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

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 Netweaver Gateway, you can link your ColdFusion web and mobile applications to operational SAP Netweaver Gateway 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 Netweaver Gateway data from within a ColdFusion markup file.

To follow along with this tutorial, you need to install the CData ODBC Driver for SAP Netweaver Gateway 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.

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.

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 Netweaver Gateway 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 Netweaver Gateway 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 CDataSAP Netweaver GatewayODBC 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="SAP Netweaver GatewayQuery" dataSource="CDataSAP Netweaver GatewayODBC"> 
    SELECT * FROM SalesOrderLineItems 
    </cfquery> 
    

   And a CFTable can be used to quickly output the table in HTML:

    
    <cftable 
    query = "SAP Netweaver GatewayQuery" 
    border = "1" 
    colHeaders 
    colSpacing = "2" 
    headerLines = "2" 
    HTMLTable 
    maxRows = "500" 
    startRow = "1"> 
   
    <cfcol header="<b>ProductID</b>" align="Left" width=2 text="ProductID"/> 
   
    <cfcol header="<b>Quantity</b>" align="Left" width=15 text="Quantity"/> 
   
    ...
   
    </cftable> 
    

   Full code, including the HTML portion is available below:

    
    <html> 
    <head><title>CData Software | SAP Netweaver Gateway SalesOrderLineItems Table Demo </title></head> 
    <body> 
    <cfoutput>#ucase("SAP Netweaver Gateway SalesOrderLineItems Table Demo")#</cfoutput> 
    <cfquery name="SAP Netweaver GatewayQuery" dataSource="CDataSAP Netweaver GatewayODBC"> 
   
    SELECT * FROM SalesOrderLineItems 
   
    </cfquery> 
    <cftable 
    query = "SAP Netweaver GatewayQuery" 
    border = "1" 
    colHeaders 
    colSpacing = "2" 
    headerLines = "2" 
    HTMLTable 
    maxRows = "500" 
    startRow = "1"> 
    <cfcol header="<b>ProductID</b>" align="Left" width=2 text="ProductID"/> 
   
    <cfcol header="<b>Quantity</b>" align="Left" width=15 text="Quantity"/> 
   
    ...
   
    </cftable> 
    </body> 
   
    </html> 
    

6. Finally, run the code in a browser. It produces a table populated with SAP Netweaver Gateway 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 Netweaver Gateway and start building SAP Netweaver Gateway-connected applications with Adobe ColdFusion. Reach out to our Support Team if you have any questions.