DateDimension Object

Discussion

A time dimension is a hierarchical structure that represents time-based information about a major aspect of a business. Each time dimension consists of a DrillDowns collection and one or more DateDrillDown objects, which represent drill-down paths.

Use this object to provide time context to any model. Many of the benefits of a cube, such as tracking profits and costs, are lost unless at least one DateDimension object is included. Also, without a time dimension, currency conversion is disabled.

Transformer automatically creates a time dimension based on date definitions in the data source when you use the DoAutoDesign method.

You can manually create a DateDimension object in two ways:

Set all the applicable properties of the DateWizard object and assign a data source using the DimensionAssociateWith method. Then, use the CreateDateDimension method to complete the process. This process creates the dimension as well as a drill-down path and date levels. It also generates a set of relative time categories, such as year-to-date.
Use the Add method of the Dimensions collection, and set the Type parameter to trDateDimension. You must set the Name property for the object. You can then use the AssociateWith method to assign a data source. This procedure creates the drill-down path to which you can then add date levels and relative time categories.

To save changes to the properties of this object, use the Update method.

Related Topics

These tables list related collections, methods, and properties.

Method	Description
AssociateWith Method	Associates a source object with a DateDimension object.
CleanHouse Method	Removes inactive categories from the time dimension.
Delete Method	Deletes the DateDimension object.
GenerateDateCategories Method	Populates a model with date categories specified by StartDate and EndDate.
Move Method	Moves the time dimension to a different position in the Dimensions collection.
SetAllocation Method	Changes the allocation type for the measure used by the object.
Update Method	Updates the DateDimension object.

Property	Description
AllocationMeasure Property	Returns the Measure object used as a weighting factor.
AllocationType Property	Returns how an object allocates a measure.
Application Property	Returns the Transformer Application object.
Associations Property	Returns an Associations collection.
CalculationDefinitions Property	Returns a collection of CalculationDefinition objects.
CanAllocate Property	Returns whether you can allocate any measure values to descendant levels and categories.
CanAllocateByMeasure Property	Returns whether you can use the specified measure as a weighting factor when you allocate by measure.
CanAllocateMeasure Property	Returns whether you can allocate the specified measure to descendant levels and categories.
Categories Property	Returns the collection of categories that are included in the DateDimension object.
CategoryCount Property	Returns the number of regular categories in the DateDimension object.
Description Property	Sets or returns the description of the DateDimension object.
DimensionLevels Property	Returns a DimensionLevels collection.
DrillDowns Property	Returns a DrillDowns collection.
EarliestDate Property	Sets or returns the earliest date in a range of date categories.
ExcludeAutoPartition Property	Sets or returns whether the time dimension is excluded from the auto-partition process.
GenerateTimePeriod Property	Sets or returns category generation options for a time dimension.
GetDefaultCategory Method	Returns the default category belonging to a dimension.
LatestDate Property	Sets or returns the latest date in a range of date categories.
ManualCurrentPeriod Property	Sets or returns whether the current time period is set manually or by Transformer.
Name Property	Sets or returns the name of the DateDimension object.
NewCatsLocked Property	Sets or returns whether you can add new categories to the DateDimension object.
Parent Property	Returns the parent object.
SetDefaultCategory Method	Specifies a new default category for a dimension, other than the root or parent of a group of scenario categories.
SpecialCategoryCount Property	Returns the number of drill, root, and special categories in a dimension.
Type Property	Returns the object type.
Views Property	Returns a Views collection.
WorkingDay Property	Sets or returns whether a day is part of the working week.
WorkingDays Property	Sets or returns which days are part of the working week.

Examples

objDateDim = objModel.Dimensions("Date")