10. A computer readable medium having stored thereon computer-executable instructions for performing a method for populating a database file with text strings representing numeric database values, the method comprising: receiving a first dimension member; determining whether the database values comprise a plurality of data class types, wherein the plurality of data class types comprise at least two of: numeric, date, string, Boolean, and null data class types; in response to determining whether the database values comprise a plurality of data class types, assigning a code associated with a class type to the first dimension member; determining whether the first dimension member is a numeric database value; in response to determining that the first dimension member is the numeric database value, determining a numeric data type of the numeric database value; converting the first dimension member to a text string; storing the converted dimension member in the database file in response to a determination that the first dimension member is a numeric database value, wherein the step of converting the first dimension member to a text string comprises appending a sub-code associated with the numeric data type to the numeric database value to enable the numeric database value to be sorted by the numeric data type and wherein the sub-code comprises one of a plurality of sub-codes associated with the code assigned to the first dimension member; converting the numeric database value to a second text string if the precision of the numeric database value is greater than can be stored in a double precision floating point number; appending the second text string to the textual representation of the numeric database value if the precision of the numeric data is greater than can be stored in a double precision floating point number; storing the first dimension member in the database file, in response to a determination that the first dimension member is not a numeric database value; and sorting the converted dimension member within the database file according to the code assigned to the first dimension member; and sorting the first dimension member with at least one second dimension member assigned the same code independently of the sub-code appended to the converted dimension member.
10. A computer readable medium having stored thereon computer-executable instructions for performing a method for populating a database file with text strings representing numeric database values, the method comprising: receiving a first dimension member; determining whether the database values comprise a plurality of data class types, wherein the plurality of data class types comprise at least two of: numeric, date, string, Boolean, and null data class types; in response to determining whether the database values comprise a plurality of data class types, assigning a code associated with a class type to the first dimension member; determining whether the first dimension member is a numeric database value; in response to determining that the first dimension member is the numeric database value, determining a numeric data type of the numeric database value; converting the first dimension member to a text string; storing the converted dimension member in the database file in response to a determination that the first dimension member is a numeric database value, wherein the step of converting the first dimension member to a text string comprises appending a sub-code associated with the numeric data type to the numeric database value to enable the numeric database value to be sorted by the numeric data type and wherein the sub-code comprises one of a plurality of sub-codes associated with the code assigned to the first dimension member; converting the numeric database value to a second text string if the precision of the numeric database value is greater than can be stored in a double precision floating point number; appending the second text string to the textual representation of the numeric database value if the precision of the numeric data is greater than can be stored in a double precision floating point number; storing the first dimension member in the database file, in response to a determination that the first dimension member is not a numeric database value; and sorting the converted dimension member within the database file according to the code assigned to the first dimension member; and sorting the first dimension member with at least one second dimension member assigned the same code independently of the sub-code appended to the converted dimension member. 13. The computer readable medium of claim 10 , wherein the numeric database value is a decimal type.