Feed Azure Synapse Data into FineReport

The CData JDBC Driver for Azure Synapse fully implements the JDBC standard and can provide Azure Synapse data connectivity to a wide variety of BI, reporting, and ETL tools and custom applications. In this article, we explain how to set Azure Synapse data as JDBC data source in FineReport and view Azure Synapse data as a table in the Report Designer.

Set Up a JDBC Data Source of Azure Synapse Data

Follow the instruction below to set Azure Synapse data as a FineReport database connection.

1. Copy the cdata.jdbc.azuresynapse.jar file from the lib folder in the CData JDBC Driver for Azure Synapse installation directory to the lib folder of the FineReport installation directory. You will need to copy the cdata.jdbc.azuresynapse.lic file as well.
2. From the Server tab, select Define Data Connection, click to add a new connection, and click JDBC.

Next we will set up the data connection definition in the window.

1. Database: Others
2. JDBC Driver: cdata.jdbc.azuresynapse.AzureSynapseDriver
3. URL: A standard JDBC connection string using semicolon-separated connection properties.

   Connecting to Azure Synapse

   In addition to providing authentication (see below), set the following properties to connect to a Azure Synapse database:

   • Server: The server running Azure. You can find this by logging into the Azure portal and navigating to Azure Synapse Analytics -> Select your database -> Overview -> Server name.
   • Database: The name of the database, as seen in the Azure portal on the Azure Synapse Analytics page.

   Authenticating to Azure Synapse

   Connect to Azure Synapse using the following properties:

   • User: The username provided for authentication with Azure.
   • Password: The password associated with the authenticating user.

   Built-in Connection String Designer

   For assistance in constructing the JDBC URL, use the connection string designer built into the Azure Synapse JDBC Driver. Either double-click the JAR file or execute the jar file from the command-line.

   java -jar cdata.jdbc.azuresynapse.jar

   Fill in the connection properties and copy the connection string to the clipboard.

   When you configure the JDBC URL, 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.

   A typical JDBC URL is below:

   jdbc:azuresynapse:User=myuser;Password=mypassword;Server=localhost;Database=Northwind;
4. Click Connection pool attributes and set Test before getting connections to No.

Click Test connection to ensure you have configured the connection properly. With the connection to Azure Synapse set up, you can use it as FineReport data source.

Select Azure Synapse Data in the Report Designer.

1. Click to add a new template data set and select DB query to open the database query window.
2. Choose the JDBC connection that you created from the dropdown list.
3. The Azure Synapse entities will appear as tables on the left pane.
4. Write a SELECT statement for the Azure Synapse data tables and columns that you want to load.
5. Click preview and data is shown as table.

With these simple steps, Azure Synapse can be used as a JDBC data source in FineReport.