More Exploration and Further Features in ProClarity Professional
Let's open another cube, Warehouse,
so we can explore further options that might be clearer with a richer, slightly
more sophisticated data set.
1.
Select File --> Open Cube.
2.
Select the FoodMart
2000 Warehouse cube.
The Open Cube dialog
appears as shown in Illustration 10.
The Select how you
want to visualize your information dialog appears.
4.
Select the Grid option.
The grid
appears, once again, at fully rolled up summary level. This level, as we
can see by looking through the dimension and measures tabs (click the Dimensions
button in the toolbar if this does not appear already), consists of the topmost
All level for each dimension, except for Time, whose default is
year 1997. The measures default is Store Invoice.
5.
Select the Warehouse
dimension from within the Background box, at the bottom of the Dimension
Tool.
6.
Drag the Warehouse
dimension to drop it above the Product dimension in the Rows
box.
7.
Click the Measures
tab, atop the Dimension Tool.
8.
Select (by click-highlighting) the Warehouse Cost measure on the
Warehouse tab.
9.
Click the Warehouse
Tab to bring it in front of the other tabs.
This will allow us to
keep an eye on the Warehouse dimension hierarchy over the next few
steps. The All Warehouses level appears atop the tab in the
present view.
The arrangement of the
Dimension Tool is depicted in Illustration 11.
Illustration 11: Arrangement of the
Dimension Tool
10. Click the Execute button in
the toolbar to refresh our changes.
We see a single row,
combining the Warehouse and Product dimensions, in a display that
appears as shown in Illustration 12.
Illustration 12: The New
"Combination Row" with Rolled Up Total
11. Expand the All Warehouses level
in the Warehouse dimension hierarchy (shown circled in red in Illustration
13), on the Warehouse dimension tab, by clicking the "+"
sign to its left.
Illustration 13: Expand the
Warehouse Dimension (Circled in Red)
The child warehouse
countries (the next level in the Warehouse dimension hierarchy) appear
broken out in the expanded view, as we see in Illustration 13 above.
12. Hover the mouse pointer over the All
Warehouses portion of the top row of the data display.
The pointer turns into
a small drill icon, indicating that drilling is enabled for the item over which
it is hovering.
13. Click the All Warehouses
field once.
The display drills
down (and auto refreshes) to reflect the child warehouse cities, as depicted in
Illustration 14.
Illustration 14: Drill Down Exposes
the Next Underlying Level
In addition, we note
that the members listed in the Warehouse dimension tab, previously the
individual child warehouse countries we saw in Illustration 13, are now
replaced by a single item, Children of All Warehouses. (This is a manifestation of the manner in which the
multidimensional expressions language, otherwise known as MDX, handles the
drill down in ProClarity. For more on MDX, and the .Children
function in particular, see "MDX Member Functions: The 'Family'
Functions" in my MDX Essentials series at Database
Journal.)
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