Using the XML/A SDK you can create Web services so that clients can query data cubes directly from Analysis Server over the Web. However, the technique also potentially exposes Analysis server directly to clients. Is this a good idea? Should clients be able to query Analysis Server directly? Let us know in the enterprise.general discussion group.
Web-enable Your Business Intelligence Using XML/A and ASP.NET
Exploit the power of XML for Analysis (XML/A) and make your data cubes available via the Web using a simple Web service, an ASP.NET Web Form, and some XSLT to format the data.
by Afzal Farooqui
April 30, 2003
on't you sometimes wish that accessing database data were easier, and you didn't have to deal with such things as OLE DB, ODBC, and JDBC—that you could use just one uniform approach to access the data regardless of the location and type? Well, guess what? You won't have to wait too much longer to see this dream become reality. All major vendors are not only working on this issue seriously but have already started releasing SDKs for exactly this purpose. The point of commonality between them is XML. Like it or not, XML is becoming a standard part of programmers' lives because it's simple and easy to understand structure make it a suitable format for transferring data between disparate applications and platforms. But the real power of XML lies in its ability to not only extend itself, but also define itself.
Microsoft is leading this charge, and has made almost all its products XML-aware. For example, in SQL Server 2000 you can retrieve records formatted as XML documents. A complementary server called Analysis Server adds data warehousing and data mining capabilities to SQL Server. Not long ago, Microsoft released its XML/A SDK which lets you retrieve Analysis Server data over the Web in XML format. In this article, I'll show you what XML/A is, and provide an ASP.NET example showing how you can use it.
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on't you sometimes wish that accessing database data were easier, and you didn't have to deal with such things as OLE DB, ODBC, and JDBC—that you could use just one uniform approach to access the data regardless of the location and type? Well, guess what? You won't have to wait too much longer to see this dream become reality. All major vendors are not only working on this issue seriously but have already started releasing SDKs for exactly this purpose. The point of commonality between them is XML. Like it or not, XML is becoming a standard part of programmers' lives because it's simple and easy to understand structure make it a suitable format for transferring data between disparate applications and platforms. But the real power of XML lies in its ability to not only extend itself, but also define itself.
