If you haven’t read about 2.6 before, have a look into our previous article Whats new in 2.6?. At a glance, the version has some nice frontend improvements, it is faster and uses less memory, it is easier to use and it contains less restrictions. Read the release notes in this article for a complete list of all improvements and fixes.

And version 2.6 contains a free administrator license for each new or existing customer. This also means, you will no longer need to request an evaluation license if you want to download and test instantOLAP. Just download the software, install it and start using the it without any time limit.

19.08.2009: Release 2.6.0

Server

• The rebuild of dimensions and stores (former offline cubes) is now synchronized and executed in the same transacation, now stores are immediatley rebuild if any of their dimensions change and are publish at the same time as their dimension. Therefore, stores can now longer become “outaged” as in previous versions.
• The size of ToDo-lists is no longer limited as before, the “Query too complex” can no longer appear. Also, the ToDo processing now is 100% faster and uses exponential less memory.
• Imported dimension use less memory now and are synchronized faster. Imported models are therefore automatically started whenever an importing model is started.
• Models can now be shut down while they are synchronizing their dimensions or stores
• Less overall memory consumption
• File caches are now automatically deleted an re-initialized whenever they are corrupted
• New MDX-Functions and operators: UniqueName and StrToElement
• Now, calculated MDX members with other return types than “Set” are also supported

• Bugfix: The JOIN operator returned an empty result if the first argument was a single value and the user had no access-rights for this value
• Bugfix: The stores can now also contain non-aggregated facts and aggregate  them manually
• Bugfix: Sometimes the ROWNUM function displayed “0″ in each row

Web-Frontend

• Two new selector types have been added to the frontend: Calendar ranges and SuggestBox (which offer possible options while the user types into the box)
• Selector groups have a new property “Popup” which allows to convert a group into a space saving popup selector
• Negative values are now also colored red in the Excel export
• Better performance for Input selectors
• The repository no longer collapses when beeing refreshed
• New properties have beed added for overlay charts and allow display multiple ranges within the same chart
• The metrics for tables (needed cell-width and heights) are now calculated more accurate
• A fixed snapshot folder can now be set up for the frontend. If used, the users automatically save their snapshots in this folder without beeing asked for a file path before (like in version 2.2)

• Bugfix: The Excel export threw an error if the left padding of a cell was defined as double value
• Bugfix: The current value of input fields was not exported to PDF or Excel files
• Bugfix: Sended files did always have the extension “.pdf”, independet of their type
• Bugfix: The save as dialog now only shows folder with admin access for the current user
• Bugfix: The login dialog now also forgets the last user name even if the “remember user” option is not selected.
• Bugfix: The access-rights for the bookmark folder “.boomarks” are now ignored, every user can store data here
• Bugfix: The bookmark editor was messed up for arguments with multiple values
• Bugfix: The input selector now matches all result-elements again its options
• Bugfix: The Browser shows no longer endless “loading” after an empty query was executed
• Bugfix: The frontend offered edit rights for a folder if only some of the contained files was editable but not the folder itself

Workbench

• A complete new structure for offline cubes was introduced: Now cubes can contain as many “stores” as you want, each with a different combination of dimensions and fact. The configuration of stores is much easier than before,  just add dimensions and facts using checkboxes to the store and determine  their aggregation type (if wanted) – thats it.
• Cubes can now optionally still exist even if an offline version (store) of  them is active. In this case, the online cube is listed *behind* its offline versions.
• A new “Notes” was added to the configuration editor and allows administrators  to add notes to their configuration files
• The process manager now shows the current progress of a progress
• A new “Edit” button was added to the model manager which allows to open the configuration editor for a specific model directley from the manager
• The model-info now displays the number of warnings and error for a store in the cube tab
• The auto mapping for dimensions is no longer stored in the dimension itself and still keeps valid even if a dimension structure has changed
• Virtual tables (aliases) and virtual columns (expression) now have their own  symbol in the database explorer to make them visible for the administrator
• A new refactoring was added which deletes all references (links etc) using an  table-alias after the alias was deleted

• Bugfix: If you start a model out of the model-info panel, the panel now waits until the model was loaded
• Bugfix: The preview inside the Workbench displayed “Unknown host” if the  server wasn’t able to resolve its own domain-name.
• Bugfix: The mousewheel now also works while the mouse stands over the mapping panels in the cube editor
• Bugfix: Drag&Drop did no longer work after a user was moved in the user  manager
• Bugfix: When a configuration was changed and saved, the new dimension version have published to the productive model. This still happens but cannot block  the Workbench any more when waiting for a model lock.
• Bugfix: The mouswheel function in the ERM editor now works vice versa (moving the wheel forward zooms into the chart)
• Bugfix: The properties of the currently selected element are still displayed after clicking onto a database or repository element

The beta version of the connector will be available for free as a part of the following releases unless it reaches the production standard in version 2.6.

You can download the new release 2.5.3 from our download page. Beside the connector, it contains a small number of bug fixes and performance-improvements.

The instantOLAP XML/A connector supports XML/A 1.1, a web-service based query protocol which is supported by a large and increasing number of clients. The new XML/A server is part of the usual instantOLAP server and is reachable under “http://<server>:<port>/iolapWS/xmla“. It uses basic authorization (which must be supported by the client) and only operates with user accounts having the “iolapPowerUser” role or upper (from version 2.6 a new and different role will be mandatory).

Windows clients using ODBO as their connection standard can connect to the instantOLAP XML/A connector using an ODBO provider which talks “XML/A” to the server. There are currently two bridges available, the commercial O2X Provider from Simba Technologies and the Microsoft SQL Server 2008 provider from Microsoft.

The connector transforms the instantOLAP concepts into the XML/A world:

• instantOLAP models are visible as “catalogs” for XML/A, schemes are not supported.
• Each dimension contains a single hierarchy with the same name as the dimension. Future versions of instantOLAP will support multiple hierarchies.
• Keys are visible as “members” for XML/A
• Key-Attributes become properties in XML/A. The member properties MEMBER_UNIQUE_NAME, MEMBER_CAPTION, CHILDREN_CARDINALITY, PARENT_UNIQUE_NAME, LEVEL_NUMBER and UNIQUE_LEVEL_NAME are supported and delivered for each key, even if they are not defined in the model.
• All queries via XML/A use a single cube, which must be specified in the query. Future versions will allow to query all cubes or groups of cubes.

Both XML/A and ODBO use MDX as their query languge. MDX was invented by Microsoft and is comparable to SQL but specialized for multidimensional queries. The beta version of the instantOLAP XML/A connector supports the core syntax of MDX and a number of operators and functions.

Supported MDX syntax in the beta version:

• SELECT statement (with an unlimited number of axes and dimension properties)
• WHERE clause
• WITH MEMBER clause
• WITH SET clause
• Operators: (), {}
• Functions

Supported functions in the beta version:

• AddCalculatedMembers
• Aggregate
• Ascendants
• Children
• CrossJoin
• Descendants
• Distinct
• DrilldownLevelBottom
• DrilldownLevel
• DrilldownLevelTop
• DrilldownMember
• Except
• Hierarchize
• Intersect
• Join
• Union
• VisualTotals

Before you can connect instantOLAP from Excel, you must install an XML/A compatible ODBO driver on your local workstation. In this example, we use the O2X driver from Simba. After you successfully installed the driver, you can start Excel and create your first pivot table:

1. Click into an empty cell of your worksheet and use the “Pivot Table” button from the “Insert” tab to create a new table at this location.

2. Now, Excel wants you to define the datasource for your pivot table. Because instantOLAP is an external data deliverer, you must choose the “External datasource” option and use the button “Choose connection” to continue.

3. The following dialog shows all existing datasources stored in your current workbook and on your computer. Because this is the first time you connect an instantOLAP model, you must use the “Search for other elements…” button to create a new connection. After you successfully created an connection, it will be displayed here and you don’t have to redefine it.

4. This button opens the Explorer and shows the folder where all stored connections (ODC-files) are located. Now you can use the “New source…” button to create a new ODC file (and datasource):

5. The new dialog wants you choose the type of the new datasource. It contains a list for all standard types and an element “Others” for unknown types like instantOLAP. Choose this option and click the “Next >” button.

6.  Now you can choose the driver for the new connection. Here you must choose and XML/A compatible driver like the SimbaO2X Provider or the Analysis Services Driver 9 or 10. Then click onto “Next >” to open the next tabulator in the dialog.

7.  The next page wants you to input the URL of the server and the username and password for the connection.

The URL for an instantOLAP server is usually “http://<address>:<port>/iolapWS/xmla”. E.g. this example connects to an instantOLAP server running on the local machine and on port 8080. The username and password are the same as when you log into the instantOLAP Web Portal or into the Workbench, but you need at least to be a “Power user” to connect to the XML/A server.

We also suggest to save the password and to select an initial Catalog for your connection (a catalog is the same as models in instantOLAP). After you successfully entered and tested you connection, you can use the “OK” button to continue.

8. Now you can choose the cube of the model on which you want to execute your queries. Here, instantOLAP shows all cubes and an addition cube named “ALL” which acts as a hypercube containing all other cubes (this is also the cube all instantOLAP reports use). The use the “Next >” button to enter the next page.

9. Here you can edit the filename and display name of your new connection. Also, if you want to store the password in the connection, you must check the “Save password” option here, again.

Now finish all dialogs. If everything went right, a new and empty Pivot table should be visible and you can add facts or dimensions to it by clicking them in the field list at the right border of your Excel sheet.

08.06.2009: Release 2.5.3

Server

• A new XMLA server is available as backend for XMLA and ODBO clients (e.g. Microsoft Excel)
• Supported MDX Functions: AddCalculatedMembers, Aggregate, Ascendants, Children, CrossJoin, Descendants, Distinct, DrilldownLevel, DrilldownLevelBottom, DrilldownLevelTop, DrilldownMember, Except, Hierarchize, Intersect, Join, VisualTotals
• Better performance for File-Caches
• Bugfix: The Omit-Factor of dimension mappings is no longer used for list reports

Web-Frontend

• Patterns (%USER%, %TITLE% and %NAME%) for mail topics introduced
• Bugfix: Problems with included images in PDF-mails solved

Workbench

• Other levels with the same name in the same dimension are no longer automatically renamed when a level is renamed
• Visible and Description-Properties introduced for Keys, Attributes and Cubes
• Bugfix: A missing java archive for Linux was added