DataBind Charts to Azure Analysis Services Data

DataBinding facilitates two-way interaction with data through UI controls. Using the CData ADO.NET Provider for Azure Analysis Services streamlines the process of binding Azure Analysis Services data to Windows Forms and Web controls within Visual Studio. In this article, we will demonstrate using wizards to establish a binding between Azure Analysis Services data and a chart that dynamically updates. Additionally, the code walk-through section will guide you through the creation of a chart using just 10 lines of code.

Binding Data to a Chart

DataBinding to a Chart consists of three steps: Instantiate the control, configure the data source, and databind.

Configure the Connection and Select Database Objects

To create a chart control and establish a connection to Azure Analysis Services, follow the steps outlined below using the Data Source Configuration Wizard. Within the wizard, you'll have the option to choose the specific Azure Analysis Services entities you wish to bind to.

1. In a Windows Forms project, drag and drop a Chart control from the toolbox to the form. In the Data section of the Chart properties, select DataSource and then select Add Project Data Source from the menu. 👁 Add a data source to be bound to the chart.
   
2. In the Data Source Configuration Wizard that appears, select Database -> Dataset.
3. In the Choose Your Data Connection step, click New Connection.

4. In the Add Connection dialog, click Change to select the CData Azure Analysis Services Data Source.

   Below is a typical connection string:

   URL=asazure://REGION.asazure.windows.net/server;InitiateOAuth=GETANDREFRESH;

   To connect to Azure Analysis Services, set the Url property to a valid server, for instance, asazure://southcentralus.asazure.windows.net/server, in addition to authenticating. Optionally, set Database to distinguish which Azure database on the server to connect to.

   Azure Analysis Services uses the OAuth authentication standard. OAuth requires the authenticating user to interact with Azure Analysis Services using the browser. You can connect without setting any connection properties for your user credentials. See the Help documentation for more information.

   When you configure the connection, you may also want to set the Max Rows connection property. This will limit the number of rows returned, which is especially helpful for improving performance when designing reports and visualizations.

   👁 Connection properties for the selected data source in the Add Connection dialog. (Salesforce is shown.)
   
5. Choose the database objects you want to work with. This example uses the Customer table. 👁 Select database objects. (Salesforce is shown.)
   

DataBind

After adding the data source and selecting database objects, you can bind the objects to the chart. This example assigns the x-axis to Country and the y-axis to Education.

1. In the Chart properties, click the button in the Series property to open the Series Collection Editor.
2. In the Series properties, select the columns you want for the x- and y-axes: Select columns from the menu in the XValueMember and YValueMember properties.

The chart is now databound to the Azure Analysis Services data. Run the chart to display the current data. 👁 The chart, filled with data at run time.

Code Walk-through

DataBinding to Azure Analysis Services data requires only a few lines of code and can be completed in three easy steps.

1. Connect to Azure Analysis Services.
2. Create the AASDataAdapter to execute the query and create a DataSet to be filled with its results.
3. DataBind the result set to the chart.

Below is the complete code:

AASConnection conn = new AASConnection("URL=asazure://REGION.asazure.windows.net/server;InitiateOAuth=GETANDREFRESH;");
AASCommand comm = new AASCommand("SELECT Country, Education FROM Customer WHERE Country = 'Australia'", conn);
AASDataAdapter da = new AASDataAdapter(comm);
DataSet dataset = new DataSet();
da.Fill(dataset);

chart1.DataSource = dataset; 
chart1.Series[0].XValueMember = "Country";
chart1.Series[0].YValueMembers = "Education";
// Insert code for additional chart formatting here.
chart1.DataBind();