Overview: Defining Workspace Objects

It is important to understand the distinction between the definition of an object and its data. An object definition is its description in the analytic workspace. The data of an object is the value or values that are associated with that definition. All objects have definitions. However, not all objects have data.

For example, a sales variable that is dimensioned by month, product, and district has a definition for itself as a variable object. The sales variable is also associated with the definitions for its three dimensions. However, the values of sales, month, product, and district are not part of the definitions.

Other objects, such as programs and formulas, do not have data.

Once you have created an analytic workspace, you can begin defining workspace objects. To define any OLAP DML object, use the DEFINE command. The simplified syntax for the DEFINE command is shown below.

DEFINE name object-type attributes

The name argument specifies the name for the new definition.

Note: Because each analytic workspace has its own list of workspace objects, you can define objects with the same name in more than one analytic workspace. However, to prevent unexpected results, you should provide unique names for objects in separate analytic workspaces that will be active at the same time, unless you are prepared to use qualified object names as described in Chapter 2, "Defining and Working with Analytic Workspaces".

The object-type argument specifies the type of object that is being defined. The default is VARIABLE. You can specify any of the valid object types as outlined in "Workspace Objects That You Can Define".

The attributes argument specifies the properties of the object. Attributes are different for each type of object. The attributes are listed in the entry for each object type.

Workspace Objects That You Can Define

The OLAP DML data object types that you define using the DEFINE command are outlined in the following table.

Object Type	Description
DIMENSION	Contains a list of values that provide categories for data. A dimension acts as an index for identifying values of a variable. A dimension is similar to a key in a relational database.
RELATION	Establishes a correspondence between the values of a given dimension and the values of that dimension or other dimensions in the analytic workspace. A relation is similar to a foreign key in a relational database.
VARIABLE	Stores data. The data type of a variable indicates the kind of data that it contains. A variable is similar to a table in a relational database.
COMPOSITE	A named list of dimension-value combinations, in which a given combination has one value taken from each of the dimensions on which the composite is based. Note: An unnamed composite is automatically created when you define a variable with some dimensions specified as sparse. An unnamed composite is an internal object; it is not considered an OLAP DML object.
SURROGATE	Contains a list of values that are surrogates for the values of a simple dimension. You can use a surrogate for a dimension in LIMIT commands, models, qualified data references, and data loading.
FORMULA	Represents a stored calculation, expression, or procedure that produces a value. A formula is similar to a view in a relational database.
MODEL	Contains a set of interrelated equations that are used to calculate data and assign it to a variable or dimension value. In most cases, models are used when working with financial data.
PROGRAM	Contains a series of OLAP DML commands. A program executes a set of related commands. A program is similar to a SQL stored procedure.
VALUESET	Contains a list of dimension values for a particular dimension.
AGGMAP	Creates an aggregation map, which can contain commands that specify which data in a variable should be aggregated or allocated and how the operation is performed. With the AGGMAP command, you can specify commands used by the AGGREGATE command. With the ALLOCMAP command, you can specify commands used by the ALLOCATE command.