Creating Dimension Template...

Hello,

I need to create a dimension that has pre-defined multiple hierarchies, attributes, and the data source table the dimension will be based on would be different for each customer. (The structure of the data source table would be the same though, just the underlying data would be different)

Thus, I thought about using the dimension template. However, the steps in the dimension template wizard is quite confusing to me. Does any know where to find a good document explanning how to create a dimension template? I read through the MSDN library about creating the template, but it's not too helpful either.

Please let me know if I am heading to the wrong direction, or if there is another good way to do this..... Any help is appreciated.

Thanks,

Hsiao-I

A dimension template is just a regular dimension XML file saved in the following location:

C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\90\Tools\Templates\olap\1033\Dimension Templates

So all you need to do is create a dimension either using the dimension wizard or manually in the dimenison editor, then go to the file system look for the .DIM XML file correpsonding to this dimension in the project folder where you created your project.

Then just copy this .DIM file to the path above and this dimenison will appear as a template in the dimension wizard.

Now the dimenison template only contains metadata information (so things like attributes, hierarchies...), it doesn't contain dimension members since these come from the underlying data source.

Let me know if this helps.