slicer - Command Line Tool¶

Cubes comes with a command line tool that can:

run OLAP server
build and compute cubes
validate and translate models

Usage:

slicer command [command_options]

or:

slicer command sub_command [sub_command_options]

Commands are:

Command	Description
`list`	List available cubes in current workspace
`serve`	Start OLAP server
`model validate`	Validates logical model for OLAP cubes
`model convert`	Convert between model formats
`test`	Test the configuration and model against backends
`sql aggregate`	Create aggregated table
`sql denormalize`	Create denormalized table

serve¶

Run Cubes OLAP HTTP server.

Example server configuration file slicer.ini:

[server]
host: localhost
port: 5000
reload: yes
log_level: info

[workspace]
url: sqlite:///tutorial.sqlite
view_prefix: vft_

[model]
path: models/model_04.json

To run local server:

slicer serve slicer.ini

In the [server] section, space separated list of modules to be imported can be specified under option modules:

[server]
modules=cutom_backend
...

Note

Use –debug option if you would like to see more detailed error messages in the browser (generated by Flask).

For more information about OLAP HTTP server see OLAP Server

model convert¶

Usage:

slicer model convert --format bundle model.json model.cubesmodel
slicer model convert model.cubesmodel > model.json

Optional arguments:

--format              model format: json or bundle
--force               replace the target if exists

model validate¶

Usage:

slicer model validate /path/to/model/directory
slicer model validate model.json
slicer model validate http://somesite.com/model.json

Optional arguments:

-d, --defaults        show defaults
-w, --no-warnings     disable warnings
-t TRANSLATION, --translation TRANSLATION
                      model translation file

For more information see Model Validation in Logical Model and Metadata

Example output:

loading model wdmmg_model.json
-------------------------
cubes: 1
    wdmmg
dimensions: 5
    date
    pog
    region
    cofog
    from
-------------------------
found 3 issues
validation results:
warning: No hierarchies in dimension 'date', flat level 'year' will be used
warning: Level 'year' in dimension 'date' has no key attribute specified
warning: Level 'from' in dimension 'from' has no key attribute specified
0 errors, 3 warnings

The tool output contains recommendation whether the model can be used:

model can be used - if there are no errors, no warnings and no defaults used, mostly when the model is explicitly described in every detail
model can be used, make sure that defaults reflect reality - there are no errors, no warnings, but the model might be not complete and default assumptions are applied
not recommended to use the model, some issues might emerge - there are just warnings, no validation errors. Some queries or any other operations might produce invalid or unexpected output
model can not be used - model contain errors and it is unusable

test¶

Every cube in the model is tested through the backend whether it can be accessed and whether the mappings reflect reality.

Usage:

slicer test [-h] [-E EXCLUDE_STORES] [config] [cubes]

Positional arguments:

config                server configuration .ini file
cubes                 list of cubes to be tested

Optional arguments:

--aggregate               Test aggregate of whole cube
-E, --exclude-store TEXT
--store TEXT
--help                    Show this message and exit.

sql denormalize¶

Usage:

slicer sql denormalize [-h] [-f] [-m] [-i] [-s SCHEMA] [--config config]
                       [CUBE] [TARGET]

positional arguments:

CUBE                  cube to be denormalized
TARGET                target table name

optional arguments:

--force               replace existing views
-m, --materialize     create materialized view (table)
--index / --no-index  create index for key attributes
-s, --schema TEXT     target view schema (overrides default fact schema
--help                Show this message and exit.
--store TEXT   Name of the store to use other than default. Must be SQL.
--config TEXT  Name of slicer.ini configuration file

If no cube is specified then all cubes are denormalized according to the naming conventions in the configuration file.

Examples¶

If you plan to use denormalized views, you have to specify it in the configuration in the [workspace] section:

[workspace]
denormalized_view_prefix = mft_
denormalized_view_schema = denorm_views

# This switch is used by the browser:
use_denormalized = yes

The denormalization will create tables like denorm_views.mft_contracts for a cube named contracts. The browser will use the view if option use_denormalization is set to a true value.

Denormalize all cubes in the model:

slicer sql denormalize

Denormalize only one cube:

slicer sql denormalize contracts

Create materialized denormalized view with indexes:

slicer denormalize --materialize --index slicer.ini

Replace existing denormalized view of a cube:

slicer denormalize --force -c contracts slicer.ini

Schema¶

Schema where denormalized view is created is schema specified in the configuration file. Schema is shared with fact tables and views. If you want to have views in separate schema, specify denormalized_schema option in the configuration.

If for any specific reason you would like to denormalize into a completely different schema than specified in the configuration, you can specify it with the --schema option.

View name¶

By default, a view name is the same as corresponding cube name. If there is denormalized_prefix option in the configuration, then the prefix is prepended to the cube name. Or it is possible to override the option with command line argument --prefix.

Note

The tool will not allow to create view if it’s name is the same as fact table name and is in the same schema. It is not even possible to --force it. A view prefix or different schema has to be specified.

sql aggregate¶

Create pre-aggregated table from cube(s). If no cube is specified, then all cubes are aggregated. Target table can be specified only for one cube, for multiple cubes naming convention is used.

Usage:

slicer sql aggregate [OPTIONS] [CUBE] [TARGET]

positional arguments:

CUBE                  cube to be denormalized
TARGET                target table name

optional arguments:

--force               replace existing views
--index / --no-index  create index for key attributes
-s, --schema TEXT     target view schema (overrides default fact schema
-d, --dimension TEXT  dimension to be used for aggregation
--help                Show this message and exit.
--store TEXT   Name of the store to use other than default. Must be SQL.
--config TEXT  Name of slicer.ini configuration file

If no cube is specified then all cubes are denormalized according to the naming conventions in the configuration file.