Connecting to OLAP Cube via Silverlight

Question

I want to create a Silverlight app to extract and manipulate data from an existing OLAP Cube. I would like to choose a good approach :

1. Are there some frameworks/librairies?
2. Could it be done without external dependencies?
3. I found some articles talking about Web Services with MS Analysis Services. Should I avoid connecting directly to the OLAP Cube and make some Web Services?

Progress :

The cube is deployed on SSAS, I could access it and execute MDX query from MS SQL Server Management Studio. Is there an example how to launch an MDX Query from a Silverlight page and display the result ?

Answer 1

I can only speak to SSAS.

1. If you are connecting to SQL Server Analysis Server, you can use ADO MD.Net objects. (http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms123483.aspx). Or you can use the HTTP Pump. (http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc917711.aspx)
2. The HTTP pump might eliminate some dependancies for you.
3. It depends on what your goal is. Service based architecture (be it web, or some other tech) is up to the designer and requirements of your application. You can do this pretty easily however. I've polled a SSAS cube using a WCF service before and it worked well to limit requests to the cube.

Tutorials are scarce on the internet. Your best bet is to buy a book specific to the type of OLAP server you are using.

Here is a comprehensive list about how to connect to SSAS using various clients: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms174518