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cogtr.xml File Settings

The Transformer global preference and processing settings should be specified in the cogtr.xml file or one of the other files that are referenced by it.

The cogtr.xml file is not installed by default, but rather is created on the first use of, and exit from, the Transformer (Windows) component. It is placed in the installation_location/configuration directory. A sample cogtr.xml file, cogtr.xml.sample, is installed in the installation_location/configuration directory. This sample file shows the most common preference settings. Although you can open and manually edit this file, whenever possible, we recommend that you make your change in the Transformer Preferences property sheet (File menu).

Note: When Transformer version 8.x is installed on Windows Vista, if you do not run Transformer as an administrator and you make changes to the cogtr.xml file, the updated file is saved by default to a Virtual Store directory and not to the installation_location/configuration directory.

Global Preference Settings

You can globally change the Transformer preference settings stored in the cogtr.xml file from the command line or using the Preferences property sheet, accessed from the File menu of Transformer Windows. The cogtr.xml file is automatically checked on startup for missing or invalid entries.

If you change the default selection for any option using the Preferences property sheet, you must click OK.

AutoPartitionOff Setting

A setting of 2 ensures that model files imported into the current version of Transformer switch to use the Auto-Partition feature, unless one or more cubes in the model contain features that preclude use of this default optimization method. A setting of 1 was used in previous versions of Transformer to signify that Categories optimization was used.

MultiFileCubeThreshold Setting

You can use the MultiFileCubeThreshold setting in the cogtr.xml file to enable creation of multi-file PowerCubes when your cubes exceed the 2 GB threshold. To test or use the multifile feature on smaller cubes, we recommend that you set the threshold to a smaller number, such as 1000000.

Transformer determines the number of output files needed by taking the number of data records in the cube, dividing by the threshold, and rounding up. Cube partitions are spread evenly across these multidimensional partition files (.mdp), and an additional .mdc file is added to hold the PowerCube metadata.

CenturyBreak Setting

Although this setting is not automatically created in the cogtr.xml file, you can specify a CenturyBreak value to determine whether two-digit years (YY) in six-digit dates are interpreted as dates in the 20th or 21st century. Transformer stores values below the cut-off date as 21st century dates.

The default setting of CenturyBreak=20 signifies that dates 00 to 19 are interpreted as the years 2000 to 2019, and 20 to 99 were interpreted as 1920 to 1999.

You can enter any value for this setting from 0 to 99. For example, for CenturyBreak=10, all YY values between 00 and 09 are interpreted as 21st century dates, and all YY values at or above the cut-off date are interpreted as 20th century dates (that is, 1910 to 1999).

If your legacy data includes overlapping dates in two centuries (such as, 1900 to 1999 and 2000 to 2020), you must change your source data to use a 4-digit year format (YYYY).

MDL Save Option Setting

Use the cogtr.xml file to specify the manually maintained MDL save options.

IBM Cognos Series 7 INI File Settings Referenced by Transformer

In addition to the global preference settings, the following .ini settings are also relevant for the Series 7 IQD Bridge component that enables Transformer version 8.x to continue to support IBM Cognos Series 7 .iqd files: