Jessica M. Moss

While looking in SQL Server Management Studio for something else entirely, I stumbled upon the Template Explorer.  This window provides Analysis Services templates for querying data mining structures (DMX), querying cubes (MDX), and performing DDL (XMLA).  I took a deeper look into the “MDX Queries” templates. To view the Template Explorer, select the View menu > Template Explorer option.  To see the Analysis Services template, select the Analysis Services cube option at the top of the window.  Double-clicking any of the templates listed will then open a new query window containing the selected query.  For example, the Basic Query will show the following: Select     <row_axis, mdx_set,> on Columns ,         <column_axis, mdx_set,> on Rows From     <from_clause, mdx_name,> Where     <where_clause, mdx_set,> You have two choices at this point in time: selecting the Query menu > Specify Values for Template Parameters option or replaci

When designing a SQL Server Integration Services package, it can seem tedious to drag over each and every task and component from the toolbox to your Control Flow and Data Flow and connect all of the precedence constraints and pipelines. You can alleviate some of this by modifying the default Business Intelligence options within Business Intelligence Development Studio (BIDS). Under the default settings, you can double-click any toolbox item and it will show up in your package designer with no connectors or specific place. To improve this, open up the Tools > Options... menu in BIDS. Then expand Business Intelligence Designers and Integration Services Designers. You will see Control Flow Auto Connect and Data Flow Auto Connect. If you check the option to "Connect a new shape to the selected shape by default", the drop down lists for specifying connector type and location are enabled in each menu. I prefer to use a Success constraint and add the new shape to the right of th

Over the past two months, I had the honor of presenting at many user groups and conferences. I wanted to put together some information for those who attended (and for those who were unable to attend!). If you saw either "Building Reports in SQL Server Reporting Services 2008" or "New Features of SQL Server Integration Services 2008" and are excited to get your hands on a SQL Server 2008 instance, but your company won't upgrade... you can download a free trial/evaluation version from Microsoft. Maybe you can even show your boss some of the things you learned from my presentation! @AndyLeonard: “You got your SSIS in my Twitter!” @JessicaMMoss: “You got your Twitter in my SSIS!” [Previous dialogue shamelessly stolen from Brent Ozar's blog because it's a perfect lead-in to...] For those of you who are not familiar with Twitter , it's a micro-blogging tool / social network platform that has completely taken off over the past year. Andy Leonard invited