View Minder

The View Minder utility is used to accommodate for database changes that may adversely impact Click, Drag & Drill (CDD) reports after an update. For example, numerous changes were made in a release to the PE data structures. Some of the fields that were in the table, pe_name_mstr, where moved into newly created tables (e.g., pe_vend_dtl, pe_customer_dtl, etc.). Consequently, CDD reports that have been written to read against older data structures will no longer function properly after a release is installed. To minimize this impact, the CDD View Minder utility was created. It should be run once an update process is complete. The utility substitutes table names (e.g., pe_name_mstr) with a view name that mimics the old structure. The view is installed at client sites as part of the regular update process.

Running the Utility

Step 1 — Verify that the View Minder views are defined in the DBMS. Prior to converting reports to use associated views, you will first want to make sure that the view definitions are defined in the target DBMS. For example, using SQL:

• Select * from pe_name_mstr_view
• Select * from pe_addr_dtl_view

If you are unable to find the views, you can use the definitions displayed by the View Minder utility to create them. Once the view definitions have been verified you are ready to proceed.

Step 2 — Create an unload file from CDD. From a PC with the CDD application installed on it, log in into CDD and perform an Unload of all the reports, information categories and tables.  Once you have created the unload file, make sure a copy is preserved in a safe spot in case the need arises to restore back to the pre-converted definitions.

Step 3 — Convert the CDD Load file to utilize helper views. From a PC with the Admin Console application installed on it, start that application. From the Options Panel, open the CDD Admin/Utilities/View Minder option.  Press the "…" button on the Unload File line and select the CDD unload file that you created in Step 2. Now press the "…" button on the Work Folder line to pick a folder where the conversion work will be performed. Do not pick the same location as the unload file, as all files the work folder will be deleted. Enter a name for the resulting converted load file and click the Convert File button. After the conversion is completed, a list of actions taken will be presented in the Conversion Results text area.

Step 4 — Load the converted load file. From a PC with the CDD application installed on it, log in into CDD and load the newly-created load file.