Create an SAP BusinessObjects Universe on the CData ODBC Driver for Aha

This article shows how to create and publish an SAP BusinessObjects universe on the CData ODBC Driver for Aha. You will connect to Aha data from the Information Design Tool as well as the Web Intelligence tool.

Connect to Aha as an ODBC Data Source

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.

Start by setting the Profile connection property to the location of the Aha! Profile on disk (e.g. C:\profiles\aha.apip). Next, set the ProfileSettings connection property to the connection string for Aha! (see below).

Aha! API Profile Settings

The Aha! API uses OAuth-based authentication.

You will first need to register an OAuth app with Aha!. This can be done from your Aha! account under 'Settings' > 'Personal' > 'Developer' > 'OAuth Applications'. Additionally, you will need to set the Domain, found in the domain name of your Aha account. For example if your Aha account is acmeinc.aha.io, then the Domain should be 'acmeinc'.

After setting the following in the connection string, you are ready to connect:

• AuthScheme: Set this to OAuth.
• InitiateOAuth: Set this to GETANDREFRESH. You can use InitiateOAuth to manage the process to obtain the OAuthAccessToken.
• OAuthClientId: Set this to the client_id that is specified in you app settings.
• OAuthClientSecret: Set this to the client_secret that is specified in you app settings.
• CallbackURL: Set this to the Redirect URI you specified in your app settings.
• Domain: Set this in the ProfileSettings to your Aha domain.

When you configure the DSN, 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.

Create an ODBC Connection to Aha Data

This section shows how to create a connection to the Aha ODBC data source in the Information Design Tool. After you create a connection, you can analyze data or create a BusinessObjects universe.

1. Right-click your project and click New -> New Relational Connection.

2. In the wizard that is displayed, enter a name for the connection.

3. Select Generic -> Generic ODBC datasource -> ODBC Drivers and select the DSN.

4. Finish the wizard with the default values for connection pooling and custom parameters.

Analyze Aha Data in the Information Design Tool

In the Information Design Tool, you can use both published and local ODBC connections to browse and query data.

1. In the Local Projects view, double-click the connection (the .cnx file) to open the Aha data source.

2. On the Show Values tab, you can load table data and enter SQL queries. To view table data, expand the node for the table, right-click the table, and click Show Values. Values will be displayed in the Raw Data tab.

3. On the Analysis tab, you can drag and drop columns onto the axes of a chart.

Publish the Local Connection

To publish the universe to the CMS, you additionally need to publish the connection.

1. In the Local Projects view, right-click the connection and click Publish Connection to a Repository.

2. Enter the host and port of the repository and connection credentials.

3. Select the folder where the connection will be published.

4. In the success dialog that results, click Yes to create a connection shortcut.

Create a Universe on the ODBC Driver for Aha

You can follow the steps below to create a universe on the ODBC driver for Aha. The universe in this example will be published to a repository, so it uses the published connection created in the previous step.

1. In the Information Design Tool, click File->New Universe.

2. Select your project.

3. Select the option to create the universe on a relational data source.

4. Select the shortcut to the published connection.

5. Enter a name for the Data Foundation.

6. Import tables and columns that you want to access as objects.

7. Enter a name for the Business Layer.

Publish the Universe

You can follow the steps below to publish the universe to the CMS.

1. In the Local Projects view, right-click the business layer and click Publish -> To a Repository.

2. In the Publish Universe dialog, enter any integrity checks before importing.

3. Select or create a folder on the repository where the universe will be published.

Query Aha Data in Web Intelligence

You can use the published universe to connect to Aha in Web Intelligence.

1. Open Web Intelligence from the BusinessObjects launchpad and create a new document.

2. Select the Universe option for the data source.

3. Select the Aha universe. This opens a Query Panel. Drag objects to the Result Objects pane to use them in the query.