Defining A Connection Profile
Defining A Connection Profile
Each time you log onto SAS OLAP Cube Studio, a connection is made to a metadata server.
Before you can build a cube in SAS OLAP Cube Studio, you must specify a connection profile
that contains the information for the metadata server that you want to build your cube with. In
SAS OLAP Cube Studio, select File Connection Profile. On the Open a Connection Profile
dialog box, you can choose to either create a new connection profile or edit an existing one. If
you choose to create a new connection profile, the Connection Profile wizard will open. The
following display shows the information that is entered for a connection profile.
Enter the machine information for the metadata server that you will connect to and retrieve a data
source from.
In the New Connection Profile dialog box, enter the machine ID, port, your user ID, and
password.
After you have established a connection profile, you can begin to create a cube. Select File
New Cube. On the Cube Designer - General page, enter the basic cube information. For this
example input type, you select Detail Table. The following display shows fields that you enter
information for.
o Name
o Description
o OLAP schema
At the Cube Designer - Input page, select a detail table for your cube. If one does not exist for
your data, select Define Table, and then define the source that you will import your metadata
from. The following display shows the input table Detail that is selected for the example cube.
Drill-Through Table
At the Cube Designer - Drill-Through dialog box, you can select or define an optional drill-
through table. Drill-through tables can be used by client applications to provide a view from
processed data into the underlying data source.
If a drill-through table does not exist for your data, select Define Table, and then define the
source that you will import your metadata from.
Table Options
The Table Options button is available in both the Cube Designer - Input and the Cube Designer -
Drill-Through dialog boxes. It opens the Table Options dialog box. It enables you to specify data
set options that are used to open the data set. For example, you could enter a WHERE clause or
subsetting information that is then applied to the selected table when it is opened. The options
are stored as part of the cube and then reapplied when the data is accessed at run time. You can
also specify data set options in the Dimension Designer - General dialog box (for use with star
schemas) and the Stored Aggregates dialog box (for use with summarized tables). For more
information, see "Data Set Options" in SAS Language Reference: Concepts.
Now that your basic metadata server and cube information has been entered, you can define the
different dimensions and their respective levels and hierarchies. For this example, the following
dimensions are created:
Products
Dates
Geography
Customers
Orders
Name
Caption
Description
Sort Order.
Select Next. This opens the Dimension Designer - Level page. Next, select Add to open the Add
Levels page, as seen in the following display.
Select the levels you want to add to the dimension. Select OK to return to the Dimension Designer -
Level page, where the selected levels are listed. You can now define properties such as format, time
type, and sort order for the levels that you have selected. See the following display.
Next, define hierarchies for the levels on the Dimension Designer - Hierarchy page. You can select Add to
open the Define a Hierarchy page and individually select the levels for the hierarchy.
Or you can select Finish on the Dimension Designer - Hierarchy page to accept the order of the levels
that are defined on the previous Dimension Designer - Level page. If you select this option, the hierarchy
is assigned the same name as the dimension. See the following display.
Repeat this process for each dimension. After you create each dimension, it is listed in the Dimensions
panel of the Cube Designer - Dimensions page. See the following display.
When you create the Dates dimension, you must specify the TIME dimension type on the
Dimension Designer - General page. See the following display.
Specifying the TIME dimension type enables Add supplied time hierarchies on the Dimension Designer -
Level page. The Add button is converted to a drop-down list of options. The Add levels and Add supplied
time hierarchies options are now available for selection. See the following displays.
This display shows the Add button when selected.
Select Add supplied time hierarchies. This opens the Add Supplied dialog box. Select from the list of supplied time
hierarchies to create the time levels. This also creates the hierarchies for the dimension. See the following display.
You can then define properties such as time type and sort order for the levels that you have selected. See the
following display.
The hierarchy or hierarchies that are selected on the Add Supplied - dialog box are listed in the Hierarchies panel
on the Dimension Designer - Hierarchy page. If there is only one hierarchy, as with this example, the hierarchy
name is changed to match the dimension name. See the following display.
Define Measures
You can now define the measures for the cube. In this example, you define measures for the
CostPrice Per Unit. Define the measures for the cube at the Cube Designer - Select Measures
page, as shown in the following display.
Modify any measure attributes such as measure captions and formats at the Cube Designer - Measure Details
page, as shown in the following display.
Define Member Properties
You can now define the member properties for any needed cube members. A member property is
an attribute of a dimension member. A member property is also an optional cube feature that is
created in a dimension to provide users with additional information about members. For this
example, you can define the customer gender as a member property. Define member properties
in the Cube Designer - Member Property dialog box, as seen in the following display.
At the Define a Member Property page, enter the member property name, level, column, format, and caption.
Define Aggregations
You can now define the aggregations for the cube. Aggregations are summaries of detailed data
that are stored with a cube or referred to by a cube. They can help contribute to faster query
response. Define the aggregations for the cube from the Cube Designer - Aggregations page, as
shown in the following display.
Select Add to specify a user-defined aggregation. This opens the Add Aggregation dialog box, as shown in the
following display. In this dialog box you can select levels to add to the aggregation that you are defining.
Select OK to return to the Cube Designer - Aggregations page, where the new aggregation is listed. Select Next to
go to the Cube Designer - Finish page.
You can now build the cube. On the Cube Designer - Finish page, review the settings for the
cube, and then select one of the cube creation options, as shown in the following display.
You can also select whether to save the generated PROC OLAP code. Select Export Code. This
opens the Export Code dialog box, as shown in the following display.
You can select to save either the long or short form of the code, or both. Enter the file location(s)
where you want to save the resulting code. Select OK when finished to return to the Cube
Designer - Finish page.
On the Cube Designer - Finish page, select Finish to complete the wizard. If the cube builds
successfully, you will receive progress messages about the cube build, as seen in the following
display.
In SAS OLAP Cube Studio, you can elect to save the PROC OLAP code that is generated when
a cube is built. The code is saved to a text file that you specify. The information saved in the file
includes the following items:
You can access the Save PROC OLAP Code dialog box by using one of the following methods:
1. On the tree view in SAS OLAP Cube Studio, right-click on a cube and select Export
Code.
2. In the Cube Designer - Finish page in the Cube Designer wizard, right-click Export Code.
The Export Code dialog box opens. You can select to save either the long or short form of the
code, or both. Enter the file location or locations where you want to save the resulting code.
Select OK when finished.