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Hi,
Does or has anybody used Multi-dimensional Expressions in SQL server application model in 2003 or 2005 beta yet???
AND, What is the general opinion o fthis langauge? I personally use it, but none of my other developers do, or any of my industry contacts nether. Is it that BAD? or is it just inaccessible forthe average "run of the mill" programmer??
Sugestions or 10c/10p/10eur appreciated
ta
kai :wave:
Multidimensional Expressions (MDX) is a query language for OLAP databases, much like SQL is a query language for relational databases so you cannot compare the two.
Data (let's stick to SQL Server now) are stored in 2 ways. Flat (rows & columns) or multi-dimensional (dimensions)
Flat data you query using SQL. Multi-Dimensional Data with MDX.
Flat data are ideal for OLTP, and are normalized.
To make use of the power of OLAP, you break up your database into smaller databases, denormalize them, then create cube/s, dimensions, measures, etc in MS Analysis Server. You will use MDX to query this data.
MDX were referred to as SQL on steriods, and in a way it is true. But don't let it intimidate you. OLAP is one hellova powerfull technology, not known well by many, so dig in and learn this beast..that's my 2 cents!
Good Luck!
ps. Forget getting any help on OLAP on this forums. I forgot the exact address, but the Microsoft OLAP / Analysis Server / MDX discussion board will be more helpfull. :)
Here is some MDX related links
If you want to write applications that automate OLAP task, use DSO for administrative stuff (creating cube objects, etc), and ADOMD.Net for anything that work with data. Google it.
I'm sure this is worth a rating? (pimping myself you see?) :p