Viewing Power BI XMLA 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 Power BI XMLA, you gain access to live Power BI XMLA data within RAD Studio, abstracting the data into tables, views, and stored procedures that can be used to both retrieve Power BI XMLA data. This article will walk through connecting to Power BI XMLA using the Data Explorer.

Configure a Connection to Power BI XMLA

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.

By default, use Entra ID (formerly Azure AD) to connect to Microsoft Power BI XMLA. Entra ID (formerly Azure AD) is Microsoft's multi-tenant, cloud-based directory and identity management service. It is user-based authentication that requires that you set AuthScheme to EntraID (formerly AzureAD).

For more information on other authentication schemes, refer to the Help documentation.

Connecting to Power BI XMLA Data Using Data Explorer

You can create a simple application for displaying Power BI XMLA data by utilizing the CData FireDAC Components for Power BI XMLA 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 Power BI XMLA. 👁 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 Power BI XMLA Data in C++Builder
• DataBind Controls to Power BI XMLA Data in Delphi
• Build a Simple VCL Application for Power BI XMLA Data