Viewing Meta Data in Meta Data Browser

Meta Data Browser presents content in different ways, depending on whether you run the browser from within SQL Server Enterprise Manager or in stand-alone mode. In addition, display options that you select can expand the kinds of meta data that you can view. Icons are used to visually identify the kinds of meta data displayed in the browser.

Viewing Meta Data in SQL Server Enterprise Manager

Meta data in SQL Server Enterprise Manager is presented in the Contents folder. In SQL Server Enterprise Manager, repository tables are defined within the msdb database. In SQL Server Enterprise Manager, msdb is the only database that provides viewable content in Meta Data Browser.

Initially, the msdb database does not contain any meta data for you to view. However, after you add content to a repository, you can view it by expanding the Contents folder in Meta Data Services.

Adding content to a repository occurs when you choose to save to Microsoft® SQL Server™ 2000 Meta Data Services (for example, when saving Data Transformation Services (DTS) packages).

Viewing Meta Data in Stand-Alone Mode

When you run Meta Data Browser as a separate, stand-alone Microsoft Management Console (MMC) snap-in, you can work with multiple repository databases, and you can view content and perform tasks that are not available otherwise.

Meta Data Browser organizes content by repository database. Depending on the browse mode you select for your database, content can be further organized into folders named Contents and Information Models. Within each folder, objects and collections are arranged within a hierarchy to facilitate browsing.

• The Contents folder shows meta data stored in the repository database. Meta data varies depending on the database. In some repository databases, for example, meta data can be application objects, database objects, or some other software artifact.
  
  
• The Information Models folder shows the information models that are installed in a repository database, and the classes and relationship definitions that they contain. Information models can be viewed only in Administrator browse mode.

See Also

Icons Used in Meta Data Browser

Selecting Browse Mode in Meta Data Browser

Setting Display Options in Meta Data Browser

Using Meta Data Browser

Working with Contents in Meta Data Browser

Working with Information Models in Meta Data Browser