Query SAP BusinessObjects BI Data through ODBC in Node.js

Node.js is a JavaScript runtime environment that allows you to run JavaScript code outside of a browser. With the CData ODBC Driver for SAP BusinessObjects BI, you can access live SAP BusinessObjects BI data from Node.js apps and scripts. In this article, we walk through installing node-odbc and the required tools to create a simple Node.js app with access to live SAP BusinessObjects BI data.

With built-in optimized data processing, the CData ODBC Driver offers unmatched performance for interacting with live SAP BusinessObjects BI data in Node.js. When you issue complex SQL queries from Node.js to SAP BusinessObjects BI, the driver pushes supported SQL operations, like filters and aggregations, directly to SAP BusinessObjects BI and utilizes the embedded SQL engine to process unsupported operations client-side (often SQL functions and JOIN operations).

Connecting to SAP BusinessObjects BI Data

If you have not already done so, provide values for the required connection properties in the data source name (DSN). You can use the built-in Microsoft ODBC Data Source Administrator to configure the DSN. This is also the last step of the driver installation. See the "Getting Started" chapter in the help documentation for a guide to using the Microsoft ODBC Data Source Administrator to create and configure a DSN.

To connect to your SAP Business Objects BI instance, you must set the following connection properties:

• Url: set this to the rest API URL. After logging into the Central Management Console, choose 'Applications' from the combo box. Double-click on 'RESTful Web Service' and you'll see the access URL. By default it is, http://{Server-Name}:6405/biprws.
• User: set this to the username of your instance.
• Password: set this to the password of your instance.

Building node-odbc

In order to connect to SAP BusinessObjects BI through the CData ODBC Driver, you need to build node-odbc manually (after installing the required tools).

Installing the Required Tools

The following commands install the tools required to build node-odbc (note the -g parameter, which installs the tools globally).

npm i -g windows-build-tools
npm i -g node-gyp

Building node-odbc

After installing the required tools, create a directory for the Node.js app and install odbc (which builds the binary for us to use in our Node.js script).

mkdir nodeodbc
cd nodeodbc
npm i -g node

Querying SAP BusinessObjects BI from Node.js

With the ODBC Driver installed, a DSN Configured, and node-odbc built, we are ready to query live SAP BusinessObjects BI data from a Node.js app. The sample code below connects to a specific DSN and queries the MyCustomReport table.

myscript.js

const odbc = require('odbc');

async function querySAPBusinessObjectsBI() {
    const connection = await odbc.connect(`DSN=CData SAPBusinessObjectsBI Source`);
    const data = await connection.query('SELECT StoreName, TotalRevenue FROM MyCustomReport');
    console.log(data);
}

querySAPBusinessObjectsBI();

Once you write the app, use node to execute the script:

node myscript.js

Download a free, 30-day trial of the CData ODBC Driver for SAP BusinessObjects BI and start working with your live SAP BusinessObjects BI data in Node.js. Reach out to our Support Team if you have any questions.