DataBind SAP BusinessObjects BI Data to the DevExpress Data Grid

The ADO.NET Provider for SAP BusinessObjects BI by CData incorporates conventional ADO.NET data access components compatible with third-party controls. You can adhere to the standard ADO.NET data binding procedures to establish two-way access to real-time data through UI controls. This article will demonstrate the utilization of CData components for data binding with DevExpress UI Controls (Windows Forms and Web controls), specifically binding to a chart that visualizes live data.

To connect to your SAP Business Objects BI instance, you must set the following connection properties:

• Url: set this to the rest API URL. After logging into the Central Management Console, choose 'Applications' from the combo box. Double-click on 'RESTful Web Service' and you'll see the access URL. By default it is, http://{Server-Name}:6405/biprws.
• User: set this to the username of your instance.
• Password: set this to the password of your instance.

Windows Forms Controls

The code below shows how to populate a DevExpress chart with SAP BusinessObjects BI data. The SAPBusinessObjectsBIDataAdapter binds to the Series property of the chart control. The Diagram property of the control defines the x- and y-axes as the column names.

using (SAPBusinessObjectsBIConnection connection = new SAPBusinessObjectsBIConnection(
"User=username;Password=password;Url=http://myinstance:6405/biprws")) {
 SAPBusinessObjectsBIDataAdapter dataAdapter = new SAPBusinessObjectsBIDataAdapter(
 "SELECT StoreName, TotalRevenue FROM MyCustomReport WHERE State = 'CA'", connection);
 
 DataTable table = new DataTable();
 dataAdapter.Fill(table);
 DevExpress.XtraCharts.Series series = new DevExpress.XtraCharts.Series();
 chartControl1.Series.Add(series);
 series.DataSource = table;
 series.ValueDataMembers.AddRange(new string[] { "TotalRevenue" });
 series.ArgumentScaleType = DevExpress.XtraCharts.ScaleType.Qualitative;
 series.ArgumentDataMember = "StoreName";
 series.ValueScaleType = DevExpress.XtraCharts.ScaleType.Numerical;
 chartControl1.Legend.Visibility = DevExpress.Utils.DefaultBoolean.False;
 ((DevExpress.XtraCharts.SideBySideBarSeriesView)series.View).ColorEach = true; 
}

Web Controls

The code below shows how to populate a DevExpress Web control with SAP BusinessObjects BI data. The SAPBusinessObjectsBIDataAdapter binds to the Series property of the chart; the Diagram property defines the x- and y-axes as the column names.

using DevExpress.XtraCharts;

using (SAPBusinessObjectsBIConnection connection = new SAPBusinessObjectsBIConnection(
"User=username;Password=password;Url=http://myinstance:6405/biprws"))
{
 SAPBusinessObjectsBIDataAdapter SAPBusinessObjectsBIDataAdapter1 = new SAPBusinessObjectsBIDataAdapter("SELECT StoreName, TotalRevenue FROM MyCustomReport WHERE State = 'CA'", connection);
 DataTable table = new DataTable();
 SAPBusinessObjectsBIDataAdapter1.Fill(table);
 DevExpress.XtraCharts.Series series = new Series("Series1", ViewType.Bar);
 WebChartControl1.Series.Add(series);
 series.DataSource = table;
 series.ValueDataMembers.AddRange(new string[] { "TotalRevenue" });
 series.ArgumentScaleType = ScaleType.Qualitative;
 series.ArgumentDataMember = "StoreName";
 series.ValueScaleType = ScaleType.Numerical;
 ((DevExpress.XtraCharts.SideBySideBarSeriesView)series.View).ColorEach = true;
}