Displaying the Data Flow for an Object

Context

In the Modeling functional area of the Data Warehousing Workbench, you can use a network graphic to display the data flow of objects in BW. This makes the interrelations and dependencies between individual objects clearer.

Procedure

To display the data flow graphic for an object, display an object's context menu in the Data Warehousing Workbench object tree by right-clicking the object and choose Display Data Flow.

You can call this function from the following objects: InfoAreas, InfoProviders, aggregation levels, open hub destinations, InfoSources, and DataSources.
In the following dialog box, choose whether you want to display the data flow upwards, downwards, or in both directions.

Note
If an InfoArea contains multiple InfoProviders, you can also display the data flows for multiple initial objects starting from the InfoArea. To do this, select the desired object or desired objects in the list.

The graphic or graphics for the data flows are displayed in the subscreen on the right in the Data Warehousing Workbench.

The objects and rules connected to the initial object are displayed.

All active and inactive objects in the data flow are always displayed. The object symbol indicates the status. If the symbol is grayed out, the object is inactive; otherwise the object is active.

The objects themselves represent nodes (boxes) in the graphic. The rules that describe the dependencies between the objects are displayed as connections (arrows), and you can the type of each rule is indicated by an icon. The nodes contain the object symbol and the descriptive text. If you select an arrow with the mouse, the quick info indicates which rule connects the two objects.

The initial objects selected in the dialog box are displayed in yellow in the data flow display. Deleted objects that are still being used as the target or source of a transformation are displayed in red. Runtime objects are displayed in gray.
You can call the context menu for Data Warehousing Workbench from a selected object or rule. This allows you to change the data model from the data flow display. Standard functions are available in the context menu for persistent objects (nodes and connections). These functions are also available in the object trees in the Data Warehousing Workbench. Double-click the object to access the object maintenance.

The following functions are available in the toolbar of the data flow display:

Function	Description
	When you refresh the display, any objects that have been added to or deleted from the data flow are displayed.
	The layout of the currently-displayed data flow is optimized, but the graphic is not updated.
	Displays the data flow either vertically or horizontally.
	Zooms into the graphic.
	Zooms out of the graphic.
	Zooms in/out of the graphic or resizes the graphic to fit the screen area.
	Shows or hides the navigation window. This window makes it easier to navigate in a complex data flow that cannot be displayed in full on the screen.
	You can save the data flow you display here as an object (TLOGO object type DMOD). To do so, in the following dialog box, enter an InfoArea, a name, and a description. You can then display the data flow in the InfoArea. For more information, see Creating Data Flows or Data Flow Templates.
	Prints the graphic.
	Saves the graphic as a JPEG file on a local computer.
	You can save all of the documentation for a data flow (including metadata descriptions from the metadata repository) as an HTML file. For more information, see Saving Data Flow Documentation as an HTML File.
	Shows or hides the technical names of the objects.
	Runtime objects such as InfoPackages and data transfer processes are displayed.
	With this function, you can highlight all the objects that are located before or after a selected object in the data flow. If you then select a different data flow element, only the connections remain highlighted.
	This function removes the highlighting from the data flow connections.
	The documentation about the functions of the data flow display is displayed.
	The data flow display is closed. You return to the object tree in the Data Warehousing Workbench from which you called the data flow display.