In this recipe, we will see how a modeler starts working in SAP HANA Studio to accomplish modeling activities. To perform any modeling activity, we have to switch to the Modeler perspective.
All the modeling activities will be done from this perspective. We will be creating tables, information views, SQL procedures, and so on. Let us talk in brief about this perspective.
SAP HANA Modeler is a graphical data modeling tool used to design analytical models and analytical privileges. Analytical models are used to load data and report on top of them, whereas analytical privileges are used to restrict access to those models. SAP HANA Modeler is intended for users with extensive technical knowledge and can therefore be regarded as the more powerful tool. The Modeler perspective supports functions as shown:
Creating information views (attribute/analytic/calculation) and analytic privileges
Processing models
Administration tasks such as managing modeling content
Importing table definitions/schemas
Loading data
The Modeler perspective is as shown in the following screenshot:
In the modeling section of SAP HANA, there are several things to know. A few of them are explained in this recipe.
Information views are of different types— Attribute View, Analytic View, and Calculation View. When we use an information composer, a calculation view is created. Calculation views are basically a query which is built on top of analytic views and other calculation views to meet a complex business requirement.
Some of the features are as follows:
Attribute views
Analytic views
Calculation views
Transportable design time objects are stored in the repository
Database objects (column store views) are generated from these development artifacts
SQLScript provides a flexible programming language environment as a combination of imperative and functional expressions of SQL. The significant part is that it allows developers to easily express data and control flow logic by using DDL, DML, and SQL query statements as well as imperative language constructs, such as loops and conditionals. On the other hand, functional expressions are used to express declarative logic for the efficient execution of data-intensive computations. This logic is internally represented as data flow, which can be executed in parallel as SAP HANA supports massive parallel processing.
Some of the features are as follows:
Push data-intensive operations into the SAP HANA database
Used in calculation views and procedures
Read-only procedures
Read/Write procedures
SAP HANA Modeling Guide at http://help.sap.com/hana/SAP_HANA_Modeling_Guide_en.pdf