The aim of this page is to provide a glossary of common OLAP and data warehousing terms and expressions. This list is for all terms beginning with I

Import

The OLAP DML provides support for importing data from relational tables, flat files, and spreadsheets into analytic workspace objects; and for exporting data from analytic workspace objects to relational tables, flat files, and spreadsheets. OLAP DML provides specific SQL commands to mange importing data directly from relational tables, SQL commands

OLAP provides a specific command called "IMPORT", whichtransfers data to an analytic workspace from a text file, a spreadsheet, or another analytic workspace from an EIF file. Because the syntax of the IMPORT command is different depending on where the data to be imported is located, separate topics are provided for different types of source files:

• IMPORT (from EIF)
• IMPORT (from text)
• IMPORT (from spreadsheet)

You can use the IMPORT (from EIF) command to copy data and definitions into your Oracle OLAP analytic workspace from an EIF file. IMPORT also copies any dimensions of the imported data that do not already exist in your workspace, even when you do not specify them in the command. IMPORT (from EIF) is commonly used in conjunction withEXPORT (to EIF)to copy parts of one Oracle OLAP analytic workspace to another; you export objects from the source workspace to an EIF file and then import the objects from the EIF file into the target workspace. The source and target workspaces can reside on the same platform or on different platforms. When you transfer an EIF file between computers, you use a binary transfer to overcome file-format incompatibilities between platforms. The EIF file must have been created with theEIFVERSIONset to a version that is less than or equal to the version number of the target workspace. UseEVERSIONto verify the target version number.

You can use the IMPORT (from text) command to copy data from a text file into an Oracle OLAP worksheet object. A worksheet's rows are similar to the lines of a text file. IMPORT is commonly used to copy text files into an analytic workspace from other software products.Normally, you should use aFILEREADstatement for text files instead of IMPORT. FILEREAD is more efficient and does not require a worksheet object or separate handling of each column of data.
You can use the IMPORT (from spreadsheet) command to copy data (not formulas) from a spreadsheet file into an Oracle OLAP worksheet object. A worksheet's dimensions are similar to the columns and rows of a spreadsheet. IMPORT always copies an entire spreadsheet file at a time. IMPORT is commonly used to copy data from other software products (for example, Lotus 123 or Excel) into an Oracle OLAP workspace

Infile

The INFILE command causes Oracle OLAP to read statement input from a specified file. This allow developers to create a script file containing a series of DML statements that are executed in turn during the processing of the file. To use the INFILE command a directoy object needs to be created.