SAP Variables

Definition

In SAP Business Warehouse,variablesare a means of parametrizing queries.

Variables can also be used in Open Analysis Interfaces using various BW-specific enhancements to the MDX syntax. In this context, variables are called SAP variables.

Use

The open analysis interfaces provide variables as placeholders for the following objects:

Name in SAP NetWeaver Business Intelligence	Name in OLE DB for OLAP Specification
Characteristic values, hierarchy nodes, pre-calculated value sets	MEMBER_UNIQUE_NAME
Hierarchies	HIERARCHY_UNIQUE_NAME
Formula variables	Number values

Note

Variables for characteristic values, hierarchy nodes and pre-calculated value sets differ in the following ways with regard to the SAP VARIABLES schema rowset REFERENCE_HIERARCHY:

With characteristic variables, REFERENCE_HIERARCHY = REFERENCE_DIMENSION.
With hierarchy node variables, REFERENCE_HIERARCHY is either filled with the technical name of the hierarchy or, with a variable hierarchy, it remains empty. Note: The hierarchy name must also be specified in member HryUnam for method GetMembers for the MDDataProviderBW Business object (seeMDDataProviderBW.GetMembers).
With pre-defined value sets, REFERENCE_HIERARCHY is filled with the corresponding technical name and is never empty.

More information:BW-Specific Enhancement: SAP VARIABLES Schema Rowset.

Variables can be displayed as follows:

single value such as a MEMBER_UNIQUE_NAME

interval as value area

complex selection of values (such as a list of single values or intervals connected to one another with OR).

Selection options (special selection options can be entered via <option>, seeBW-Specific Enhancement: MDX Syntax)