Frequently Asked Questions

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What kind of documentation and support are available for the OLAP for ArcGIS add-on?

The OLAP for ArcGIS add-on includes a tutorial to guide new users through the process of creating maps based on OLAP data.

Technical support is not available for free add-ons. However, you may send inquiries to olap@esri.com.

What OLAP databases does the OLAP for ArcGIS add-on support?

OLAP for ArcGIS has been tested with Microsoft Analysis Services, SAP Business Information Warehouse (BW), and SAS OLAP Server. It connects to an OLAP server via the OLE DB for OLAP driver for this specific product. Therefore, an OLE DB for OLAP driver needs to be installed on the client machine before OLAP for ArcGIS can connect to the OLAP data.

Does the OLAP for ArcGIS add-on support geoprocessing?

No. Tables created using OLAP for ArcGIS cannot be used with the geoprocessing framework.

Does the OLAP for ArcGIS add-on support queries from SAP BW?

Yes. To visualize queries from SAP BW, you must check the Allow External Access to this Query option for your SAP query on the Extended tab (Query Properties dialog box) in the SAP Query Designer Tool.

How can I restrict permissions to access SAP BW InfoCubes in OLAP for ArcGIS?

The restriction of permissions to access SAP BW InfoCubes in OLAP for ArcGIS is controlled by authorization objects in SAP BW profiles. The main SAP authorization objects to control access to SAP BW Queries are S_RS_ICUBE and S_RS_COMP. Contact your SAP security administrator to make the changes in the user profiles for the desired InfoCubes.

How can I restrict permissions to access SAP BW queries in OLAP for ArcGIS?

The restriction of permissions to access SAP BW queries in OLAP for ArcGIS is controlled by authorization objects in SAP BW profiles. The main SAP authorization objects to control access to SAP BW queries are S_RS_COMP and S_RS_COMP1. Contact your SAP security administrator to make the changes in the user profiles for the desired queries.

I need to use the OLAP for ArcGIS add-on programmatically from a .NET Application, but I can't find any APIs like an ArcObject Library for the OLAP add-on. How can I find it?

The OLAP for ArcGIS add-on implements an ArcObject plug-in data source. You can access the plug-in as described in the ArcObject Developer Help (Chapter 7: Customizing the Geodatabase - Other Plug-In Data Source Topics):

View code

A few notes: The add-on stores connection and MDX queries in the user's Application Data directory (i.e., C:\Documents and Settings\%UserName%\Application Data\ESRI\ArcCatalog\OLE DB for OLAP\%OLAPConnection%). The OLAPConnection variable in the previous path expression does not exist. It is simply used to indicate a folder that has the same name as displayed for this particular OLAP connection in ArcCatalog. Specify this folder as the workspace string when calling IWorkspaceFactory.OpenFromFile().

For each OLAP table defined for this OLAP connection, there will be an *.ods file in this folder. Specify the name of this file (without the *.ods extension) when calling IFeatureWorkspace.OpenTable().