gh-secondsky-sap-skills-skills-sap-hana-cli/references/output-formats.md

SAP HANA CLI - Output Formats Reference

Source: https://github.com/SAP-samples/hana-developer-cli-tool-example

The hana-cli supports 17+ output formats for database metadata conversion and export.

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Format Overview

Format	Extension	Use Case
tbl	-	Console table display (default)
json	.json	JSON data exchange
yaml	.yaml	YAML configuration
csv	.csv	Spreadsheet import
excel	.xlsx	Excel file export
cds	.cds	CAP CDS definitions
cdl	.cds	CDS Language format
hdbcds	.hdbcds	HANA native CDS
hdbtable	.hdbtable	HDB table definitions
hdbmigrationtable	.hdbmigrationtable	Migration tables
sql	.sql	SQL DDL statements
sqlite	.sql	SQLite-compatible SQL
postgres	.sql	PostgreSQL-compatible SQL
edmx	.edmx	OData EDMX metadata
edm	-	OData EDM
annos	.xml	OData annotations
graphql	.graphql	GraphQL schema
openapi	.json	OpenAPI specification
swgr	.json	Swagger specification
jsdoc	-	JSDoc documentation

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Using Output Formats

Syntax

hana-cli <command> --output <format>
# or
hana-cli <command> -o <format>

Examples

# Console table (default)
hana-cli inspectTable -s SCHEMA -t TABLE

# JSON output
hana-cli inspectTable -s SCHEMA -t TABLE -o json

# CDS format
hana-cli inspectTable -s SCHEMA -t TABLE -o cds

# OpenAPI spec
hana-cli inspectTable -s SCHEMA -t TABLE -o openapi

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Format Details

Console Formats

tbl (Table)

Human-readable table format for console display.

hana-cli tables -o tbl

Output:

┌─────────────────┬────────────┬──────────┐
│ TABLE_NAME      │ SCHEMA     │ ROWS     │
├─────────────────┼────────────┼──────────┤
│ CUSTOMERS       │ MYSCHEMA   │ 1000     │
│ ORDERS          │ MYSCHEMA   │ 5000     │
└─────────────────┴────────────┴──────────┘

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Data Exchange Formats

json

Standard JSON format.

hana-cli inspectTable -t CUSTOMERS -o json

Output:

{
  "table": "CUSTOMERS",
  "schema": "MYSCHEMA",
  "columns": [
    {"name": "ID", "type": "INTEGER", "nullable": false},
    {"name": "NAME", "type": "NVARCHAR", "length": 100}
  ]
}

yaml

YAML format for configuration files.

hana-cli inspectTable -t CUSTOMERS -o yaml

csv

Comma-separated values for spreadsheet import.

hana-cli querySimple -q "SELECT * FROM CUSTOMERS" -o csv

excel

Microsoft Excel format (.xlsx).

hana-cli querySimple -q "SELECT * FROM CUSTOMERS" -o excel -f ./output -n customers

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CAP CDS Formats

cds

SAP Cloud Application Programming Model CDS.

hana-cli inspectTable -t CUSTOMERS -o cds

Output:

entity Customers {
  key ID : Integer;
  NAME : String(100);
  EMAIL : String(255);
  CREATED_AT : Timestamp;
}

cdl

CDS Language format (similar to cds).

hana-cli inspectTable -t CUSTOMERS -o cdl

---

HANA Native Formats

hdbcds

HANA native CDS format.

hana-cli inspectTable -t CUSTOMERS -o hdbcds

Output:

context myschema {
  entity CUSTOMERS {
    key ID : Integer;
    NAME : String(100);
  };
};

hdbtable

HDB table definition format.

hana-cli inspectTable -t CUSTOMERS -o hdbtable

Output:

COLUMN TABLE "MYSCHEMA"."CUSTOMERS" (
  "ID" INTEGER NOT NULL,
  "NAME" NVARCHAR(100),
  PRIMARY KEY ("ID")
)

hdbmigrationtable

Migration table format for HDI.

hana-cli inspectTable -t CUSTOMERS -o hdbmigrationtable

---

SQL Formats

sql

Standard SQL DDL.

hana-cli inspectTable -t CUSTOMERS -o sql

Output:

CREATE TABLE "MYSCHEMA"."CUSTOMERS" (
  "ID" INTEGER NOT NULL,
  "NAME" NVARCHAR(100),
  PRIMARY KEY ("ID")
);

sqlite

SQLite-compatible SQL.

hana-cli inspectTable -t CUSTOMERS -o sqlite

postgres

PostgreSQL-compatible SQL.

hana-cli inspectTable -t CUSTOMERS -o postgres

---

OData Formats

edmx

OData Entity Data Model XML.

hana-cli inspectTable -t CUSTOMERS -o edmx

Output:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<edmx:Edmx Version="4.0">
  <edmx:DataServices>
    <Schema Namespace="myschema">
      <EntityType Name="Customers">
        <Key>
          <PropertyRef Name="ID"/>
        </Key>
        <Property Name="ID" Type="Edm.Int32" Nullable="false"/>
        <Property Name="NAME" Type="Edm.String" MaxLength="100"/>
      </EntityType>
    </Schema>
  </edmx:DataServices>
</edmx:Edmx>

edm

OData EDM format.

annos

OData annotations XML.

hana-cli inspectTable -t CUSTOMERS -o annos

---

API Formats

openapi / swgr

OpenAPI/Swagger specification.

hana-cli inspectTable -t CUSTOMERS -o openapi

Output:

{
  "openapi": "3.0.0",
  "info": {"title": "CUSTOMERS API"},
  "paths": {
    "/Customers": {
      "get": {...},
      "post": {...}
    }
  }
}

graphql

GraphQL schema definition.

hana-cli inspectTable -t CUSTOMERS -o graphql

Output:

type Customers {
  ID: Int!
  NAME: String
  EMAIL: String
}

type Query {
  Customers: [Customers]
}

---

Documentation Formats

jsdoc

JSDoc-style documentation.

hana-cli inspectProcedure -p MY_PROC -o jsdoc

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Mass Conversion

Convert multiple objects at once:

# Convert all tables in schema to CDS
hana-cli massConvert -s MYSCHEMA

# UI version for interactive selection
hana-cli massConvertUI

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Output Options

HANA Types

Use native HANA data types instead of generic types:

hana-cli inspectTable -t CUSTOMERS -o cds --useHanaTypes
# or
hana-cli inspectTable -t CUSTOMERS -o cds --hana

Quoted Identifiers

Preserve case-sensitive identifiers:

hana-cli inspectTable -t CUSTOMERS -o sql --useQuoted
# or
hana-cli inspectTable -t CUSTOMERS -o sql -q

File Output

Save to file instead of console:

hana-cli querySimple -q "SELECT * FROM T" -o json -f ./output -n data
# Creates: ./output/data.json

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Format Compatibility Matrix

Source	CDS	SQL	EDMX	GraphQL	OpenAPI
Tables	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Views	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Procedures	Partial	Yes	No	No	No
Functions	Partial	Yes	No	No	No
Calc Views	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes

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*Reference: https://github.com/SAP-samples/hana-developer-cli-tool-example*