Intrinsic Member Properties (MDX)
As a provider that is compliant with the OLAP section of the OLE DB specification dated March 1999 (2.6), Microsoft SQL Server Analysis Services supports the intrinsic member properties listed in this topic.
Note
Providers other than SQL Server Analysis Services may support additional intrinsic member properties. For more information about the intrinsic member properties supported by other providers, refer to the documentation that comes with those providers.
Types of Member Properties
The intrinsic member properties supported by SQL Server Analysis Services are of two types:
Context sensitive member properties
These member properties must be use in the context of a specific dimension or level, and supply values for each member of the specified dimension or level.Non-context sensitive member properties
These member properties cannot be used in the context of a specific dimension or level, and supply values for all members on an axis.
Regardless of whether the intrinsic member property is context sensitive or not, the following usage rules apply:
You can specify only those intrinsic member properties that relate to dimension members that are projected on the axis.
You can mix requests for context sensitive member properties in the same query with non-context sensitive intrinsic member properties.
You use the PROPERTIES keyword to query for the properties.
The following sections describe both the various context sensitive and non-context sensitive intrinsic member properties available in SQL Server Analysis Services, and how to use the PROPERTIES keyword with each type of property.
Context Sensitive Member Properties
All dimension members and level members support a list of intrinsic member properties that are context sensitive. The following table lists these context-sensitive properties.
Property |
Description |
|---|---|
ID |
The internally maintained ID for the member. |
Key |
The value stored in the MEMBER_KEY column of the MEMBERS schema rowset for the member. |
Name |
The name of the member. |
PROPERTIES Syntax for Context Sensitive Properties
You use these member properties in the context of a specific dimension or level, and supply values for each member of the specified dimension or level.
For dimension member properties, you precede the name of the property with the name of the dimension to which the property applies. The following example shows the appropriate syntax:
DIMENSION PROPERTIES Dimension.Property_name
For a level member property, you can precede the name of the property with just the level name or, for additional specification, both the dimension and level name. The following example shows the appropriate syntax:
DIMENSION PROPERTIES [Dimension.]Level.Property_name
To illustrate, you would like to return all the names of each referenced member in the [Sales] dimension. To return these names, you would use the following statement in a Multidimensional Expressions (MDX) query:
DIMENSION PROPERTIES [Sales].Name
Non-Context Sensitive Member Properties
All members support a list of intrinsic member properties that are the same regardless of context. These properties provide additional information that can be used by applications to enhance the user's experience.
The following table lists the non-context sensitive intrinsic properties supported by SQL Server Analysis Services.
Note
Columns in the MEMBERS schema rowset support the intrinsic member properties listed in the following table. For more information about the MEMBERS schema rowset, see MDSCHEMA_MEMBERS Rowset.
Property |
Description |
|---|---|
ACTION_TYPE |
A bitmask that indicates the types of actions on the member. This property can have one of the following values:
|
CAPTION |
Same as MEMBER_CAPTION. |
CHILDREN_CARDINALITY |
The number of children that the member has. This can be an estimate, so you should not rely on this to be the exact count. Providers should return the best estimate possible. |
CUBE_NAME |
The name of the cube to which this member belongs. |
CUSTOM_ROLLUP |
The custom member expression. |
CUSTOM_ROLLUP_PROPERTIES |
The custom member properties. |
DESCRIPTION |
A human-readable description of the member. |
DIMENSION_UNIQUE_NAME |
The unique name of the dimension to which this member belongs. For providers that generate unique names by qualification, each component of this name is delimited. |
HIERARCHY_UNIQUE_NAME |
The unique name of the hierarchy. If the member belongs to more than one hierarchy, there is one row for each hierarchy to which the member belongs. For providers that generate unique names by qualification, each component of this name is delimited. |
IS_DATAMEMBER |
A Boolean that indicates whether the member is a data member. |
KEYx |
The key for the member, where x is the zero-based ordinal of the key. KEY0 is available for composite and non-composite keys, and KEY1,KEY2, etc are only available for composite keys. Key0, Key1,Key2, etc collectively form the composite key. |
LCIDx |
The translation of the member caption in the locale ID hexadecimal value, where x is the locale ID decimal value (for example, LCID1009 as English-Canada). This is only available if the translation has the caption column bound to the data source. |
LEVEL_NUMBER |
The distance of the member from the root of the hierarchy. The root level is zero. |
LEVEL_UNIQUE_NAME |
The unique name of the level to which the member belongs. For providers that generate unique names by qualification, each component of this name is delimited. |
MEMBER_CAPTION |
A label or caption associated with the member. The caption is primarily for display purposes. If a caption does not exist, the query returns MEMBER_NAME. |
MEMBER_KEY |
The value of the member key in the original data type. MEMBER_KEY is for backward-compatibility. MEMBER_KEY has the same value as KEY0 for non-composite keys, and MEMBER_KEY property is null for composite keys. |
MEMBER_NAME |
The name of the member. |
MEMBER_TYPE |
The type of the member. This property can have one of the following values:
MDMEMBER_TYPE_FORMULA takes precedence over MDMEMBER_TYPE_MEASURE. Therefore, if there is a formula (calculated) member on the Measures dimension, the MEMBER_TYPE property for the calculated member is MDMEMBER_TYPE_FORMULA. |
MEMBER_UNIQUE_NAME |
The unique name of the member. For providers that generate unique names by qualification, each component of this name is delimited. |
MEMBER_VALUE |
The value of the member in the original type. |
PARENT_COUNT |
The number of parents that this member has. |
PARENT_LEVEL |
The distance of the member's parent from the root level of the hierarchy. The root level is zero. |
PARENT_UNIQUE_NAME |
The unique name of the member's parent. NULL is returned for any members at the root level. For providers that generate unique names by qualification, each component of this name is delimited. |
SKIPPED_LEVELS |
The number of skipped levels for the member. |
UNARY_OPERATOR |
The unary operator for the member. |
PROPERTIES Syntax for Non-Context Sensitive Properties
Use the following syntax to specify an intrinsic, non-context sensitive member property using the PROPERTIES keyword:
DIMENSION PROPERTIES Property
Notice that this syntax does not allow the property to be qualified by a dimension or level. The property cannot be qualified because an intrinsic member property that is not context sensitive applies to all members of an axis.
For example, an MDX statement that specifies the DESCRIPTION intrinsic member property would have the following syntax:
DIMENSION PROPERTIES DESCRIPTION
This statement returns the description of each member in the axis dimension. If you tried to qualify the property with a dimension or level, as in Dimension.DESCRIPTION or Level.DESCRIPTION, the statement would not validate.
Example
The following example returns the count of the resellers whose sales have declined over the previous time period, based on user-selected State-Province member values evaluated using the Aggregate function. The Hierarchize (MDX) and DrilldownLevel (MDX) functions are used to return values for declining sales for product categories in the Product dimension. The Properties (MDX) function is used to return the unique name of parent members returned on the column axis.
WITH MEMBER Measures.[Declining Reseller Sales] AS
Count
(Filter
(Existing
(Reseller.Reseller.Reseller)
, [Measures].[Reseller Sales Amount] <
(
[Measures].[Reseller Sales Amount]
,[Date].Calendar.PrevMember
)
)
)
MEMBER [Geography].[State-Province].x AS
Aggregate
(
{[Geography].[State-Province].&[WA]&[US]
, [Geography].[State-Province].&[OR]&[US]
}
)
SELECT NON EMPTY HIERARCHIZE
(AddCalculatedMembers
(
{DrillDownLevel
({[Product].[All Products]})
}
)
) DIMENSION PROPERTIES PARENT_UNIQUE_NAME ON COLUMNS
FROM [Adventure Works]
WHERE
(
[Geography].[State-Province].x
, [Date].[Calendar].[Calendar Quarter].&[2003]&[4]
,[Measures].[Declining Reseller Sales]
)
The following example returns the translated caption for the product category member in the Product dimension in the Adventure Works cube for specified locales.
WITH
MEMBER Measures.CategoryCaption AS Product.Category.CurrentMember.MEMBER_CAPTION
MEMBER Measures.SpanishCategoryCaption AS Product.Category.CurrentMember.Properties("LCID3082")
MEMBER Measures.FrenchCategoryCaption AS Product.Category.CurrentMember.Properties("LCID1036")
SELECT
{ Measures.CategoryCaption, Measures.SpanishCategoryCaption, Measures.FrenchCategoryCaption } ON 0
,[Product].[Category].MEMBERS ON 1
FROM [Adventure Works]