what's the diff btw DMX and MDX content

_{Wednesday, July 23, 2008 10:31 AM | 1 vote}

m now learning data mining by doing the sql server 2005 tutorial, when i did the 'bike buyer DMX tutorial' in SSMS, i wrote the code into MDX file, also save as .mdx file, and it can execute properly.

so here comes the question, is tat DMX and MDX code can be written into either one's file?

i have written some MDX code in the report server project, i know compare with MDX, DMX is more close to sql code, but since now DMX code can be save as MDX file, so, is tat means there's actually no clear format for these two type of code, or they are not kind of code, then what they are? why sql server need 2 separate words for similar usage? 

hope u can understand wat i mean =)

_{Wednesday, July 23, 2008 3:51 PM ✅Answered | 4 votes}

Both languages/dialects are supported by SQL Server Analysis Services.

DMX -- Data Mining Extensions for SQL -- is the language used for data definition and querying in data mining

MDX -- Multi Dimensional Extensions -- used for OLAP querying

The languages are actually very different and serve different purposes. However, both languages are handled by the unified SQL Server Analysis Services parser. Therefore, if you save a DMX statement under MDX extension (or the other way around), or for that matter under any extension, the statement still executes properly (as the AS server can handle both).

The most common client tool, SQL Server Management Studio, knows that for both DMX and MDX extension it has to connect to Analysis Services and send the content for execution

However, SSMS may differentiate between the two dialects. The differences (in SSMS) will not prevent execution, they are related to syntax highlighting, help and exposed templates.

_{Thursday, July 24, 2008 1:11 AM}

thx Bogdan, ur ans is quite helpful, now m more clear about DMX and MDX =)