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RossLikesOS's avatar
RossLikesOS
New Contributor II
4 days ago
Solved

Alias Dimension Property in V9.1

The newest release (9.1) of OneStream introduces the Alias property for just about all of the dimensions.  The only place so far where I have found the Alias as being useful is in search.  I have not...
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  • JackLacava's avatar
    JackLacava
    4 days ago

    You should not need any rule to use aliases. The point of aliases is not to display; they are meant to be used for references, so that you can use A#MyAccount or A#MyAliasAccount and the cube view will show MyAccount either way.

    They are mostly expected to be used incrementally, as metadata evolves, to avoid artefacts from breaking when members are renamed. From the documentation (the bold is mine):

    Aliases are optional names that you can use as alternative ways to reference members from areas such as Member Filters, Cube Views, or Business Rules. This enables you to use additional, readable names for dimension members in new or existing solutions, without disrupting existing solutions that reference the main dimension member names. For example, you can add the original dimension member name as an alias before renaming the dimension member name to ensure existing solutions referencing the dimension member do not break after the name change. Multiple aliases can also be added to the same dimension member through a comma-delimited list.

    Note that this property should not be confused with what the documentation calls "Alias Member Descriptions"; those are culture-specific descriptions that will only be displayed when the user is configured with a different Culture in the Security page, or when you force a Cube View to display with a specific Culture.

JackLacava's avatar
JackLacava
Icon for OneStream Employee rankOneStream Employee
4 days ago

You should not need any rule to use aliases. The point of aliases is not to display; they are meant to be used for references, so that you can use A#MyAccount or A#MyAliasAccount and the cube view will show MyAccount either way.

They are mostly expected to be used incrementally, as metadata evolves, to avoid artefacts from breaking when members are renamed. From the documentation (the bold is mine):

Aliases are optional names that you can use as alternative ways to reference members from areas such as Member Filters, Cube Views, or Business Rules. This enables you to use additional, readable names for dimension members in new or existing solutions, without disrupting existing solutions that reference the main dimension member names. For example, you can add the original dimension member name as an alias before renaming the dimension member name to ensure existing solutions referencing the dimension member do not break after the name change. Multiple aliases can also be added to the same dimension member through a comma-delimited list.

Note that this property should not be confused with what the documentation calls "Alias Member Descriptions"; those are culture-specific descriptions that will only be displayed when the user is configured with a different Culture in the Security page, or when you force a Cube View to display with a specific Culture.

RobbSalzmann's avatar
RobbSalzmann
Valued Contributor II
2 days ago

Excellent description Jack!
So if i'm understanding the concept, would this be another way of putting it?:

For a robust, flexible application: code & parameterize by alias, report by member name.

Taken a step further, if I have calculation logic that needs to be changed, e.g. point to a different driver, then I leave the code alone, and move the alias to the new driver account?

  • JackLacava's avatar
    JackLacava
    Icon for OneStream Employee rankOneStream Employee
    2 hours ago

    That's an interesting approach; if you expect you will need that level of flexibility, sure. I wouldn't necessarily do it everywhere though, as the potential for confusion is significant.