Viewing Azure Analysis Services Data in RAD Studio Data Explorer



How to view Azure Analysis Services data in RAD Studio Data Explorer using the CData ODBC Driver for Azure Analysis Services.

Embarcadero RAD Studio provides a development environment for Delphi and C++Builder applications. With the CData ODBC Driver for Azure Analysis Services, you gain access to live Azure Analysis Services data within RAD Studio, abstracting the data into tables, views, and stored procedures that can be used to both retrieve Azure Analysis Services data. This article will walk through connecting to Azure Analysis Services using the Data Explorer.

Configure a Connection to Azure Analysis Services

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. You can use the Microsoft ODBC Data Source Administrator to create and configure ODBC DSNs.

To connect to Azure Analysis Services, set the Url property to a valid server, for instance, asazure://southcentralus.asazure.windows.net/server, in addition to authenticating. Optionally, set Database to distinguish which Azure database on the server to connect to.

Azure Analysis Services uses the OAuth authentication standard. OAuth requires the authenticating user to interact with Azure Analysis Services using the browser. You can connect without setting any connection properties for your user credentials. See the Help documentation for more information.

Connecting to Azure Analysis Services Data Using Data Explorer

You can create a simple application for displaying Azure Analysis Services data by utilizing the CData FireDAC Components for Azure Analysis Services and a new VCL Forms Application:

  1. Open the Data Explorer in RAD Studio and expand FireDAC.
  2. Right-click the ODBC Data Source node in the Data Explorer.
  3. Click Add New Connection.
  4. Enter a name for the connection.
  5. In the FireDAC Connection Editor that appears, set the DataSource property to the name of the ODBC DSN for Azure Analysis Services.
  6. Back in the Data Explorer, expand the views for the connection.
  7. Create a new VCL Forms application and drag a view (for example: Customer) onto the form.

  8. Select the CustomerView object on the form and set the Active property to true.
  9. Right-click on the object, bind visually, and link everything (*) to a new control (TStringGrid).

  10. Arrange the TStringGrid on the form and run the application to see the Customer data.

Related Articles

Below you can find other articles for using the CData ODBC Driver with RAD Studio, Delphi, and C++ Builder.

Ready to get started?

Download a free trial of the Azure Analysis Services ODBC Driver to get started:

 Download Now

Learn more:

Azure Analysis Services Icon Azure Analysis Services ODBC Driver

The Azure Analysis Services ODBC Driver is a powerful tool that allows you to connect with live data from Azure Analysis Services, directly from any applications that support ODBC connectivity.

Access Azure Analysis Services data like you would a database - read, write, and update Azure Analysis Services AnalysisServicesData, etc. through a standard ODBC Driver interface.