Getting Started with Actions for Regular Cubes
The Action Wizard
in MSAS provides us a quick means of creating and modifying Actions within our
cubes. As we have already discussed, and as we shall see in the procedural
steps that follow, the Action is created, or edited, based upon several
settings we can make or adjust in the Action Wizard. We can learn more about
these settings through a hands-on look at the wizard in action.
Create an Action
We call the Action Wizard directly from inside Analysis
Manager, and then create an Action by completing several dialogs that prompt
us for the required settings.
1. Start Analysis
Manager.
2. Expand the Analysis
Servers folder by clicking the "+" sign to its immediate
left.
Our server(s) appear.
3. Expand the desired
server (mine appears as MOTHER1 in the illustrations).
Our database(s) appear underneath the expanded Analysis Server.
4. Expand the FoodMart2000
database.
5. Expand the Cubes folder.
The sample cubes appear, amid other MSAS components, as shown in Illustration
1.
Illustration
1: The Sample Cubes in the FoodMart2000 Database
6. Right-click on the Sales
sample cube.
7. Select Edit...
from the context menu that appears, as shown in Illustration 2.
Illustration
2: Select Edit ... from the Context Menu
The Cube Editor appears, exposing the construction of the Sales
cube, as depicted in Illustration 3.
Illustration
3: Cube Editor View: Inside the Sales Cube
Note: For a tutorial covering most aspects of the Cube
Editor see Working
with the Cube Editor, as well as other articles within this series.
In the left pane, we can see several folders. One of these, the Actions
folder, will be our focus in the procedures that follow.
8. Right click the Actions
folder.
A single-lined context menu appears, as presented in Illustration 4.
Illustration
4: Context Menu at the Actions Folder
9. Select New Action...
on the context menu.
The first dialog of the Action Wizard appears, as shown in Illustration
5.
Illustration
5: Action Wizard Welcome Dialog
10. Click Next to
proceed.
The Select target dialog of the Action Wizard next
appears. Here we will specify the positioning point of the Action within the
user's view of the cube - the point in the cube's structure upon which a
right-click, as we noted earlier, will present the option to initialize this
Action. (Other Actions for the same target point will also appear on the context
menu that appears with the right-click).
In the present example, we want to create an Action that
allows an information consumer to access general information about a given Store.
To this end, we make the following settings in the Select target dialog.
11. Select A level in
this cube in the Target Selector box.
12. Select Store in
the Dimension box.
13. Select Store Name
in the Levels box
14. Ensure that the Members
of the selected level radio button, underneath Define the target as:
on the Select Target dialog, is darkened.
The Select target dialog of the Action Wizard, with
our settings, should appear as shown in Illustration 6.
Illustration
6: The Completed Select Target Dialog
15. Click Next to
move to the Select the action type dialog.
16. Select HTML in
the Type box.
We note that clicking the selector arrow exposes the various types
of Actions, as we discussed above, and listed in Table 1. We also note
the presence of the read-only Sample display in the lower half of the
dialog. This display 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 7.
Illustration
7: The Select the Action Type Dialog
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