A dimension provides a context for understanding the data in the facts object.
When you select a dimension in the Data Project Explorer, use the properties view to specify the properties of a new dimension or to modify the properties of an existing dimension. When a dimension is selected in the Database Explorer, the properties view is read-only. The properties view has the following pages:
General page
Use this page to specify or modify the name and label of the dimension.
- Name
- This field shows the name of the dimension.
- Label
- This field shows the business name of the dimension.
- Schema
- This field shows the schema that the dimension is associated with.
Tables page
Use this page to specify or
modify the table selections for the dimension. To open the Available
Tables window and add a table, click 
. If you add a new table to the dimension, you
need to specify a join on the Joins page to join the new table to
the tables that are already in the dimension.
If you remove
a table from the dimension, you need to remove the corresponding join
on the Joins page. To remove a table from the dimension, select the
table and click 
.
Joins page
Use this page to specify or modify
the joins between the tables in a dimension. This page shows the existing
joins between the tables that you selected. To open the Available
Joins window and add an existing join to the dimension, click . To remove a
join, select the join and click .
All of the tables in the dimension must be joined without loops. You can specify only one join between each pair of tables.
Attributes page
This page shows the attributes
for the dimension. Use this page to create attributes, modify calculated
attributes, and remove attributes from the dimension. To create an
attribute from a column, click 
. The Select Columns to Create Attributes window opens.
To
create a calculated attribute, click 
and create an expression by using the OLAP SQL Expression
Builder window. You can edit expressions by clicking 
.
- Attribute
- This column shows the names of the attributes. You can change the name of an attribute by clicking in the table cell and typing a new name. If you change the name of an attribute, that attribute's name is changed wherever the name occurs in other cube models.
- Schema
- This column shows the schema that the attribute is associated with. This property is read-only.
Type page
Use this page to specify or modify the type of the dimension.
- Regular
- Specifies that the dimension is not a time dimension.
- Time
- Specifies that the dimension is a time dimension.
Documentation page
Use this page to specify or modify comments about the dimension.
Annotation page
This page is available only when the dimension is selected in the Data Project Explorer. You can use this page to add user-defined properties to an object. For example, you might want to annotate language support. If you have a cube that is named Sales Cube in English, you can add a property French with the value le cube des ventes to indicate the cube name in French.