9. Creation of the cube Measures dimension.

In this section, the cube's Measures dimensiones will be defined. The cube measures are numeric type fields whose values will be measured. For example, the sales total, costs, amounts, etc. All these are good measures, in other words, fields that can be added. Fields like the customer code or customer name are not good dimensions because you can't add them, but you can count the number of different customers, which makes a good measure.

The first time you get to these section, all the query numeric fields are added as measures.

This scren options are:

  • Add : Use this button to create a new dimension. The Add measures  dialog will apear.
  • Edit: Select a measure from the list and press this button to edit its properties. The Add measures dialog will apear.
  • Remove: Select a measure from the list and press this button to remove it.

In this defined measures list are the following fields:

  • Field: Field from the database in which the measure will be based.
  • Alias : Alias of this field in the database query.
  • Name : Name of this measure in the field.
  • Aggregate : Is the aggregation type you will assign to this field, in order to summarize the cube. The aggregates are:
    • Sum : Brings the sum of the field in relation to other fields of the query. It will add all it's query values to get it's final value.
    • Distinct values : Counts the number of distinct values this field have. This aggregate can apply to fields that are not of numeric data type.
    • Max : Brings the geatest value of the field.
    • Min : Brings the smallest value of the field.
  • Format: This is the format assigned to this field when showing it in the cube. See Add measures for a list of valid formats.
  • Type: This is the internal cube type used to store the measure in the cube. It's better not to change it. If you don't know them. See Add measures to see the list of valid measures types.
  • Hide: Specifies if you wish to hide this measure or not. If there is only one measure in the cube, there is no reason to show it.

If you have at least one measure defined, press the Next  button to proceed to section 10. Dimension and level cube definition.

Press the Back button to go to section 8. Optional modification of generated SQL.