User-Defined Member Properties (MDX)

User-defined member properties can be added to a specific named level in a dimension as attribute relationships. User-defined member properties cannot be added to the (All) level of a hierarchy, or to the hierarchy itself.

Creating User-Defined Member Properties

User-defined member properties can be added to server-based dimensions or cubes either through the user interface or programmatically:

  • To add user-defined member properties through the user interface, you use Dimension Designer in Business Intelligence Development Studio. For more information, see Defining Attribute Relationships.

  • To add user-defined member properties programmatically, your application can use either Analysis Manager Objects (AMO) or a combination of XML for Analysis (XMLA) and Analysis Services Scripting Language (ASSL). For more information, see Attribute Relationships.

Retrieving User-Defined Member Properties

You can retrieve user-defined member properties using either the PROPERTIES keyword or the Properties function.

Using the PROPERTIES Keyword to Retrieve User-Defined Member Properties

The syntax that retrieves user-defined member properties is similar to that used to retrieve intrinsic level member properties, as shown in the following syntax:

DIMENSION PROPERTIES [Dimension.]Level.<Custom_Member_Property>

The PROPERTIES keyword appears after the set expression of the axis specification. For example, the following MDX query the PROPERTIES keyword retrieves the List Price and Dealer Price user-defined member properties and appears after the set expression that identifies the products sold in January:

SELECT 
   CROSSJOIN([Ship Date].[Calendar].[Calendar Year].Members, 
             [Measures].[Sales Amount]) ON COLUMNS,
   NON EMPTY Product.Product.MEMBERS
   DIMENSION PROPERTIES 
              Product.Product.[List Price],
              Product.Product.[Dealer Price]  ON ROWS
FROM [Adventure Works]
WHERE ([Date].[Month of Year].[January]) 

Using the Properties Function to Retrieve User-Defined Member Properties

Alternatively, you can access custom member properties with the Properties function. For example, the following MDX query uses the WITH keyword to create a calculated member consisting of the List Price member property:

WITH 
   MEMBER [Measures].[Product List Price] AS
   [Product].[Product].CurrentMember.Properties("List Price")
SELECT 
   [Measures].[Product List Price] on COLUMNS,
   [Product].[Product].MEMBERS  ON Rows
FROM [Adventure Works]

For more information about building calculated members, see Building Calculated Members in MDX (MDX).

See Also

Reference

Concepts