Processing Meta Data at Run Time
To support interoperability, application designers and vendors rely on processed meta data in their applications. Although it is not a common or obvious implementation of Microsoft® SQL Server™ 2000 Meta Data Services, repository technology can be deployed in run-time scenarios.
SQL Server 2000 can retrieve and process meta data constructs at run time to produce cleansed data for data warehousing, queries, or Data Transformation Services (DTS) packages.
For data warehousing professionals, Meta Data Services enables tool integration and single-sourcing of data warehousing definitions used to produce cleansed data.
Meta Data Browser is another example of a tool that processes meta data at run time. The browser enables you to view existing meta data and how it is defined. For application developers, the browser provides a way to scan repository contents for objects to decide which one to use for a particular purpose.
You can create custom browsers or analysis tools for studying meta data content stored in a repository database, or create full-featured applications that manage the meta data types used by your organization.
These examples represent just some of the uses of processed meta data. You can create similar tools or new ones that use meta data in innovative ways.
See Also
Designing Meta Data Types Using Information Models
Developing Applications Using Meta Data