Use the CData JDBC Driver for Sage X3 Cloud in MicroStrategy

MicroStrategy is an analytics and mobility platform that enables data-driven innovation. When you pair MicroStrategy with the CData JDBC Driver for Sage X3 Cloud, you gain database-like access to live Sage X3 Cloud data from MicroStrategy, expanding your reporting and analytics capabilities. In this article, we walk through creating a database instance for Sage X3 Cloud in MicroStrategy Developer and create a Warehouse Catalog for the Sage X3 Cloud data.

The CData JDBC Driver offers unmatched performance for interacting with live Sage X3 Cloud data in MicroStrategy due to optimized data processing built into the driver. When you issue complex SQL queries from MicroStrategy to Sage X3 Cloud, the driver pushes supported SQL operations, like filters and aggregations, directly to Sage X3 Cloud and utilizes the embedded SQL engine to process unsupported operations (often SQL functions and JOIN operations) client-side. With built-in dynamic metadata querying, you can visualize and analyze Sage X3 Cloud data using native MicroStrategy data types.

Connect to Sage X3 Cloud in MicroStrategy Developer

You can connect to Sage X3 Cloud in MicroStrategy Developer by adding a database instance based on the CData JDBC Driver for Sage X3 Cloud.^* Before you begin, you will need to install the JDBC Driver for Sage X3 Cloud on the machine hosting the MicroStrategy Intelligence Server that your instance of MicroStrategy Developer is connected to.

1. Open MicroStrategy Developer and select a Project Source.
2. Navigate to Administration -> Configuration Managers -> Database Instances and right-click to add a new instance.
3. Name the instance, select Generic DBMS as the database connection type, and create a new database connection.
4. In the database connection wizard, name the connection and create a new Database Login name, setting the user and password for Sage X3 Cloud.
5. On the Advanced tab for the connection wizard, set the additional connection string parameters as follows.
   • Add the JDBC keyword to the connection string.
   • Set MSTR_JDBC_JAR_FOLDER to the path of the directory containing the JAR file for the JDBC driver. (C:\Program Files\CData JDBC Driver for Sage X3 Cloud\lib\ on Windows.)
   • Set DRIVER to cdata.jdbc.sagex3cloud.SageX3CloudDriver, the driver class.
   • Set URL to the JDBC URL for the Sage X3 Cloud driver, which contains the necessary connection properties.

     Sage X3 Cloud uses the OAuth 2.0 Client Credentials flow, and an X-API-Key is also required for API access. Set AuthScheme to OAuth and specify the following connection properties:

     • URL: The base URL of your Sage X3 Cloud instance.
     • OAuthAccessTokenUrl: The OAuth token endpoint (e.g., https://your-auth-domain/oauth/token).
     • OAuthClientId: Your OAuth application client ID.
     • OAuthClientSecret: Your OAuth application client secret.
     • Audience: The API audience value for the token request.
     • XAPIKey: The X-API-Key provided by your Sage X3 Cloud administrator.
     • Folder: The Sage X3 folder name (e.g., SEED). This folder is used as the default schema.
     • Folders (optional): A comma-separated list of Sage X3 folders (e.g., SEED,PERF). Each folder is exposed as a separate schema, so you can query across folders with the Schema.Table syntax.

     The driver obtains an access token with the Client Credentials flow and sends it with the X-API-Key on every API request. With InitiateOAuth set to GETANDREFRESH (the default), the driver acquires and refreshes the token automatically.

     Built-in Connection String Designer

     For assistance in constructing the JDBC URL, use the connection string designer built into the Sage X3 Cloud JDBC Driver. Either double-click the JAR file or execute the jar file from the command-line.

     
     java -jar cdata.jdbc.sagex3cloud.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.

   Typical additional connection string properties follow:

   
   JDBC;MSTR_JDBC_JAR_FOLDER=PATH\TO\JAR\;DRIVER=cdata.jdbc.sagex3cloud.SageX3CloudDriver;URL={jdbc:sagex3cloud:AuthScheme=OAuth;URL=https://x3server/;OAuthAccessTokenUrl=https://auth-domain/oauth/token;OAuthClientId=your_client_id;OAuthClientSecret=your_client_secret;Audience=https://api-audience;XAPIKey=your_api_key;Folder=SEED;};
   

   
6. Ensure that you have not selected an ODBC data source (this will trigger MicroStrategy to use the additional connection string parameters to build the database instance) and click OK.
7. Click OK to close the database instance wizard.
8. In the Project Source, right-click the project and open the Project configuration.
9. Navigate to Database Instances, select the newly created database instance, and click OK.
10. Close MicroStrategy Developer and restart the connected MicroStrategy Intelligence Server to complete the database instance creation.

With the database instance configured, you will now be able to connect to Sage X3 Cloud data from the Warehouse Catalog and Data Import.

Connect to Sage X3 Cloud Data from the Warehouse Catalog

Once you have created a database instance based on the JDBC Driver for Sage X3 Cloud, you can connect to data from the Warehouse Catalog.

1. Select your project and click Schema -> Warehouse Catalog.
2. In the Read Settings for the Catalog, click Settings and set the queries to retrieve the schema:
   • To retrieve the list of tables, use the following query:

     
     SELECT 
       * 
     FROM 
       SYS_TABLES
             

   • To retrieve the list of columns for selected tables, use the following query:

     
     SELECT DISTINCT 
       CatalogName NAME_SPACE, 
       TableName TAB_NAME, 
       ColumnName COL_NAME, 
       DataTypeName DATA_TYPE, 
       Length DATA_LEN, 
       NumericPrecision DATA_PREC, 
       NumericScale DATA_SCALE 
     FROM 
       SYS_TABLECOLUMNS 
     WHERE 
       TableName IN (#TABLE_LIST#) 
     ORDER BY
       1,2,3
             

   
3. Select tables to be used in the project.

Using the CData JDBC Driver for Sage X3 Cloud in MicroStrategy, you can easily create robust visualizations and reports on Sage X3 Cloud data. Read our other articles on connecting to Sage X3 Cloud in MictroStrategy Web and connecting to Sage X3 Cloud in MicroStrategy Desktop for more information.

Note: Connecting using a JDBC Driver requires a 3- or 4-Tier Architecture.