MULTIDIMENSIONAL CUBE FUNCTIONS

• US 20100312748A1
• Filed: 08/06/2010
• Published: 12/09/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 10/14/2005
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Boon, Brian W., Ellis, Charles D., Dickerman, Howard J., Hu, Kaicheng, Hawking, Robert G.
• Application Number:
  US12/852,235
• Publication Number:
  US 20100312748A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/602
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/283 Multi-dimensional databases or data warehouses, e.g. MOLAP or ROLAP
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/18 of spreadsheets form-filling G06F40/174

Abstract

Cube functions may be used to obtain data from a multidimensional database. The cube functions may be contained within one or more cells of a spreadsheet. These cube functions behave similarly to the standard functions that may be included within a spreadsheet. Exemplary cube functions include obtaining: a cube member, a cube value, a cube set, a ranked member, a KPI, a member property and a count relating to a set. The cube functions within the spreadsheet may access the cube data from one or more multidimensional databases. Using the cube formulas in individual cells allows the user to add/delete rows and/or columns from within the spreadsheet.

Claims

1-26. -26. (canceled)

27. A computer-readable storage medium having computer-executable instructions for interacting with an OLAP cube, comprising:

parsing a cube function having parameters;

wherein the cube function is included within a cell of a spreadsheet and wherein the cube function is directed at obtaining data from an OLAP cube;

wherein the cube function is from cube functions comprising;

a cube member function that identifies an item in the OLAP cube and returns a name for the member;

a cube value function that identifies an aggregated value from the OLAP cube;

a cube set function that defines a set that is to be built for the spreadsheet by an OLAP server storing the OLAP cube; and

a member property function that identifies a value of a member property in the OLAP cube and a count relating to a set within the OLAP cube;

determining an OLAP cube from which to obtain data from one of the parameters of the cube function; and

fetching the data from the determined OLAP cube in response to the parameters of the cube function.

28. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 27, wherein determining the OLAP cube from which to obtain data comprises locating a connection name that determines the OLAP cube to obtain data from.

29. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 27, wherein parsing the cube function comprises parsing the parameters to locate one or more names, wherein the names identify at least one of a member and a tuple within the OLAP cube;

and wherein each of the located names is used a slicer to define a portion of the OLAP cube for which an aggregated value is to be fetched from the OLAP cube.

30. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 27, wherein parsing the cube function comprises parsing the parameters to locate a name that identifies a member of the OLAP cube and using the name to fetch at least one of a unique MDX member name, a MDX tuple, and a caption for the member of the OLAP cube.

31. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 27, wherein parsing the cube function comprises parsing the parameters to locate an expression that identifies a set that is at least one of a set of members within the OLAP cube and a set of tuples within the OLAP cube;

and then using the query to fetch the set from the OLAP cube; and

when a sort parameter exists within the parameters;

using the sort parameter to sort the set.

32. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 27, wherein parsing the cube function comprises parsing the parameters to locate a set and a rank;

wherein the rank is used to fetch at least one of the elements from the set.

33. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 27, wherein parsing the cube function comprises parsing the parameters to locate a KPI name and a KPI component;

wherein the KPI name and the KPI component are used to fetch a member from the OLAP cube.

34. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 27, wherein parsing the cube function comprises parsing the parameters to locate a set and wherein a number of the members within the set is determined.

35. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 27, wherein parsing the cube function comprises parsing the parameters to locate a name and a member;

wherein the name and member are used to obtain a value of a member property in the OLAP cube.

36. A system for interacting with a multidimensional database from a spreadsheet, comprising:

a processor and a computer-readable storage medium; and

a spreadsheet application that is coupled to a network and is configured to perform steps, comprising;

parsing a cube function having parameters that is located within a cell of the spreadsheet to generate an MDX query;

wherein the MDX query locates data within a multidimensional database;

wherein the cube function is from cube functions comprising a cube member function that identifies an item in the multidimensional database and returns a name for the member;

a cube value function that identifies an aggregated value from the multidimensional database;

a cube set function that defines a set that is to be built for the spreadsheet by an OLAP server storing the multidimensional database; and

a member property function that identifies a value of a member property in the multidimensional database and a count relating to a set within the multidimensional database;

determining the multidimensional database to query based on at least one of the parameters of the cube function;

querying a server identified by the determined multidimensional database using the MDX query;

receiving data from the server that is returned in response to the MDX query; and

updating the cell and any other dependent cells in response to the received data.

37. The system of claim 36, wherein the MDX query requests at least one of the following from the multidimensional database:

a ranked member;

a KPI member;

a member property of an item within the multidimensional database and a count relating to a set within the multidimensional database.

38. The system of claim 37, wherein different cells of the spreadsheet request data from different multidimensional databases.

39. The system of claim 37, wherein parsing the cube function comprises parsing the parameters to locate names, wherein the names identify a member and a tuple within the OLAP cube;

and wherein each of the located names is used a slicer to define a portion of the OLAP cube for which an aggregated value is to be fetched from the OLAP cube.

40. A method for interacting with an OLAP cube, comprising:

parsing a cube function having parameters;

wherein the cube function is included within a cell of a spreadsheet and wherein the cube function is directed at obtaining data from an OLAP cube;

wherein the spreadsheet includes cells that do not include data from a multidimensional database;

determining an OLAP cube from which to obtain the data by accessing one of the parameters of the cube function; and

fetching the data from the determined OLAP cube in response to the parameters of the cube function.

41. The method of claim 40, wherein parsing the cube function comprises parsing the parameters to locate names that identify at least one of a member and a tuple within the OLAP cube;

and wherein each of the located names is used a slicer to define a portion of the OLAP cube for which an aggregated value is to be fetched from the OLAP cube.

42. The method of claim 40, wherein parsing the cube function comprises parsing the parameters to locate a name that is used to fetch at least one of a unique MDX member name, a MDX tuple, and a caption for the member of the OLAP cube.

43. The method of claim 40, wherein parsing the cube function comprises parsing the parameters to locate an expression that identifies a set that is at least one of a set of members within the OLAP cube and a set of tuples within the OLAP cube;

and then using the query to fetch the set from the OLAP cube; and

when a sort parameter exists within the parameters;

using the sort parameter to sort the set.

44. The method of claim 40, wherein parsing the cube function comprises parsing the parameters to locate a set and a rank;

wherein the rank is used to fetch at least one of the elements from the set.

45. The method of claim 40, wherein parsing the cube function comprises parsing the parameters to locate a set and wherein a number of the members within the set is determined.

46. The method of claim 40, wherein parsing the cube function comprises parsing the parameters to locate a name and a member;

wherein the name and member are used to obtain a value of a member property in the OLAP cube.