Show TOC

Saving Data Flow Documentation as an HTML FileLocate this document in the navigation structure

Use

You can display the data flow documentation for an entire data flow in HTML format as a preview, and save it as an HTML file on a computer, or print it. In this way, you can keep a record of the current modeling status and obtain a good basis for documentation or for an audit of your BW project.

The data flow documentation contains the following information:

  • Header data: date on which the HTML page was created, and the system that contains the data flow

  • Overview table for the objects of the data flow. The object names are linked, and clicking these links displays information about the objects.

  • For each active object in a data flow:

    • If available: documentation created in graphical modeling.

    • Metadata description from the Metadata Repository:

      • Table containing a description of the object containing the technical name, descriptions (short and long), object version, the user who last changed the object, the last change, and the logical system name

      • If available: links to BW documents about the object

      • Table containing an overview of the metadata for the object, for example contained objects such as InfoObjects or object-specific details

        For some object types, you can show and hide additional details. For example, for transformations, you can show or hide the field details and rule details (formula definitions and ABAP code of the routines, including the start routine, end routine, and expert routines), and for InfoSets, you can show or hide the InfoProviders and their fields and the join conditions.

      • For transformations:

        • Table showing an overview of field mapping

        • For each conversion, formula, or routine: list of fields used in the overview of field mapping

      • For data transfer processes:

        • List of fields used in the filter with information on the filter conditions

        • List of key fields for error stack

      • Tables containing overviews of objects in the environment, such as required objects, objects from which data was received, or objects to which data was passed.

From the preview, you can display an HTML file containing the documentation for the queries for all InfoProviders and planning functions contains in the data flow. You can also save this documentation as an HTML file.

Procedure

Calling the Data Flow Documentation as a Preview

You can display the data flow documentation from the graphical modeling and from the data flow display:

  • If you are in the graphical modeling, choose Data Flow Documentation from the Data Warehousing Workbench toolbar or Save Documentation as HTML from the graphical modeling toolbar.

    Note

    You can only call the function if there is an active version of the data flow object and the current version of the object is the active version. For example, if you activate a data flow after editing it, the modified version (M version) is retained in graphical modeling and you cannot call the function. In this case, in the header data area, in the Version field, choose the Active entry, or exit the data flow maintenance and reopen the data flow.

  • If you are in the data flow display, choose Save Documentation as HTML from the data flow display toolbar.

The system displays the HTML documentation for the data flow as a preview in a window.

Navigating in the Preview

The following navigation options are available:

  • From the overview table of the objects in the data flow or, if the data flow exists as a data flow object, from the Required Objects table for the data flow object: you can display the documentation for the individual objects contained in the data flow by clicking the object names.

  • You can return to the start of the file by clicking the Up link in the top right of the documentation area for an object.

  • You can return to the previous navigation status in the preview by choosing Back (right mouse button) in the context menu of the embedded browser.

  • A standard Web browser is embedded using SAP HTML Viewer in the preview screen. This means you can use standard browser functions such as Back, Find and Print, which you can access in the context menu (right-click) or by pressing the relevant keyboard shortcuts.

  • If you open links to BW documents that are displayed in the preview window, you can return to the previous page of the preview by choosing Back in the embedded browser.

Setting the Detail Level of the Information in the Preview

The following functions are available in the toolbar of the preview screen:

Function

Description

Show Transformation Details

Shows the field details and rule details for all transformations contained in the data flow.

Hide Transformation Details

Hides the field details and rule details for all transformations contained in the data flow.

You can also show or hide detailed information, such as field and/or rule details for transformations or the InfoSet details at the level of individual objects. To do this, choose the corresponding buttons, which are displayed in the documentation area for the object.

Display Query Documentation

The query documentation is not contained directly in the HTML preview of the data flow. To switch to the preview of the query documentation, choose Display Query Documentation from the toolbar of the preview screen. In the query documentation, you can use the InfoProvider overview to display the documentation of the queries of an InfoProvider by clicking the object name of the InfoProvider.

You can return from the preview of the query documentation to the preview of the data flow by choosing Data Flow Documentation in the toolbar of the preview screen.

Saving the Documentation from the Preview as a File or Files

You can save the documentation as a file or files on a computer by choosing Save Documentation in preview toolbar. This saves the documentation as it is currently displayed in the preview, that is, with information shown or hidden. The following options are available when saving:

  • With data flow documentation (HTML file)

  • With query documentation (HTML file)

  • With data flow graphic (JPG file)

Once you have confirmed your selection, you specify a storage location and enter a file name. The system uses the technical name of the data flow as the default file name. The file names for the different files use the following naming convention:

  • Data flow documentation: <specified file name>.HTML

  • Query documentation: <specified file name>_QUERY.HTML

  • Data flow graphic: <specified file name>.jpg

If you open the HTML files, they are displayed in the browser. As in the preview, a number of navigation options are available in the HTML files:

  • As in the preview, from the overview of the objects, you can display the documentation for individual objects by clicking the object names, and can return to the start of the file from there by choosing the Up link.

  • You can also return to the previous navigation status by choosing Back (right-click) in the context menu of the browser.

  • If BW documents exist for the objects, you can also display these from the HTML files. When you open the first BW document, you log on to the BW system on which the documents are stored. You can also return to the previous page here by choosing Back from the context menu of the browser (right mouse button). Note that the SAP front end (SAP GUI) must be installed on the computer before you can log on to the BW system.

  • Depending on your browser settings, at the level of the individual objects in the HTML files, you can also show and hide details such as transformations or InfoSets.

Printing the Documentation from the Preview

You can print the data flow documentation or query documentation (or, for example, save them as PDF files by using a PDF printer driver) by choosing Print in the toolbar of the data flow preview or the query preview.