Access SAS xpt Data as OData Feeds in Tableau

The CData API Server, when paired with the ADO.NET Provider for SAS xpt (or any of 200+ other ADO.NET Providers), provides SAS xpt data as OData Web services. This article will explain how to use the API Server to provide the underlying connectivity to SAS xpt data in Tableau's business intelligence tool.

Set Up the API Server

Follow the steps below to begin producing secure SAS xpt OData services:

Deploy

The API Server runs on your own server. On Windows, you can deploy using the stand-alone server or IIS. On a Java servlet container, drop in the API Server WAR file. See the help documentation for more information and how-tos.

The API Server is also easy to deploy on Microsoft Azure, Amazon EC2, and Heroku.

Connect to SAS xpt

After you deploy the API Server and the ADO.NET Provider for SAS xpt, provide authentication values and other connection properties needed to connect to SAS xpt by clicking Settings -> Connections and adding a new connection in the API Server administration console.

Connecting to Local SASXpt Files

You can connect to local SASXpt file by setting the URI to a folder containing SASXpt files.

Connecting to S3 data source

You can connect to Amazon S3 source to read SASXpt files. Set the following properties to connect:

• URI: Set this to the folder within your bucket that you would like to connect to.
• AWSAccessKey: Set this to your AWS account access key.
• AWSSecretKey: Set this to your AWS account secret key.
• TemporaryLocalFolder: Set this to the path, or URI, to the folder that is used to temporarily download SASXpt file(s).

Connecting to Azure Data Lake Storage Gen2

You can connect to ADLS Gen2 to read SASXpt files. Set the following properties to connect:

• URI: Set this to the name of the file system and the name of the folder which contacts your SASXpt files.
• AzureAccount: Set this to the name of the Azure Data Lake storage account.
• AzureAccessKey: Set this to our Azure DataLakeStore Gen 2 storage account access key.
• TemporaryLocalFolder: Set this to the path, or URI, to the folder that is used to temporarily download SASXpt file(s).

When you configure the connection, you may also want to set the Max Rows connection property. This will limit the number of rows returned, which is especially helpful for improving performance when designing reports and visualizations.

You can then choose the SAS xpt entities you want to allow the API Server to access by clicking Settings -> Resources.

Additionally, click Settings -> Server and set the Default Format to XML (Atom) for compatibility with Tableau.

Authorize API Server Users

After determining the OData services you want to produce, authorize users by clicking Settings -> Users. The API Server uses authtoken-based authentication and supports the major authentication schemes. Access can also be restricted based on IP address; by default only connections to the local machine are allowed. You can authenticate as well as encrypt connections with SSL.

Create Real-Time SAS xpt Data Visualizations

Follow the steps below to create data visualizations based on the remote SAS xpt data:

1. In Tableau, select 'Connect to data'. In the 'On a server' section, click OData.

   

2. In the resulting wizard, enter the URL of the OData endpoint for the API Server. Append the name of the table you want to access to the OData entry URL. For example:

   https://your-server/api.rsc/SampleTable_1
3. Select the 'Use a Username and Password' option and enter the username and password of a user who has access to the API Server.

4. Tableau uses the table metadata exposed by the API Server to detect dimension and measure columns.

   

5. To view the SAS xpt data, right-click under the table name in the Data section of the dashboard and select the View Data option. The SAS xpt data will appear in Tableau.