Modifying a Data Source in Data Source Designer
You can use Data Source Designer in Business Intelligence Development Studio to change the properties of an existing data source object in an Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Analysis Services (SSAS) database or project. You can change the name of the data source object, change the connection string, edit an optional description, and specify authentication credentials for the data source in Data Source Designer. You can also maintain a reference to another object in the solution.
Important
If you edit the data source and change the provider, errors can occur during subsequent processing of objects. For example, in a time dimension, the values for the KeyColumns and NameColumn properties of an attribute in Analysis Services frequently refer to named queries or named calculations on the dimension main table in the data source view. If the syntax of the SQL expressions in a named query or named calculation is supported by the original provider but not by the new provider, the dimension processing fails.
Changing References to Other Data Source Objects
When you change a data source object in an Analysis Services project, you can specify or remove a reference to another Analysis Services project or data source in the same solution. References provide a means to synchronize data sources between objects in a solution. As long as a data source references another object, the data source uses the connection string for the referenced object and you cannot change the connection string property.
If a data source references another object, the connection string information that appears in the data source (.ds) file is synchronized whenever you build the project. To change the connection string for a data source that references another object, you must change the connection string for the referenced object.
You can remove the reference by clearing the Maintain a reference to another object in the solution check box in Data Source Designer. Clearing the reference ends the synchronization between the objects and lets you change the connection string in the data source.
Editing a Data Source Object
For more information about how to edit a data source, see How to: Modify a Data Source in Data Source Designer
See Also
Concepts
Defining a Data Source Using the Data Source Wizard
Data Sources (Analysis Services)
Deleting a Data Source in Solution Explorer
Other Resources
Working with Data Sources (Analysis Services)