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Focal Point    Focal Point Forums  Hop To Forum Categories  WebFOCUS/FOCUS Forum on Focal Point     [SOLVED]Permanent hold files vs database views

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[SOLVED]Permanent hold files vs database views
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I am new to WebFOCUS, so please let me know if I am not using the proper jargon.

My boss wants to replace permanent hold files with database views in Oracle. I have been asked to research the pros and cons of this approach. Our hold files contain anywhere from a few hundred records to a few million records. So, I would appreciate any feedback that I can get.

Thanks.
Raj

This message has been edited. Last edited by: <Emily McAllister>,


WebFOCUS 8.x, Windows, HTML/PDF
 
Posts: 23 | Registered: April 29, 2016Report This Post
Virtuoso
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What's the format of your HOLD files? Are you creating HOLD FORMAT FOCUS files?


WebFOCUS 8206, Unix, Windows
 
Posts: 1853 | Location: New York City | Registered: December 30, 2015Report This Post
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Looking at the code, it looks like we are creating HOLD FORMAT XFOCUS files.


WebFOCUS 8.x, Windows, HTML/PDF
 
Posts: 23 | Registered: April 29, 2016Report This Post
Virtuoso
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So, the data is stored in .foc files on disk not in a DBMS like Oracle. You can back them up just like any disk file. No need to go through the DBMS backup and restore procedure. They are also much easier to transport from one directory to another. The advantage of putting these extracts in a DBMS is that they'll be a part of back up process and you won't need to deal with them separately. FOCUS hold files may also have a little less overhead in processing because you don't have the DBMS involved. That might not necessarily be noticeable. The main question is why does your boss wants this done? Does your boss think there's a specific benefit?


WebFOCUS 8206, Unix, Windows
 
Posts: 1853 | Location: New York City | Registered: December 30, 2015Report This Post
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One of the reasons is that we have had numerous issues in the past few months where the permanent hold files would not get refreshed and we would end up with old/no data.

But I think the main reason is that we are trying to refactor our datamart and properly stage the data we need at he database level. So, if we are doing all this work at the database level, my boss wants to know why we need to maintain datasets both in our datamart (as views) and as permanent hold files.


WebFOCUS 8.x, Windows, HTML/PDF
 
Posts: 23 | Registered: April 29, 2016Report This Post
Virtuoso
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That's a very good reason. Usually, these hold files are used for quick caching of data or transformation of data that's hard to report from. I've also seen very complex code that almost functions like ETL which ends up putting the answer set in a hold file for reporting. If you are creating a dimensional model and going through the process of creating a DM, then it makes sense to eliminate the hold files so you only have a single source of the truth but still utilize hold files when they make reporting convenient.


WebFOCUS 8206, Unix, Windows
 
Posts: 1853 | Location: New York City | Registered: December 30, 2015Report This Post
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