To choose a key binding option:
If you have not already done so, create a dimension element or open one for editing.
To create a dimension element, complete a procedure described in Creating Dimension Elements.
To edit a dimension element, locate it in the Metadata Navigator, right-click, and select Edit.
Note:
You can also open the dimension element for editing by double-clicking it.
If you have not already done so, complete the procedure in Creating an Expression on Which to Base a Dimension Element.
Choose a Key Binding option for this dimension element depending on the type of outline in which this dimension element is going to be used:
Same as caption—This is the default. Essbase Studio uses the expression you input in Creating an Expression on Which to Base a Dimension Element to indicate how to load member names for this dimension element into the Essbase outline or in a spreadsheet.
Tip:
Use the Same as caption binding option when the instance of this dimension element has a unique name and when you know that this particular dimension element will participate in an outline that contains unique member names.
When you choose Same as caption, the expression in the Caption Binding text box is copied to the Key Binding text box.
Advanced—Select this option and then enter an expression in the Key Binding text box that tells Essbase how to build this member.
Use the Advanced binding option when you know that the Caption Binding contains duplicate member names and you know how to build the unique member key from the data source.
Tip:
Use the Advanced binding option when this particular dimension element will participate in an outline that contains duplicate member names.
Note:
For dimension elements with a data type other than text (string), the Advanced option is set automatically.
In the Key Binding text box, you provide the expression that generates the unique identifier for each value passed to Essbase for this metadata element. The expression you provide should be associated with one or more member key columns from the data source. Essbase Studio makes use of the assigned keys to uniquely identify the members that will be associated with this dimension element.
For example, suppose you know that in the “Market” table in your data source, there is a column called “cityNames,” which contains duplicate member names. Another column, “cityID,” is the member key column for the Market table and each city has a unique city ID in this column. Because of this, cityID would be a good candidate to use for the key binding expression. Or, using the concatenation operator, you may prefix the cityName column with the region name from another column in the table, “Region,” to create the key binding expression.
Drag the appropriate elements from the Source, Functions, and Operators tabs in the Formula box and drop them in the Key Binding text box.
Note:
For caption binding and key binding expressions, text file data sources only support the substring (substr) function and the concatenation operator ( || ) .
When you choose Advanced, the expression in the Key Binding text box will probably differ from the expression in the Caption Binding text box.
Delayed—Select this option to allow Essbase Studio to automatically generate a key binding, or to provide the key binding expression yourself at a later time.
Tip:
Use the “Delayed” option when you are not sure how to generate the key binding expression. Essbase Studio can do this for you.
You can let Essbase Studio generate the binding expression for you or provide the expression during hierarchy creation or editing.
You may also return to edit a dimension element already used in a hierarchy and change the key binding option to “Delayed.” You may then choose to let Essbase Studio generate the default keys automatically in all the hierarchies in which the dimension element participates. Or, you may specify them yourself during the hierarchy editing process.
In the hierarchy, Essbase Studio generates the full path for the key binding. For example, in the following hierarchy, the key binding for each dimension element is the default caption binding:
FAMILY – connection : \'tbcSource'::'tbc.family'.'FAMILY' SKU – connection : \'tbcSource'::'tbc.product'.'SKU'
If the key binding is changed to Delayed for the SKU dimension element, the key binding in the hierarchy, generated by Essbase Studio, is the full path of the dimension element in relation to its place in the hierarchy:
class : \'tbcSource'\'productdim'\'FAMILY'.'caption' || "_" || class : \'tbcSource'\'product'\'SKU'.'caption'
The Delayed option can be used for Essbase outlines that support either unique or duplicate member names,
When you choose the Delayed option, the Key Binding text box is left blank.
To complete the dimension element creation or editing process, return to step 4 in Defining or Editing General Properties for Dimension Elements.