Object names
Reserved characters for database names
These characters are not allowed in database names: \ / | < > ? * " :.
Special character for cube and dimension names
Dimension and cube names that start with the pound character (#) are only visible to users with the Administer OLAP Database permission. They are hidden from other users. This feature is mostly used for system dimensions and access cubes.
Reserved characters for object names
These characters are not allowed in cube, dimension, hierarchy, and attribute field names:
- Characters with ASCII codes below 32.
- The [ ] \ / : * ? " < > and | characters.
The name of an alternate hierarchy cannot start with a number. This is reserved for future use. There is an exception, an implicit hierarchy can start with a number. This is allowed for backward compatibility.
Cube and dimension names must also adhere to rules for file names of the operating system.
Spaces in object names
Spaces are allowed in names of cubes, dimensions, hierarchies, elements, and attribute fields. Leading and trailing spaces are removed. This behavior is not configurable. Internally, names are saved without leading and trailing spaces.
This table describes a few examples:
| String | Trimmed string |
|---|---|
| "ab" | "ab" |
| " ab" | "ab" |
| "ab " | "ab" |
| " ab " | "ab" |
| "a b" | "a b" |
| " a b " | "a b" |
| "a b" | "a b" |
Case sensitivity of object names
Names are not case-sensitive, so "AB" is equivalent to "ab". However, case comparison does not work outside of the Basic Multilingual Plane of Unicode, that is for characters above code point U+FFFF. This is because of the complexity and variation in how different scripts and languages handle casing.
Reserved characters and strings for element names
These characters are not allowed for element names:
- Characters with code points below U+0020 of Unicode.
- The [ and ] characters.
You cannot create elements with these names:
- B:*
- C:*
Existing dimensions that contain these element names are not loaded or used.
Reserved attribute names
In a dimension that is used as the Format dimension in any cube, the attribute name SAM_MODE must only be used in conjunction with the configuration of semi-additive measures over time in data cubes.
For a dimension of the type Time, only attributes that are used for the configuration of semi-additive measures over time in data cubes must be named SAM_LA, SAM_FI, SAM_AD1, or SAM_AD2.