Item

Overview

The Item class in the TCDX object model represents an individual object within a Consumer that interacts with a tabular model. Examples of Items include:

• Pivot tables in an Excel workbook.
• Visual elements (e.g., charts, tables, cards) in a Power BI report.

Each Item contains metadata and dependencies that describe how it interacts with the tabular model, including tables, columns, and measures.

Purpose

The Item class serves as a bridge between a Consumer (Excel workbook, Power BI report) and the tabular model it interacts with. It provides detailed information about:

• The model dependency that the Item references.
• The tables, columns, and measures used within the Item.
• Custom properties that describe the Item’s characteristics, such as its type and query language.

By capturing these details, the Item class helps with auditing, optimization, and governance of tabular model usage.

Public Properties

The Item class consists of the following key properties:

Property Details

• ItemProperties
  This dictionary holds metadata about the Item, including:
  • ItemType: Specifies the type of the Item (e.g., PivotTable, Power BI Visual).
  • QueryLanguage: Defines the query language used by the Item (DAX, MDX, SQL, or Undefined).

• Model
  The ModelDependency property links the Item to a specific tabular model, helping track which dataset the Item is referencing.

• TableDependencies
  A collection of TableDependency objects that represent the tables accessed by the Item. This is useful for analyzing data consumption patterns.

• ColumnDependencies
  A collection of ColumnDependency objects that specify the columns being queried or displayed within the Item.

• MeasureDependencies
  A collection of MeasureDependency objects that track which calculated measures are used within the Item.

Relationships with Other Classes

The Item class interacts with multiple components of the TCDX model:

• Consumer → Contains multiple Items, each representing a different component interacting with the tabular model.
• ModelDependency → Links the Item to the specific tabular model it queries.
• TableDependency, ColumnDependency, MeasureDependency → Define the detailed data dependencies of the Item.

Class Diagram Representation

Item
├── ItemProperties : Dictionary<string, TcdxName>
├── Model : ModelDependency
├── TableDependencies : List<TableDependency>
├── ColumnDependencies : List<ColumnDependency>
└── MeasureDependencies : List<MeasureDependency>

• Consumer → contains multiple Item
• Item → references ModelDependency
• Item → has TableDependency, ColumnDependency, MeasureDependency

Conclusion

The Item class is a core component of the TCDX model, enabling detailed tracking of how tabular models are used within Excel workbooks and Power BI reports. By maintaining references to models, tables, columns, and measures, it helps improve data analysis, governance, and performance tuning.

Note:

for privacy reasons, strings are implemented as TcdxName objects, to allow a future implementation of objects anonymization.