(Almost) Universal Java API
Posted: Wed Apr 13, 2011 5:48 am
This interesting little titbit came through the news feed today:
Of course, attempting to bring TM1 into that fold would be an interesting exercise. Even moreso if they were to try to implement anything that's MDX-driven given our distinctly "regional" flavour of it.
Of course how well a kinda-sorta universal API would be able to leverage the strengths of each platform (or in some cases, work at all) is another matter.Pentaho is releasing on Tuesday olap4j 1.0, which provides an open source API for Java developers to access multiple OLAP (Online Analytical Processing) servers in business intelligence applications.
With the API, developers gain a single API for accessing the Mondrian OLAP server and Pentaho BI Server. Other servers supported include Microsoft SQL Server Analysis Services 2005 and 2008, SAP BW, and Jedox Palo. Oracle's Essbase server may be supported at some point as well.
Hmm, who's missing there?In development since 2006, olap4j 1.0 enables developers to use a standard API instead of having to use each OLAP vendor's API. Without this API, a developer building a sales analysis visualization component, for example, would have to individually choose an OLAP server to access at the back end. Olap4j works with Mondrian and XMLA (XML for Analysis) drivers, which communicate with analytic databases. Other participants in developing olap4j 1.0 include SQL Power Group, Jedox, Matrix CPM Solutions, Saiku, and Aschauer.
Of course, attempting to bring TM1 into that fold would be an interesting exercise. Even moreso if they were to try to implement anything that's MDX-driven given our distinctly "regional" flavour of it.