Parts of an MDX Statement

To specify a dataset, the MDX statement must contain information about:

• The cube or cubes that set the scope of the query.
  
  
• The number of axes.
  
  
• The dimensions projected on each axis and level of nesting at which each dimension appears on the axis.
  
  
• The members or member tuples from each dimension to include, and the sort order.
  
  
• The members from a nonprojected dimension on which the data will be filtered for members from projected dimensions.

A typical MDX statement takes the following form:

SELECT <axis_specification> [, <axis_specification>...]
FROM <cube_specification>
WHERE <slicer_specification>

The following sections explain each part of this statement.

Note   The full syntax of the expression that defines a dataset contains significantly more features than the above example. This example conveys the broad outlines of the query process. For more information, see Chapter 3, “Advanced MDX.” For a complete syntax, see Appendix B, “MDX Grammar.”