Cathy Dumas's Blog

Last day at Microsoft

Hi, today is my last day at Microsoft. I am moving back home to Vancouver, BC. I won’t be allowed to...

Author: Cathy Dumas - Date: 12/22/2011

DirectQuery impersonation options explained

In my previous post about impersonation, I mentioned that DirectQuery impersonation was a bit...

Author: Cathy Dumas - Date: 12/12/2011

New for RC0 – the .layout file

If you look at my previous post on the tabular project structure, you’ll see this teaser: “There are...

Author: Cathy Dumas - Date: 12/02/2011

PowerPivot measures command – no really, don’t modify it manually!

If you look in the metadata of a BIM file, or if you look at the .dax file generated by the DAX...

Author: Cathy Dumas - Date: 11/29/2011

Least discoverable feature: importing more tables from an existing connection

You’ve run the import wizard, and imported a bunch of tables into your tabular model. Now you want...

Author: Cathy Dumas - Date: 11/23/2011

Securing your tabular model

Now that RC0 has arrived I can finally post about security for tabular models. I have put off...

Author: Cathy Dumas - Date: 11/21/2011

Changing your font and keyboard shortcuts in the tabular designer

If you look carefully, you can see my roots showing. No, not my hair – you can see my old job...

Author: Cathy Dumas - Date: 11/17/2011

Using Edit Table Properties on a partitioned tabular model

In PowerPivot, the Edit Table Properties dialog box is used for a few things. It is used to add...

Author: Cathy Dumas - Date: 11/10/2011

Impersonation in tabular models

Here is a pop quiz on impersonation when connecting to a data source for tabular models. Question 1:...

Author: Cathy Dumas - Date: 11/07/2011

When to choose tabular models over PowerPivot models

Sometimes people ask me for the slide deck to my PASS presentation. I send out the deck, but there...

Author: Cathy Dumas - Date: 10/27/2011

Making tabular models more sensitive

Case sensitive, that is. Last year, Denny Lee posted about PowerPivot’s case insensitivity problem....

Author: Cathy Dumas - Date: 10/24/2011

Collation and language settings in tabular models

Collation and language settings are tricky; so tricky that my two planned blog posts on this topic...

Author: Cathy Dumas - Date: 10/21/2011

The BI semantic model, MDX, DAX, and you

When I was at PASS I fielded a bunch of questions about the BI semantic model, multidimensional...

Author: Cathy Dumas - Date: 10/17/2011

DAX Editor for SQL Server going to CodePlex

Hi, today at my PASS session I gave a demo of a DAX Editor. This is a sample written by three...

Author: Cathy Dumas - Date: 10/13/2011

Heading to SQL PASS

I am spending the next couple of days getting ready for PASS Summit 2011. I have a session on...

Author: Cathy Dumas - Date: 10/10/2011

Configuring a workspace database server

Marco Russo has a nice post about the basics of configuring the workspace database server. You can...

Author: Cathy Dumas - Date: 10/03/2011

Working with the ACE provider in the tabular designer

The Office ACE provider is used to import from text files, Excel files, and Access files. Just like...

Author: Cathy Dumas - Date: 09/29/2011

Processing tabular models 101

With a new storage engine comes new processing options. Here are some fast facts about processing...

Author: Cathy Dumas - Date: 09/26/2011

Where does data come from when you open a BIM file?

By default, when you open the .bim file after closing it, the data comes back. Did you ever wonder...

Author: Cathy Dumas - Date: 09/23/2011

Configuring multiple partitions in a DirectQuery with VertiPaq model, step by step

In my DirectQuery 101 post, I promised an example of configuring a model with DirectQuery only...

Author: Cathy Dumas - Date: 09/15/2011

Managing tabular models

Managing tabular models is pretty much like managing multidimensional models. We have a full array...

Author: Cathy Dumas - Date: 09/12/2011

Using Integration Services with tabular models

The astute user may notice that the Analysis Services tasks included with Integration Services in...

Author: Cathy Dumas - Date: 09/08/2011

DirectQuery 101

DirectQuery is to tabular modeling what ROLAP is to multidimensional modeling. It’s a way to...

Author: Cathy Dumas - Date: 09/06/2011

Importing a subset of data using partitions, step by step

This is a follow up to part 1 – dealing with large row sets in the tabular designer. In this post I...

Author: Cathy Dumas - Date: 09/01/2011

Dealing with large row sets in the tabular designer

Amir Netz’s two billion and seven rows demo at last year’s BI conference was not just...

Author: Cathy Dumas - Date: 08/29/2011

Managing tabular models using PowerShell

As I mentioned in my previous post on deploying tabular models using msbuild, we now have AMO for...

Author: Cathy Dumas - Date: 08/25/2011

Recovering from cryptic errors thrown when importing from PowerPivot

Sometimes people get an error message about “Access is Denied” when trying to import from a...

Author: Cathy Dumas - Date: 08/22/2011

Pointing PowerPivot pivot tables to tabular models

After you import or restore from PowerPivot, you are left with a workbook with pivot tables and...

Author: Cathy Dumas - Date: 08/17/2011

What does Import from PowerPivot actually do?

We have two pieces of functionality in Denali that allow you to promote a self-service model in...

Author: Cathy Dumas - Date: 08/15/2011

Deploying tabular projects using a custom msbuild task

I have received a few questions from customers about how to build and deploy Analysis Services...

Author: Cathy Dumas - Date: 08/10/2011

Tabular project structure

Tabular projects have a very simple structure. When you create a tabular project, you see two files...

Author: Cathy Dumas - Date: 08/08/2011

Changing focus

This blog is back. Some time ago, I left the Workflow Designer team and joined the SQL Server...

Author: Cathy Dumas - Date: 07/10/2011

Least discoverable feature: changing the Workflow Designer fonts and colors

The MSDN documentation on the WF designer shell has a very short section describing how WF designer...

Author: Cathy Dumas - Date: 04/01/2010

Dynamically binding the expression type in the property grid

Previously, I demonstrated how to use an ExpressionTextBox in a custom property editor. In this...

Author: Cathy Dumas - Date: 03/29/2010

Using an ExpressionTextBox in a custom property editor

I have fielded a couple of questions from customers and also a forum post asking how to get the...

Author: Cathy Dumas - Date: 03/22/2010

Hostable editor keyboard shortcuts

In my previous post about keyboard shortcuts, I promised a summary of the hostable editor shortcuts....

Author: Cathy Dumas - Date: 03/02/2010

Imports designer 101

Oh, the imports designer. This innocuous looking piece of UI packs a lot of functionality in a...

Author: Cathy Dumas - Date: 02/18/2010

RC is here, and so is the Workflow Designer documentation

Today the RC version of Visual Studio was made publically available for MSDN subscribers. See the VS...

Author: Cathy Dumas - Date: 02/08/2010

Multi-dimensional array support in the Workflow Designer

In the Workflow Designer, all input provided to the workflow must be valid according to the model...

Author: Cathy Dumas - Date: 02/01/2010

About type coercion

The hosted compiler does something called type coercion. It converts one type to another type using...

Author: Cathy Dumas - Date: 01/28/2010

Expression serialization and literal support

Expressions created in the WF designer are serialized using square brackets, which is shorthand for...

Author: Cathy Dumas - Date: 01/25/2010

Women in technology at PDC09

When I was at PDC I spent some time with Ed and Ashley of Ed and Ashley’s 5 minute show. They have a...

Author: Cathy Dumas - Date: 01/23/2010

End-to-end expression editing feature deck

Hi, today I gave a talk to our support team about the expression editing feature. Since this is all...

Author: Cathy Dumas - Date: 01/21/2010

Enter and Tab key handling in the ExpressionTextBox

The Enter and Tab keys work a bit differently in the ExpressionTextBox than in the big VB IDE. In...

Author: Cathy Dumas - Date: 01/18/2010

Least discoverable feature: 100% zoom and fit to screen

There are a whole bunch of buttons in the bottom right hand corner of the workflow designer. Here...

Author: Cathy Dumas - Date: 01/14/2010

Least discoverable feature: Workflow designer keyboard shortcuts

The Workflow designer, like any good Visual Studio component, has many keyboard shortcuts. We are...

Author: Cathy Dumas - Date: 01/11/2010

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