LSW OLAP-Cube ActiveX-control is an OLAP ActiveX control helping you to make analytical decisions based on fast interactive processing of multi-dimensional data. Being easily embedded into your software it gives wide opportunities to retrieve the multi-dimensional data from different sources, display it, navigate and process the data.
LSW OLAP-Cube ActiveX-control models multi-dimensional space (hypercube). Each dimension of the space contains finite number of items. Each cell of the discrete space can contain array (data element) of numerical values (data items) or can be empty (missing data). The array size (number of data items) is the same for all data elements in multi-dimensional space.
Such operations as summarizing, searching for minimum or maximum values, etc can be applied for a set of data elements. The result of the operation is an number array. It depends on the operation type. These operations by different subsets of data elements are called aggregation queries. The subset of data elements in the space can be defined by selecting a set of items in each dimension (at least one item must be selected in each dimension).
The control has a spreadsheet-like view:
The dimensions are presented in the view as row, column and page fields. On the picture PNO and Division are page fields, Country and Product - row fields, Year and Quarter - column fields. Page fields always occupies the first row. The dimension orientation is the type of the dimension field: page, row or column.
To change the field orientation just drag and drop it to page, row or column fields. Or click right mouse button over the field - the context menu with orientation types will be shown.
You can select different dimension items by clicking the correspondent dimension field - the edit combo box with items will be shown (look Quarter field on the picture). This operation is known as filtering.
Items of row fields and items of column fields are presented in the view as two hierarchies. Lets consider row items (the organization of the column items is the same). Each row field forms the corresponding level in the hierarchy which is occupied only by items of that field. Each item of the level is parent node for all items of the next level.
Due to this hierarchical representation of row and column items you can navigate the tree by expanding (drilling down) and collapsing (drilling up) operations. Expanding makes the view more detailed.
The data cells are placed on the intersection of the rows and the columns containing dimension items. Each data cell contains one numerical value which is the result of aggregation query with corresponding row items and column items.
The multi-dimensional space can be presented as database table. Some fields of the table correspond to the dimensions and others - to the numerical values of data array. The number of fields equals number of dimensions plus number of elements in data array. The control can receive the multi-dimensional data both from relational database (bound data) and throw using special method "AddRow" (unbound data).