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Modifying Default Table Names

You can change the value of the FriendlyName property for objects in the data source view to increase the user-friendliness of their names. You can also change the names of these objects after you define them.

In the following task, you will change the friendly name of each table in the Adventure Works DW data source view by removing the "Dim" and "Fact" prefixes from these tables. This will increase the user-friendliness of the cube and dimension objects that you will define in the next lesson.

Note

You can also change the friendly names of columns, define calculated columns, and join tables or views in the data source view to increase their user-friendliness.

To modify the default name of a table

  1. In the Tables pane of Data Source View Designer, right-click the FactInternetSales table, and then click Properties to display the properties for the FactInternetSales object in the Adventure Works Tutorial data source view.

  2. Click the Auto Hide button on the title bar of the Properties window so that this window will remain visible.

    It is easier to change the properties for each table in the data source view when the Properties window remains open. If you do not pin the window open by using the Auto Hide button, the window will close when you click a different object in the Diagram pane.

  3. Change the FriendlyName property for the FactInternetSales object to InternetSales.

    When you click away from the cell for the FriendlyName property, the change is applied. In the next lesson, you will define a measure group that is based on this fact table. The name of the fact table will be InternetSales instead of FactInternetSales because of the change you made in this lesson.

  4. Click DimProduct in the Tables pane. In the Properties window, change the FriendlyName property to Product.

  5. Change the FriendlyName property of each remaining table in the data source view in the same way, to remove the "Dim" prefix.

  6. When you have finished, click the Auto Hide button to hide the Properties window again.

  7. On the File menu, or on the toolbar of BI Development Studio, click Save All to save the changes you have made to this point in the Analysis Services Tutorial project. You can stop the tutorial here if you want and resume it later.