How to learn MDX

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?

score 19 · Accepted Answer · edited Jul 21 '22 at 14:05

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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.

edited Jul 21 '22 at 14:05

Glorfindel

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answered Aug 25 '08 at 04:42

Kevin Dente

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I've just picked up a book co-authored by Chris Webb. It's called Expert Cube Development with MS SQL Server 2008. While it's no good as a first book there are some excellent tips and tricks in there once the basics are in place – Craig Aug 10 '09 at 00:22
+1 for MDX Solutions. Great book. – Christian V Jan 17 '10 at 22:16

score 9 · Answer 2 · answered May 07 '12 at 03:41

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Here is an MDX gentle introduction.

answered May 07 '12 at 03:41

Marc Polizzi

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score 5 · Answer 3 · answered Sep 16 '08 at 08:42

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.

I took the Microsoft course (since we use SQL Server Analsis Services) and whilst it wasn't perfect, it did help a lot. I expect many companies run this course, so have a look in the area near you. I think it is "Implementing Business Logic with MDX in Microsoft SQL Server 2000", but the most important thing is that the trainer has had real experience of using MDX, not just teaching it! — Magnus Smith, Nov 26 '09 at 16:48

score 4 · Answer 4 · answered Nov 15 '12 at 23:42

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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.

answered Nov 15 '12 at 23:42

Aaron Kempf

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This is an excellent suggestion! – Brian Vander Plaats Dec 20 '16 at 15:20

score 4 · Answer 5 · answered Jan 17 '10 at 21:51

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.

score 2 · Answer 6 · answered Mar 31 '09 at 08:22

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

score 2 · Answer 7 · edited Nov 04 '12 at 08:36

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I would recommend

MDX with Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 Analysis Services Cookbook

edited Nov 04 '12 at 08:36

Wahyu Kristianto

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answered Dec 15 '11 at 20:12

Peter

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score 2 · Answer 8 · edited Oct 29 '12 at 03:57

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Book: MDX Step by Step

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

There are more.

edited Oct 29 '12 at 03:57

Jason Sturges

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answered Feb 22 '12 at 20:11

Paul

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score 1 · Answer 9 · answered May 24 '12 at 03:01

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.

score 1 · Answer 10 · answered Oct 28 '11 at 10:30

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

How to learn MDX

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