Defining and Browsing Translations

A translation is a representation of the names of Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Analysis

Services (SSAS) objects (such as measure groups, measures, dimensions, attributes,
hierarchies, KPIs, actions, and calculated members) in a specific language. Translations
provide server support for client applications that can support multiple languages. With such
a client, the client passes the locale identifier (LCID) to the instance of Analysis Services,
which uses the LCID to determine which set of translations to use when providing metadata
for Analysis Services objects.
For example, if a business user in France accesses a cube from a workstation that has a
French locale setting, the business user sees the member captions and member property
values in French if a French translation exists. However, if a business user in Germany
accesses the same cube from a workstation that has a German locale setting, the business
user sees the captions names and member property values in German.
You define translations for dimension metadata on the Translations tab in Dimension
Designer for the appropriate dimension and on the Translations tab in Cube Designer. You
can use the Translations tab of Dimension Designer to define translations not just for the
caption of an attribute, but also for the captions of members that are represented by that
attribute.
Here, you define metadata translations for a limited set of dimension objects in the Time
dimension and cube objects in the Analysis Services cube. You will then browse these
dimension and cube objects to examine the metadata translations.
To specify translations for the Time dimension metadata
1.Open Dimension Designer for the Time dimension, and then click the Translations
tab.The metadata in the default language for each dimension object appears, as shown in
the following image. The default language in the Analysis Services Tutorial cube is English.

2.On the toolbar of the Translations tab, click New Translation.

A list of languages appears in the Select Language dialog box.
3.Click Spanish (Spain), and then click OK.
A new column appears in which you will define the Spanish translations for the metadata
objects you want to translate. In this tutorial, we will only translate a small number of
objects just to illustrate the process.
4.On the toolbar of the Translations tab, click New Translation, click French (France) in
the Select Language dialog box, and then click OK.
Another language column appears in which you will define French translations, as shown in
the following image.

5.In the row for the Caption object for the Time dimension, type Tiempo in the Spanish
(Spain) translation column and Temps in the French (France) translation column.
6.In the row for the All Periods object for the Time dimension, type Todos los Perodos in
the Spanish (Spain) translation column and Toutes les Priodes in the French (France)
translation column.
7.In the row for the Caption object for the Month Name attribute, type Mes del Ao in the
Spanish (Spain) translation column and Mois dAnne in the French (France) translation
column.
Notice that when you enter these translations, an ellipsis () appears, as shown in the
following image. Clicking this ellipsis will let you specify a column in the underlying table
that provides translations for each member of the attribute hierarchy.

8.Click the ellipsis () for the Spanish (Spain) translation for the Month Name attribute.
The Attribute Data Translation dialog box appears.
9.In the Translation columns list, select SpanishMonthName, as shown in the following
image.

10. Click OK, and then click the ellipsis () for the French (France) translation for the
Month Name attribute.
11. In the Translation columns list, select FrenchMonthName, and then click OK.
The steps in this procedure illustrate the process of defining metadata translations for
dimension objects and members.
To specify translations for the Analysis Services Tutorial Cube metadata
1.Switch to Cube Designer for the Analysis Services Tutorial cube, and then switch to the
Translations tab.
The metadata in the default language for each cube object appears, as shown in the
following image. The default language in the Analysis Services Tutorial cube is English.

2.On the toolbar of the Translations tab, click New Translation.

A list of languages appears in the Select Language dialog box.
3.Select Spanish (Spain), and then click OK.
A new column appears in which you will define the Spanish translations for the metadata
objects you want to translate. We will only translate a small number of objects just to
illustrate the process.
4.On the toolbar of the Translations tab, click New Translation, select French (France)
in the Select Language dialog box, and then click OK.
Another language column appears in which you will define French translations.
5.In the row for the Caption object for the Internet Sales measure group, type Ventas del
lnternet in the Spanish (Spain) translation column and Ventes DInternet in the French
(France) translation column.
6.In the row for the Caption object for the Internet Sales-Sales Amount measure, type in
the Spanish (Spain) translation column and Quantit de Ventes dInternet in the
French (France) translation column.

The steps in this procedure illustrate the process of defining metadata

translations for cube objects.
To browse the cube by using translations
1.On the Build menu, click Deploy Analysis Services Tutorial.
2.When deployment has successfully completed, switch to the Browser tab, and then click
Reconnect.
3.Remove all hierarchies and measures from the Data pane, select Analysis Services Tutorial
in the Perspectives list, and then verify that Analysis Services Tutorial appears in the
Language list.
4.In the Metadata pane, expand Measures and then expand Internet Sales.
Notice that the Internet Sales-Sales Amount measure appears in English in this measure
group.
5.On the toolbar, select Spanish (Spain) in the Language list.
Notice that the items in the Metadata pane are repopulated. After the items in the
Metadata pane are repopulated, notice that the Internet Sales-Sales Amount measure no
longer appears in the Internet Sales display folder. Instead, it appears in Spanish in a new
display folder named Ventas del lnternet, as shown in the following image.

6.In the Metadata pane, right-click Cantidad de las Ventas del Internet and then select
Add to Data Area.
7.In the Metadata pane, expand Date, expand Calendar, right-click Date.Calendar Time,
and then select Add to Row Area.
8.In the Data pane, expand CY 2004, expand H1 CY 2004, and then expand Q1 CY 2004.
Notice that the month names appear in Spanish, as shown in the following image.

9.On the toolbar, select French (France) in the Language list.