Task 8: Making the Lesson 1 Package Easier to Understand

Now that you have completed the configuration of the Lesson 1 package, it is a good idea to tidy up the package layout. If the shapes in the control and data flow layouts are random sizes, or if the shapes are not aligned or grouped, the functionality of package can be more difficult to understand.

Business Intelligence Development Studio provides tools that make it easy and quick to format the package layout. The formatting features include the ability to make shapes the same size, align shapes, and manipulate the horizontal and vertical spacing between shapes.

Another way to improve the understanding of package functionality is to add annotations that describe package functionality.

In this task, you will use the formatting features in Business Intelligence Development Studio to improve the layout of the data flow and also add an annotation to the data flow.

To format the layout of the data flow

  1. If the Lesson 1 package is not already open, double-click Lesson 1.dtsx in Solution Explorer.

  2. Click the Data Flow tab.

  3. Place the cursor to the top and to the right of the Extract Sample Currency transformation, click, and then drag the cursor across all the data flow components.

    All data flow components are now selected. The shape selected first—the shape whose selected indicators are white in color—dictates the size and location that is used in formatting the layout.

  4. On the Format menu, point to Make Same Size, and then click Both.

  5. With the data flow objects selected, on the Format menu, point to Align, and then click Lefts.

To add an annotation to the data flow

  1. Right-click anywhere in the background of the data flow design surface and then click Add Annotation.

  2. Type or paste the following text in the annotation box.

    The data flow extracts data from a file, looks up values in the CurrencyKey column in the DimCurrency table and the TimeKey column in the DimTime table, and writes the data to the FactCurrencyRate table.

    To wrap the text in the annotation box, place the cursor where you want to start a new line and press the Ctrl and Enter keys.

    If you do not add text to the annotation box, it disappears when you click outside the box.

Task 9: Testing the Lesson 1 Tutorial Package




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