Use the CData ODBC Driver for Lakebase 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 Lakebase, you gain database-like access to live Lakebase data from SAS, expanding your reporting and analytics capabilities. This article explains how to create a library for Lakebase in SAS and create a simple report based on real-time Lakebase data.

The CData ODBC Driver offers unmatched performance for interacting with live Lakebase data in SAS due to optimized data processing built into the driver. When you issue complex SQL queries from SAS to Lakebase, the driver pushes supported SQL operations, like filters and aggregations, directly to Lakebase 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 Lakebase data in SAS.

Connect to Lakebase as an ODBC Data Source

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

To connect to Databricks Lakebase, start by setting the following properties:

• DatabricksInstance: The Databricks instance or server hostname, provided in the format instance-abcdef12-3456-7890-abcd-abcdef123456.database.cloud.databricks.com.
• Server: The host name or IP address of the server hosting the Lakebase database.
• Port (optional): The port of the server hosting the Lakebase database, set to 5432 by default.
• Database (optional): The database to connect to after authenticating to the Lakebase Server, set to the authenticating user's default database by default.

OAuth Client Authentication

To authenicate using OAuth client credentials, you need to configure an OAuth client in your service principal. In short, you need to do the following:

1. Create and configure a new service principal
2. Assign permissions to the service principal
3. Create an OAuth secret for the service principal

For more information, refer to the Setting Up OAuthClient Authentication section in the Help documentation.

OAuth PKCE Authentication

To authenticate using the OAuth code type with PKCE (Proof Key for Code Exchange), set the following properties:

• AuthScheme: OAuthPKCE.
• User: The authenticating user's user ID.

For more information, refer to the Help documentation.

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 Lakebase 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 Lakebase Sys]
Driver = CData ODBC Driver for Lakebase
Description = My Description
DatabricksInstance = lakebase
Server = 127.0.0.1
Port = 5432
Database = my_database
InitiateOAuth = GETANDREFRESH

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

Create a Lakebase Library in SAS

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

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 Lakebase in SAS.
   

Create a View from a Lakebase 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 Lakebase 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 Lakebase 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 orders_view as
    select 
    shipname, 
    shipcity 
    from 
    odbclib.orders 
    where 
    ShipCountry = 'USA';
   quit;
   

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

Report On or Visualize Lakebase Data in SAS

With a local view created, you can report, visualize, or otherwise analyze Lakebase 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 Lakebase Orders data.

   proc print data=orders;
    title "Lakebase Orders Data";
   run;
   

   👁 A simple Lakebase data report.
   

Print a Chart

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

   proc gchart data=orders;
    pie shipname / sumvar=shipcity
    value=arrow
    percent=arrow
    noheading
    percent=inside plabel=(height=12pt)
    slice=inside value=none
    name='OrdersChart';
   run;
   

   👁 A simple Lakebase data chart.