Viewing Azure Analysis Services Data in RAD Studio Data Explorer

Embarcadero RAD Studio provides a development environment for Delphi and C++Builder applications. With the CData ODBC Driver for Azure Analysis Services, you gain access to live Azure Analysis Services data within RAD Studio, abstracting the data into tables, views, and stored procedures that can be used to both retrieve Azure Analysis Services data. This article will walk through connecting to Azure Analysis Services using the Data Explorer.

Configure a Connection to Azure Analysis Services

If you have not already, first specify connection properties in an ODBC DSN (data source name). This is the last step of the driver installation. You can use the Microsoft ODBC Data Source Administrator to create and configure ODBC DSNs.

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.

Connecting to Azure Analysis Services Data Using Data Explorer

You can create a simple application for displaying Azure Analysis Services data by utilizing the CData FireDAC Components for Azure Analysis Services and a new VCL Forms Application:

1. Open the Data Explorer in RAD Studio and expand FireDAC.
2. Right-click the ODBC Data Source node in the Data Explorer.
3. Click Add New Connection. 👁 Adding a New Connection. (Salesforce is shown.)
   
4. Enter a name for the connection.
5. In the FireDAC Connection Editor that appears, set the DataSource property to the name of the ODBC DSN for Azure Analysis Services. 👁 Setting the Connection Parameters. (Salesforce is shown.)
   
6. Back in the Data Explorer, expand the views for the connection.

7. Create a new VCL Forms application and drag a view (for example: Customer) onto the form.

   👁 Placing the View on the Form. (Salesforce is shown.)
   
8. Select the CustomerView object on the form and set the Active property to true.

9. Right-click on the object, bind visually, and link everything (*) to a new control (TStringGrid).

   👁 Visually Binding the View. (Salesforce is shown.)
   

10. Arrange the TStringGrid on the form and run the application to see the Customer data.

    👁 The View data on a Form. (Salesforce is shown.)
    

Related Articles

Below you can find other articles for using the CData ODBC Driver with RAD Studio, Delphi, and C++ Builder.

• DataBind Controls to Azure Analysis Services Data in C++Builder
• DataBind Controls to Azure Analysis Services Data in Delphi
• Build a Simple VCL Application for Azure Analysis Services Data