In this video tutorial, we’ll demonstrate
how to export the metadata for an entire Tenant to a local .zip file. The metadata exported
will contain all of the Applications, Views, View Hierarchies, Connections, Selectors and
Selector Lists, Tools and Toolbars Configurations, Binary Artifacts, Workbook Scripts, and SQL
Passthrough Datasets associated with a given Tenant. Basically, we will be exporting a complete
copy of the Tenant that can be stored for backup or used for migration to a new server
or database. In this video, we will cover the following
tasks: 1) Exporting the metadata of a Tenant to a
local .zip file. 2) Importing the metadata of the original
Tenant into a new or empty Tenant using the Application Setup Utility. And 3) Importing the metadata of the original
Tenant into an existing Tenant using the “Import Metadata From Local Zip File” utility within
Dodeca. Let’s start by exporting the metadata of a
current Tenant to a local .zip file. From inside the Admin Application of the Tenant
you wish to export, navigate to “Admin>Import/Export Utilites>Export Metadata To Local Zip File”
on the Dodeca Menu. The “Export Metadata To Local Zip File” dialog
will appear. Assuming you wish to export the entire Tenant, click the checkbox in the title
row at the top of the grid to select all of the available Metadata. Once all of the Metadata has been selected,
click the “Export” button at the bottom of the dialog. A “Save As” dialog will appear, prompting
us to save the exported Metadata to a local Zip file. Choose a name and location for the .zip file
and then press “Save”. In this tutorial, we’re going to save the
.zip file to the desktop as “FINANCE.zip”, because we are exporting the Metadata for
the Tenant FINANCE. At this point, our Tenant FINANCE is backed
up and we can go ahead and close the Dodeca Application. Now let’s assume that we want to restore our
Tenant FINANCE from the backup or, for example, move it from a development to a production
server. In this procedure, we will be importing the
metadata of our original Tenant into a new (or empty) Tenant using the Application Setup
Utility. From the Start Menu of a computer on which
the Dodeca Framework is installed, navigate to “Applied OLAP>Utilities>Application
Setup Utility”. From the Application Setup Utility, enter
the Server, Port, and Servlet Name and then click “Next”. Because in this tutorial, we are working with
an existing Dodeca database containing other Tenants, we do not want to Update the Database
Schema. If you’re restoring your exported Tenant or
Tenants to a new Dodeca database, or if you want to completely wipe your existing Dodeca
database before the restore, you’ll want to Update the Database Schema before proceeding.
Note that this procedure drops all existing tables in the database, so if you have any
question about how to proceed, we recommend backing up the database in question before
Updating the Schema. Go ahead and click “Next”. If you’re working with a new Database or adding
the exported Tenant to a different Dodeca database, enter a unique tenant keyword into
the text box. Remember that Tenant keywords and Application IDs in Dodeca are usually
expressed in all capital letters with only alphanumeric characters and no spaces. Also,
note that you don’t have to use the same Tenant name as before. Dodeca will update the Metadata
upon import to reflect the newly assigned Tenant keyword. If you intend to restore the exported Metadata
to an existing Tenant, click on the “Select an existing tenant” radio button and then
select the desired tenant from the dropdown. Because we didn’t Update the Database Schema
on this machine, we’ll select the existing Tenant from which we made the backup, FINANCE. Because we did not Update the Database Schema
or create a new Tenant, our FINANCE Tenant and all of its Metadata are still present
in the database. We’ll go ahead and click “Delete All Existing Metadata from Tenant”
to ensure that we are working with an empty Tenant before restoring the exported Metadata. Note that it is possible to selectively update
or restore only some pieces of an existing Tenant’s metadata. If you wish to do this,
don’t click “Delete All Existing Metadata from Tenant” at this time. You’ll be able
to choose which pieces of Metadata you wish to import and overwrite in the next step. If you did Update the Database Schema or create
a new Tenant in the previous steps, you’re already working with an empty Tenant now. I’m going to go ahead an open up Internet
Explorer and attempt to launch the FINANCE ADMIN Application in order to show that the
Metadata for the Tenant FINANCE has been deleted. Whether you’re working with a new or an existing
Tenant, we’ll now go ahead and click “Import Metadata from Local Zip File…”. In the “Open” dialog that appears, locate
the .zip file you exported earlier and then press “Open”. We’d saved our file, “FINANCE.zip”,
to the Desktop. Because we want to import the entire exported
Tenant, we’ll click the checkbox in the title row at the top of the grid to select all of
the available Metadata. Once all of the Metadata has been selected,
click the “Import” button at the bottom of the dialog. After the Metadata has been imported, press
“Close” and then click “Next”. We don’t need to update any Modules at this
time, so again, click “Next”. Because the Metadata that we just imported
already contained the ADMIN and USER Applications, instead of adding a new Application, we’re
going to choose ‘Select an existing application from tenant “FINANCE”‘, and then select the
“ADMIN” Application from the dropdown. After you select the “ADMIN” Application,
click “Next”. Unless you want to edit the Application settings
at this time, go ahead and click “Next” again. At this point, the Tenant FINANCE has been
completely restored. Go ahead and launch the Dodeca Smart Client by copying and pasting
the ClickOnce URL into Internet Explorer or simply click the link provided. Everything appears to be in order, but let’s
go ahead and test our existing Report. We’ve successfully restored our Tenant from
a local .zip. In this video tutorial, so far we’ve covered: 1) Exporting the metadata of a tenant to a
local .zip file and then 2) Importing the metadata of the
original Tenant into a new or empty Tenant using the Application Setup Utility. If you wish to explore further options for
Importing Metadata in Dodeca, you can start with the “Import/Export Utilities” on the
Dodeca Menu. To restore previously exported Metadata from
within a Dodeca Admin Application, navigate to “Admin>Import/Export Utilities>Import
Metadata From Local Zip File”. Again, find and open the Zip file containing
your previously exported Metadata. We’ll use the same file as before, “FINANCE.zip”. We’re going to click the checkbox in the title
row at the top of the grid to select all of the available Metadata, which represents the
whole Tenant FINANCE, but note that you can use this Utility from within Dodeca to restore
individual pieces of Metadata such as Applications, Views, Connections, Selectors, and the rest. Once you’ve selected the Metadata you wish
to import, press the “Import” button at the bottom of the dialog. If a piece of Metadata that you’re importing
already exists in the Dodeca database for the current Tenant, you will be prompted. In this case, we’ll want to overwrite the
current Metadata with the Metadata we exported earlier, so press “Yes to All”. Once the Metadata is finished being imported,
you can click “Close”. Again, we’ll test our report or reports to
make sure everything was imported correctly. Everything looks good. Now you know the basic
procedures for Importing and Exporting Metadata in Dodeca.