How to query OLAP metadata

[John]

I've got an Access 2007 application that links to MS SQL 2005 DB via
ODBC connections. The SQL DB is used for a Microsoft Analysis Service
database.

Is there any way I can query the database metadata via Access front-
end/app? Specifically, I'm trying to query the last time the cube was
refresh or a dim was rebuilt.

Thanks.

 

[a a r o n . k e m p f]

You could just look for the date/time on the physical olap files.

In SQL 2008; they are coming out with 'Dynamic Management Views' in
Analysis Services. I would assume that this is not a very easy thing
to do in SSAS 2005.
It might be easier to use DSO in SQL 2000 or AMO I believe it's
called.. Maybe it's SMO.

I might look into the 'Web Services Toolkit'- I Just don't know if
there is a decent version of that in Office 2007. I don't think that
it is present any longer
In a perfect world; you could use this 'Web Services Toolkit' in order
to browse to the correct WSDL. This would then generate 'proxy
classes' in VBA for a lot of the objects in SSAS.

PS - are you using Molap? If you were using Rolap and aggregations,
for example-- I believe that you could just peek at the crdate for the
tableName (for that agg/table) in sysobjects

-Aaron

 

[a a r o n . k e m p f]

btw; here is a shortcut to AMO documentation

http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms124924.aspx

PS - do me a favor and email / submit Microsoft.. that you think that
Access reports should work off of Olap. This is definitely one of my
grievances. I mean-- Crystal Reports have been able to do this for a
decade, right?

-Aaron