Visualize SAP Netweaver Gateway Data in TIBCO Spotfire through OData

OData is a major protocol enabling real-time communication among cloud-based, mobile, and other online applications. The CData API Server provides SAP Netweaver Gateway data to OData consumers like TIBCO Spotfire. This article shows how to use the API Server and Spotfire's built-in support for OData to access SAP Netweaver Gateway data in real time.

Set Up the API Server

If you have not already done so, download the CData API Server. Once you have installed the API Server, follow the steps below to begin producing secure SAP Netweaver Gateway OData services:

Connect to SAP Netweaver Gateway

To work with SAP Netweaver Gateway data from TIBCO Spotfire, we start by creating and configuring a SAP Netweaver Gateway connection. Follow the steps below to configure the API Server to connect to SAP Netweaver Gateway data:

1. First, navigate to the Connections page.
2. Click Add Connection and then search for and select the SAP Netweaver Gateway connection. 👁 Selecting a data source (SQLite is shown)
   
3. Enter the necessary authentication properties to connect to SAP Netweaver Gateway.

   SAP Gateway allows both basic and OAuth 2.0 authentication. You can use basic authentication to connect to your own account, or you can use OAuth to enable other users to retrieve data from your service with their accounts. In addition to authenticating, set the following connection properties to access SAP Gateway tables.

   • Url: Set this to the URL of your environment, or to the full URL of the service. For example, the full URL might appear as: https://sapes5.sapdevcenter.com/sap/opu/odata/IWBEP/GWSAMPLE_BASIC/. In this example, the environment URL would just be: https://sapes5.sapdevcenter.com.
   • Namespace: Set the appropriate Service Namespace. In the example above, IWBEP is the namespace. It is optional if the full URL to the service is specified.
   • Service: Set this to the service you want to retrieve data from. In the example above, the service is GWSAMPLE_BASIC. It is not required if the full URL is specified.

   Authenticate via Basic Authentication

   In basic authentication, you use your login credentials to connect. Set the following properties:

   • User: This is the username you use to log in to SAP Gateway.
   • Password: This is the password you use to log in to SAP Gateway.

   Authenticate via OAuth Authentication

   You can connect to SAP Gateway using the embedded OAuth connectivity (without setting any additional authentication connection properties). When you connect, the OAuth endpoint opens in your browser. Log in and grant permissions to complete the OAuth process. See the OAuth section in the online Help documentation for more information on other OAuth authentication flows.

   👁 Connecting to a datasource (SQLite is shown)
   
4. After configuring the connection, click Save & Test to confirm a successful connection.

Configure API Server Users

Next, create a user to access your SAP Netweaver Gateway data through the API Server. You can add and configure users on the Users page. Follow the steps below to configure and create a user:

1. On the Users page, click Add User to open the Add User dialog.
2. Next, set the Role, Username, and Privileges properties and then click Add User. 👁 Configure a new user
   
3. An Authtoken is then generated for the user. You can find the Authtoken and other information for each user on the Users page: 👁 API Server user settings
   

Creating API Endpoints for SAP Netweaver Gateway

Having created a user, you are ready to create API endpoints for the SAP Netweaver Gateway tables:

1. First, navigate to the API page and then click Add Table . 👁 Add tables
   
2. Select the connection you wish to access and click Next. 👁 Select the connection (SQLite is shown)
   
3. With the connection selected, create endpoints by selecting each table and then clicking Confirm. 👁 Adding tables from the connection (SQLite is shown)
   

Gather the OData Url

Having configured a connection to SAP Netweaver Gateway data, created a user, and added resources to the API Server, you now have an easily accessible REST API based on the OData protocol for those resources. From the API page in API Server, you can view and copy the API Endpoints for the API:

Create Data Visualizations on External SAP Netweaver Gateway Data

1. Open Spotfire and click Add Data Tables -> OData.
2. In the OData Connection dialog, enter the following information:
   • Service URL: Enter the API Server's OData endpoint. For example:

     http://localhost:8080/api.rsc

   • Authentication Method: Select Username and Password.
   • Username: Enter the username of an API Server user. You can create API users on the Security tab of the administration console.
   • Password: Enter the authtoken of an API Server user.
   👁 Required connection settings to connect to the API Server.
   
3. Select the tables and columns you want to add to the dashboard. This example uses SalesOrderLineItems. 👁 API Server API Entities. (Salesforce is shown.)
   
4. If you want to work with the live data, click the Keep Data Table External option. This option enables your dashboards to reflect changes to the data in real time.

   If you want to load the data into memory and process the data locally, click the Import Data Table option. This option is better for offline use or if a slow network connection is making your dashboard less interactive.

5. After adding tables, the Recommended Visualizations wizard is displayed. When you select a table, Spotfire uses the column data types to detect number, time, and category columns. This example uses Quantity in the Numbers section and ProductID in the Categories section.👁 Recommended visualizations for the imported data table. (Salesforce is shown.)
   

After adding several visualizations in the Recommended Visualizations wizard, you can make other modifications to the dashboard. For example, you can apply a filter: After clicking the Filter button, the available filters for each query are displayed in the Filters pane.