We note
that clicking the selector arrow exposes the various Types of Actions,
as we discussed in Putting
Actions to Work in Regular Cubes. The types again, are as follows:
-
Command
line - Executes a
command line. Can start programs, pass parameters to such a program, etc.,
when appropriate to its operation.
-
Statement - Executes an OLE DB command, with outcome
of either success or failure, but no results are returned.
-
HTML - Contains HTML that opens within
an Internet browser.
-
URL - Contains a URL that constitutes a
link between cube trigger points and internet / intranet sites.
-
Dataset - Contains MDX queries; returns
data sets via OLE DB commands.
-
Rowset - Contains an OLE DB command;
returns a rowset.
-
Proprietary
- Custom actions that do not fit
into the first six classes.
NOTE: For
more detail on the Action Types, see Putting Actions to Work in Regular Cubes.
The read-only
display in the lower half of the dialog provides a brief, context-sensitive
description of, and a short sample of the syntax for, the selection we have
made in the Type box above it.
The Select
the action type dialog of the Action Wizard, with our setting,
appears as shown in Illustration 12.
Illustration 12: The Select
the Action Type Dialog
12.
Click Next.
We arrive
at the Define the action syntax dialog. The appearance of this dialog
is based upon our selection of Action Type in the previous
dialog. Here we are provided with a place to type, or cut and paste, the
syntax that will appear in the browser that our Action, by its nature as
an HTML-type Action, will initialize when a user calls the Action
from the cube browser or another application.
We will
need to do a bit more than to simple supply HTML, however, if we want to use
information from the cube in our example. We will need to embed some simple
MDX within the HTML to bring out some of the data elements that the information
consumer sees in the launched browser display.
We will
keep things simple and build an HTML page that uses a handful of basic MDX
expressions to populate a simple browser display. We will do this in such a
way that the MDX can be examined independently, instead of in a single,
nebulous clump that mixes HTML and MDX, without consideration for easy review.
13.
Type (or cut
and paste if you like) the following into the Syntax box:
"<html><head>
<title>Customer Details</title>
</head>
<body BGCOLOR=""#99CCCC"">
<ul>
<table CELLSPACING=""2""
CELLPADDING=""2""
BORDER=""0""
Bordercolor=""#FF3333""
ALIGN=""LEFT""
VALIGN=""TOP""
WIDTH=""300"">
<tr> <td VALIGN=""TOP""
ALIGN=""LEFT""
WIDTH=""100%""
height=""100%""
colspan=2>
<span name=""custname"">
<h3>Customer Profile: "+customers.currentmember.name+"</h3>
</span><hr>
</td> </tr>
<tr><td width=""55%"">
<div class=""title"">State:</div>
</td><td colspan=2>
<span name=""title"">"+customers.parent.parent.name+"</span>
</td></tr>
<tr><td width=""55%"">
<div class=""title"">City:</div>
</td><td colspan=2>
<span name=""title"">"+customers.parent.name+"</span>
</td></tr>
<tr><td width=""55%"">
<div class=""title"">Gender:</div>
</td><td colspan=2>
<span name=""title"">
"+customers.currentmember.properties("Gender")+"
</span>
</td></tr>
<tr><td width=""55%"">
<div class=""Annual Income"">Annual Income:</div>
</td><td colspan=2>
<span name=""title"">
"+customers.currentmember.properties("Yearly Income")+"
</span>
</td></tr>
<tr><td width=""55%"">
<div class=""title"">Education Level:</div>
</td><td colspan=2>
<span name=""title"">
"+customers.currentmember.properties("Education")+"
</span>
</td></tr>
</table>
</font></ul>
</body></html>"
I have intentionally
left spaces in the syntax to separate the portions that call upon MDX
(specifically the .CurrentMember and .Parent functions, as well
as functions using member properties), to make them more readily
understandable.
NOTE: I have mentioned in past
articles that, while MDX basics are beyond the scope of most the tutorials in
this series, the Database Journal MDX
Essentials
series is a good place to begin learning hands-on MDX. For a tutorial covering
the use of the .CurrentMember function, see my article MDX Essentials: MDX Member Functions: "Relative"
Member Functions. For a tutorial that focuses on the use of the
.Parent function, see MDX Member Functions: The "Family" Functions.
The expression customers.currentmember.name
in the second string above is intended to retrieve the Customer Name -
upon which we right-click in the client application / browser - from the cube,
and to present it in the top row of a small table, appended to a label of "Customer
Profile:". This will appear as the "header" or "title"
of the simple HTML page that we are creating.
The third and fourth strings
set up rows containing location information - actually State and City
details, respectively. The City is the level to which the Customer
belongs in the cube hierarchy (and is thus its parent); by
contrast, the State is, in a manner of speaking (and coding) the "parent
of the parent," hence the MDX that we see used in its generation. (The Ancestor()
function, etc., might have been used to generate the State name, as
well, but this is only a simple example). We are simply retrieving the name of
the customer's "grandparent" with this line of the
syntax.
Strings five, six and
seven in our syntax example exploit the retrieval of member properties.
Member properties allow the storage of data that we might want to make
available for easy access, but that we do not want to house among the
population of largely quantitative data for which we have designed our cube.
In this case, we retrieve the Gender, Annual Income, and Education
Level for the Customer for whom we launch the Action.
The top and bottom
strings of the syntax we have entered construct the HTML page with a basic
presentation format for the data we are retrieving.
The Define
the action syntax dialog of the Action Wizard, with our newly input
syntax partially shown, appears as depicted in Illustration 13.
Illustration 13: The
Define the Action Syntax Dialog
14.
Click Next to
accept the input and proceed to the next dialog.
NOTE:
Many syntax errors will be detected when clicking the Next
button. If you experience such an error during our exercises, back up and
check your typing.
We arrive
at the Finish the Action Wizard dialog, where we name the Action
and are given an opportunity to review a summary of its setup.
15.
Type the
following into the Action Name box.
Customer Details
16.
Click Finish
to accept the settings and create the Action.
The Action
Wizard closes, and we see the new Customer Details Action
appear in the Actions folder of the tree pane of the Virtual Cube
Editor. Our new Action is ready for use by the intended information
consumers.
17.
Select File
--> Exit to close the Virtual Cube
Editor.
18.
Save the
virtual cube, when prompted.
We are
returned to Analysis Manager.
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