To export table comments from RED, select Tools > Table and Column Comments > Export Column Comments.
The Column Comments Export pop-up window is displayed:
- Type in the directory and file name of the export file or click the folder icon to navigate to the required directory.
- Select or de-select the required export options.
- Only export comments from columns with a Business Display Name - This option enables you to only process columns that have a Business Display Name (Column Title) defined in the column's Properties screen. Clear the check box if you want to process all columns in your data warehouse.
- Only export comments that are not empty - This option enables you to only process columns that have comments defined in Column Description field of the column's Properties screen. Clear the check box if you want to process all columns in your data warehouse.
- Only export comments from End User Layer (EUL) tables - This option enables you to only process columns from tables that are visible to the end user. Clear the check box if you want to process all columns in your data warehouse.
The visibility of table objects to end users in RED are set in Tools > Options > Object Types > Object Type End User Setting, refer to Object End User Setting for details.
All the above options are selected by default.
- Click OK to proceed with the export. The Column Comments Export pop-up window displays the progress of your export. You can click Cancel to abort the process.
- Once the export process is completed, the pop-window displays the processing time and the number of comments copied to the export file.
After completing the export process, you can click Open Log File or Open Log File Folder to view the log file generated. Refer to Viewing the Import/Export Logs for more details.
- Click Close to exit the pop-up window. The Results pane displays a summary of the comments exported and confirms the successful completion of the export.
- Use Microsoft Excel 2013 or Notepad to view/edit the exported comments.
Each row of data includes the Table Name, Column Name, Column Title/Business Display Name, and Column Comments (Description)
The table and column comments import/export only supports UTF-8 character encoded files.
You also need to be aware of the following points, if you are going to use another tool other than Microsoft Excel 2013 to edit the comments:- The comment portion can be surrounded in double quotes.
- Double quotes can be escaped within the comment by prefixing the quote with another quote.
- Comma characters can be used within the comment, but only if the comment is inside double quotes.
- Comments can span multiple lines, but only if the comment is inside double quotes.
- Refer to Importing Comments from an External Source for details.