Redistributing Decision Support Objects

Note

  This feature will be removed in the next version of Microsoft SQL Server. Do not use this feature in new development work, and modify applications that currently use this feature as soon as possible.

Decision Support Objects (DSO) is an object library that enables applications to manipulate objects on the Analysis server directly. DSO can be redistributed with custom applications as needed.

Before installing DSO, ensure that Microsoft® Data Access Components (MDAC) and PivotTable® Service have been installed. Then, install the following files.

File

Description

Msmddo80.dll

The DSO library, version 8.0.

Msmdso.rll

The DSO resource file, version 8.0.

Msmdnet.dll

The Analysis Services network interface.

Msmdlock.dll

The Analysis Services lock manager.

Msmddo.dll

The Microsoft SQL Server™ version 7.0 OLAP Services compatibility file. This file is not required if the application will only use features available in SQL Server 2000 Analysis Services.

The DLLs are installed in the following location:

C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\DSO

The resource file, Msmdso.rll, does not need to be registered and is installed by default in the following location:

C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\DSO\Resources\1033

To register the DLL files, you should use Regsvr32.exe or use the DLLSelfRegister() functions of the DLL files. Additionally, registry entries for each file should be made under the following registry key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\SharedDLLs

If this registry value (known as the reference counter) already exists, it should be incremented by one during installation of the DSO files. When uninstalling the DSO files, the reference counter should be decremented by one. The DSO files should not be deleted if the corresponding reference counter is greater than zero.

Maintaining Backward Compatibility

The backward compatibility files that are included with Analysis Services (that is, Msmddo.dll and Msmdsgn.dll) are not compatible with the files of the same name that were included with SQL Server 7.0 OLAP Services (that is, the 7.0 versions of these files). Use the following rules to assist you in determining which files to install:

  • If the application will only be used with SQL Server 2000 Analysis Services, Msmddo80.dll, Msmdnet.dll, Msmdlock.dll, and Msmdso.rll must be installed on the target computer.

  • If the application will also be used with SQL Server 7.0 OLAP Services, Msmddo.dll must be installed. If the 7.0 version of this file already exists on the target computer, it must be replaced with the newer version.

Warning

Installing the DSO library included with SQL Server 2000 Analysis Services on an Analysis server using SQL Server 7.0 OLAP Services, without upgrading OLAP Manager to Analysis Manager, will cause OLAP Manager to stop functioning.