Creating a Data Set Using a MDX Query Against an OLAP Data Source

BI Publisher supports Multidimensional Expressions (MDX) queries against OLAP data sources.

MDX enables you to query multidimensional objects, such as Essbase cubes, and return multidimensional cell sets that contain the cube's data. You create MDX queries by manually entering the MDX query or by using MDX Query Builder to build the query.

Creating a Data Set Using a MDX Query

You create MDX queries either by manually entering the MDX query or by using MDX Query Builder to build the query.

  1. On the toolbar, click New Data Set and then select MDX Query.
  2. Enter a name for the data set.
  3. Select the data source for the data set. Only the data sources defined as OLAP connections are displayed in the list.

    Any private OLAP data source connections that you created will also be available in the Data Source drop-down list. For more information on creating private data source connections, see Managing Private Data Sources.

  4. Enter the MDX query or click Query Builder. For more information on using MDX Query Builder, see Using MDX Query Builder.
  5. Click OK to save. The data model editor validates the query.

Note:

Ensure that in your OLAP data source that you do not use Unicode characters from the range U+F900 to U+FFFE to define any metadata attributes such as column names or table names. This Unicode range includes half-width Japanese Katakana and full-width ASCII variants. Using these characters results in errors when generating the XML data for a BI Publisher report.

For more information on writing MDX queries, see Oracle Essbase Database Administrators Guide.