Table Elements Explained

The most fundamental elements in an ElastiCube project are tables.  Table elements represent tabular data that will be imported into the ElastiCube from an external source like a database or a file.  Table elements provide a visual representation of a table that will be imported into an ElastiCube.  It is visualized as a rectangular box with a collection of fields inside it.  When a table element is first created, it contains all the fields that exist in the source table it was created from.

 

Adding Table Elements

Adding a new table elements is done from the Add Data menu available in the main toolbar:

 

 

Please see step by step instructions on how to connect to SQL Server, Oracle and MySQL, Microsoft Access,  Microsoft Excel and Text/CSV Files.

Source Connectivity Properties

These properties define where the source data for the table element resides and how to access it.  Because table elements are initially created by connecting to external tables, the default values of these properties are the ones provided during the creation process.

Property	Description
Source Server address	The address of the database server / location of the database file
Source Database name	The name of the source database / file where the data is stored
Source Table name	The name of the source table where the data is stored
Source Type	The type of data (SQL Server, Excel, etc)

 

- To view the current source connectivity property values, hover with the mouse over the   icon.
- To change source connectivity property values, navigate to the Build->Change Connectivity Settings option in the main toolbar.

Table Element Import Properties

The initial properties of an added table element are set to import an identical image of the source table into the ElastiCube.  This means table and field names are the same, as well as each field's particular data type and size.  These properties can be changed from within the table element.

 

 

Table and Field Naming

The names of tables and fields can be changed from their source name.  Changing the name of a table or field will not require you to change these names at the source.  These properties simply define how the table and field names will be displayed inside the ElastiCube.

 

- To change the name of a table element, double-click the name area at the top of the table.
- To change the name of a field, right-click the require field and type in the new name in the 'Name' box.

Field Visibility

When a field is set to invisible, it will not be imported from the source.  Toggle this setting by clicking the checkbox to the immediate left of the field name.

Field Data Type and Size

To change the data type and/or size of a field from it's original settings, right-click the field and set the required values in the Data Type and Data Size boxes

Descriptive Text Fields

Text fields are the worst types of fields in terms of query performance.  When a field is of type text, particularly of long size, grouping and aggregation operations performed on it may take longer to process than the same operation conducted on a field of type integer.  Disabling the 'Descriptive' option on a text field will force the ElastiCube to replace unique text values in the field with unique integer-based keys, significantly improving queries involving these fields.

See Also