Reporting with MDX Queries - Pro SQL Server 2012 BI Solutions - page 569

■ in most MDX documentation, both functions and properties are referred to as functions . so,
DefaultMember may look like a property, but in MDX it is called a function.

Note

You can specify the All member and still receive the same results as the default (Listing 14-7). The Measures
dimension is the single exception to this rule, because it does not have an All member. Instead, the first member
of the Measures dimension is used implicitly whenever you do not explicitly specify which measure you want.

Listing 14-7. The All vs. the Default Member Dimension
Select
{
[Measures]. DefaultMember
-- You cannot use the [All] member on the Measures dimension.
-- So, we are still using the default member here.
} On Columns,
{( −- Parentheses required to Define a SET of Coordinates
[DimAuthors]. [All]
,[DimDates]. [All]
,[DimOrders]. [All]
,[DimStores]. [All]
,[DimTitles]. [All]
)} On Rows
From [CubePubsSales];
-- In this case, since the [SalesQuantity] attribute is
-- the default member in the cube, it's the same as…
Select
{[Measures]. [SalesQuantity] } On Columns,
{(
[DimAuthors].[All]
,[DimDates].[All]
,[DimOrders].[All]
,[DimStores].[All]
,[DimTitles].[All]
)} On Rows
From [CubePubsSales];

You can set the default measure in Business Intelligence Development Studio by selecting the measure
within the cube-editing window and using the up and down arrows provided on the toolbar, as shown in
Figure 14-4 . The measure that is placed closest to the top of the Measures pane will be used as the default
measure.