Training

Do you or your colleagues find the names of your collections, tables, and columns difficult to understand? Or perhaps the names are too short, and aren't easily identified by those who need to use them. You can use ShowCase Warehouse Manager's aliases with ShowCase QueryT and ShowCase Report WriterT to make the name of objects more meaningful and easier to use. (Those individuals who are familiar and comfortable can still type in the actual name of the object). In addition, an alias can be assigned for each of the languages on your IBM® System i5T (eServer® iSeriesT).

You can assign aliases to collections, or libraries. For example, a library titled HRDBFA may be called Payroll or another name that is more useful to users. To set up an alias for your library:

1. Go to the Tools menu, select Fast Path to Aliases, and choose Library Aliases.
2. Select your Datasource, and click Next to see the dialog box below.



3. After you select your collection, click Finish to go to the next dialog box. If there are aliases already assigned, they will be displayed. You can edit the existing alias or add a new alias. You can also give the collection an alias name and/or description.

If you’d like to assign an alias to your tables or files:

1. Go to the Tools menu, and select Fast Path to Table Aliases, and choose Table Aliases.
2. Select your table, and click Finish to go the next dialog box.



3. If there are aliases already assigned, they will be displayed. You can edit the existing alias or add a new alias. You can also define an alias name and/or description for the table.

Finally, you can add aliases to columns, or fields, so that it’s easier to find the information you need:

1. Go to the Tools menu, select Fast Path to Aliases, and choose Column Aliases.
2. Select your column, and click Finish to go the next dialog box.



3. Give the column a name, a description, and an optional column heading. If a column heading is not defined, the alias name will be used as the column heading.



4. By default, Allow as Distinct is selected; this allows the column to return distinct rows only and enables users to select from a distinct list of values when creating a condition in the conditions dialog box. If you deselect Allow as Distinct and wish to create a condition, a list of values will not be available from the drop down box of values. This can be useful if you are working with columns that contain social security numbers—in an employee master file, for example, each SSN would be unique.
5. Allow in Join is also selected by default. If you deselect it, the column will not be available for use in joins. This can make it easier for you to create queries.