Introduction To Mdx

Chapter 3: Introduction to MDX

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Chapter 3: Introduction to MDX
In Chapter 2 you ran a simple MDX query to retrieve data from Analysis Services 2005. Building on that, in thischapter you learn the fundamental concepts underlying MDX and how you can manipulate and query
multidimensional objects within Analysis Services using MDX. This chapter forms the basis for much of thesubsequent chapters in this book; in fact, in several places in this chapter and throughout the book it is shown how
each interaction between client tools and the instance of Analysis Services resultsin the generation of MDX. You
not only see the MDX that is generated, but also glean some insight as to what the MDX does.
SQL Server 2005 provides a sample Analysis Services project that containsthe majority of the features supported
by Analysis Services 2005. In this chapter you will use the sample Analysis Services project shipped with the
product to learn MDX. The illustrations arelimited to three dimensions for you to more easily understand the
concepts. You can extend these concepts if you want to view data across additional dimensions. In this chapter
you learn the basicconcepts regarding cells, members, tuples, and sets. In addition, you learn how to create MDX
expressions and MDX queries for data analysis from Analysis Services databases.

What Is MDX?
Just as SQL(Structured Query Language) is a query language used to retrieve data from relational databases,
MDX (Multi-Dimensional eXpressions) is a query language used to retrieve data from multi-dimensionaldatabases.
More specifically, MDX is used for querying data from OLAP databases with Analysis Services and supports two
distinct modes. When used as an expression, it can define and manipulatemultidimensional objects and data to
calculate values. As a query language, it is used to retrieve data from Analysis Services databases. MDX was
originally designed by Microsoft and introduced along with...