An action is an end-user initiated operation upon a selected cube or portion of a cube. The operation can start an application with the selected item as a parameter, or it can retrieve information about the selected item. For more information about actions, see Actions.
To create an action, use the Action Wizard. The wizard takes you through steps to specify the following options for an action:
Select the object to which the action is attached. Generally, in client applications, the action is displayed when end users select the target object; however, the client application determines which end-user operation displays actions. Select from the following objects:
Select the type of action. The following table summarizes the available types.
| Type | Description |
|---|---|
| Command Line | Executes a command at the command prompt in Microsoft® Windows NT® 4.0 or Windows® 2000 |
| Statement | Executes an OLE DB command |
| HTML | Executes an HTML script in an Internet browser |
| URL | Displays a variable page in an Internet browser |
| Data set | Retrieves a dataset |
| Rowset | Retrieves a rowset |
| Proprietary | Performs an operation using an interface different from those listed earlier in this table |
Specify the parameters that are passed when the action is executed. The syntax must evaluate to a string, and you must include an expression written in Multidimensional Expressions (MDX). For example, your MDX expression can indicate a part of the cube that is included in the syntax. MDX expressions are evaluated before the parameters are passed. Also, MDX Builder is available to help you build MDX expressions.
You can create actions in regular or virtual cubes. In a virtual cube, you can import actions from the virtual cube's component cubes so that you do not have to re-create the actions. After importing these actions, you can edit them in the virtual cube.
Creating Actions in Regular Cubes