Edit a Secondary Dimensional Attribute

You can always edit an existing secondary dimensional attribute in a dimension to change its name or other properties. Double-click the attribute name to open the edit dialog.

Procedure

1. Open the dimension editor canvas.
2. Double-click the name of the secondary dimensional attribute in the Hierarchies panel.
3. Edit the attribute's properties as needed; for details, see the section below.
4. Save your changes.

Secondary Attribute properties

• Display Name

  The user-friendly name for the dimension level attribute. Consider the following specifics of the name:

  • Should be unique among other secondary attributes in the parent level.
  • Can be the same as the name of the parent level.
  • Can be the same as the name of another secondary attribute in a different dimension.

• Query Name

  The SQL or MDX column name for this dimension attribute in the published AtScale cube. The query name is how the AtScale engine refers to this attribute internally. This should not be changed after the cube is published, as changing the query name may break existing data sources and reports that rely on this cube.

• Description

  This is a description of the data that this attribute contains. Some BI tools can show this description, some can't. It's a good practice to enter descriptions to help other people get familiar with the data in the cube.

• Attribute Type

  Choose Dimensional to add a secondary attribute.

• Attribute Source

  The source dataset that contains the column that the attribute is based on.

• Key Column(s)

  The dataset column that a dimension attribute is based on. If the attribute has a compound key, click Add Key Column to specify other columns that comprise the attribute's key.

• Name Column

  The dataset column that the attribute is based on.

• Sort Column

  The column to use to sort the values in result sets. This applies to MDX queries only (i.e. queries received through the 'xmla interface').

• Primary Date Filter Attribute

  This option is available only in time dimensions, only when in Name Column you have selected a column of Date, DateTime, or Timestamp type. The option can only be selected for one secondary attribute in the time dimension. This is useful for some BI tools (Excel), for exposing arbitrary date filters on a primary key. A secondary attribute for which this option is selected is marked with a special icon in the Hierarchies list.

• Exclude from System-Generated Dimension-Only Aggregates

  Excludes this attribute from system generated dimension-only aggregates. Useful if the attribute contains a large number (e.g. millions) of distinct values that you don't want to aggregate.

• Exclude from System-Generated Fact-Based Aggregates

  Excludes this attribute from system generated fact-based aggregates. Useful if the attribute contains a large number (e.g. millions) of distinct values that you don't want to aggregate.

• Contains Unique Names

  Enable if each member of this attribute has a unique name. This must NOT be enabled if two members have different keys but the same name.

• Custom Empty Member

  Enable this property to ensure un-joinable values such as NULL that may reside in the Foreign Key columns of the fact dataset are included in your query results. The Custom Empty Member feature provides the convenience of handling NULL values so Data Architects are not forced to fix their fact tables. For maximum compatibility with BI Tools, you will have to add an empty member record to the dimension dataset. To learn more about Custom Empty Members, see Using Custom Empty Members for Levels and Attributes".

• Visible?

  If selected, the attribute will be visible in the cube.

• Folder

  (optional) The name of the folder in which to display this attribute in BI client software, such as Microsoft Excel and Tableau. If your cube has a lot of attributes, folders are a good way to organize them.