Ever wanted to use pretty Calendar Controls of Report Builder 2.0 in reports based on Analysis Services?

How to use SSRS Calendar Controls for Time dimensions in the reports based on SSAS (Analysis Services) in Report Builder 2.0:



1. Start creating the SSRS report in the Report Builder 2.0 with a Wizard.

2. Select a Time dimension and drop it in the filter area, select hierarchy, use Range (Inclusive) and check both parameters checkboxes, add measures and other dimensions to the report. Close the Query Designer.




3. Go to the parameters of the report (they are automatically created) and modify "From" and "To" Time parameters - change their Data type to Date/Time and set Available Values to None





4. Open the DataSet Properties and press fx button to the right of Query





5. Remove "CONSTRAINED" from "STRTOMEMBER" function that is using Date parameters in the MDX query



6. Go to parameters tab of the DataSet Properties window and enter the expression as a parameter value. Expression has to generate a Uniquename of the Time dimension

In my example unique name is [Date].[Date].[Day].&[20111216]

To generate this string you will need following expression:
="[Date].[Date].[Day].&[" + Format(Convert.ToDateTime(Parameters!FromDate.Value), "yyyyMMdd") + "]"



Repeat this for the second parameter.

GO statement breaks SSIS "Execute SQL Task"

I have lost an hour today trying to find a bug in my SSIS package, and it was so small - just two letters - "GO"

I had an Execute SQL Task with an input parameter and I had an SQLStatement with some lengthy logc and a "GO" at the end.

Every time I tried to execute it I got an error message "[Execute SQL Task] Error: Executing the query "
" failed with the following error: "The variable name '@StartFrom' has already been declared. Variable names must be unique within a query batch or stored procedure."

I got desperate trying to find where am I declaring the @StartFrom. I even removed it completely from script and still got this error. Eventually, gloomily poring over my script I saw a "GO" statement and decided that maybe he is the culprit - causing Execute SQL Task to declare the Input Parameter twice, and I was right. That is exactly what happens.

When Execute SQL Task sees GO, it redeclares the variable specified in the Parameter Mapping, and then himself not liking it complains about it being declared twice. Isn't that just ingenious?

NOT IN or IN ?

I have been having a hard time believing my eyes when I noticed that these queries give different results:

1. select * from TableA a where a.a_id not in (select b.a_id from TableB b)

2. select * from TableA a where not exists (select b.a_id from TableB b where a.a_id=b.a_id )

3. select a.a_id, b.a_id from TableA a
left join TableB b
on a.a_id = b.a_id

where b.a_id is null


1. returns nothing whereas 2. and 3. return the same result set

Isn't it that in theory 1., 2. and 3. must give exactly same result?

Why is that 1. is giving different result than 2. and 3.?

As it turns out TableB contained some entries with NULLs in a_id column, so when NOT IN was evaluated, the presence of NULL in the list of returned values broke the logic, and statement was incorrectly interpreted

Googling gave me the reference to a similar post: http://sqlwithmanoj.wordpress.com/2011/02/15/not-in-not-exists-joins-with-null-values/

oh, devious NOT IN, how art thou misleading...

T-SQL formula for %

I have needed a formula that will get me a number if it is <=100 and 100 for anything greater than 100, because clients required that % cannot be greater than 100%

I wanted a formula without IF or CASE statements.

And, here it is!

DECLARE @rr FLOAT

SET @@rr = 120

@rr - 0.5*(ABS(@rr - 100) + (@rr - 100))

PerformancePoint 2010 - connecting Filter to Analytic Chart from different Data Source

I am working on a PerformancePoint 2010 Dashboard which contains filters and Analytic Charts from different Data Sources. I wanted to share one of the challenges and my solution to it, and if possible to discuss any other alternative solutions.

My challenge was to connect an Analytic Chart from one Data Source (OLAP Database A) to a "Period" filter from another (OLAP Database B). I could not use Time Intelligence Filter to solve this, because the calendar control and Time Intelligence functions (Current Month, Previous Month) were not giving us what was needed - we needed just to display a list of Period names in the filter.

To implement this funtionality, Period dimension members had to be translated into Month hierarchy members of a Time dimension when connecting to a Chart by using string manipulation in the MDX query of the Analytic Chart.

Here are the steps to make it work:

1. Drop Period filter and Analytic Chart to the Dashboard

2. In Analytic Chart, create Parameter <<Period>>

3. Create Connection between Filter and Chart with Member Unique Name as a Source Value:





4. Specify <<UniqueName>> in Connection Formula



5. In Analytic Chart MDX Query create a Calculated Member FilterDate

WITH MEMBER FilterDate
AS "[Time].[Date].[Month]." + vba!Right("<<Period>>", vba!Len("<<Period>>") - vba!InStr("<<Period>>",".&["))

this will remove the dimension and hierarchy name sent from Period filter and append the rest to the dimension and hierarchy name of the Time dimension of the cube that is used in the chart

5. in the WHERE condition, put WHERE StrToMember(FilterDate)

This solution will work only for single-selection filter because it replaces the dimension name only once. I only wish REPLACE funciton was available in MDX, then we would be able to implement multiple-selection solution as well.

There is another condition in the cube design to make this work - Dimension members of Periods and Month hierarchies must have same keys, ex: March 2010 has a key "201003", and it must mean the same thing in both dimensions - Period and Time.

My special thanks to Chris Webb for the link to VBA functions in MDX - http://cwebbbi.wordpress.com/2007/03/03/vba-functions-in-mdx

.