Procedure
Work with a URL Action
Create a URL Action
Let’s
first create a URL Action within our new environment, to get some
experience with the process. As is the case with other Action types, we create and
maintain URL Actions via the Actions tab of the Cube Designer.
For purposes of our practice session, we will say that we have been asked by
the Adventure Works organization to add a URL Action to the Adventure
Works cube. The client representatives with whom we are working, who
comprise a team of developers and report authors for the integrated Microsoft
Business Intelligence solution, have told us that they would like to create a URL
Action to use in conjunction with a pilot they are creating. They plan to
use various prototypes within the pilot as an aid in the collection of business
requirements from information consumers throughout their organization.
Our
client colleagues tell us that the business requirement is for the Action
to take the consumer who selects it to a basic, pre-parameterized Google search
summary, based upon the target (a member of a dimension hierarchy
level) from which the Action is launched within the cube browser.
For purposes of this prototype, they tell us that such a search, based upon the
selected target within the cube browser, will serve the purpose of
illustrating the kinds of things that such an Action can be designed to
do, its overall characteristics (such as to its general context sensitivity,
etc.), and so forth. The Action is to be called “Parameterized Internet
Search” (the name displayed at runtime will be a context sensitive,
user-friendly title) to make clear that the intended objective of the Action
is to afford an “exit” from the Unified Dimension Model (UDM): By
triggering this Action, the information consumer will be able to perform
extended, general browses, based upon the various Product Categories that AdventureWorks sells,
without having to leave their concurrent position within Analysis Services.
Our
client colleagues ask that we “disable” the URL Action for the Accessories Category of their Products
offerings, to show how we might place conditional limitations upon the use of a
URL Action, much as we can with other Actions available in Analysis
Services 2005.
We
listen carefully to the requirements, and, once we confirm our understanding of
the need, we set out to create a URL Action, taking the following steps:
1.
Inside the Solution
Explorer, right-click
the AdventureWorks cube within the Cubes folder of our project.
2.
Select Open
from the context menu that appears, as depicted in Illustration 1.
Illustration 1: Opening
the Cube Designer ...
The Cube Designer opens for Adventure Works Cube,
defaulting to the Cube Structure tab.
3.
Click the Actions
tab.
The Actions
tab opens.
4.
Select Cube
-> New Action from the main menu, as shown in Illustration
2.
Illustration 2: Select
Cube -> New Action
The Actions
tab changes to the settings for a standard Action, as the URL Action
Form Editor opens. A default Name of “Action” appears in the
top and center portion of the tab.
5.
Replace the
default Name with the following:
Parameterized Internet Search
6.
Select Hierarchy
Members in the Target type selector.
Here we
are simply selecting, among several options, to make our Action
available within a single hierarchy within a dimension of our cube.
7.
Select the
downward pointing selector arrow on the right side of the box labeled Target
object, immediately below the Target type selector.
8.
Within the
selector that appears, expand the Product dimension by clicking the “+”
sign to its immediate left.
9.
Select the Product
Categories hierarchy that appears (the second item under the newly
expanded Product dimension).
10.
Click OK
to accept the selection.
Having
now established the members of the Product Categories hierarchy as the target
points of the Action, we need to consider the restriction imposed by
the client representatives: our colleagues have indicated that they want to
exclude the Accessories Product Category from being designated as a target.
11.
Type, or cut
and paste, the following into the box labeled Condition (Optional)
immediately underneath the Target object selector:
[Product].[Product Categories].CURRENTMEMBER <>
[Product].[Product Categories].[Category].[Accessories]
Here
we are entering an MDX expression, which will act to further restrict availability
of the Action (not to restrict the URL details returned, in
any way, as we shall see). What we are basically saying with the condition is
“make the Action available for selection, when the Product Category
is not Accessories, for the measures defined.“
12.
Select URL
in the Type selector, in the Action Content section of the form
that appears below the Condition input box.
13.
Type (or cut
and paste) the following expression into the Action expression box, just
underneath the Type selector:
-- General URL for Google Search (may differ based upon individual browsers)
"http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&rls=GGIC,GGIC:2006-38,GGIC:en&q="
-- Append Product Category name to the above (MDX string)
+ [Product].[Product Categories].CURRENTMEMBER.NAME
Note: The above was used on PC with Internet Explorer 7
installed as the browser. The commented lines - those preceded by the double
dashes (“--“) - explain the parts of the expression.
The Actions
tab – Action Form Editor appears, with our input, as depicted in Illustration
3.
Illustration 3: Actions
Tab – Action Form Editor with Our Settings
14.
If required,
click the down arrows to the immediate left of Additional Properties, the
section just beneath the Action expression box, to expand the properties
into view.
15.
Ensure that Interactive
is selected within the Invocation selector atop the Additional
Properties.
16.
Type (or cut
and paste) the following expression into the Caption box, the second
from the bottom in the Additional Properties section:
"General Search for Product Category: " +
[Product].[Product Categories].CURRENTMEMBER.MEMBER_CAPTION
17.
In the bottom
selector in the Additional Properties section, labeled Caption is MDX,
select True.
The setting
of “Interactive” that we have made above (in the first of the Additional
Properties settings, Invocation), directs that the Action will
be initiated by the information consumer. By indicating True in the
bottom setting, Caption is MDX, we have directed that the MDX expression
that we have provided in the Caption box is to be used to assemble the
title for the browser (making it context-sensitive for the selected target)
when the Action is triggered. The Additional Properties section
of the Action Form
Editor appears, with our input, as partially shown in Illustration 4.
Illustration 4: Additional
Properties Section of the Form (Partial View
We are ready to accept our settings, deploy the project,
and then move to the Cube Browser, where we can inspect the results of
our handiwork.
18.
Deploy the DBJ
AdventureWorks DW project.
NOTE: If you do not know how to ascertain
alignment of the project to the destination server, and / or to deploy the
project, please perform the steps of the following procedure in the References
section of my articles index:
» 