Connect to Dynamics NAV Data in RapidMiner

This article shows how you can easily integrate the CData JDBC driver for Dynamics NAV into your processes in RapidMiner. This article uses the CData JDBC Driver for Dynamics NAV to transfer Dynamics NAV data to a process in RapidMiner.

Connect to Dynamics NAV in RapidMiner as a JDBC Data Source

You can follow the procedure below to establish a JDBC connection to Dynamics NAV:

1. Add a new database driver for Dynamics NAV: Click Connections -> Manage Database Drivers.
2. In the resulting wizard, click the Add button and enter a name for the connection.
3. Enter the prefix for the JDBC URL: jdbc:dynamicsnav:
4. Enter the path to the cdata.jdbc.dynamicsnav.jar file, located in the lib subfolder of the installation directory.
5. Enter the driver class: cdata.jdbc.dynamicsnav.DynamicsNAVDriver
6. Create a new Dynamics NAV connection: Click Connections -> Manage Database Connections.
7. Enter a name for your connection.
8. For Database System, select the Dynamics NAV driver you configured previously.
9. Enter your connection string in the Host box.

   Before you can connect, OData Services will need to be enabled on the server. Once OData Services are enabled, you will be able to query any Services that are published on the server.

   The User and Password properties, under the Authentication section, must be set to valid Dynamics NAV user credentials. In addition, you will need to specify a URL to a valid Dynamics NAV server organization root and a ServerInstance. If there is not a Service Default Company for the server, you will need to set the Company as well.

   Built-in Connection String Designer

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

   java -jar cdata.jdbc.dynamicsnav.jar

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

   A typical connection string is below:

   http://myserver:7048;User=myserver\Administrator;Password=admin;ServerInstance=DYNAMICSNAV71;
10. Enter your username and password if necessary.

You can now use your Dynamics NAV connection with the various RapidMiner operators in your process. To retrieve Dynamics NAV data, drag the Retrieve operator from the Operators view. With the Retrieve operator selected, you can then define which table to retrieve in the Parameters view by clicking the folder icon next to the "repository entry." In the resulting Repository Browser, you can expand your connection node to select the desired example set.

Finally, wire the output to the Retrieve process to a result, and run the process to see the Dynamics NAV data.