Bind to an OLAP Data Source

Dec 28, 2020
2 minutes to read

With the unbound ExpressPivotGrid control, you can view data from Microsoft Analysis Services data sources (OLAP cubes) stored to offline cube files (CUB files) or deployed on these servers:

Microsoft SQL Server 2000 Analysis Services, Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Analysis Services, Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Analysis Services, and Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 Analysis Services (supported by the OLE DB provider);
Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 Analysis Services, Microsoft SQL Server 2012 Analysis Services, and Microsoft SQL Server 2014 Analysis Services (supported by the ADO MD provider).

A cube represents a multidimensional structure defined by its measures (facts) and dimensions (categories). In terms of the ExpressPivotGrid control, a measure is a data field, while a dimension can be represented by a column, row, or filter field.

To connect the pivot grid to an OLAP cube, an intermediate data source component (TcxPivotGridOLAPDataSource) is used, which in its turn establishes a connection via an internally created ADO connection object. You can easily access this object and fine-tune it to meet your needs.

When linked to a pivot grid, the TcxPivotGridOLAPDataSource component provides calculated data to be visualized in the control, while bypassing a built-in data controller and delegating all data management and calculations to the server. Data management and calculations on offline cube files are performed locally.

As in standard data binding mode, to display cube data in the pivot grid you need to create pivot grid fields that will represent specific cube measures and dimensions. Note that in OLAP mode, unbound fields cannot be displayed within the pivot grid.