION; PRAGMA EXCEPTION_INIT(I_give_up, -20000);
BEGIN ..
EXCEPTION WHEN I_GIVE_UP do something..
END; RESTRICT_REFERENCES: Defines the purity level of a packaged program. This is not required starting wi th Oracle8i. Prior to Oracle8i if you were to invoke a function within a package specificatio n from a SQL statement, you would have to provide a RESTRICT_REFERENCE directive to the PL/SQL engine for th at function.
Associating a PL/SQL Exception with a Number: Pragma EXCEPTION_INIT To handle error conditions (typically ORA- messages) that have no predefined nam e, you must use the OTHERS handler or the pragmaEXCEPTION_INIT. A pragma is a compiler directive that is processed at compile time, not at run time. In PL/SQL, the pragma EXCEPTION_INIT tells the compiler to associate an exceptio n name with an Oracle error number. That lets you refer to any internal exception by name and to write a specific handler for it. When you see an error stack, or sequence of error messages, the one on top is th e one that you can trap and handle. You code the pragma EXCEPTION_INIT in the declarative part of a PL/SQL block, su bprogram, or package using the syntax PRAGMA EXCEPTION_INIT(exception_name, -Oracle_error_number);
where exception_name is the name of a previously declared exception and the numb er is a negative value corresponding to an ORA-error number. The pragma must appear somewhere after the exception declaration in the same declarative section, as shown inExample 10-4. Example 10-4 Using PRAGMA EXCEPTION_INIT DECLARE deadlock_detected EXCEPTION; PRAGMA EXCEPTION_INIT(deadlock_detected, -60); BEGIN NULL; -- Some operation that causes an ORA-00060 error EXCEPTION WHEN deadlock_detected THEN NULL; -- handle the error END; / Defining Your Own Error Messages: Procedure RAISE_APPLICATION_ERROR The procedure RAISE_APPLICATION_ERROR lets you issue user-defined ORA- error mes sages from stored subprograms. That way, you can report errors to your application and avoid retur ning unhandled exceptions. To call RAISE_APPLICATION_ERROR, use the syntax raise_application_error( error_number, message[, {TRUE | FALSE}]); where error_number is a negative integer in the range -20000 .. -20999 and messa ge is a character string up to 2048 bytes long. If the optional third parameter is TRUE, the error is placed on the stack of previous errors. If the parameter is FALSE (the default), the error replaces all previous errors. RAISE_APPLICATION_ERROR is part of package DBMS_STANDARD, and as with package STANDARD, you do not need to qualify references to it. An application can call raise_application_error only from an executing stored su bprogram (or method). When called,raise_application_error ends the subprogram and returns a user-defined er ror number and message to the application. The error number and message can be trapped like any Oracle err or. In Example 10-5, you call raise_application_error if an error condition of your choosing happens (in this case, if the current schema owns less than 1000 tables):
Example 10-5 Raising an Application Error With raise_application_error DECLARE num_tables NUMBER; BEGIN SELECT COUNT(*) INTO num_tables FROM USER_TABLES; IF num_tables < 1000 THEN /* Issue your own error code (ORA-20101) with your own error message. Note that you do not need to qualify raise_application_error with DBMS_STANDARD */ raise_application_error(-20101, 'Expecting at least 1000 tables'); ELSE NULL; -- Do the rest of the processing (for the non-error case). END IF; END; /
The calling application gets a PL/SQL exception, which it can process using the error-reporting functions SQLCODE and SQLERRM in anOTHERS handler. Also, it can use the pragma E XCEPTION_INIT to
map specific error numbers returned by raise_application_error to exceptions of its own, as the following Pro*C example shows: EXEC SQL EXECUTE /* Execute embedded PL/SQL block using host variables v_emp_id and v_amount, which were assigned values in the host environment. */ DECLARE null_salary EXCEPTION; /* Map error number returned by raise_application_error to user-defined exception. */ PRAGMA EXCEPTION_INIT(null_salary, -20101); BEGIN raise_salary(:v_emp_id, :v_amount); EXCEPTION WHEN null_salary THEN INSERT INTO emp_audit VALUES (:v_emp_id, ...); END; END-EXEC; This technique allows the calling application to handle error conditions in spec ific exception handlers. Redeclaring Predefined Exceptions Remember, PL/SQL declares predefined exceptions globally in package STANDARD, so you need not declare them yourself. Redeclaring predefined exceptions is error prone because your loc al declaration overrides the global declaration. For example, if you declare an exception named invalid_numbe r and then PL/SQL raises the predefined exception INVALID_NUMBER internally, a handler written forINVALID _NUMBER will not catch the internal exception. In such cases, you must use dot notation to specif y the predefined exception, as follows: EXCEPTION WHEN invalid_number OR STANDARD.INVALID_NUMBER THEN -- handle the error END;
=========================================== ============================= Posted 19th April 2011 by Prafull Dangore
59. APR
13
A Comparison of Oracle's DATE and TIMESTAMP Datatypes ============================================================== A Comparison of Oracle's DATE and TIMESTAMP Datatypes
Oracle date and time data types, calculations around these data types, and just plain who to use them often plauge Oracle users more than they should. Here is an article I wrote a while ba ck but still holds some good insight (I think) to using these data types. Hope you agree. If you want to stor e date and time information in Oracle, you really only have two different options for the column's datatype. Le ts take a quick look at these two datatypes and what they offer. DATE datatype This is the datatype that we are all too familiar with when we think about repre senting date and time values. It has the ability to store the month, day, year, century, hours, minutes, and s econds. It is typically good for representing data for when something has happened or should happen in the future . The problem with the DATE datatype is its' granularity when trying to determine a time interval betwe en two events when the events happen within a second of each other. This issue is solved later in this article when we discuss the TIMESTAMP datatype. In order to represent the date stored in a more readable for mat, the TO_CHAR function has traditionally been wrapped around the date as in Listing A. LISTING A: Formatting a date SQL> SELECT TO_CHAR(date1,'MM/DD/YYYY HH24:MI:SS') "Date" FROM date_table; Date --------------------------06/20/2003 16:55:14 06/26/2003 11:16:36
About the only trouble I have seen people get into when using the DATE datatype is doing arithmetic on the column in order to figure out the number of years, weeks, days, hours, and secon ds between two dates. What needs to be realized when doing the calculation is that when you do subtraction between dates, you get a number that represents the number of days. You should then multiply that number by the number of seconds in a day (86400) before you continue with calculations to determine the interval with which you are concerned. Check out Listing B for my solution on how to extract the individual time intervals for a subtraction of two dates. I am aware that the fractions could be reduced but I w anted to show all the numbers to emphasize the calculation. LISTING B: Determine the interval breakdown between two dates for a DATE datatype 1 SELECT TO_CHAR(date1,'MMDDYYYY:HH24:MI:SS') date1,
2 TO_CHAR(date2,'MMDDYYYY:HH24:MI:SS') date2, 3 trunc(86400*(date2-date1))4 60*(trunc((86400*(date2-date1))/60)) seconds, 5 trunc((86400*(date2-date1))/60)6 60*(trunc(((86400*(date2-date1))/60)/60)) minutes, 7 trunc(((86400*(date2-date1))/60)/60)8 24*(trunc((((86400*(date2-date1))/60)/60)/24)) hours, 9 trunc((((86400*(date2-date1))/60)/60)/24) days, 10 trunc(((((86400*(date2-date1))/60)/60)/24)/7) weeks 11* FROM date_table DATE1 DATE2 SECONDS MINUTES HOURS DAYS WEEKS ----------------- ----------------- ---------- ---------- ---------- ------------------06202003:16:55:14 07082003:11:22:57 43 27 18 17 2 06262003:11:16:36 07082003:11:22:57 21 6 0 12 1
TIMESTAMP datatype One of the main problems with the DATE datatype was its' inability to be granula r enough to determine which event might have happened first in relation to another event. Oracle has e xpanded on the DATE datatype and has given us the TIMESTAMP datatype which stores all the informatio n that the DATE datatype stores, but also includes fractional seconds. If you want to convert a DATE data type to a TIMESTAMP datatype format, just use the CAST function as I do in Listing C. As you can see, there i s a fractional seconds part of '.000000' on the end of this conversion. This is only because when converting fr om the DATE datatype that does not have the fractional seconds it defaults to zeros and the display is def aulted to the default timestamp format (NLS_TIMESTAMP_FORMAT). If you are moving a DATE datatype column from one table to a TIMESTAMP datatype column of another table, all you need to do is a straight INS ERTSELECT FROM and Oracle will do the conversion for you. Look at Listing D for a formatting of the new TIMESTAMP datatype where everything is the same as formatting the DATE datatype as we did in Listin g A. Beware while the TO_CHAR function works with both datatypes, the TRUNC function will not work wit h a datatype of TIMESTAMP. This is a clear indication that the use of TIMESTAMP datatype should explicitly be used for date and times where a difference in time is of utmost importance, such that Oracle w on't even let you compare like values. If you wanted to show the fractional seconds within a TIMESTAMP dat atype, look at Listing E. In Listing E, we are only showing 3 place holders for the fractional seconds. LISTING C: Convert DATE datatype to TIMESTAMP datatype SQL> SELECT CAST(date1 AS TIMESTAMP) "Date" FROM t; Date ----------------------------------------------------20-JUN-03 04.55.14.000000 PM 26-JUN-03 11.16.36.000000 AM LISTING D: Formatting of the TIMESTAMP datatype 1 SELECT TO_CHAR(time1,'MM/DD/YYYY HH24:MI:SS') "Date" FROM date_table Date ------------------06/20/2003 16:55:14 06/26/2003 11:16:36
LISTING E: Formatting of the TIMESTAMP datatype with fractional seconds 1 SELECT TO_CHAR(time1,'MM/DD/YYYY HH24:MI:SS:FF3') "Date" FROM date_table Date ----------------------06/20/2003 16:55:14:000 06/26/2003 11:16:36:000
Calculating the time difference between two TIMESTAMP datatypesdatatype. Look at what happens when you just do straight subtraction of the columns in Listing F. As you can see, the re sults are much easier to recognize, 17days, 18hours, 27minutes, and 43seconds for the first row of output . This means no more worries about how many seconds in a day and all those cumbersome calculations. A nd therefore the calculations for getting the weeks, days, hours, minutes, and seconds becomes a matter of picking out the number by using the SUBSTR function as can be seen in Listing G.
LISTING F: Straight subtraction of two TIMESTAMP datatypes 1 SELECT time1, time2, (time2-time1) 2* FROM date_table TIME1 TIME2 (TIME2-TIME1) ------------------------------ ---------------------------- --------------------06/20/2003:16:55:14:000000 07/08/2003:11:22:57:000000 +000000017 18:27:43.000000 06/26/2003:11:16:36:000000 07/08/2003:11:22:57:000000 +000000012 00:06:21.000000 LISTING G: Determine the interval breakdown between two dates for a TIMESTAMP datatype 1 SELECT time1, 2 time2, 3 substr((time2-time1),instr((time2-time1),' ')+7,2) seconds, 4 substr((time2-time1),instr((time2-time1),' ')+4,2) minutes, 5 substr((time2-time1),instr((time2-time1),' ')+1,2) hours, 6 trunc(to_number(substr((time2-time1),1,instr(time2-time1,' ')))) days, 7 trunc(to_number(substr((time2-time1),1,instr(time2-time1,' ')))/7) weeks 8* FROM date_table TIME1 TIME2 SECONDS MINUTES HOURS DAYS WEEKS ------------------------- -------------------------- ------- ------- ----- -------06/20/2003:16:55:14:000000 07/08/2003:11:22:57:000000 43 27 18 17 2 06/26/2003:11:16:36:000000 07/08/2003:11:22:57:000000 21 06 00 12 1 System Date and Time In order to get the system date and time returned in a DATE datatype, you can us e the SYSDATE function such as : SQL> SELECT SYSDATE FROM DUAL; In order to get the system date and time returned in a TIMESTAMP datatype, you c an use the SYSTIMESTAMP function such as: SQL> SELECT SYSTIMESTAMP FROM DUAL; You can set the initialization parameter FIXED_DATE to return a constant value f or what is returned from the SYSDATE function. This is a great tool for testing date and time sensitive code.
Just beware that this parameter has no effect on the SYSTIMESTAMP function. This can be seen in Listin g H. LISTING H: Setting FIXED_DATE and effects on SYSDATE and SYSTIMESTAMP SQL> ALTER SYSTEM SET fixed_date = '2003-01-01-10:00:00'; System altered.
SQL> select sysdate from dual; SYSDATE --------01-JAN-03
SQL> select systimestamp from dual; SYSTIMESTAMP --------------------------------------------------------09-JUL-03 11.05.02.519000 AM -06:00 When working with date and time, the options are clear. You have at your disposa l the DATE and TIMESTAMP datatypes. Just be aware, while there are similarities, there are also differenc es that could create havoc if you try to convert to the more powerful TIMESTAMP datatype. Each of the two has stre ngths in simplicity and granularity. Choose wisely.
=========================================== ======================= Posted 13th April 2011 by Prafull Dangore
60. APR 13
Informatica Power Center performance Execution
Concurrent Workflow
=========================================================================== Informatica Power Center performance Concurrent Workflow Execution
What is concurrent work flow? A concurrent workflow is a workflow that can run as multiple instances concurren tly. What is workflow instance? A workflow instance is a representation of a workflow. How to configure concurrent workflow? 1) Allow concurrent workflows with the same instance name: Configure one workflow instance to run multiple times concurrently. Each instanc e has the same source, target, and variables parameters. Eg: Create a workflow that reads data from a message queue that determines the s ource data and targets. You can run the instance multiple times concurrently and pass different connection parameters to the workflow instances from the message queue. 2) Configure unique workflow instances to run concurrently: Define each workflow instance name and configure a workflow parameter file for t he instance. You can define different sources, targets, and variables in the parameter file. Eg: Configure workflow instances to run a workflow with different sources and ta rgets. For example, your organization receives sales data from three divisions. You create a workflow that reads the s ales data and writes it to the database. You configure three instances of the workflow. Each instance has a different workflo w parameter file that defines which sales file to process. You can run all instances of the workflow concurrently. How concurrent workflow Works? A concurrent workflow group s logical sessions and tasks together, like a sequenti al workflow, but runs all the tasks at one time. Advantages of Concurrent workflow? This can reduce the load times into the warehouse, taking advantage of hardware platforms Symmetric Multi-Processing
(SMP) architecture. LOAD SCENARIO: Source table records count: 150,622,276 ===========================================================================
61. APR
13
Informatica Performance Improvement Tips
=========================================================================== Informatica Performance Improvement Tips We often come across situations where Data Transformation Manager (DTM) takes mo re time to read from Source or when writing in to a Target. Following standards/guidelines can improve the over all performance. . Use Source Qualifier if the Source tables reside in the same schema . Make use of Source Qualifer Filter Properties if the Source type is Relational. . If the subsequent sessions are doing lookup on the same table, use persistent cache in the first session. Data remains in the Cache and available for the subsequent session for usage. . Use flags as integer, as the integer comparison is faster than the string comp arison. . Use tables with lesser number of records as master table for joins. . While reading from Flat files, define the appropriate data type instead of rea ding as String and converting. . Have all Ports that are required connected to Subsequent Transformations else check whether we can remove these ports . Suppress ORDER BY using the at the end of the query in Lookup Transformations . Minimize the number of Update strategies. . Group by simple columns in transformations like Aggregate, Source Qualifier . Use Router transformation in place of multiple Filter transformations. . Turn off the Verbose Logging while moving the mappings to UAT/Production envir onment. . For large volume of data drop index before loading and recreate indexes after load. . For large of volume of records Use Bulk load Increase the commit interval to a higher value large volume of data . Set Commit on Target in the sessions
===========================================================================
62. APR 13
What is Pushdown Optimization and things to consider
================================================================================ = What is Pushdown Optimization and things to consider The process of pushing transformation logic to the source or target database by Informatica Integration service is known as Pushdown Optimization. When a session is configured to run for Pushdown Optim ization, the Integration Service translates the transformation logic into SQL queries and sends the SQL queries t o the database. The Source or Target Database executes the SQL queries to process the transformations. How does Pushdown Optimization (PO) Works? The Integration Service generates SQL statements when native database driver is used. In case of ODBC drivers, the Integration Service cannot detect the database type and generates ANSI SQL. The Integration Service can usually push more transformation logic to a database if a native driver is used, instead of a n ODBC driver.
For any SQL Override, Integration service creates a view (PM_*) in the database while executing the session task and drops the view after the task gets complete. Similarly it also create sequences (PM_*) in the database. Database schema (SQ Connection, LKP connection), should have the Create View / C reate Sequence Privilege, else the session will fail. Few Benefits in using PO . There is no memory or disk space required to manage the cache in the Informati ca server for Aggregator, Lookup, Sorter and Joiner Transformation, as the transformation logic is pushed to database. . SQL Generated by Informatica Integration service can be viewed before running the session through Optimizer viewer, making easier to debug. . When inserting into Targets, Integration Service do row by row processing usin g bind variable (only soft parse only processing time, no parsing time). But In case of Pushdown Optimization, the sta tement will be executed once.
Without Using Pushdown optimization: INSERT INTO EMPLOYEES(ID_EMPLOYEE, EMPLOYEE_ID, FIRST_NAME, LAST_NAME, EMAIL, PHONE_NUMBER, HIRE_DATE, JOB_ID, SALARY, COMMISSION_PCT, MANAGER_ID,MANAGER_NAME, DEPARTMENT_ID) VALUES (:1, :2, :3, :4, :5, :6, :7, :8, :9, :10, :11, :12, :13) ecutes 7012352 times With Using Pushdown optimization INSERT INTO EMPLOYEES(ID_EMPLOYEE, EMPLOYEE_ID, FIRST_NAME, LAST_NAME, EMAIL, PH ONE_NUMBER, HIRE_DATE, JOB_ID, SALARY, COMMISSION_PCT, MANAGER_ID, MANAGER_NAME, DEPARTMENT_ ID) SELECT CAST(PM_SJEAIJTJRNWT45X3OO5ZZLJYJRY.NEXTVAL AS NUMBER(15, 2)), EMPLOYEES_SRC.EMP LOYEE_ID, EMPLOYEES_SRC.FIRST_NAME, EMPLOYEES_SRC.LAST_NAME, CAST((EMPLOYEES_SRC.EMAIL || @ gmail.com ) AS VARCHAR2(25)), EMPLOYEES_SRC.PHONE_NUMBER, CAST(EMPLOYEES_SRC.HIRE_DATE AS date) , EMPLOYEES_SRC.JOB_ID, EMPLOYEES_SRC.SALARY, EMPLOYEES_SRC.COMMISSION_PCT, EMPLOYEES_SRC.MANAGER_ID, NULL, EMPLOYEES_SRC.DEPARTMENT_ID FROM (EMPLOYEES_SRC LEFT OUTER JOIN EMPLOYEES PM_Alkp_emp_mgr_1 ON (PM_Alkp_emp_mgr_1.EMPLOYEE_ID = EMPLOYEES_SRC.MA NAGER_ID)) WHERE ((EMPLOYEES_SRC.MANAGER_ID = (SELECT PM_Alkp_emp_mgr_1.EMPLOYEE_ID FROM EMPLOYEE S PM_Alkp_emp_mgr_1 WHERE (PM_Alkp_emp_mgr_1.EMPLOYEE_ID = EMPLOYEES_SRC.MANAGER_I D))) OR (0=0)) executes 1 time ex
Things to note when using PO There are cases where the Integration Service and Pushdown Optimization can prod uce different result sets for the same transformation logic. This can happen during data type conversion, handling null values, case sensitivity, sequence generation, and sorting of data. The database and Integration Service produce different output when the following settings and conversions are different: . Nulls treated as the highest or lowest value: While sorting the data, the Inte gration Service can treat null values as lowest, but database treats null values as the highest value in the sort order. . SYSDATE built-in variable: Built-in Variable SYSDATE in the Integration Servic e returns the current date and time for the node running the service process. However, in the database, the SYSDATE retu rns the current date and time for the machine hosting the database. If the time zone of the machine hosting the databa se is not the same as the time zone of the machine running the Integration Service process, the results can vary. . Date Conversion: The Integration Service converts all dates before pushing tra nsformations to the database and if the format is not supported by the database, the session fails. . Logging: When the Integration Service pushes transformation logic to the datab ase, it cannot trace all the events that occur inside the database server. The statistics the Integration Service can tra ce depend on the type of pushdown optimization. When the Integration Service runs a session configured for full pu shdown optimization and an error occurs, the database handles the errors. When the database handles errors, the Integrati on Service does not write reject rows to the reject file.
================================================================================ = Posted 13th April 2011 by Prafull Dangore
63. APR 13
SQL query
select OPB_SUBJECT.SUBJ_NAME, OPB_MAPPING.MAPPING_NAME,OPB_SRC.source_name from opb_mapping, opb_subject, opb_src, opb_widget_inst where opb_subject.SUBJ_ID = opb_mapping.SUBJECT_ID and OPB_MAPPING.MAPPING_ID = OPB_WIDGET_INST.MAPPING_ID and OPB_WIDGET_Inst.WIDGET_ID = OPB_SRC.SRC_ID and OPB_widget_inst.widget_type=1; Posted 13th April 2011 by Prafull Dangore
64. MAR 28
How to remove/trim special characters in flatfile source field? Consolidated Info Que. How to remove special characters like ## in the below ... Can any one suggest... Prod_Code --#PC97## #PC98## #PC99## #PC125# #PC156# ------#PC767# #PC766# #PC921# #PC1020 #PC1071 #PC1092 #PC1221 i want to remove that special characters....
i want to load in the target just Prod_Code ---
PC9 PC98 PC99 PC125 PC156 . Ans: In expression ,use the replacechar function and in that just replace # with null char. REPLACECHR Availability: Designer Workflow Manager
Replaces characters in a string with a single character or no character. REPLACE CHR searches the input string for the characters you specify and replaces all occurrences of all charac ters with the new character you specify. Syntax REPLACECHR( CaseFlag, InputString, OldCharSet, NewChar ) Argument Required/ Optional Description CaseFlag Required Must be an integer. Determines whether the arguments in this function are case sensitive. You can enter any valid transformation expression. When CaseFlag is a number other than 0, the function is case sensitive. When CaseFlag is a null value or 0, the function is not case sensitive. InputString Required Must be a character string. Passes the string you want to search. You can enter any valid transformation expression. If you pass a numeric value, the function converts it to a character string.
If InputString is NULL, REPLACECHR returns NULL. OldCharSet Required Must be a character string. The characters you want to replace. You can enter one or more characters. You can enter any valid transformation expression. You can also enter a text literal enclosed within single quotation marks, for example, 'abc'. If you pass a numeric value, the function converts it to a character string. If OldCharSet is NULL or empty, REPLACECHR returns InputString. NewChar Required Must be a character string. You can enter one character, an empty string, or NULL. You can enter any valid transformation expression. If NewChar is NULL or empty, REPLACECHR removes all
occurrences of all characters inOldCharSet in InputString. If NewChar contains more than one character, REPLACECHR uses the first character to replaceOldCharSet.
Return Value String. Empty string if REPLACECHR removes all characters in InputString. NULL if InputString is NULL. InputString if OldCharSet is NULL or empty. Examples The following expression removes the double quotes from web log data for each ro w in the WEBLOG port: REPLACECHR( 0, WEBLOG, '"', NULL ) WEBLOG RETURN VALUE "GET /news/index.html HTTP/1.1" GET /news/index.html HTTP/1.1 "GET /companyinfo/index.html HTTP/1.1" GET /companyinfo/index.html HTTP/1.1 GET /companyinfo/index.html HTTP/1.1 GET /companyinfo/index.html HTTP/1.1 NULL NULL
The following expression removes multiple characters for each row in the WEBLOG port: REPLACECHR ( 1, WEBLOG, ']["', NULL ) WEBLOG RETURN VALUE [29/Oct/2001:14:13:50 -0700] 29/Oct/2001:14:13:50 -0700
[31/Oct/2000:19:45:46 -0700] "GET /news/index.html HTTP/1.1" 31/Oct/2000:19:45:46 -0700 GET /news/index.html HTTP/1.1 [01/Nov/2000:10:51:31 -0700] "GET /news/index.html HTTP/1.1" 01/Nov/2000:10:51:31 -0700 GET /news/index.html HTTP/1.1 NULL NULL
The following expression changes part of the value of the customer code for each row in the CUSTOMER_CODE port: REPLACECHR ( 1, CUSTOMER_CODE, 'A', 'M' ) CUSTOMER_CODE RETURN VALUE ABA MBM abA abM BBC BBC ACC MCC NULL NULL
The following expression changes part of the value of the customer code for each row in the CUSTOMER_CODE port:
REPLACECHR ( 0, CUSTOMER_CODE, 'A', 'M' ) CUSTOMER_CODE RETURN VALUE ABA MBM abA MbM BBC BBC ACC MCC
The following expression changes part of the value of the customer code for each row in the CUSTOMER_CODE port: REPLACECHR ( 1, CUSTOMER_CODE, 'A', NULL ) CUSTOMER_CODE RETURN VALUE ABA B BBC BBC ACC CC AAA [empty string] aaa aaa NULL NULL
The following expression removes multiple numbers for each row in the INPUT port : REPLACECHR ( 1, INPUT, '14', NULL ) INPUT RETURN VALUE 12345 235 4141 NULL 111115 5 NULL NULL
When you want to use a single quote (') in either OldCharSet or NewChar, you mus t use the CHR function. The single quote is the only character that cannot be used inside a st ring literal. The following expression removes multiple characters, including the single quote , for each row in the INPUT port: REPLACECHR (1, INPUT, CHR(39), NULL ) INPUT RETURN VALUE 'Tom Smith' 'Laura Jones' Tom Smith Laura Jones Tom's Toms NULL NULL
Posted 28th March 2011 by Prafull Dangore
65.
MAR 25
What is Delta data load? -> Consolidated Info
A delta load, by definition, is loading incremental changes to the data. When do ing a delta load to a fact table, for example, you perform inserts only... appending the change data to the existing table.
Delta checks can be done in a number of ways. Different logics can accomplish th is. One way is to check if the record exists or not by doing a lookup on the keys. Then if the Keys don't exist then it should be inserted as new records and if the record exist th en compare the Hash value of non key attributes of the table which are candidates for chang e. If the Hash values are different then they are updated records. (For Hash Values you ca n use MD5 function in Informatica) If you are keeping History (Full History) for the table then it adds a little more complexity in the sense that you have to update the old record and i nsert a new record for changed data. This can also be done with 2 separate tables with one a s current version and another as History version. Posted 25th March 2011 by Prafull Dangore
66. MAR 25
Define: Surrogate Key -> Consolidated Info
Definition: Surrogate key is a substitution for the natural primary key in Data Warehousing. It is just a unique identifier or number for each row that can be used for the p
rimary key to the table. The only requirement for a surrogate primary key is that it is unique for each r ow in the table. It is useful because the natural primary key can change and this makes updates m ore difficult. Surrogated keys are always integer or numeric. Scenario overview and details To illustrate this example, we will use two made up sources of information to pr ovide data about customers dimension. Each extract contains customer records with a business key (natural key) assigned to it. In order to isolate the data warehouse from source systems, we will introduce a technical surrogate key instead of re-using the source system's natural (business) key. A unique and common surrogate key is a one-field numeric key which is shorter, e asier to maintain and understand, and independent from changes in source system than using a business key. Also, if a surrogate key generation process is implemented correctly, adding a new source s ystem to the data warehouse processing will not require major efforts.
Surrogate key generation mechanism may vary depending on the requirements, howe ver the inputs and outputs usually fit into the design shown below: Inputs: - an input respresented by an extract from the source system - datawarehouse table reference for identifying the existing records - maximum key lookup Outputs: - output table or file with newly assigned surrogate keys - new maximum key - updated reference table with new records Posted 25th March 2011 by Prafull Dangore
Loading Send feedback

Informatica Scenario Based

Uploaded by

Document Information

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Informatica Scenario Based

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

1.

SQL Transformation with examples

create table create_emp_table (emp_id number,emp_name varchar2(100))

insert into create_emp_table values (1,'abc')

============================================================================= Posted 5 weeks ago by Prafull Dangore

Efficient SQL Statements : SQL Tunning Tips

IF v_count = 0 THEN -- Do processing related to no small items present END IF; OR

Posted 7th June by Prafull Dangore

Function : NVL2 and COALESCE

SQL> SELECT * FROM null_test_tab ORDER BY id;

ID OUTPUT ---------- ---------1 TWO 2 THREE 3 THREE 4 THREE

ID OUTPUT ---------- ---------1 ONE 2 TWO 3 THREE 4 THREE

Posted 7th June by Prafull Dangore

Posted 8th February by Prafull Dangore

Use Target File Path in Parameter File

Posted 30th December 2011 by Prafull Dangore

Insert and reject records using update strategy.

2. In properties of Update Strategy write the condition like this IIF(SAL<3000,DD_INSERT,DD_REJECT)

3. Connectthe Update Strategy to target

Posted 27th December 2011 by Prafull Dangore

Convert Numeric Value to Date Format

Posted 27th December 2011 by Prafull Dangore

How to change a string to decimal with 2 decimal places in informatica?

SUBSTR(INPUT_FIELD, 1, LENGTH(INPUT_FIELD) - 2) || '.' || SUBSTR(INPUT_FIELD, -2 )

Posted 26th December 2011 by Prafull Dangore

Append the data in a flat file for a daily run

We have an option in Informatica "Append if exists" in target session propertie s.

Posted 26th December 2011 by Prafull Dangore

Convert Day No. to corresponding month and date of year

Posted 22nd December 2011 by Prafull Dangore

How to delete duplicate rows in a table?

Scenario: How to delete duplicate rows in a table?

Posted 22nd December 2011 by Prafull Dangore

How to get nth max salaries ?

Scenario: How to get nth max salaries ?

Posted 22nd December 2011 by Prafull Dangore

How to get 3 Max & Min salaries?

Scenario: How to get 3 Max & Min salaries?

Posted 22nd December 2011 by Prafull Dangore

Find FIRST & LAST n records from a table.

Scenario: Find FIRST & LAST n records from a table.

Solution: First - select * from emp where rownum <= &n;

Posted 22nd December 2011 by Prafull Dangore

Posted 22nd December 2011 by Prafull Dangore

Posted 22nd December 2011 by Prafull Dangore

SQL questions which are the most frequently asked in interviews.

Complex Queries in SQL ( Oracle )

Posted 22nd December 2011 by Prafull Dangore

Complex Queries in SQL ( Oracle )

Complex Queries in SQL ( Oracle )

Posted 22nd December 2011 by Prafull Dangore

Informatica Quiz: Set 2

Which one support hetrogeneous join? Explanation:

. source qualifier . joiner (correct) . look up

Is Fact table is normalised ? Explanation: . yes

Can we generate alpha-numeric value in sequence generator? Explanation: . yes . no (correct)

Posted 22nd December 2011 by Prafull Dangore

Informatica Quiz: Set 1

Can we calculate in aggrigator ? Explanation: . No . Yes (correct)

Joiner does not support flat file. Explanation: . False (correct)

Posted 22nd December 2011 by Prafull Dangore

How large is the database,used and free space?

Scenario: How large is the database,used and free space?

Posted 22nd December 2011 by Prafull Dangore