Storing and dropping using a subroutine

Loading a table of data, storing it to a QVD file, and then dropping the table, is quite a common use case. If your data strategy requires you to create a QVD layer, you will do this a lot. Whenever you need to do something more than once, it is useful to create a script subroutine and then just call it.

Getting ready

Load the following script:

Table1:
Load * Inline [
  Country, Sales
  USA, 1020
  UK, 965
  Germany, 1109
  France, 890
];

Table2:
Load * Inline [
  Country, Costs
  USA, 760
  UK, 545
  Germany, 879
  France, 678
];

How to do it...

Follow these steps to create a subroutine to store QVD then drop a table:

1. Before the load statement for Table1, add the following script:

   Sub StoreAndDrop(vTableName)
     Store [$(vTableName)] into [$(vTableName).qvd];
     Drop Table [$(vTableName)];
   
   End Sub

2. After the Table1 load and before the Table2 load, add the following line of script:

   Call StoreAndDrop('Table1');

3. After the Table2 load, add the following line of...