Database Reference
In-Depth Information
Figure 2-49.
An SSAS data source view
In the data source view, you can add any tables that you want to use for the creation of both cubes and
dimensions. In this example, we need only our single fact table and the single dimension table, but normally you
would have many dimension tables associated with one or more fact tables.
One important aspect of the data source view is the relationship line between the fact tables and the
dimension tables. This is similar to a foreign key relationship. If your data warehouse has a foreign key
relationship between the tables, the wizard automatically adds relationship lines for you. Otherwise, you have to
add them yourself.
It may be perplexing that the relationship lines do not visually attach to the columns between the tables,
but don't worry. The columns are connected even though the data source does not display it that way. If you
were to double-click the relationship line, you would see a dialog box that opens indicating which columns are
connected.
As with most things in SSAS, you use a wizard to create the data source view. To start the wizard, right-click
the Data Source Views folder in Solution Explorer and select New Data Source View from the context menu.
When the wizard launches, it shows a welcome screen (Figure
2-50
). Click the Next button at the bottom
of this screen to proceed to the screen you are able to configure. The configuration on the next page involves
selecting the data source you will be using. If there is only one data source, the choice is pretty obvious. Therefore,
simply click the next button to move to the next page.
On this page, select the tables that are to be included in the data source view. As we mentioned previously,
you need to select only the tables required for your cubes. In the case of the WeatherTracker project, this would
be the DimEvents and FactWeather tables.
The fourth page of the wizard allows you to name your data source view and finish the wizard. Once again,
the wizard provides extra spaces in the name, and you may want to remove them.
