DataVeil 4.5 Macros and Components

The recently released DataVeil version 4.5 introduces Macros and Components.

A DataVeil Macro is essentially a text substitution feature.

Macros provide a lot of flexibility because if there are parts of a masking project that are referencing common items or values, such as the contents of Where conditions, then instead of having to repeat those conditions in multiple masks it is now possible to define a Macro for that Where condition and instead use just the Macro name wherever required.

If at some time in the future the Where condition needs to be changed then instead of having to manually update multiple masks' Where conditions all that is required is to update the single Macro definition and all references will automatically update.

Macros can also be defined at different scopes, such as at column, table, database, project or Component level. Furthermore, Macros are recursive such that one Macro can contain one or more references to other Macros, which can contain references to one or more to other Macros, and so on.
For more details see DataVeil Macros

To complement DataVeil Macros, another new feature is DataVeil Components.

A DataVeil Component is a definition, such as a configured mask, Macro or dataset definition, that can be saved as an independent object that can be referenced and re-used by any other DataVeil masking project. Each component definition is saved independently of any masking project. Similar to the benefits of Macros, Components enable a centralized definition that can be referenced from many projects and if ever there is a requirement to change the definition then only a single change is needed to the Component definition and all references in all projects shall automatically be updated.

Another point of interest is that Components can also contain Macros.

For example, a Randomize mask with a specific configuration could be saved as a Component and its Where condition could contain a Macro.

As another example, suppose that you need to call a custom user-defined function (UDF) whose function name and parameters could change in the future. You could define a User SQL mask as a Component with the function call specified in only this one place. The single Component can then be used across many projects.

If there are cases where different versions of a call to this UDF are required (such as different Where conditions), then the UDF call within the Component could itself be a Macro and separate versions of the Component (using different Where conditions) could be created that all reference the Macro containing the actual UDF call. Therefore, if the UDF name or parameters ever change then only one modification to the Macro definition is required and all references across all projects shall automatically use the new details.
For more details see DataVeil Components

There are many other improvements and updates, such as customizable Data Browser Filters and updated JDBC drivers.

All these are great reasons to consider upgrading to DataVeil version 4.5.