Cube Explorer 1.1 Installation

System Requirements


Installing Cube Explorer

  1. Make sure any previous version of Cube Explorer is uninstalled prior to installation. Uninstall instructions are described in the Uninstalling Cube Explorer section.
  2. Double-click CubeExplorer.exe.
  3. Click Next.
  4. A drive and path are identified as the extraction destination.  If this is not the desired installation location, click Browse and select a new directory.
    The files extracted to the selected folder MUST NOT BE DELETED, as they provide the functionality of the application.
  5. Click Next.  The files will now be extracted to the specified directory.
    Upon completion, one of three messages will appear:
    • If the message reads "An older version of Microsoft Scripting Runtime Library has been detected", follow the steps outlined in "Installing Windows Script 5.5", then restart the Cube Explorer installation by returning to step 1 of this section.
    • If the message reads "An older version of Microsoft Data Access Components (MDAC) has been detected", follow the steps outlined in "Installing Microsoft Data Access Components (MDAC) 2.6", then restart the Cube Explorer installation by returning to step 1 of this section.
    • If the message indicates installation completion, the following folders will exist in the install directory:
      • Views. This is the default location for saved cube views. This can be modified in the default.asp page (see "Creating the Cube Explorer web site" below).
      • Logs. This is where log files are written. A log file is generated each day, and is useful in diagnosing errors that may occur. The name of each file is its creation date in the form YYYYMMDD, followed by the .log extension. It is up to the server administrator to delete old log files either manually or with an automated process.
      • Website. This folder contains all files to be included in the IIS web application, in the folder structure in which they must appear.

Creating the Cube Explorer Web Site

  1. Copy the website folder from the Cube Explorer install directory into the folder wwwroot (in the inetpub directory).
  2. Rename the copy of the folder to the desired web site name (i.e. "CubeExplorer").
  3. Optionally replace the style sheet (default.css in the styles sub-folder of the new folder) with a new style sheet. This file must be called "default.css" in order to be detected by Cube Explorer.
    For a description of each class, see the comments in the style sheet file. It can be opened in Notepad, or any text or style sheet editor.
  4. Optionally replace the images (in the images sub-folder of the new folder) with new images. Each replacement file must bear the same name as the original file.
    A description of each image is as follows:
    • Expand.gif, collapse.gif, isolate.gif and hide.gif are the expand, collapse, isolate and hide icons, respectively.
    • Up.gif, down.gif, left.gif and right.gif are up, down, left and right arrows, respectively.
    • Sync.gif is the synchronize icon, which appears in the Parameter Frame header.
  5. To set the properties of the Cube Explorer class, open default.asp in the new folder with Notepad.
    The section of the file we are concerned with appears as follows:
    CubeExplorer.SavedViews.RootFolderPath = "C:\Program Files\Cube Explorer\Views"
    CubeExplorer.SavedViews.MaxFilesPerFolder = 5
    CubeExplorer.SavedViews.MaxFoldersPerFolder = 5
    CubeExplorer.SavedViews.MaxFolderDepth = 3
    CubeExplorer.SavedViews.MaxNameLength = 50
    CubeExplorer.SavedViews.FileExtension = "cev"
    CubeExplorer.DefaultDataSource = "SERVER_NAME"

    CubeExplorer.DataSourceDisplayMode = 0
    CubeExplorer.CatalogDisplayMode = 0
    CubeExplorer.CubeDisplayMode = 0
    CubeExplorer.MeasureDisplayMode = 0
    CubeExplorer.AxesDisplayMode = 0
    CubeExplorer.RangesDisplayMode = 0
    CubeExplorer.SavedViewsDisplayMode = 0
    These are property modifiers. The properties are described as follows:
    • CubeExplorer.SavedViews.RootFolderPath. This sets the path of the folder to contain the Saved View files and sub-folders. The value must be enclosed in double-quotes. If not set, Cube Explorer will use the View folder in the installation directory.
    • CubeExplorer.SavedViews.MaxFilesPerFolder. This sets the maximum number of Saved View files permitted in each folder. The default value is 5.
    • CubeExplorer.SavedViews.MaxFoldersPerFolder. This sets the maximum number of Saved View sub-folders permitted in each folder. The default value is 5.
    • CubeExplorer.SavedViews.MaxFolderDepth. This sets the maximum depth of Saved View sub-folders. The default value is 3.
    • CubeExplorer.SavedViews.MaxNameLength. This sets the maximum length of Saved View files and folders. The default value is 50.
    • CubeExplorer.SavedViews.FileExtension. This sets the file extension for Saved View files. The value must be enclosed in double-quotes. The default value is "xml".
    • CubeExplorer.DefaultDataSource. This sets the default data source for Cube Explorer to connect to. The value must be enclosed in double-quotes. If not set, the local server is used.
      If Microsoft OLAP Services 7.0 or Analysis Services 2000 are not installed on the data source, Cube Explorer will display an "Invalid Data Source" message. However, the user may enter a new data source name at any time.
    • CubeExplorer.DataSourceDisplayMode. This sets the display mode of the Data Source parameter to either editable (0) or hidden (1).
      If Hidden, the data source cannot be edited using the web interface.
    • CubeExplorer.CatalogDisplayMode. This sets the display mode of the Catalog parameter to either editable (0) or hidden (1).
      If Hidden, the data source and catalog cannot be edited using the web interface.
    • CubeExplorer.CubeDisplayMode. This sets the display mode of the Cube parameter to either editable (0) or hidden (1).
      If Hidden, the data source, catalog and cube cannot be edited using the web interface.
    • CubeExplorer.MeasureDisplayMode. This sets the display mode of the Measure parameter to either editable (0) or hidden (1).
      If Hidden, the data source, catalog, cube and measure cannot be edited using the web interface.
    • CubeExplorer.AxesDisplayMode. This sets the display mode of the Axes interface to either editable (0) or hidden (1).
      If Hidden, the data source, catalog, cube and axes cannot be edited using the web interface.
    • CubeExplorer.RangesDisplayMode. This sets the display mode of the Ranges interface to either editable (0) or hidden (1).
      If Hidden, the ranges cannot be edited using the web interface.
    • CubeExplorer.SavedViewsDisplayMode. This sets the display mode of the Saved Views interface to either editable (0) or hidden (1).

    To change a property, simply type a new value following the equal sign.
    Once the properties have been set, save and close the text file.
  6. Open the Internet Service Manager. On Windows 2000, this is located in the Control Panel (under Settings in the Start Menu). On Windows NT, this can be found in the Start menu by selecting Window NT 4.0 Option Pack, then Microsoft Personal Web Server.
  7. Click the Expand icon (+) beside the server name.
  8. Click the Expand icon (+) beside Default Web Site.
  9. Right-click the folder with the name you assigned in Step 1. This is the Web Application folder.
  10. Select Properties.
  11. Click Create.
  12. You may wish to configure the Web Application for optimum performance as follows:
    • Click Configure.
    • Select the App Options tab.
    • Uncheck the Enable session state box. Session state is not required for this application, so unchecking this option may improve performance.
    • Check the Enable buffering box to improve performance.
    • Click OK.
  13. You may wish to set security and additional settings. See IIS documentation for details.
  14. Click OK.

Viewing the Cube Explorer Web Site

  1. Open a compatible web browser.
  2. In the address bar, type "//SERVER_NAME/WEBSITE_NAME/", where SERVER_NAME is the name of the server on which Cube Explorer is installed, and WEBSITE_NAME is the name of the web site created.
    The Cube Explorer interface should now appear in the web browser.
Note: If Dutch (Netherlands) is selected as the default locale in Regional Settings, the interface will be displayed in Dutch. Otherwise, the interface will be displayed in Canadian English.

Passing Parameters to the Cube Explorer Web Site

The Cube Explorer web site exposes parameters that can be used to link to Cube Explorer and display a specific set of cube data automatically. The arguments for these parameters may be submitted using either POST or GET. The available parameters are as follows:

Uninstalling Cube Explorer

  1. Select Settings in the Start menu and select Control Panel.
  2. Double-click Add/Remove Programs.
  3. Select Cube Explorer.
  4. If you are running Windows 2000, click Change/Remove. Otherwise, if you are running Windows NT, click Add/Remove.
    A message will be displayed indicating that the application was uninstalled.
    Note: An additional message may appear indicating that some files could not be deleted. You may need to stop the IIS Administration service in order to unlock and delete these files.
  5. Click OK.