Search Results lock_attribute

Overview

The OLAPSYS.CWM$OLAP$LEVEL$ATTRIBUTE package is part of Oracle's OLAP metadata infrastructure within the OLAPSYS schema. It provides a programmatic API for managing the attributes that are defined against the levels of an analytic workspace dimension. In the Oracle E-Business Suite 12.1.1 and 12.2.2 environments, this package operates under the Common Warehouse Metamodel (CWM) abstraction layer that Oracle uses internally to describe OLAP metadata objects — dimensions, hierarchies, levels, and level attributes — in a relational form.

Its business function is administrative and metadata-centric rather than transactional. It allows callers to change the descriptive properties of a dimension level attribute: its logical name, its description, and its display name, as well as to lock the attribute against further modification and to resolve the internal attribute identifier. These operations are typically performed during the design and maintenance of analytic workspaces and multidimensional data models that back EBS reporting and planning functionality.

Key Procedures and Functions

• SET_NAME — Assigns a new logical name to an existing level attribute, identified by its owning dimension, level name, and attribute column. It validates the new value and rejects both unauthorized callers and invalid names.
• SET_DESCRIPTION — Updates the free-text description associated with a level attribute, allowing the metadata catalog to carry human-readable business context alongside the technical attribute definition.
• SET_DISPLAY_NAME — Sets the display (presentation) name for a level attribute, which is the label surfaced to end users in analytic clients and reporting tools, distinct from the internal name.
• LOCK_ATTRIBUTE — Places a lock on the specified level attribute so that it cannot be altered while other metadata operations or deployments are in progress. This is the routine most commonly associated with the user search term "lock_attribute".
• GET_ATTRIBUTE_ID — Returns the internal identifier for a level attribute, resolving the human-readable dimension, level, and attribute names into the surrogate key used by the underlying metadata tables.

The mutation procedures raise no_access_privileges when the caller lacks authority to edit the owning dimension, and attribute_not_found when the referenced attribute does not exist. SET_NAME additionally raises invalid_name.

Tables Accessed

The documented table reference for this package is DBA_USERS, accessed through an APPS synonym. This view is queried for schema and privilege validation — most likely to confirm that the caller or the owning schema is a legitimate, enabled database user before permitting metadata changes. The metadata that the package actually manipulates (the CWM level-attribute definitions) resides in the OLAPSYS-owned CWM catalog tables, which are addressed internally rather than being enumerated in the documented reference set.

Usage Notes

This is a low-level metadata maintenance API, not an end-user interface. It is not reached through standard EBS forms or concurrent programs under normal operating conditions; instead it is invoked by internal Oracle components, by OLAP design and administration tooling, and by custom PL/SQL that programmatically builds or repairs dimension metadata. The package is referenced by three other packages within the database, indicating that higher-level CWM editing routines depend on it for attribute naming, display-name assignment, and locking. Developers should treat direct invocation as a privileged operation: attribute renames and lock operations can invalidate dependent analytic metadata objects, and locks must be explicitly released through the corresponding metadata workflow. Any custom use should be confined to controlled maintenance windows and tested against a cloned environment before production execution.