Use the CData ODBC Driver for Harvest in SAS for Real-Time Reporting and Analytics

SAS is a software suite developed for advanced analytics, multivariate analysis, business intelligence, data management, and predictive analytics. When you pair SAS with the CData ODBC Driver for Harvest, you gain database-like access to live Harvest data from SAS, expanding your reporting and analytics capabilities. This article explains how to create a library for Harvest in SAS and create a simple report based on real-time Harvest data.

The CData ODBC Driver offers unmatched performance for interacting with live Harvest data in SAS due to optimized data processing built into the driver. When you issue complex SQL queries from SAS to Harvest, the driver pushes supported SQL operations, like filters and aggregations, directly to Harvest and utilizes the embedded SQL engine to process unsupported operations (often SQL functions and JOIN operations) client-side. With built-in dynamic metadata querying, you can easily visualize and analyze Harvest data in SAS.

Connect to Harvest as an ODBC Data Source

Information for connecting to Harvest follows, along with different instructions for configuring a DSN in Windows and Linux environments (the ODBC Driver for Harvest must be installed on the machine hosting the SAS System).

Start by setting the Profile connection property to the location of the Harvest Profile on disk (e.g. C:\profiles\Harvest.apip). Next, set the ProfileSettings connection property to the connection string for Harvest (see below).

Harvest API Profile Settings

To authenticate to Harvest, you can use either Token authentication or the OAuth standard. Use Basic authentication to connect to your own data. Use OAuth to allow other users to connect to their data.

Using Token Authentication

To use Token Authentication, set the APIKey to your Harvest Personal Access Token in the ProfileSettings connection property. In addition to APIKey, set your AccountId in ProfileSettings to connect.

Using OAuth Authentication

First, register an OAuth2 application with Harvest. The application can be created from the "Developers" section of Harvest ID.

After setting the following connection properties, you are ready to connect:

• ProfileSettings: Set your AccountId in ProfileSettings.
• AuthScheme: Set this to OAuth.
• OAuthClientId: Set this to the client ID that you specified in your app settings.
• OAuthClientSecret: Set this to the client secret that you specified in your app settings.
• CallbackURL: Set this to the Redirect URI that you specified in your app settings.
• InitiateOAuth: Set this to GETANDREFRESH. You can use InitiateOAuth to manage how the driver obtains and refreshes the OAuthAccessToken.

When you configure the DSN, 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.

Windows

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.

Linux

If you are installing the CData ODBC Driver for Harvest in a Linux environment, the driver installation predefines a system DSN. You can modify the DSN by editing the system data sources file (/etc/odbc.ini) and defining the required connection properties.

/etc/odbc.ini

[CData API Sys]
Driver = CData ODBC Driver for Harvest
Description = My Description
Profile = C:\profiles\Harvest.apip
ProfileSettings = 'APIKey = my_personal_key
AccountId = _your_account_id'

For specific information on using these configuration files, please refer to the help documentation (installed and found online).

Create a Harvest Library in SAS

Connect to Harvest in SAS by adding a library based on the CData ODBC Driver for Harvest.

1. Open SAS and expand Libraries in the Explorer pane.
2. In the Active Libraries window, right-click and select New.
3. Name your library (odbclib), select ODBC as the Engine, and click to Enable at startup (if you want the library to persist between sessions).
4. Set Data Source to the DSN you previously configured and click OK. 👁 Creating a library for Harvest in SAS.
   

Create a View from a Harvest Query

SAS natively supports querying data either using a low-code, point-and-click Query tool or programmatically with PROC SQL and a custom SQL query. When you create a View in SAS, the defining query is executed each time the view is queried. This means that you always query live Harvest data for reports, charts, and analytics.

Using the Query Tool

1. In SAS, click Tools -> Query
2. Select the table sources and the table(s) you wish to pull data from. Then, click OK. 👁 Selecting table(s) to visualize.
   
3. Select columns and right-click to add filtering, ordering, grouping, etc. 👁 Selecting columns(s) to visualize and configuring the query.
   
4. Create a local view to contain the query results by right-clicking the SQL Query Tool window, selecting Show Query, and clicking Create View. Name the View and click OK. 👁 Create a local view to work with Harvest data.
   

Using PROC SQL

1. In SAS, navigate to the Editor window.
2. Use PROC SQL to query the data and create a local view.
   NOTE: This procedure creates a view in the Work library. You can optionally specify a library in the create view statement.

   proc sql;
    create view invoices_view as
    select 
    id, 
    clientname 
    from 
    odbclib.invoices 
    where 
    State = 'open';
   quit;
   

3. Click Run -> Submit to execute the query and create a local view.

Report On or Visualize Harvest Data in SAS

With a local view created, you can report, visualize, or otherwise analyze Harvest data using the powerful SAS features. Print a simple report using PROC PRINT and create a basic graph based on the data using PROC GCHART.

Print an HTML Report

1. In SAS, navigate to the Editor window.
2. Use PROC PRINT to print an HTML report for the Harvest Invoices data.

   proc print data=invoices;
    title "Harvest Invoices Data";
   run;
   

   👁 A simple Harvest data report.
   

Print a Chart

1. In SAS, navigate to the Editor window.
2. Use PROC GCHART to create a chart for the Invoices data.

   proc gchart data=invoices;
    pie id / sumvar=clientname
    value=arrow
    percent=arrow
    noheading
    percent=inside plabel=(height=12pt)
    slice=inside value=none
    name='InvoicesChart';
   run;
   

   👁 A simple Harvest data chart.