Properties Pane (Dimension Editor Data View)

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Analysis Services

Properties Pane (Dimension Editor Data View)

Use the properties pane to display the properties of the object selected in the tree pane. To display the properties pane, click the Properties button.

Each type of object (dimension, level, or member property) contains a different set of properties. Use the properties pane to modify the property settings for the selected object.

The following table describes the properties displayed in the properties pane.

Object	Property	Description
Dimension	All Caption	The name of the member in the (All) level.
	All Level	Indicates whether the dimension contains an (All) level. If the value is Yes, the (All) level is the top level of the dimension but is not displayed in the Dimension Editor tree pane. The (All) level contains a single member whose cell value is the aggregate of cell values for all members in the next lower level.
	All Member Formula	Stores the MDX expression used to override the default rollup of the All member.
	Allow Duplicate Names	Indicates whether the members under a common parent can have the same name.
	Changing	Indicates whether the dimension is optimized for frequent changes. If the value is True, query performance may be slower. However, levels and members below the top level and above the bottom level can be added, moved, and deleted, and the subsequent processing requirement is eliminated or reduced. Consequently, interruptions of end users' access to the cubes that include the dimension can be reduced. For more information, see Changing Dimensions.
	Data Member Caption template	Controls the names of data members when the dimension's Members With Data property is set to Nonleaf data visible. Type a value that includes an asterisk (). The name of each data member will be the value with the asterisk replaced by the parent member's name. The Data Member Caption template* property is available only for parent-child dimensions.
	Data source	Indicates the data source that contains the dimension table(s).
	Default Member	Indicates the member that slices the datasets returned by queries when the dimension is not displayed on an axis and no slicing member in the dimension is specified. If no default member is specified, and the dimension's All Level property is Yes, the member indicated by the All Caption property is the default member. If no default member is specified, and the dimension's All Level property is No, an arbitrary member of the highest level is the default member.
	Depends on Dimension	For virtual dimensions, indicates the dimension that supplies the member properties or columns on which the virtual dimension's levels are based. For dimensions that are not virtual, this is the dimension according to which aggregation design is optimized. A dimension in this property's value is advantageous when the cross product of the two dimensions' members results in a significant percentage of combinations that cannot coexist. For example, a Customer Gender dimension's Depends on Dimension property is Customers. Fifty percent of the combinations resulting from the cross product of the dimensions' lowest-level members cannot coexist because a customer can have only one gender. For more information, see Dependent Dimensions.
	Description	Contains the description of the dimension.
	Enable Real-Time Updates	Indicates whether or not the dimension supports real-time updates. For this to be set to True, the dimension must use a ROLAP partition and a Microsoft® SQL Server™ 2000 data source. For more information, see Real-Time Cubes.
	Member Keys Unique	Indicates whether member keys are unique within the dimension. If the value of this property is changed, process the dimension using the Rebuild the dimension structure option. This is read-only and set to True for changing dimensions. For more information, see Updating and Rebuilding Shared Dimensions.
	Member Names Unique	Indicates whether member names are unique within the dimension. If the value is True, internal member names omit qualifying level names and member names. These internal member names are used in Multidimensional Expressions (MDX) expressions.
	Members with Data	Indicates whether nonleaf members are allowed to have associated fact table data. If they are allowed, this property also indicates whether children of nonleaf members are created to display this data. Valid values are: Leaf members only: Only leaf members can have associated fact table data. If a nonleaf member has associated fact table data, processing fails. This value is the default. Nonleaf data hidden: Nonleaf members can have associated fact table data. This data is not represented among the nonleaf members' descendants. Consequently, it might appear to end users that values aggregate incorrectly. Nonleaf data visible: Nonleaf members can have associated fact table data. This data is represented among the nonleaf members' descendants by the creation of a child for each nonleaf member. This child, called a data member, is a leaf member and has a value equal to the aggregate of its parent's associated fact table data. The data members' names are controlled by the Data Member Caption Template property. This property is available only for parent-child dimensions.
	Name	Indicates the name of the dimension.
	Source Table Filter	Lists the WHERE clause expression that is applied to the dimension table to limit the members in the dimension. For example, in the Store dimension supplied with SQL Server 2000 Analysis Services, to include only the Canada member and its descendants, type: "store"."store_country" = 'Canada'
	Storage Mode	Determines the type of storage for the dimension. If the value is MOLAP (multidimensional OLAP), the dimension data is stored in a multidimensional structure on the Analysis server. If the value is ROLAP (relational OLAP), the dimension data is the dimension table itself. MOLAP provides better performance and is recommended except for extremely large dimensions (that is, dimensions that have approximately 5 to 10 million members). In order to select ROLAP, the lowest level's Member Keys Unique property must be True. Restrictions also apply to the dimension's Aggregation Usage property in all cubes in which the dimension is used. For more information, see Dimension Storage Modes.
	Type	Indicates the type of the dimension. Standard is the default. This property indicates to client applications the kind of information in the dimension.
	Virtual	Indicates whether the dimension is a virtual dimension. If you set this property to True while the Depends on Dimension property is (None), the tables in the Schema tab disappear. In the Depends on Dimension property, select the dimension that supplies the columns or member properties on which the edited dimension is based. The tables for the selected dimension appear in the Schema tab.
	Write-Enabled	Indicates whether the dimension's members can be updated while administrators browse the dimension and while end users browse cubes that contain the dimension. The only end users that can update a write-enabled dimension are those in cube roles granted read/write access to the dimension. Only parent-child dimensions can be write-enabled. For more information, see Write-Enabled Dimensions.
Level	Custom Members	Indicates whether custom member formulas are used to determine members' cell values. For more information, see Custom Rollup Formulas and Custom Member Formulas. To view the custom member formulas, on the View menu click Data, and then see the custom member formula pane.
	Custom Member Options	Indicates whether calculation options can be defined for custom members on this level and unary operators on the following level. Calculation options are stored in a column in the dimension table. To set this property to True, you must first set the Custom Members property to True.
	Custom Rollup Formula	Stores the MDX expression used to override the default rollup of values in the level.
	Description	Contains the description of the dimension.
	Grouping	Indicates whether the level contains member groups. Member groups can be used to satisfy the maximum limit of 64,000 members under a parent. To use member groups in this way, create a new level immediately above and identical to the level that exceeds the limit, and then set the new level's Grouping property to Automatic. For more information, see Member Groups.
	Hide Member If	Determines which members are hidden from end users as they browse cubes. Hidden members support ragged dimensions, which contain logical gaps in member lineage, by hiding the members that occupy the gaps. Valid values are: Never hidden: No members are hidden. No name: Every member whose name is null or an empty string is hidden. Parent's name: Every member with the same name as its parent is hidden. Only child with no name: Every member that is an only child and whose name is null or an empty string is hidden. Only child with parent's name: Every member that is an only child and has the same name as its parent is hidden. This property is not available for parent-child dimensions.
	Key Data Size	Indicates the size (in bytes) of the columns that store member keys in aggregations. Member keys are copied from the column specified in the Member Key Column property.
	Key Data Type	Indicates the data type of the columns that store member keys in aggregations. Member keys are copied from the column specified in the Member Key Column property.
	Level Naming Template	Determines the level names displayed to end users when they browse cubes containing the dimension. This property is available only for parent-child dimensions. Click this property and click the edit (...) button to display the Level Naming Template dialog box.
	Level Type	Indicates the type of the level. Regular is the default. The following values are used only in dimensions whose Type property is Time: Years, Half-Years, Quarters, Months, Weeks, Days, Hours, Minutes, Seconds, and Time-Undefined. The Level Type property indicates to client applications the kind of information in the level. This property is not displayed for parent-child dimensions.
	Member Count	Indicates the number of members in the level at the time they were last counted by Analysis Services, or a user-provided estimate of the member count. You can update this value by clicking Count Dimension Members on the Tools menu.
	Member Key Column	Contains the member keys. Alternatively, the value can be derived from a column, such as an expression that extracts the year value from a date-formatted column. The syntax of such expressions must comply with the requirements of the data source provider; otherwise, processing fails with one or more errors.
	Member Keys Unique	Indicates whether member keys are unique within the level. This property is not available for parent-child dimensions. If the value of this property is changed, process the level's corresponding dimension using the Rebuild the dimension structure option. For more information, see Updating and Rebuilding Shared Dimensions.
	Member Name Column	Indicates the column that contains the member names, which are displayed to end users as they browse cubes. Alternatively, the value can be derived from a column, such as an expression that extracts the year value from a date-formatted column. The syntax of such expressions must comply with the requirements of the data source provider; otherwise, processing fails with one or more errors.
	Member Names Unique	Indicates whether member names are unique within the level. If the value is True, internal member names omit qualifying member names. These internal member names are used in MDX expressions.
	Name	Contains the name of the level.
	Order By	Determines the sort order for displayed members. You can sort by member name, member key, or any member property defined for the level.
	Parent Key Column	Indicates the column that contains the keys for the members' parents. This property is available only for parent-child dimensions.
	Root Member If	Indicates the criteria by which members of the highest level (ignoring the (All) level, if any) are identified. The following values are valid: Parent is blank, self, or missing: A member is in the highest level if any of the following three criteria is met. Parent is blank: A member is in the highest level if its value in the Parent Key Column is null or 0 (zero). Parent is self: A member is in the highest level if its value in the Parent Key Column is equal to its value in the Member Key Column. Parent is missing: A member is in the highest level if its value in the Parent Key Column does not exist in the Member Key Column. This property is available only for parent-child dimensions.
	Skipped Levels Column	Indicates the column that contains the number of levels between a member and its parent, excluding the member and parent. Valid values in the column are 0 (zero) and positive integers. This property is available only for parent-child dimensions.
	Unary Operators	Enables unary operators (custom rollup operators) that control how level members are aggregated into their parent member's value. For more information, see Custom Rollup Operators. To view the custom rollup operators, on the View menu click Data, and then see the value beside UNARY_COLUMN in the member properties pane.
	Visible	Indicates whether the level is visible to end users as they browse cubes. To set this property to False, you must first set the Member Keys Unique property of all lower levels to True. The Visible property is not available for parent-child dimensions. This property's value can be overridden for individual cubes by the Visible property in Cube Editor.
Member property	Caption	Contains the caption used to display the member property.
	Data Size	Indicates the maximum number of characters allowed in the column that stores the member property values.
	Data Type	Indicates the data type of the column that stores the member property values.
	Description	Contains a description of the member property.
	Language	Indicates the language used to display the member property.
	Name	Indicates the name of the member property.
	Source Column	Indicates the column that stores the values of the member property. This column must be in one of the dimension tables for the dimension that contains the member property.
	Type	Provides an indicator to client applications of the type of information in the member property values.
	Visible	Indicates whether the member property is visible to end users as they browse the cube.

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