Apparatus and method for recursively rationalizing data source queries

1. A computer readable medium storing computer executable instructions, which when executed by a computer cause the computer to:

receive a multidimensional data source query specifying data source elements;

construct a generator representing a generalized expression of one or more of the data source elements of the multidimensional data source query; and

invoke a recursive process to replace at least one of the data source elements of he multidimensional data source query with the generator to create a simplified query of reduced size for application to a data source, wherein the generator represents the generalized expression of one or more of the data source elements without an explicit specification of one or more of the data source elements, and wherein the generator is a collection of objects specifying a hierarchy, a level, a family, a descendent tree or except logic.

2. The computer readable medium of claim 1 further comprising executable instructions to return data associated with the simplified query.

3. The computer readable medium of claim 1 wherein the recursive process replaces a plurality of elements of the multidimensional data source query with one or more generators.

4. The computer readable medium of claim 1 further comprising executable instructions to replace a family of elements in the multidimensional data source query with a generator associated with the family, wherein the family includes a parent and a plurality of children.

5. The computer readable medium claim 1 further comprising executable instructions to replace a descendent tree of elements in the multidimensional data source query with a generator corresponding to the descendent tree, wherein the descendent tree includes a root and a plurality of descendents on one or more levels.

6. The computer readable medium of claim 1 further comprising executable instructions to convert a collection of objects referencing data in a multidimensional data source into the multidimensional data source query.

7. The computer readable medium of claim 1 wherein a multidimensional data source is an OLAP data source and the simplified query is in Multidimensional Expressions (MDX).

8. The computer readable medium of claim 1 further comprising executable instructions to query a multidimensional data source with the simplified query.

9. The computer readable medium of claim 8 further comprising executable instructions to order results of the query to the multidimensional data source.

10. The computer readable medium of claim 1 further comprising executable instructions to:

remove one or more elements from the multidimensional data source query by replacing the one or more elements with a new generator defining a plurality of members to be excluded from the simplified query and wherein the new generator is a generator for except logic.

11. A computer readable medium storing computer executable instructions, which when executed by a computer cause the computer to:

receive a Multidimensional Expressions (MDX) query specifying data source elements;

construct a generator representing a generalized expression of one or more of the data source elements of the MDX query;

recursively simplify the MDX query to form a simplified query of reduced size by replacing at least one of the data source elements of the MDX query with the generator, wherein the generator represents the generalized expression of one or more of the data source elements without an explicit specification of one or more of the data source elements, and wherein the generator is a collection of objects specifying a hierarchy, a level, a family, a descendent tree or except logic;

apply the simplified query to the multidimensional data source to produce query results; and

return the query results.

12. The computer readable medium claim 11 further comprising executable instructions to order the query results.