*Hi all,

Mark Whitehorn, Rob Zare and I are currently working on the next version of
the book 'Fast Track to MDX' which I think some of you on this newsgroup
own. We already finished writing second edition of 'Fast Track to MDX',
which expands AS2K related material, and now working on the brand new book.
Our aims for this version are to:
* Explain how properly use MDX for solving business problems using Analysis
Services 2005 paradigms

As a result we're interested in hearing your opinions on the first edition:
what you liked and what you didn't like, mistakes that need correcting,
existing topics that need more detail and new topics that you think should
be included. The more specific you are the more it will help us. We would
like more of your feedback on what kind of problems you tried to solve
rather then what kind of functions you had trouble with, because we want to
show what is the best way to solve these problems. For example, we surely
will be avoiding any mention of NonEmptyCrossJoin, since this function
caused so much trouble and will be deprecated in AS2005 i.e. still
supported, but not promoted (nevertheless we did cover some of it in the new
chapters in upcoming second edition).
To give us your feedback please reply to this thread (the preferred option)
or email me directly. We're looking forward to hearing from you...

Thanks,

Mosha

[*Acknowledgment to Chris Webb for his message about second edition of MDX
Solutions, which I used as template for mine]

--
==============================*=================== =
Mosha Pasumansky - http://www.mosha.com/msolap
Analysis Services blog at http://www.sqljunkies.com/WebL*og/mosha
Development Lead in the Analysis Server team
All you need is love (John Lennon)
Disclaimer : This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and
confers no rights.
==============================*=================== =

Hi Mosha,

Again, this is great news for the group - as Mao memorably said: "Let a
hundred flowers bloom"!

One topic, which is relevant for many of our OLAP business users,
relates to Drill-Through to the detailed fact records. As I understand
it, from various blogs, in AS2005 a fact table can be a degenerate
dimension in UDM; so drill-through is coneptually a retrieval of
dimension attributes. Hopefully, this will also make implementation of
drill-through more uniform across OLAP client tools. The lack of
consistent drill-through behavior across tools has been a vexatious
issue - with some clients (like Crystal Analysis and Reporting Services
2K) Drill-Through apparently only works properly with single-partition
cubes.


- Deepak

Deepak Puri
Microsoft MVP - SQL Server

*** Sent via Developersdex http://www.developersdex.com ***

Hi Mosha

First of all let me compliment you on a great book that you have come up
with. It is indeed the only great book that I have come across to begin
exploring the exciting world of MDX. The way the book is narrated is
absolutely fantastic and the language is as simple as it can get. The nice
little cheeky notes create more interest whilst reading the book.

To say the least there are at least 10 books flying around in my office
right now (there are only 32 employees in my office so it is great in that
respect).

What I personally (and desperately) would like to see in the next version
is some detailed explanations with examples of Calculated Cells,
CalculationPassValue(), Calculation_Pass_Number etc. This is one thing that
has been eluding my brains for quite some time now.

Also if possible I would like to see some insights on most desired
scripting techniques of Analysis Services. I have been using vbscript but
would like to see some explanations on C# techniques also.

Thanks
Gautham

Thanks for nice comments.

Regarding your wish - one of the goals of AS2005 was to simplify MDX. We
realize that calculation passes manipulations are tricky. This is why in
AS2005 you won't ever need neither CalculationPassValue nor
calculation_pass_number. Together with NonEmptyCrossjoin - those will be
rudiments of the dark past

--
==============================*=================== =
Mosha Pasumansky - http://www.mosha.com/msolap
Analysis Services blog at http://www.sqljunkies.com/WebL*og/mosha
Development Lead in the Analysis Server team
All you need is love (John Lennon)
Disclaimer : This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and
confers no rights.
==============================*=================== =
"Gautham Kamath via SQLMonster.com" <forum (AT) SQLMonster (DOT) com> wrote

Hi Mosha

I am really gald that such complications like thise involved with
CalculationPassValue() will not feature in AS2005 but our client has no
intention of migrating to 2005 for some time (Certainlly not in the near
future).

I would really really really really appreciate if you can give some brief
explanations (if not detailed) about the Calculated Cells and
CalculationPassValue etc. in the next version.

Or if you couuld guide me to any article that you have already published
regarding the same would be even more helpful.

Thanks once again

regards
Gautham

--
Message posted via http://www.sqlmonster.com

The new book will be focused on AS2005. You can get very good explanation on
calculation passes from "MDX Solutions" book, specifically pages 152-161.

--
==============================*=================== =
Mosha Pasumansky - http://www.mosha.com/msolap
Analysis Services blog at http://www.sqljunkies.com/WebL*og/mosha
Development Lead in the Analysis Server team
All you need is love (John Lennon)
Disclaimer : This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and
confers no rights.
==============================*=================== =
"Gautham Kamath via SQLMonster.com" <forum (AT) SQLMonster (DOT) com> wrote