Procedure: Employ the Naming Template to Support Custom Attribute Group Naming for Attribute Members in Analysis Services
The client representatives with whom we are working state
that they are pleased with the overall results, but then they make one further
request: they tell us that they would prefer that each of the “buckets” we have
created to group the Vacation Hours be assigned a more explicit label. They
tell us that they would rather that the label be “beefed up” to include more
explanatory verbiage – in accordance the following example:
Instead of:
“0 - 8”
they would rather see:
“8 & Under”
and, for all members of the “intermediate ranges,” instead
of, say,
“9 - 19”
They would rather see:
“Between 9 & 19 hours (incl)”.
Moreover, instead of
“90 - 99”
they would rather see:
“90 & Over”
We inform our client colleagues that Analysis Services
generates member group names automatically when it creates the groups, based
upon a default naming template, which is used unless we specify another naming
template within the Format setting for the NameColumn property of an attribute,
as we shall see. A separate naming template
can be defined for each language specified in the Translations collection of
the respective column underlying the NameColumn property of the attribute.
The Format setting uses
the following string expression to define the naming template:
<Naming template> ::= <First
definition> [;<Intermediate definition>;<Last definition>]
<First definition> ::= <Name
expression>
<Intermediate defintion> ::=
<Name expression>
<Last definition> ::= <Name
expression>
The <First
definition> parameter applies only to the first (or only, if
there is only one) member group generated by the discretization method. If the
optional parameters <Intermediate
definition> and <Last
definition> are not provided, the <First definition> parameter is
used for all member groups generated for that attribute.
The <Last
definition> parameter applies only to the last member group
generated by the discretization method. The <Intermediate bucket name> parameter applies to
every member group other than the first or last member group generated by the discretization
method. (If two or fewer member groups are generated, this parameter is
ignored.) The <Bucket name>
parameter is a string expression that can incorporate a set of variables to
represent member or member group information as part of the name of the member
group, as presented in Table 1 below:
|
Variable
|
Description
|
|
%{First bucket member}
|
The member name of the
first member to be included in the current member group.
|
|
%{Last bucket member}
|
The member name of the
last member to be included in the current member group.
|
|
%{Previous bucket last
member}
|
The member name of the
last member assigned to the previous member group.
|
|
%{Next bucket first
member}
|
The member name of the
first member to be assigned to the next member group.
|
|
%{Bucket Min}
|
The minimum value of
the members to be assigned to the current member group.
|
|
%{Bucket Max}
|
The maximum value of
the members to be assigned to the current member group.
|
|
%{Previous Bucket Max}
|
The maximum value of
the members to be assigned to the previous member group.
|
|
%{Next Bucket Min}
|
The minimum value of
the members to be assigned to the next member group.
|
Table 1: Set of Variables Incorporated by the <Bucket Name>
Parameter
Use the Naming Template to Support Custom Attribute Group Naming
Let’s put what we have learned to
work to help our client colleagues reach their objectives in providing more descriptive
names for Employee Vacation Hours.
1.
Click the Employee.dim
tab to return to the Dimension Designer for the Employee dimension.
2.
Click the Dimension
Structure tab, if necessary, within the Dimension Designer to expose, once
again, the Attributes pane, as we did earlier.
3.
Click the Vacation
Hours attribute, once again.
4.
In the Properties
pane, scroll to the Source section, focusing upon the KeyColumns and NameColumn
settings, as shown in Illustration 19.
Illustration 19: KeyColumns and NameColumn Settings for the Vacation Hours Attribute
We note that the NameColumn setting is empty, leaving us
to conclude that the member names are being derived from the KeyColumns
setting.
5.
Click the
ellipses (“ ... ”) button to the immediate right of the KeyColumns property
setting box, as depicted (encircled in red) in Illustration 20.
Illustration 20: Click the Ellipses (“ ... “) Button to the Right of the KeyColumns Property
The DataItem
Collection Editor appears.
6.
Type (or cut
and paste) the following into the Format property.
%{Last Bucket member} & Under; Between %{First Bucket member} & %{Last Bucket member} (incl); %{First Bucket member} & Over
An example of the
intended output of each of the three delimited sections in our syntax above is
presented in Table 2 below.
|
Syntax Section
|
Example Intended Output
|
|
%{Last Bucket
member} & Under
|
“8 & Under”
|
|
Between %{First
Bucket member} & %{Last Bucket member} (incl)
|
“Between 9 & 19 hours (incl)”
|
|
%{First Bucket
member} & Over
|
“90 & Over”
|
Table 2: The Three Sections of Our Syntax and their Intended Output ...
Our syntax partially
appears within the Format property box of the DataItem Collection Editor as shown (modifications surrounded
by the red box) in Illustration 21.
Illustration 21: Our Syntax with the Format Property of the DataItem Collection Editor (Partial View)
7.
Click OK on
the DataItem Collection Editor to save our input and to dismiss the Editor.
We are now ready to process the Analysis Services
database, and then to examine the results of our handiwork with the browsers,
as before.
Process the Analysis Services Database to Update for Our Custom Attribute Group Names
We will process the Analysis Services database within
which we have been working, as we did earlier, and then browse the Vacation
Hours attribute members, once again to confirm that we have adequately provided
support for the custom naming requirements that our client colleagues have
requested.
1.
Right-click
the Analysis Services project atop the tree in the Solution Explorer, as we did
earlier.
2.
Select Process
... from the context menu that appears, once again.
3.
Click Yes on
the dialog asking if we would like to save changes, as before.
Information updates on the server, and then the Process
Database dialog appears.
4.
Click the Run
button on the dialog, once again.
The Process
Progress viewer appears, and generates periodic status updates for various
processing events, as we noted earlier. When processing is complete, we see a Process
succeeded message appear in the Status bar in the lower part of the viewer, once
again.
5.
Click the Close
button on the Process Progress viewer to dismiss the viewer.
6.
Click the Close
button on the Process Database dialog to dismiss the dialog.
We are now ready to return to the Dimension Designer
browser to examine the results of our handiwork.
Browse the Newly Named Attribute Groups with the Dimension Browser
1.
Click the Browser
tab in the Dimension Designer.
2.
Ensure that Vacation
Hours remains selected in the Hierarchy selector atop the Browser tab.
3.
Click the Reconnect
button atop the tab, as we did in the earlier section.
The browser details update, and (assuming the All
Employees level remains expanded in the browser), we see ten groups appear, as
depicted in Illustration 22.
Illustration 22: The Custom-Named, Discretized Attribute Member Groups
We see
the groups appear, as expected. Moreover, we note that the ten groups created
by Analysis Services via the Automatic Discretization method, display the names
in the format requested by the client representatives with which we have been
working.
4.
Close the Employee
Dimension Designer, as desired.
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