I'm looking for documentation on the Express Interchange File Format,
associated with Express Analyzer, also for a migration utility that
would load data from this format to a relational database. If you can
help, please write me directly at grimes (at) altaplana.com.

Thanks,

Seth

Hi Seth

The EIF file format is a binary export file for transferring data
between Express Server and Personal Express databases, and with Oracle
9i or 10g Analytic Workspaces (the multidimensional datatypes in the
Oracle Database in OracleDB 9iR2 and 10g).

You cannot directly load an EIF file into relational tables (the
contents of the EIF file are multidimensional objects so the relational
engine needs help to understand them), but using the SQL commands from
with the Express Language, or the OLAP DML (in 9i or 10g) you can put
the data that you want into the tables you need it in. To do this
ofcourse, there is no need to export the data to EIF format. Just
connect your Express session to the database.

If you are looking for advice on migrating data from Express into 9i or
10g OLAP, then the EIF file route can be very useful, tho ofcourse,
simply moving the data over would not neccessarily allow you to take
full advantage of the considerable new functionality and performance
added in 10g.

For documentation, look uder EXPORT (to EIF File) in the Express
Language Help that should be installed on your PC along with Express
Analyzer. For ideas of how to move data between (to and from) Express
and relational tables, look under the SQL command in the Express
Language help.

Hope it helps, Kevin (@ Oracle)

Seth Grimes wrote: