Limiting Based on the Position of a Value in a Dimension

Overview: Limiting based on a value's position in a dimension

Using the LIMIT command, you can set dimension status based on the position of values in either:

• The dimension you are limiting

• An unrelated dimension

Limiting using a value's position in its dimension

You can use the LIMIT command with the FIRST, LAST, NTH, and POSLIST keywords to set dimension status based on the position of a value within a dimension.

The simplified syntax for using the LIMIT command in this way is shown below.

LIMIT dimension TO {FIRST n|LAST n|NTH n|POSLIST poslist-exp}

The FIRST, LAST, and NTH keywords specify where the value is in the dimension's full set of values. The n argument following it specifies the number of values.

The POSLIST keyword indicates that the poslist-exp argument following it is a text expression, each line of which is a numeric value that evaluates to a numeric position of the dimension being limited.

For the complete syntax for the LIMIT command, see the entry for the command in OLAP DML Reference.

Limiting using a value's position in an unrelated dimension

You can use the LIMIT command with the NOCONVERT keyword to insert a value into a dimension's status list based on the numeric position of the values in the status list of the unrelated dimension. This is particularly useful when the two dimensions are in different analytic workspaces (for example, when there is a one-to-one correspondence between the product dimension in two analytic workspaces).

The simplified syntax for using the LIMIT command to keyword to insert a value into a dimension's status list based on the numeric position of the values in the status list of the unrelated dimension is shown below:

LIMIT dimension TO NOCONVERT unrelated-dimension

The unrelated-dimension argument specifies the name of a dimension not related to the dimension being limited.

For the complete syntax for the LIMIT command, see the entry for the command in OLAP DML Reference.