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URL: https://www.cdata.com/kb/tech/sap-odbc-coldfusion.rst

⇱ Import Real-Time SAP Data via ODBC in ColdFusion to Build Applications

Import Real-Time SAP Data via ODBC in ColdFusion to Build Applications

👁 Dibyendu Datta
Dibyendu Datta
Lead Technology Evangelist
Use CData ODBC drivers to import and use SAP data in ColdFusion.

Adobe ColdFusion is a web and mobile application development platform. It uses its own scripting language, ColdFusion Markup Language (CFML), to create data-driven websites as well as generate remote services, such as REST. When ColdFusion is paired with the CData ODBC Driver for SAP ERP, you can link your ColdFusion web and mobile applications to operational SAP data. This allows for your applications to be more robust and complete. This article details how to use the ODBC driver to create a table populated with SAP data from within a ColdFusion markup file.

About SAP Data Integration

CData provides the easiest way to access and integrate live data from SAP. Customers use CData connectivity to:

  • Access every edition of SAP, including SAP R/3, SAP NetWeaver, SAP ERP / ECC 6.0, and SAP S/4 HANA on premises data that is exposed by the RFC.
  • Perform actions like sending IDoc or IDoc XML files to the server and creating schemas for functions or queries through SQL stored procedures.
  • Connect optimally depending on where a customer's SAP instance is hosted.

While most users leverage our tools to replicate SAP data to databases or data warehouses, many also integrate live SAP data with analytics tools such as Tableau, Power BI, and Excel.


Getting Started


To follow along with this tutorial, you need to install the CData ODBC Driver for SAP ERP and Adobe ColdFusion.

Configuring the Connection

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 process. You can use the Microsoft ODBC Data Source Administrator to create and configure ODBC DSNs.

You can connect to SAP systems using either librfc32.dll, librfc32u.dll, NetWeaver, or Web Services (SOAP). Set the ConnectionType connection property to CLASSIC (librfc32.dll), CLASSIC_UNICODE (librfc32u.dll), NETWEAVER, or SOAP.

If you are using the SOAP interface, set the Client, RFCUrl, SystemNumber, User, and Password properties, under the Authentication section.

Otherwise, set Host, User, Password, Client, and SystemNumber.

Note: We do not distribute the librfc32.dll or other SAP assemblies. You must find them from your SAP installation and install them on your machine.

For more information, see this guide on obtaining the connection properties needed to connect to any SAP system.

Adding a Data Source and Creating a Table

After creating a DSN, follow the steps below to add a new data source, test our connection to it, create a ColdFusion markup file, and, finally, import SAP Data and display it in a table in ColdFusion:

  1. From the ColdFusion administrator interface, choose Data & Services. 👁 Selecting Data & Services
  2. Here, click "Add New Data Source". The data source name can be any name, provided it conforms to the ColdFusion variable naming conventions. For our ODBC driver, choose "ODBC Socket", then click the "Add" button. 👁 Adding Data Source Name
  3. From the ODBC DSN Dropdown menu select CData SAP Sys. Under the Advanced Settings section, leave the Connection String blank. Note that any properties specified in this input field will override the ones specified in the DSN Configuration. 👁 Populating driver properties
  4. Now, test the connection by pressing the check mark to the left of the CDataSAPODBC data source you just created. When the data source reports an "OK" status, it is ready for use. 👁 Testing the connection
  5. Next, create a new ColdFusion Markup file (.cfm) and place it in the wwwroot directory ("C:\ColdFusion2021\cfusion\wwwroot") for ColdFusion.

    The following code queries the data source: 

     
 <cfquery name="SAPQuery" dataSource="CDataSAPODBC"> 
 SELECT * FROM MARA 
 </cfquery>
    And a CFTable can be used to quickly output the table in HTML: 
     
 <cftable 
 query = "SAPQuery" 
 border = "1" 
 colHeaders 
 colSpacing = "2" 
 headerLines = "2" 
 HTMLTable 
 maxRows = "500" 
 startRow = "1"> 

 <cfcol header="<b>MANDT</b>" align="Left" width=2 text="MANDT"/> 

 <cfcol header="<b>MBRSH</b>" align="Left" width=15 text="MBRSH"/> 

 ...

 </cftable>
    Full code, including the HTML portion is available below: 
     
 <html> 
 <head><title>CData Software | SAP MARA Table Demo </title></head> 
 <body> 
 <cfoutput>#ucase("SAP MARA Table Demo")#</cfoutput> 
 <cfquery name="SAPQuery" dataSource="CDataSAPODBC"> 

 SELECT * FROM MARA 

 </cfquery> 
 <cftable 
 query = "SAPQuery" 
 border = "1" 
 colHeaders 
 colSpacing = "2" 
 headerLines = "2" 
 HTMLTable 
 maxRows = "500" 
 startRow = "1"> 
 <cfcol header="<b>MANDT</b>" align="Left" width=2 text="MANDT"/> 

 <cfcol header="<b>MBRSH</b>" align="Left" width=15 text="MBRSH"/> 

 ...

 </cftable> 
 </body> 

 </html>
  6. Finally, run the code in a browser. It produces a table populated with SAP data! 👁 Running the code

As a note, the CData ODBC Drivers also support parameterized queries using the cfqueryparam element. For example: 

SELECT * FROM Account WHERE name =

Get Started Today

Download a free, 30-day trial of the CData ODBC Driver for SAP and start building SAP-connected applications with Adobe ColdFusion. Reach out to our Support Team if you have any questions.

Ready to get started?

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

 Download Now

Learn more:

👁 SAP ERP Icon
SAP ERP ODBC Driver

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

With the SAP ODBC Driver, accessing SAP R/3 and SAP ERP is as easy as querying a database.