How to learn MDX [closed]

Question

I am currently learning OLAP & MDX after many years of relational database development.

Any tips on getting started in MDX? What are the best books and resources to learn MDX?

Answer 1

A classic, albeit a bit dated, book is Fast Track to MDX. It's a great overview and a quick read, though it doesn't cover the new MDX features of SQL Server 2005.

The Spofford book MDX Solutions is more up date and a little deeper, but a bit harder to get through.

I also highly recommend the blogs of Mosha Pasumansky, Chris Webb, and Darren Gosbell.

Answer 2

Here is an MDX gentle introduction.

Answer 3

I found the Spoffard book not very helpful. MDX is such an oddity compared to other languages you'll learn, it's so hard to grasp from a dry book. I really would recommend a training course, otherwise you will flounder for ages. A course will really jump-start you, and it provides access to an expert when you have questions which don't seem to have online answers.

The worst trap to fall into, is to continually compare it with SQL! It uses some of the same keywords, but they mean something totally different, which makes the mental jump annoyingly harder.

I think the most efficient way to learn either OLAP or MDX would be to find someone who knows it, and get them to show you around, begin with some small changes, or some very simple queries.

Answer 4

You should also try and get hold of MDX Studio, a free MDX query tool written by Mosha Pasumansky (one of the original creators of MDX). It has similar MDX functionality to SQL Management Studio, but also allows you to parse and format queries, which can be very handy when trying to decipher them.

Answer 5

I prefer dragging and dropping fields around in MS Excel, and then using SQL Server profiler to capture trace against SSAS. This way, you get an awesome frontend for building queries, and then you can get the queries that Excel is using through the profiler.

Answer 6

If you create a Pivot Table that uses a cube (in Excel), you can see the query that is being sent using this (towards the bottom of the page)

http://www.codeplex.com/OlapPivotTableExtend

That might be a good way of getting a feel for the simpler stuff.

N.B. This is only in Excel2007, not sure about earlier versions

Answer 7

Book: MDX Step by Step

Video tutorials, e.g. MDX tutorial and Analysis Services introduction

There are more.

Answer 8

I would recommend

MDX with Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 Analysis Services Cookbook

Answer 9

We used the LearnItFirst.com training videos and found them to be a very thorough introduction to SSAS and MDX. There are around 40 hours of content plus exercises including around 6 hours of pure MDX Training.

The details for the SSAS Course can be found at: Learn IT First SSAS Training

Answer 10

Besides the books and resources mentioned by others, the easiest way to kick-start your MDX learning is to get a copy of ProClarity. Unfortunately getting your hands on ProClarity is nowhere near as easy as it used to be. Microsoft bought the company in 2006, and it is now licensed through PerformancePoint, I believe. Oh yeah, and they quit development on the product.

Having said all that, if you are able to get a copy, you can build queries by dragging and dropping dimensions and measures onto your rows and columns. The results of the query are then displayed in either a grid, a chart, or both.

How does this help you learn MDX? ProClarity lets you see the MDX for each query. It isn't always the most elegant MDX, but it will help you quickly learn how to write lots of different queries.