Guides

This chapter provides a collection of practical guides for common XDM tasks and processes. Each guide is based on a specific use case and explains, step by step, how to achieve a particular goal or solve a recurring problem. To implement the solution, the guides combine the relevant XDM configuration objects, scripts, and process steps, often spanning multiple modules.

Use the overview below to quickly find the guide that best matches your scenario.

Data Modeling & Relations

Dynamic Environment Control Using Activation Scripts: Control installed applications in environments dynamically by evaluating custom parameters during activation.
Environment-Based Schema and Table Naming: Resolve environment-specific schema and table names dynamically for compatibility and native table copy tasks.
Exploring Data Relations: Analyze existing foreign-key relationships and generate recommendations for missing data relation rules.

Automation & Reuse

Automating Identity Start Values: Initialize identity columns in newly created SQL Server tables based on the maximum values from the source system.
Copy With Icebox and Delete Target: Perform a safe subset refresh to bring data for the same business objects into a clean and reproducible state.
Script Libraries for Code Reuse: Centralize shared Groovy logic in script libraries to reduce duplication and simplify maintenance across scripts.
Triggering MVS Host Jobs from a Stage Hook: Trigger an MVS host job directly from a stage hook to integrate external processing steps into an XDM workflow.

Data Masking & Modification

Accessing Additional Columns in Modification: Make extra source columns available in modification methods, even when they are not part of the copied table structure.
Modify JSON Data in a JSONB Column: Parse and update selected JSON attributes in a jsonb column with Groovy and JsonSlurper.
Risk-Based Address Masking: Mask address data while preserving classification logic for different risk zones used in insurance scenarios.
Setting Dummy PDF Files in Columns: Replace existing binary content with a predefined dummy file, such as a PDF, to mask sensitive data safely.
Value-Preserving Masking: Build a reusable mapping table that permutes source values consistently for deterministic data masking.
Writing Data to an XDM File: Extract values from a database, transform them as required, and store them directly in an XDM file.

Database Structure Handling

Comparing Environments: Use a structure compare task to identify schema differences between two database environments.
Handling GENERATED ALWAYS Columns: Handle merge scenarios where a generated-always column is part of the primary key
Synchronizing Structures Before Native Copy: Separate structural alignment from data transfer by combining structure compare and native table copy tasks.

Selection Management

Dynamic Rule Activation Using Custom Parameters: Access custom parameters from an entity copy task inside an entity modification rule activation script.
Using Files in WHERE Clauses: Feed lists of values into task start conditions by referencing a file object in the WHERE clause.

Generate Data

Populate generated Data to Database: Shows, how generated data can be populated in an existing database.

Maintenance

Delete Expired Objects: Clean up expired executions, workflows, tasks, and icebox generations from one centrally managed stage hook.