VOOZH about

URL: https://www.cdata.com/kb/tech/odata-odbc-active-query-builder.rst

⇱ Rapidly Develop OData-Driven Apps with Active Query Builder

Rapidly Develop OData-Driven Apps with Active Query Builder

👁 Jerod Johnson
Jerod Johnson
Director, Technology Evangelism
Leverage the Active Query Builder SQL interface and .NET data access to create data-driven WinForms and ASP.NET apps backed by OData.

Write standard .NET to expose OData services through an SQL interface: Active Query Builder helps developers write SQL interfaces; the CData ODBC Driver for OData enables standards-based access to OData. This integration uses the Microsoft ADO.NET Provider for ODBC as a bridge between the ODBC Driver and the Active Query Builder objects to build a visual SQL composer.

Connect to OData as an ODBC Data Source

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.

The User and Password properties, under the Authentication section, must be set to valid OData user credentials. In addition, specify a URL to a valid OData server organization root or OData services file.

About OData Data Integration

CData simplifies access and integration of live OData services data. Our customers leverage CData connectivity to:

  • Access OData versions 2.0, 3.0, and 4.0, working with legacy services and the latest features and capabilities.
  • Leverage advanced query options, including $filter, $select, and $expand, enhancing data retrieval from 3rd party tools.
  • Use Server-side execution of aggregation and grouping to minimize data transfer and boost performance.
  • Authenticate securely using a variety of schemes, including Azure AD, digest, negotiate, NTLM, OAuth, and more means secure authentication with every connection.
  • Use SQL stored procedures to manage OData service entities - listing, creating, and removing associations between entities.

Customers use CData's solutions to regularly integrate their OData services with preferred tools, such as Power BI, MicroStrategy, or Tableau, and to replicate data from OData services to their databases or data warehouses.


Getting Started


Use SQL to Interact with OData

Follow the steps below to create a WinForms visual query builder.

  1. Open Active Query Builder for .NET WinForms. 👁 Opening Active Query Builder.
  2. In the new Windows Forms project go to the "File" menu and click "Connect..."
  3. Under Database Connections, click "Add..." 👁 Adding a new Connection.
  4. Set your desired Connection Name (e.g. CData OData), set Connection Type to "ODBC" and locate your previously configured DSN in the "User/System" DSN dropdown. 👁 Selecting a previously configured DSN (Amazon Athena is shown).
  5. Click "OK" to save the new connection.
  6. Back in the Database Connection wizard, select the newly created connection and click "OK." 👁 A newly added Connection (Amazon Athena is shown).
  7. Click "File" > "New Query" to create a QueryBuilder

You can now build queries visually: Double-click a table in the Columns Pane Area and an entity/relationship diagram is displayed in the Query Building Area. Columns that you select in the diagram are added to the query.

👁 Building queries interactively with Active Query Builder.

Ready to get started?

Download a free trial of the OData ODBC Driver to get started:

 Download Now

Learn more:

👁 OData Icon
OData ODBC Driver

The OData ODBC Driver is a powerful tool that allows you to connect with live OData Services, directly from any applications that support ODBC connectivity.

Access OData services like you would any standard database - read, write, and update etc. through a standard ODBC Driver interface.