Execute Stored Procedures to Azure Analysis Services in BizTalk

Stored procedures implement Azure Analysis Services actions that cannot be represented as SELECT, INSERT, UPDATE, and DELETE statements. This article shows how to generate a schema for a stored procedure. You can use the schema to execute the stored procedure from a send port.

Add the Adapter to Your Project

Use the Add Adapter wizard to add the adapter to a BizTalk Server project in Visual Studio. The adapter will return metadata about the inputs of the stored procedure and its results. This metadata is needed to create the schema.

1. Right-click on the project in the Solution Explorer and click Add -> Add Generated Items.
2. Select Add Adapter Metadata in the resulting dialog box.
3. In the resulting Add Adapter wizard, select the adapter from the list.
4. In the Port menu, leave the selection blank. Or, select a receive location or send port that has been configured to use the Azure Analysis Services Adapter.

5. On the Connection String page, enter authentication credentials and other connection properties if they were not already configured in the send port or the receive location.

   Below is a typical connection string:

   URL=asazure://REGION.asazure.windows.net/server;InitiateOAuth=GETANDREFRESH

   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.

Generate the Schema

After you enter connection properties in the Add Adapter wizard, the Schema wizard is displayed.

1. On the next page, Schema Information, select the Send Port that you have configured to use the Azure Analysis Services Adapter.
2. If you have configured the CData Azure Analysis Services Adapter in a solicit-response send port, disable the One-Way option.
3. In the Command Type menu, select Stored Procedure.
4. Select the stored procedure from the menu and enter the values for the input parameters.
5. Confirm the settings in the summary displayed by the wizard and click Finish to generate the schema.xsd file.

Processing Schemas

To use schemas in a simple BizTalk application, see the tutorial.