How to update object IDs in bo universe designer?

Question

We work with different versions and data sources of our clinical information system. Therefore, we have different versions of our universes issued from Universe Designer. Nevertheless, we want that our reports use the same objects Ids in the different version of our universes. We started from the oldest version and we added new objects simultaneously in every version of the universes. Unfortunately, we have gotten a gap when we added an object in the latest universe version and we forgot to do it in the oldest. So, we need now to update some of the “Object Id” fields in our latest universe version trough VBA or any other mean. How could we do it?

Thank you for your assistance.

Answer 1

I'm assuming this is a unv universe. It's not possible using standard means (including the SDK) to change universe object IDs.

There are a couple of options, although none are ideal.

Let's say you were in sync up through object 1234. You have:

New universe: ObjectA 1234 ObjectB 1235 ObjectC 1236

Old universe: ObjectA 1234 ObjectC 1235

Now, create a new, dummy object in the old universe, which will get ID 1236. Then, delete that object as well as ObjectB and ObjectC from both. This leaves:

New universe: ObjectA 1234

Old universe: ObjectA 1234

If you now re-create ObjectB in both universes, it will have ID 1237. It will be different that ObjectB's previous ID in New universe, but at least it will be the same in both. You are now back in sync and can continue to create objects. Of course, if the original ObjectB or ObjectC were used in any reports, they will need to be re-added.

It's worth noting that in BI4, if you switch a WebI report to a different universe, you have the option of mapping based on class and object name rather than ID. So, as long as the names are lined up in both universes, the report will switch correctly.