XML for Analysis - data connector

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[UPDATE 2013-03-08]: The download was updated to work with Actuate BIRT version 11SP4. Please delete your old plugins, and update with the one in the included download.<br />
This is a data connector, which allows you to connect to SAP, Analsys Services, Essbase, Mondrian, or any other XML for Analysis (XML/A) compliant data source.<br />
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XML/A is an open standard developed to allow uniform access to multi-dimensional data stores. It uses MDX as the query language. XML/A is uses standard SOAP web services for communication, and may require some additional front-end components for the data source to be used as the SOAP endpoint. For example SAP will require the NetWeaver Application Server, Analysis Services will require the msmdolap.dll ISAPI filter to be deployed to a trusted IIS.<br />
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The connector is built using an older, pre-open source specification of the Open Data Access framework. As such the data connector is only valid on Actuate products, and will require an Actuate license to use. It is capable of working with all the products in the Actuate product line including: BIRT, BIRT Studio, Information Objects, BIRT Spreadsheet and Actute eReports.<br />
To use the connector, unzip to your folder. By default the configuration files, assume an installation path of C:Program FilesActuate10. if this is not your installation path, you will need to modify the odaodaconfig.xml and odarunDesigner.cmd files and update the path references accordingly.<br />
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Once deployed, you will need to restart the Actuate component in question (BRDPro, iServer, etc) and XML/A Data Source will appear in the list of available Data Sources / Connections. The soap endpoint will be host. Click connect to get a list of Catalogs. Select a Catalog, then enter your MDX Query on the Query tab.<br />
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Any portion of the MDX query can be parameterized using the following syntax:

?{parameter_name}{parameter_delimiter}

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where

{parameter_delimiter}

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can be any of the following characters:

(space), ], ), }, (comma)

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There are a few options you can use in the Query tab to control the ultimate output columns, and these should be experimented with. You can flatten entire hierarchies, or automatically expand them, as well as output level numbers which could also be used for grouping purposes. By using default row and/or column dimenion names, you can make any selected dimension an actual parameter, and ensure the output meta data will coincide with what is defined in the report at execution time.<br />
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Since reports, output data in 2 dimensions, the connector is limited to the ON COLUMNS and ON ROWS dimension selections only. To cross multiple dimensions you can make use of the CROSSJOIN function as defined within the MDX language specification. CROSSJOIN calls can be nested. This will allow you to select the intersection of multiple dimensions for reporting.<br />
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This driver is stable and is currently in use in production at multiple Actuate customers today, for mission critical applications.<br />
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UPDATE 2013-03-08: The download was updated to work with Actuate BIRT version 11SP4. Please delete your old plugins, and update with the one in the included download.