RT-blog

The attribute key cannot be found - SSAS 2005 dimensions

rtblog@realtechnology.com — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 14:50:57 GMT

Another gotcha in Sql Server Analysis Services (SSAS) 2005 related to nullable foreign keys...

Let's say you have DimensionA which contains a foreign key to the related dimension DimensionB and that relationship is optional (nullable foreign key). DimensionB is represented as AttributeB within DimensionA.

When I first created DimensionA and related it to my fact table, everything worked nicely. I then decided to have the name column for AttributeB show the text value for DImensionB's key rather than they key itself. I figured this would make things go more quickly when building reports. I used object binding on the NameColumn and set the source table and source column. Suddenly I started getting the error "The attribute key cannot be found" when I tried to process the cube. Huh?

I checked my source tables and of course the key did exist. I finally realized that I could examine the key values being stored for DimensionA and indeed the key was missing, even though it was present in the source data.

Looking at the source data I also noticed that this particular key had a null value for AttributeB. It became clear that rather than looking up the values for the name column, SSAS was creating an inner join between the tables used for DimensionA and DimensionB and in the process dropping all the rows with a null value in that related field. Arg!

Getting rid of the object binding for AttributeB's name column fixed the problem.

SSAS nullable foreign keys dimensions

Optional relationships in SSAS 2005

rtblog@realtechnology.com — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 21:16:34 GMT

On a recent project using Sql Server Analysis Server (SSAS) 2005, I ran into some challenges with fact tables that had optional relationships (nullable foreign keys) to related dimension tables.

I used a design were FactTableA had a regular relationship to DimensionA and DimensionB, however, these were both optional relationships. The cube functioned correctly until I added a referenced relationship to DimensionC via DimensionA. When I did this, the count of records in FactTableA suddenly dropped to a value corresponding to the count of non-null values for the foreign key referencing DimensionA. The cube was forming an inner join between FactTableA and DimensionC via DimensionA; not what I wanted at all.

The fix was simple, in the "Define Relationship" screen for DimensionC, I unchecked the "Materialize" checkbox. The documentation doesn't mention this impact on the data, it merely mentions that perfomance is improved when the value is checked.

SSAS 2005 nullable foreign keys referenced dimensions

RadioButtonList - hanging indent (ASP.Net)

rtblog@realtechnology.com — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 20:49:38 GMT

Here's how to make hanging indents for radiobuttonlists in ASP.Net!

You must choose RepeatLayout="Table" and then create styles to apply to that table.

[Test in IE7 and Firefox 2]

ID="RadioButtonListSessionChoice"
runat="server"
CssClass="rbChoice"
RepeatLayout="Table"
RepeatColumns="1"
/>

iMac: Buyer beware

rtblog@realtechnology.com — Fri, 16 May 2008 14:48:58 GMT

I love my iMac, I hate my iMac.

I've owned my iMac for about 2 years. I use it for music and photos, mostly, and when it's not in use it makes a great picture frame for displaying my photos.

BUT

My LCD screen suddenly started devloping vertical lines just like these.

So, while I love my iMac - don't buy one unless you get the extended AppleCare warranty!

Here's an online petition to get Apple to correct this problem. (yeah right)

iConcertCal - Cool iTunes plug-in

rtblog@realtechnology.com — Fri, 05 Oct 2007 19:10:11 GMT

iTunes plug-in for finding live music.

QuickBooks Pro Timer (2007)

rtblog@realtechnology.com — Wed, 26 Sep 2007 17:15:09 GMT

Stand-alone timer program is not present in QuickBooks 2007 download file

FrontPage: the server "" timed out

rtblog@realtechnology.com — Tue, 25 Sep 2007 16:48:34 GMT

Solution to the FrontPage error: the server "" timed out. Related to poorly formatted webbot include files.