Configuring Blox Sampler for the IBM Cubing Services Feature and IBM Alphablox Cube Server

Blox Sampler can be configured to be used with either the IBM Cubing Services Feature, a standalone component available in some editions of DB2 Warehouse. or the embedded IBM Alphablox Cube Server (ACS).

The Blox Sampler example set requires the following:

To use the files in Blox Sampler, make sure that you follow the steps described in the QCC-README.html file on IBM Alphablox installation CD's sampledata directory. The same instructions are also provided in the Started guide in the IBM Alphablox Information Center. The procedures involve the following steps:

For the IBM Cubing Services Feature

1. Install the QCC sample data

2. Define data source on IBM Alphablox

Once the sample data is installed, it needs to be defined to IBM Alphablox through the Admin Pages. Instructions for defining data sources are available on-line on the Admin Pages as well as in the Administrator's Guide.

The following are the configuration values to use:

For the IBM Alphablox Cube Server

1. Install the relational QCC sample data

2. Define data source on IBM Alphablox

Once the sample data is installed, it needs to be defined to IBM Alphablox through the Admin Pages. Instructions for defining data sources are available on-line on the Admin Pages as well as in the Administrator's Guide.

The following example show the configuration values to use IBM Alphablox Cube Server with an IBM DB2 database:

You also need to define an Alphablox Cube Server data source whose cube definition will be based on the qcc2003-rdb data source. The following are the configuration values to use for the ACS data source:

Leave the other values set to their default settings and save your data source definition.

3. Create the cube definition

Store the provided cube definition property file into your IBM Alphablox Repository. A qcc_2003.properties file that contains the cube definition is provided on the CD.

Configuring Comments Repository

To run the examples in the Highlighting and Commenting on Data section, perform the following steps:

1. Create a Comments database repository

In order to use examples in the Commenting on Data section, you first need to configure a Comments database repository to store and use comments. This requires that you create a database using any of the IBM Alphablox-supported relational databases. IBM Alphablox will generate any tables. After creating this database, you need to define an IBM Alphablox data source.

2. Create an IBM Alphablox data source for the comments repository

For IBM Alphablox to use the comments database you have created, you have to define a data source on IBM Alphablox through the Admin Pages. Instructions for defining data sources are available online on the Admin Pages as well as in the Administrator's Guide. After you select the appropriate adapter, fill in the required fields and make sure to define a default username and password. For the data source name, use CommentsCollectionACS.

3. Creating a Comments Collection

After you have created a database for your comments repository, follow these steps to create a comments collection (within your comments repository) for storing comments:

  1. Go to the IBM Alphablox Admin Pages, click on the Administration tab, then click on the General tab.
  2. Under Runtime Management, click the Comments link to open the Comments Management window.
  3. Select CommentsCollectionACS as your data source, enter your username and password, then press the Connect button. The Collection area (below Datasource) should become available.
  4. To create a new collection, press the Create button. On the right side of the window, three new sections (Name, Fields, and Dimensions) should appear.
  5. In the Name section, enter CommentsCollectionACS as the collection name.
  6. In the Fields section, three required default fields are included: the Author, Timestamp, and CommentText fields. You can add additional fields, defining their names, and optionally, descriptions for each field you define. For Blox Sampler, you can use the default fields.
  7. In the Dimensions section, select ACS from the list of defined data sources. A list of available dimensions should appear.
  8. For the Blox Sampler examples, select all of the available dimensions for the qcc_2003 cube (each dimension is displayed as [qcc_2003].[dimensionName]) by Shift-clicking or Control-clicking on the dimensions in the list. Make certain that only the dimensions for the qcc_2003 cube are selected. [Note: For comments collections created using DB2, select up to 10 dimensions only.]
  9. Press the Save button. At this point, the name of the newly defined collection should appear in the Collection listing.

You have created a comments collection for use with Blox Sampler.