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You only need to save object definitions in an external file for transferring them to another database or saving a backup copy. You can save the definitions either in an XML template or in an EIF file. Both files are platform independent
Templates are XML documents that describe dimensional objects. You can save the XML descriptions of all the objects in an analytic workspace or just selected objects, and re-create them later in the same database or in a database on another computer or platform. You can use templates to back up your work while developing a dimensional model of your data or to distribute the design to other users.
You can save the XML definitions of the following types of objects:
Analytic workspace: Saves all dimensional objects and all user-defined OLAP DML programs and objects.
Dimension: Saves the dimension and its levels, hierarchies, attributes, and mappings.
Cube: Saves the cube and its measures, calculated measures, dimensions, mappings, and all user-defined OLAP DML programs and objects associated with the cube.
Cube Measure Folder: Saves a list of the measures in the measure folder. It does not save the objects.
Templates store metadata, not data. You can store templates in a small text file or in a database table. When re-creating objects from a template, you must have access to the source data.
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You can export objects in an analytic workspace to an EIF file. EIF files are specially formatted files for copying analytic workspaces. You can use EIF files to:
Backup individual analytic workspaces
Copy an analytic workspace to another database
EIF files are upwardly compatible among releases of Oracle Database. An EIF file saves the definitions of OLAP DML objects and optionally saves the data also. When you create an EIF file, you can save only the data that you have permission to access.
EIF files do not save object security rules.
Using the SQL Developer UI, you can export and import EIF files for analytic workspaces. You can use EIF files at a more granular level, such as saving just your custom programs, using the OLAP DML.
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