MDX functions in Analysis Services 2005 (Mosha Pasumansky)
When I discuss with people new features in Analysis Services 2005, I am often asked - "So, what are the new MDX functions you introduced". I always explain, that the changes to MDX in AS2005 are huge and dramatic, but they are not in the area of MDX functions. The real story is about MDX Scripts, about attribute based calculation model which integrates into UDM vision, new language constructs and semantics etc. Of course, we have added few functions, but mostly to support other bigger features. And then I get the next question - "So how can I find out all new MDX functions you added". The good answer should have been - look in BOL, but unfortunately, BOL is not 100% correct, in a sense that it lists functions which are not implemented (e.g. Contains, InStr), lists things which aren't functions but rather statements as functions (e.g. Freeze) and doesn't list some functions which are implemented. It hurts me to say it, but if there is one single area in this product which is completely messed up - it is BOL. AS BOL is incomplete, outdated and sometimes plain wrong. Anyway, if you really want to find out all MDX functions supported, you can send MDSCHEMA_FUNCTIONS schema rowset request using either one of AS APIs - XMLA, ADOMD.NET, OLEDB, ADOMD etc and find out the full comprehensive list. So let's do it against AS2005 and check all the new functions which weren't there in AS2000.
Tags: mdx