MDX Resources - Fundamentals
Next week I’ll be teaching an advanced custom MDX course. To make sure all students meet the pre-requisites, I’ve put together a list of introductory MDX reading material. This list is a work in progress. If you know of other resources that should be added to this list, please leave me a comment, and I’ll make sure that your link is added. Here’s the initial list.
· MSDN Materials
§ Specifying the Contents of an Axis Dimension
§ Specifying the Contents of a Slicer Dimension
· MDX Essentials Series (Database Journal)
o 1: MDX at First Glance: Introduction to MDX Essentials
o 2: Structure of the MDX Data Model
o 3: MDX Operators: The Basics
o 4: MDX Members: Introducing Members and Member
o 5: MDX Member Functions: The "Family" Functions
o 6: MDX Essentials: Member Functions: More "Family" Functions
o 7: MDX Essentials: MDX Member Functions: The Cousin () Function
o 8: MDX Essentials: MDX Member Functions: "Relative" Member Functions
o 9: MDX Essentials - MDX Time Series Functions, Part I: PeriodsToDate() and Kindred Functions
o 10: MDX Time Series Functions, Part II: The OpeningPeriod () and ClosingPeriod() Functions
o 11: MDX Time Series Functions, Part III: The LastPeriods() and ParallelPeriod() Functions
o 12: Basic Set Functions: The Order() Function
o 13: Basic Set Functions: The Union() Function
o 14: Basic Set Functions: The Intersect() Function
o 15: MDX Essentials: Basic Set Functions: The EXCEPT() Function
o 16: MDX Essentials: Basic Set Functions: The Filter() Function
o 17: MDX Essentials: Basic Numeric Functions: The Count() Function
o 18: MDX Essentials: Basic Set Functions: The CrossJoin() Function
o 19: MDX Essentials: Basic Set Functions: Subset Functions: The Head() Function
o 20: MDX Essentials: Basic Set Functions: Subset Functions: The Tail() Function
o 21: MDX in Analysis Services: Mastering Time: Period - to - Date Aggregations
· MDX in Analysis Services (Database Journal)
o Tutorial 1: MDX Concepts and Navigation
o Tutorial 2: Intermediate Concepts - Part 1
o Tutorial 3: Intermediate Concepts - Part 2
o Tutorial 4: Retrieve Data from Multiple Cubes
o Tutorial 5: Measuring Change over Time
o Tutorial 6: Using Sets in MDX Queries
o Tutorial 7: Calculated Members: Introduction
o Tutorial 8: Calculated Members: Further Considerations and Perspectives
o Tutorial 9: MDX in Analysis Services: Calculated Members: Leveraging Member Properties
o Tutorial 10: MDX in Analysis Services: Optimizing MDX: Control Location of Processing
o Tutorial 11: Optimizing MDX: More on Location, and the Importance of Arrangement
o Tutorial 12: MDX in Analysis Services: Optimizing MDX: Caching and Other Considerations
o Tutorial 13: MDX in Analysis Services: Named Sets in MDX: An Introduction
o Tutorial 14: MDX in Analysis Services: Introducing DISTINCT COUNT
o Tutorial 15: MDX in Analysis Services: Mastering Time: Change across Periods
· Book Recommendations:
o MDX Solutions: with Microsoft SQL Server Analysis Services – George Spofford
o Fast Track to MDX – Mark Whitehorn, Mosha Pasumansky, Robert Zare
This list is far from complete, but should certainly get you started with the MDX language. I suggest that everyone attending class read the MSDN articles at the very least. After class is finished, I’ll release an advanced MDX resources list.
