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ColumnBinding Data Type (ASSL)

Defines a derived data type that represents the binding of a column in a data source view to a DataItem element.

Syntax

<ColumnBinding>
   <!-- The following elements extend Binding -->
   <TableID>...</TableID>
      <ColumnID>...</ColumnID>
</ColumnBinding>

Data Type Characteristics

Characteristic

Description

Base data types

Binding

Derived data types

None

Data Type Relationships

Relationship

Element

Parent elements

None

Child elements

ColumnID, TableID

Derived elements

See Binding

Remarks

To create valid XML element names, ADO.NET DataSet objects encode table names as they serialize to XML Schema Definition (XSD); for example, the name "Order Details" becomes "Order_x0020_Details". Likewise, the ColumnID and TableID elements contained by the ColumnBinding element and which reference objects in the data source view (DSV) must also encode names during serialization, to ensure that the names directly match the text in the DSV. The Analysis Services instance will decode these names, just as the DataSet object model does.

A TableDefinitions element contained by an element using the TableBinding data type and which refers to tables in the DSV must also encode names as they serialize to XSD. However, the table names in the Partition bindings should not be encoded because these names are simply names of tables that exist in the database and do not have to be in the DSV. Not encoding the table names in the Partition bindings also achieves the following:

  • It keeps the data definition library (DDL) for partitions simpler.

  • It provides more consistency because partitions can either have a table name or a SELECT statement, and the SELECT statement should not be encoded.

Table and column names do not include delimiters (for example, "[" for SQL Server).

For additional information about the Binding type, including tables of Analysis Services Scripting Language (ASSL) objects of the Binding type and the inheritance hierarchy of Binding types, see Binding Data Type (ASSL).

For an overview of data bindings in ASSL, see Data Sources and Bindings (Analysis Services - Multidimensional Data).

The corresponding element in the AMO object model is ColumnBinding.