The Exists() function takes two parameters:

WHERE Exists([%Aircraft Type ID], AC_TYPEID);

The first parameter specifies the field on which we need to check to see if there are any occurrences of the values contained in the second field, the one specified in the second parameter. In some cases, the two fields being compared have the same name in both the input dimension table and the fact table already loaded. If that's the case, we could use a simplified, one-parameter, syntax as follows: Where Exists([%Aircraft Type ID]);

Depending on how the field names from the input table are defined, we should use the appropriate syntax from the two presented above. The main advantage of the second scenario (one-parameter syntax) is that, when loading from a QVD, it will still perform as an optimized load, while the first scenario will not.

An alternative to using the Exists() function is the use of the KEEP prefix, which will be added before the LOAD keyword. As shown in the previous chapter, by using LEFT KEEP or RIGHT KEEP, we can limit the records being loaded to those that have a matching key in the already loaded fact table. A benefit of using this prefix is that the result set can be limited on multiple fields, while the Exists() function can only use a single field. However, script processing of the KEEP prefix can be a lot slower on larger data sets, so the Exists()function is the preferred method whenever possible.