• Article

Creating and Altering Objects (XMLA)

Major objects can be independently created, altered, and deleted. Major objects include the following objects:

  • Servers

  • Databases

  • Dimensions

  • Cubes

  • Measure groups

  • Partitions

  • Perspectives

  • Mining models

  • Roles

  • Commands associated with a server or database

  • Data sources

You use the Create command to create a major object on an instance of Microsoft SQL Server Analysis Services, and the Alter command to alter an existing major object on an instance. Both commands are run using the Execute method.

Creating Objects

When you create objects by using the Create method, you must first identify the parent object that contains the Analysis Services object to be created. You identify the parent object by providing an object reference in the ParentObject property of the Create command. Each object reference contains the object identifiers needed to uniquely identify the parent object for the Create command. For more information about object references, see Defining and Identifying Objects (XMLA).

For example, you must provide an object reference to a cube to create a new measure group for the cube. The object reference for the cube in the ParentObject property contains both a database identifier and a cube identifier, as the same cube identifier could potentially be used on a different database.

The ObjectDefinition element contains Analysis Services Scripting Language (ASSL) elements that define the major object to be created. For more information about ASSL, see ASSL.

If you set the AllowOverwrite attribute of the Create command to true, you can overwrite an existing major object that has the specified identifier. Otherwise, an error occurs if a major object that has the specified identifier already exists in the parent object.

For more information about the Create command, see Create Element (XMLA).

Creating Session Objects

Session objects are temporary objects that are available only to the explicit or implicit session used by a client application and are deleted when the session is ended. You can create session objects by setting the Scope attribute of the Create command to Session.

Note

When using the Session setting, the ObjectDefinition element can only contain Dimension, Cube, or MiningModel ASSL elements.

Altering Objects

When modifying objects by using the Alter method, you must first identify the object to be modified by providing an object reference in the Object property of the Alter command. Each object reference contains the object identifiers needed to uniquely identify the object for the Alter command. For more information about object references, see Defining and Identifying Objects (XMLA).

For example, you must provide an object reference to a cube in order to modify the structure of a cube. The object reference for the cube in the Object property contains both a database identifier and a cube identifier, as the same cube identifier could potentially be used on a different database.

The ObjectDefinition element contains ASSL elements that define the major object to be modified. For more information about ASSL, see ASSL.

If you set the AllowCreate attribute of the Alter command to true, you can create the specified major object if the object does not exist. Otherwise, an error occurs if a specified major object does not already exist.

Using the ObjectExpansion Attribute

If you are changing only the properties of the major object and are not redefining minor objects that are contained by the major object, you can set the ObjectExpansion attribute of the Alter command to ObjectProperties. The ObjectDefinition property then only has to contain the elements for the properties of the major object, and the Alter command leaves minor objects associated with the major object untouched.

To redefine minor objects for a major object, you must set the ObjectExpansion attribute to ExpandFull and the object definition must include all minor objects that are contained by the major object. If the ObjectDefinition property of the Alter command does not explicitly include a minor object that is contained by the major object, the minor object that was not included is deleted.

Altering Session Objects

To modify session objects created by the Create command, set the Scope attribute of the Alter command to Session.

Note

When using the Session setting, the ObjectDefinition element can only contain Dimension, Cube, or MiningModel ASSL elements.

Creating or Altering Subordinate Objects

Although a Create or Alter command creates or alters only one topmost major object, the major object being created or modified can contain definitions within the enclosing ObjectDefinition property for other major and minor objects that are subordinate to it. For example, if you define a cube, you specify the parent database in ParentObject, and within the cube definition in ObjectDefinition you can define measure groups for the cube, and within the measure groups you can define partitions for each measure group. A minor object can be defined only under the major object that contains it. For more information about major and minor objects, see Database Objects (Analysis Services - Multidimensional Data).

Examples

Description

The following example creates a relational data source that references the Adventure Works DW sample Microsoft SQL Server database.

Code

<Create xmlns="https://schemas.microsoft.com/analysisservices/2003/engine">
    <ParentObject>
        <DatabaseID>Adventure Works DW</DatabaseID>
    </ParentObject>
    <ObjectDefinition>
        <DataSource xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xsi:type="RelationalDataSource">
            <ID>Adventure Works DW</ID>
            <Name>Adventure Works DW</Name>
            <ConnectionString>Data Source=localhost;Initial Catalog=AdventureWorksDW;Integrated Security=True</ConnectionString>
            <ImpersonationInfo>
                <ImpersonationMode>ImpersonateServiceAccount</ImpersonationMode>
            </ImpersonationInfo>
            <ManagedProvider>System.Data.SqlClient</ManagedProvider>
            <Timeout>PT0S</Timeout>
        </DataSource>
    </ObjectDefinition>
</Create>

Description

The following example alters the relational data source created in the previous example to set the query time-out for the data source to 30 seconds.

Code

<Alter ObjectExpansion="ObjectProperties" xmlns="https://schemas.microsoft.com/analysisservices/2003/engine">
    <Object>
        <DatabaseID>Analysis Services Project1</DatabaseID>
        <DataSourceID>Adventure Works DW2</DataSourceID>
    </Object>
    <ObjectDefinition>
        <DataSource xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xsi:type="RelationalDataSource">
            <ID>Adventure Works DW2</ID>
            <Name>Adventure Works DW2</Name>
            <ConnectionString>Data Source=fr-dwk-02;Initial Catalog=AdventureWorksDW;Integrated Security=True</ConnectionString>
            <ManagedProvider>System.Data.SqlClient</ManagedProvider>
            <Timeout>PT30S</Timeout>
        </DataSource>
    </ObjectDefinition>
</Alter>

Comments

The ObjectExpansion attribute of the Alter command was set to ObjectProperties. This setting allows the ImpersonationInfo element, a minor object, to be excluded from the data source defined in ObjectDefinition. Therefore, the impersonation information for that data source remains set to the service account, as specified in the first example.