How to: Specify Dimensions and Attributes for a Cube

Important

This content is archived and is not being updated. For the latest documentation, see Microsoft Dynamics 365 product documentation. For the latest release plans, see Dynamics 365 and Microsoft Power Platform release plans.

Applies To: Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 R2, Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 Feature Pack, Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012

The following procedures illustrate how to specify dimensions and attributes for a cube in Microsoft Dynamics AX.

To specify a table as a dimension

  1. In the AOT, expand the Data Dictionary node.

  2. Do one of the following:

    • To specify a dimension directly on a table, expand the Tables node, right-click the table that you want to specify as a dimension, and then click Properties.

    • To specify a dimension on a table in a perspective, expand the Perspectives node, expand the node for the perspective, expand the Tables node, right-click the table that you want to specify as a dimension, and then click Properties.

    • To specify a dimension on a view in a perspective, expand the Perspectives node, expand the node for the perspective, expand the Views node, right-click the view that you want to specify as a dimension, and then click Properties.

  3. In the Properties sheet, specify the following properties.

    Property

    Value

    IsLookup

    Used to automatically create a dimension attribute hierarchy.

    AnalysisIdentifier

    The dimension instance identifier.

    AnalysisDimensionType

    The type of dimension to create.

For a detailed description of the Business Intelligence properties and their options, see Business Intelligence Properties.

Now that the dimension is defined, add fields to the dimension.

To specify a field as an attribute on a dimension

  1. In the AOT, expand the Data Dictionary node.

  2. Do one of the following:

    • To specify a dimension attribute directly on a table field, expand the Tables node, expand the node for the table, expand the Fields node, right-click the table field that you want to specify as a dimension attribute, and then click Properties.

    • To specify a dimension attribute on a table field in a perspective, expand the Perspectives node, expand the node for the perspective, expand the Tables node, expand the node for the table, expand the Fields node, right-click the table field that you want to specify as a dimension attribute, and then click Properties.

    • To specify a dimension attribute on a view field in a perspective, expand the Perspectives node, expand the node for the perspective, expand the Views node, expand the node for the view, expand the Fields node, right-click the table field that you want to specify as a dimension attribute, and then click Properties.

  3. In the Properties sheet, specify the following properties.

    Property

    Value

    AnalysisUsage

    Attribute

    AnalysisLabel

    A label for the measure. Only specify a label for this property when the label supplied for the Label property is not appropriate.

    Note

    If a table field has the same name as its table and you set the table field as an attribute, the attribute will not be generated.

Microsoft Dynamics AX uses label translations to name the measures and dimensions of an Analysis Services project. The label translations that you provide are not subject to Common Language Specification (CLS) validations. A label translation may generate a dimension or measure name that does not comply with CLS specifications. An Analysis Services project that contains non-compliant dimensions or measures might not build.

For a detailed description of the Business Intelligence properties and their options, see Business Intelligence Properties.

See also

Defining Cubes in Microsoft Dynamics AX

How to: Specify Measures for a Cube

Walkthrough: Creating a Cube