Calculated measures and dimensions

Often, dimensions are mapped to table columns and measures are defined as aggregations of top of table columns. However, measures and dimensions can also reference other members of the same or other cubes, use SQL expressions, and perform calculations involving other measures and dimensions.

Most common patterns are known as calculated measures, proxy dimensions, and subquery dimensions.

Calculated measures

Calculated measures perform calculations on other measures using SQL functions and operators. They provide a way to decompose complex measures (e.g., ratios or percents) into formulas that involve simpler measures. Also, calculated measures can help to use non-additive measures with pre-aggregations.

Members of the same cube

In the following example, the completed_ratio measure is calculated as a division of completed_count by total count. Note that the result is also multiplied by 1.0 since integer division in SQL (opens in a new tab) would otherwise produce an integer value.

cubes:  - name: orders  sql: |  SELECT 1 AS id, 'processing' AS status UNION ALL  SELECT 2 AS id, 'completed' AS status UNION ALL  SELECT 3 AS id, 'completed' AS status    measures:  - name: count  type: count    - name: completed_count  type: count  filters:  - sql: "{CUBE}.status = 'completed'"    - name: completed_ratio  sql: "1.0 * {completed_count} / {count}"  type: number

If you query for completed_ratio, Cube will generate the following SQL:

SELECT  1.0 * COUNT(  CASE WHEN ("orders".status = 'completed') THEN 1 END  ) / COUNT(*) "orders__completed_ratio" FROM (  SELECT 1 AS id, 'processing' AS status UNION ALL  SELECT 2 AS id, 'completed' AS status UNION ALL  SELECT 3 AS id, 'completed' AS status ) AS "orders"

Members of other cubes

If you have first_cube that is joined to second_cube, you can define a calculated measure that references measures from both first_cube and second_cube. When you query for this calculated measure, Cube will transparently generate SQL with necessary joins.

In the following example, the orders.purchases_to_users_ratio measure references the purchases measure from the orders cube and the count measure from the users cube:

cubes:  - name: orders  sql: >  SELECT 1 AS id, 11 AS user_id, 'processing' AS status UNION ALL  SELECT 2 AS id, 11 AS user_id, 'completed' AS status UNION ALL  SELECT 3 AS id, 11 AS user_id, 'completed' AS status    dimensions:  - name: id  sql: id  type: number  primary_key: true    measures:  - name: purchases  type: count  filters:  - sql: "{CUBE}.status = 'completed'"    - name: users  sql: >  SELECT 11 AS id, 'Alice' AS name UNION ALL  SELECT 12 AS id, 'Bob' AS name UNION ALL  SELECT 13 AS id, 'Eve' AS name    joins:  - name: orders  sql: "{CUBE}.id = {orders}.user_id"  relationship: one_to_many    dimensions:  - name: id  sql: id  type: number  primary_key: true    measures:  - name: count  type: count    - name: purchases_to_users_ratio  sql: "1.0 * {orders.purchases} / {CUBE.count}"  type: number

If you query for users.purchases_to_users_ratio, Cube will generate the following SQL:

SELECT  1.0 * COUNT(  CASE  WHEN ("orders".status = 'completed') THEN "orders".id  END  ) / COUNT(DISTINCT "users".id) "users__purchases_to_users_ratio" FROM (  SELECT 11 AS id, 'Alice' AS name UNION ALL  SELECT 12 AS id, 'Bob' AS name UNION ALL  SELECT 13 AS id, 'Eve' AS name ) AS "users" LEFT JOIN (  SELECT 1 AS id, 11 AS user_id, 'processing' AS status UNION ALL  SELECT 2 AS id, 11 AS user_id, 'completed' AS status UNION ALL  SELECT 3 AS id, 11 AS user_id, 'completed' AS status ) AS "orders" ON "users".id = "orders".user_id

Proxy dimensions

Proxy dimensions reference dimensions from the same cube or other cubes. Proxy dimensions are convenient for reusing existing dimensions when defining new ones.

Members of the same cube

If you have a dimension with a non-trivial definition, you can reference that dimension to reuse the existing definition and reduce code duplication.

In the following example, the full_name dimension references initials and last_name dimensions of the same cube:

cubes:  - name: users  sql_table: users    dimensions:  - name: initials  sql: "SUBSTR(first_name, 1, 1)"  type: string    - name: last_name  sql: "UPPER(last_name)"  type: string    - name: full_name  sql: "{initials} || '. ' || {last_name}"  type: string

If you query for users.full_name, Cube will generate the following SQL:

SELECT  SUBSTR(first_name, 1, 1) || '. ' || UPPER(last_name) "users__full_name" FROM  users AS "users" GROUP BY  1

Members of other cubes

If you have first_cube that is joined to second_cube, you can use a proxy dimension to bring second_cube.dimension to first_cube as dimension (or under a different name). When you query for a proxy dimension, Cube will transparently generate SQL with necessary joins.

In the following example, orders.user_name is a proxy dimension that brings the users.name dimension to orders. You can also see that there's a join relationship between orders and users:

cubes:  - name: orders  sql: |  SELECT 1 AS id, 1 AS user_id UNION ALL  SELECT 2 AS id, 1 AS user_id UNION ALL  SELECT 3 AS id, 2 AS user_id    dimensions:  - name: id  sql: id  type: number  primary_key: true    - name: user_name  sql: "{users.name}"  type: string    measures:  - name: count  type: count    joins:  - name: users  sql: "{users}.id = {orders}.user_id"  relationship: one_to_many    - name: users  sql: |  SELECT 1 AS id, 'Alice' AS name UNION ALL  SELECT 2 AS id, 'Bob' AS name    dimensions:  - name: name  sql: name  type: string

If you query for orders.user_name and orders.count, Cube will generate the following SQL:

SELECT  "users".name "orders__user_name",  COUNT(DISTINCT "orders".id) "orders__count" FROM (  SELECT 1 AS id, 1 AS user_id UNION ALL  SELECT 2 AS id, 1 AS user_id UNION ALL  SELECT 3 AS id, 2 AS user_id ) AS "orders" LEFT JOIN (  SELECT 1 AS id, 'Alice' AS name UNION ALL  SELECT 2 AS id, 'Bob' AS name ) AS "users" ON "users".id = "orders".user_id GROUP BY 1

Note that if you query for orders.user_name only, Cube will figure out that it's equivalent to querying just users.name and there's no need to generate a join in SQL:

SELECT  "users".name "orders__user_name" FROM (  SELECT 1 AS id, 'Alice' AS name UNION ALL  SELECT 2 AS id, 'Bob' AS name ) AS "users" GROUP BY 1

Time dimension granularity

When referencing a time dimension of the same or another cube, you can specificy a granularity to refer to a time value with that specific granularity. It can be one of the default granularities (e.g., year or week) or a custom granularity:

cubes:  - name: users  sql: |  SELECT '2025-01-01T00:00:00Z' AS created_at UNION ALL  SELECT '2025-02-01T00:00:00Z' AS created_at UNION ALL  SELECT '2025-03-01T00:00:00Z' AS created_at    dimensions:  - name: created_at  sql: created_at  type: time    granularities:  - name: sunday_week  interval: 1 week  offset: -1 day    - name: created_at__year  sql: "{created_at.year}"  type: time    - name: created_at__sunday_week  sql: "{created_at.sunday_week}"  type: time

If you query for users.created_at, users.created_at__sunday_week, and users.created_at__year dimensions, Cube will generate the following SQL:

SELECT  "users".created_at "users__created_at",  date_trunc('week', ("users".created_at::timestamptz AT TIME ZONE 'UTC') - interval '-1 day') + interval '-1 day' "users__created_at__sunday_week",  date_trunc('year', ("users".created_at::timestamptz AT TIME ZONE 'UTC')) "users__created_at__year" FROM (  SELECT '2025-01-01T00:00:00Z' AS created_at UNION ALL  SELECT '2025-02-01T00:00:00Z' AS created_at UNION ALL  SELECT '2025-03-01T00:00:00Z' AS created_at ) AS "users" GROUP BY 1, 2, 3

Subquery dimensions

Subquery dimensions reference measures from other cubes. Subquery dimensions provide a way to define measures that aggregate values of other measures. They can be useful to calculate nested and filtered aggregates.

If you have first_cube that is joined to second_cube, you can use a subquery dimension to bring second_cube.measure to first_cube as dimension (or under a different name). When you query for a subquery dimension, Cube will transparently generate SQL with necessary joins. It works as a correlated subquery (opens in a new tab) but is implemented via joins for optimal performance and portability.

In the following example, users.order_count is a subquery dimension that brings the orders.count measure to users. Note that the sub_query parameter is set to true on users.order_count. You can also see that there's a join relationship between orders and users:

cubes:  - name: orders  sql: |  SELECT 1 AS id, 1 AS user_id UNION ALL  SELECT 2 AS id, 1 AS user_id UNION ALL  SELECT 3 AS id, 2 AS user_id    dimensions:  - name: id  sql: id  type: number  primary_key: true    measures:  - name: count  type: count    joins:  - name: users  sql: "{users}.id = {orders}.user_id"  relationship: one_to_many    - name: users  sql: |  SELECT 1 AS id, 'Alice' AS name UNION ALL  SELECT 2 AS id, 'Bob' AS name    dimensions:  - name: id  sql: id  type: number  primary_key: true    - name: name  sql: name  type: string    - name: order_count  sql: "{orders.count}"  type: number  sub_query: true    measures:  - name: avg_order_count  sql: "{order_count}"  type: avg

You can reference subquery dimensions in measures just like usual dimensions. In the example above, the avg_order_count measure performs an aggregation on order_count.

If you query for users.name and users.order_count, Cube will generate the following SQL:

SELECT  "users".name "users__name",  "users__order_count" "users__order_count" FROM (  SELECT 1 AS id, 'Alice' AS name UNION ALL  SELECT 2 AS id, 'Bob' AS name ) AS "users" LEFT JOIN (  SELECT  "users_order_count_subquery__users".id "users__id",  count(distinct "users_order_count_subquery__orders".id) "users__order_count"  FROM (  SELECT 1 AS id, 1 AS user_id UNION ALL  SELECT 2 AS id, 1 AS user_id UNION ALL  SELECT 3 AS id, 2 AS user_id  ) AS "users_order_count_subquery__orders"  LEFT JOIN (  SELECT 1 AS id, 'Alice' AS name UNION ALL  SELECT 2 AS id, 'Bob' AS name  ) AS "users_order_count_subquery__users" ON "users_order_count_subquery__users".id = "users_order_count_subquery__orders".user_id  GROUP BY 1 ) AS "users_order_count_subquery" ON "users_order_count_subquery"."users__id" = "users".id GROUP BY 1, 2