FIX: Unable to Save Changes to Analysis Services Named Sets (295537)

SYMPTOMS

When you edit a named set that is used in a calculated member, you may receive the following error message when you click the OK button in the Named Set Builder:

Unable to update the named set.
Set name myset is not valid.

CAUSE

Named sets and calculated members are implemented as cube commands in Analysis Services. When the OK button is clicked, the Named Set Builder attempts to drop and re-create the cube command for the named set. If a calculated member that refers to the named set exists, the Named Set Builder cannot drop the named set command and thus re-creates it due to a calculated member dependency.

RESOLUTION

To resolve this problem, obtain the latest service pack for the Microsoft SQL Server 2000 (the Analysis Services Components - Sql2kasp1.exe). For additional information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

290211 INF: How to Obtain the Latest SQL Server 2000 Service Pack

WORKAROUND

To work around this problem, you can comment out the reference to the named set in all calculated members that refer to the named set you wish to edit. Analysis Services allows an entire line or remainder of a line to be commented out by using the C++ double slash (//) convention or SQL double hyphen (--) convention. Analysis Services also supports the C convention where all text between an opening slash asterisk (/*) and a closing asterisk slash (*/) is treated as a comment.

A simple way to avoid problems when you comment the calculated members is to place a literal at the beginning of the value expression and comment out the entire formula. In the following example, a calculated member is changed to return 1 and the formula is commented out.

Value Expression (before):

Sum([MySet],[Measures].[Units Shipped] )

Value Expression (commented out):

1
//Sum([MySet],[Measures].[Units Shipped] )