Bens Blog

After I gave a short overview of the new features in Power Architect EE in my last blog post , I'll take the chance to post some videos that are available on YouTube and demonstrate the new features. The trial version for SQL Power Architect comes with a 30 days free support in case you run into any issues:  http://goo.gl/7SH1

After several months of development SQL Power released a new version of the Power Architect which is now available in 2 different version, the "old" Community Edition  (CE, also available on Google Code) and the brand new Enterprise Edition  (EE). Today I want to give you an overview of the most exciting new functions in SQL Power Architect EE. Central project repository & Security  In the Enterprise Edition all projects are stored on the server and you can create users and groups and give them different access rights to the projects depending on their role. Data Types and Domains This is one of the most important features in the new version. Prior to version 1.0 EE you could only work with a set of standard column types that all (most databases would understand). With Data Types and Domains you are finally able to define your own type and specify how this type should be forward engineered in the different database management systems. For example the type " Nu...

A few months ago I first mentioned that you can create Mondrian schemas with Power*Architect. Finally I get the time to create a step by step guide for a small Mondrian schema. This post covers the preparation of Power*Architect to create a new schema, the coming blog post will cover the schema creation and testing. What you need to get started: Nightly build from Power*Architect  [EDIT: The latest stable version should do it too.] A database, e.g. MySQL or PostgreSQL with the data you want to analyze. In this example I'll use the Pentaho sample data which is included in the Pentaho BI Server 3.x Wabit 0.97 (includes Mondrian built in) or a running Mondrian instance and a Mondrian client of your choice Step 1 - Setting up the database connection Start Power*Architect Open the Connections menu and start the Database Connection Manager . Click on New . Add the database connection details. For the Pentaho sample data enter the data as shown in the screenshot (Click on it ...

This is part two of my step by step guide on creating a Mondrian Schema with Power*Architect. Step 3 - Creating the Mondrian schema Go to OLAP-> Edit Schema -> New Schema. Enter a Schema name and select the database connection you created earlier. Dimensions Right click on the PlayPen, select New Dimension , and click on the PlayPen again Enter the dimension name, select TimeDimension as the dimension type and click on ok. Right click on the created dimension and add a hierarchy. Select the time table (public.dim_time) and select the correct primary key. Now you can add levels. Right click on the hierarchy and select Add level. Enter the name, column and correct level type. The procedure is the same for all dimensions. Cube Right click on the PlayPen, select New Cube , and click on the PlayPen again Enter the Cube name and select the fact table (public.orderfact in my example) Add the dimensions to the cube. Click on (Dimension Usage), then on dimension and finally on the cube....

After not working with Mondrian for a few months I had to design a schema for Mondrian again. As usual I first used the Schema Workbench . U can do everything with it but the user interface is a pain I think, especially if you are used to the other Open Source BI tools that are around for other tasks. I remembered that at least version 2 of the Pentaho Metadata Editor has a hidden Schema Editor , you have to press CTRL-ALT-O to activate it. If you check out the newest version (Version 3 RC1) you will be surprised how much you can do with it already! After building your relational model in the Metadata editor you can quickly design your cube and reuse your relational model which can save you a lot of time. But remember, it's not supported by Pentaho yet and you have to copy and paste your schema to test it. I'm sure in the near future Pentaho will have a solution for it. Another open source tool I found (I started working for the company recently) is Power*Architect from SQLPo...