Calculated Column Representation (Tabular)

A calculated column is DAX expression that creates a new column in a table and the obtained values are stored in the table. The calculated column expression is evaluated every time the table is processed.

Calculated Column Representation

Calculated Columns in AMO

When using AMO to manage a tabular model table, there is no one-to-one object match for a calculated column in AMO. A calculated column is represented by an attribute in Dimension and an attribute in MeasureGroup.

The following code snippet shows how to add a calculated column to an existing tabular model. The code assumes you have an AMO database object, newDatabase, and an AMO cube object, modelCube.

  
private void addCalculatedColumn(  
                   AMO.Database newDatabase  
                 , AMO.Cube modelCube  
                 , String ccTableName  
                 , String ccName  
                 , String newCalculatedColumnExpression  
             )  
{  
    if (string.IsNullOrEmpty(ccName) || string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(ccName))  
    {  
        MessageBox.Show(String.Format("Calculated Column name is not defined."), "AMO to Tabular message", MessageBoxButtons.OK, MessageBoxIcon.Error);  
        return;  
    }  
    if (string.IsNullOrEmpty(newCalculatedColumnExpression) || string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(newCalculatedColumnExpression))  
    {  
        MessageBox.Show(String.Format("Calculated Column expression is not defined."), "AMO to Tabular message", MessageBoxButtons.OK, MessageBoxIcon.Error);  
        return;  
    }  
  
    if (newDatabase.Dimensions[ccTableName].Attributes.Contains(ccName))  
    {  
        MessageBox.Show(String.Format("Calculated Column name already defined."), "AMO to Tabular message", MessageBoxButtons.OK, MessageBoxIcon.Error);  
        return;  
    }  
    //Add CC attribute to the Dimension  
    AMO.Dimension dim = newDatabase.Dimensions[ccTableName];  
    AMO.DimensionAttribute currentAttribute = dim.Attributes.Add(ccName, ccName);  
    currentAttribute.Usage = AMO.AttributeUsage.Regular;  
    currentAttribute.KeyUniquenessGuarantee = false;  
  
    currentAttribute.KeyColumns.Add(new AMO.DataItem(ccTableName, ccName, OleDbType.Empty));  
    currentAttribute.KeyColumns[0].Source = new AMO.ExpressionBinding(newCalculatedColumnExpression);  
    currentAttribute.KeyColumns[0].NullProcessing = AMO.NullProcessing.Preserve;  
    currentAttribute.NameColumn = new AMO.DataItem(ccTableName, ccName, System.Data.OleDb.OleDbType.WChar);  
    currentAttribute.NameColumn.Source = new AMO.ExpressionBinding(newCalculatedColumnExpression);  
    currentAttribute.NameColumn.NullProcessing = AMO.NullProcessing.ZeroOrBlank;  
  
    currentAttribute.OrderBy = AMO.OrderBy.Key;  
    AMO.AttributeRelationship currentAttributeRelationship = dim.Attributes["RowNumber"].AttributeRelationships.Add(currentAttribute.ID);  
    currentAttributeRelationship.Cardinality = AMO.Cardinality.Many;  
    currentAttributeRelationship.OverrideBehavior = AMO.OverrideBehavior.None;  
  
    //Add CC as attribute to the MG  
    AMO.MeasureGroup mg = modelCube.MeasureGroups[ccTableName];  
    AMO.DegenerateMeasureGroupDimension currentMGDim = (AMO.DegenerateMeasureGroupDimension)mg.Dimensions[ccTableName];  
    AMO.MeasureGroupAttribute mga = new AMO.MeasureGroupAttribute(ccName);  
  
    mga.KeyColumns.Add(new AMO.DataItem(ccTableName, ccName, OleDbType.Empty));  
    mga.KeyColumns[0].Source = new AMO.ExpressionBinding(newCalculatedColumnExpression);  
  
    currentMGDim.Attributes.Add(mga);  
  
    try  
    {  
        //Update Dimension, CubeDimension and MG in server  
        newDatabase.Update(AMO.UpdateOptions.ExpandFull, AMO.UpdateMode.UpdateOrCreate);  
    }  
    catch (AMO.OperationException amoOpXp)  
    {  
        MessageBox.Show(String.Format("Calculated Column expression contains syntax errors, or references undefined or missspelled elements.\nError message: {0}", amoOpXp.Message), "AMO to Tabular message", MessageBoxButtons.OK, MessageBoxIcon.Warning);  
        return;  
    }  
    catch (AMO.AmoException amoXp)  
    {  
        MessageBox.Show(String.Format("AMO exception accessing the server.\nError message: {0}", amoXp.Message), "AMO to Tabular message", MessageBoxButtons.OK, MessageBoxIcon.Warning);  
        return;  
    }  
    catch (Exception)  
    {  
        throw;  
    }  
}