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Analyze SAP Data in Infragistics Reveal
Use the CData API Server to create an OData API on top of SAP data and visualize live SAP data in Ingragistics Reveal.
Reveal is a data visualization solution provided by Infragistics and can be paired with the CData API Server and SAP ADO.NET Provider to build dynamic dashboards from live SAP data. The CData API Server generates an OData API for SAP, which is natively consumable in Reveal. In this article, we walk through connecting to SAP in API Server and connecting to the API Server from Infragistics Reveal to create a simple dashboard.
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.
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Connect optimally depending on where a customer's SAP instance is hosted.
- Customers using SAP S/4HANA cloud public edition will use SAP NetWeaver Gateway connectivity
- Customers using SAP S/4HANA private edition will use either SAP ERP or SAP NetWeaver Gateway connectivity.
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
Connect to SAP from API Server
CData API Server uses a straightforward, point-and-click interface to connect to data sources and generate APIs.
- Open API Server and click Settings -> Connection -> Add Connection
- Select "SAP"
- Enter the necessary authentication properties to connect to SAP.
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.
Add SAP Resource Definitions in API Server
After connecting to SAP, create Resources, which represent API endpoints for SAP data.
- Click Settings -> Resources -> Add Resource
- Select the SAP connection
- Select the table you wish to retrieve and click Next
- (Optional) Edit the resource to select specific fields and more
- Save the settings
Add an API Server User
Create a User to connect to SAP from Reveal through API Server.
- Click Settings -> Users
- Click Add
- Configure a User with access to the SAP Connection and Resource(s)
(Optional) Configure Cross-Origin Resource Sharing (CORS)
When accessing and connecting to multiple different domains from an application such as Ajax, there is a possibility of violating the limitations of cross-site scripting. In that case, configure the CORS settings in Settings -> Server.
- Enable cross-origin resource sharing (CORS): ON
- Allow all domains without '*': ON
- Access-Control-Allow-Methods: GET, PUT, POST, OPTIONS
- Access-Control-Allow-Headers: Authorization
Save the changes to the settings.
Create a Dashboard in Reveal
With the API Server configured, we can visualize SAP data in Reveal.
- Log into Reveal and click Dashboards -> New
- Click Data Source -> OData Feed
- Specify the API Server API endpoint URL, for example: https://serverurl/api.rsc
- Select Generic Credentials and specify the API Server username and authentication token
- Select the entity you wish to visualize
- Select fields and choose a chart type
More Information & Free Trial
At this point, you have created a simple dashboard from live SAP data. For more information on creating OData feeds from SAP (and more than 150 other sources), visit the API Server page. Download a free, 30-day trial and start working live SAP data in tools that consume OData APIs.
