Database Reference
In-Depth Information
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in previous versions, viewing this underlying data included additional features such as charting options and
pivot table reports. But the developer could not create final reports from these additional views. Perhaps this is why
they have now been removed in SQL 2012. Whatever the reason, this is still a convenient feature for viewing the
data in a data warehouse without opening another application. it is also a quick way to verify that you can connect to
the table! This is a convenience when you open a Visual Studio project created by someone else.
Tip
Friendly Names
Another interesting aspect of the data source view is your ability to change the names of both columns and tables.
For example, if you decide you would like to rename the Date column in the DimDates table to FullDate, you
can easily do so. We can either provide a column alias or configure a friendly name for it. In Figure
9-27
, we have
selected the date column in the DimDates table and applied a friendly name to the column using the property
sheet. When SSAS creates dimensions using this data source view table, the friendly name is used instead of the
original name.
Figure 9-27.
Changing the FriendlyName property
