Natively Connect to SAP BusinessObjects BI Data in PHP

The CData ODBC driver for SAP BusinessObjects BI enables you to create PHP applications with connectivity to SAP BusinessObjects BI data. Leverage the native support for ODBC in PHP.

Drop the CData ODBC Driver for SAP BusinessObjects BI into your LAMP or WAMP stack to build SAP BusinessObjects BI-connected Web applications. This article shows how to use PHP's ODBC built-in functions to connect to SAP BusinessObjects BI data, execute queries, and output the results.

Configure a DSN

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.

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.

Establish a Connection

Open the connection to SAP BusinessObjects BI by calling the odbc_connect or odbc_pconnect methods. To close connections, use odbc_close or odbc_close_all.


$conn = odbc_connect("CData ODBC SAPBusinessObjectsBI Source","user","password");

Connections opened with odbc_connect are closed when the script ends. Connections opened with the odbc_pconnect method are still open after the script ends. This enables other scripts to share that connection when they connect with the same credentials. By sharing connections among your scripts, you can save system resources, and queries execute faster.


$conn = odbc_pconnect("CData ODBC SAPBusinessObjectsBI Source","user","password");
...
odbc_close($conn); //persistent connection must be closed explicitly

Create Prepared Statements

Create prepared statements and parameterized queries with the odbc_prepare function.


$query = odbc_prepare($conn, "SELECT * FROM MyCustomReport WHERE State = ?");

Execute Queries

Execute prepared statements with odbc_execute.


$conn = odbc_connect("CData ODBC SAPBusinessObjectsBI Source","user","password");
$query = odbc_prepare($conn, "SELECT * FROM MyCustomReport WHERE State = ?");
$success = odbc_execute($query, array('CA'));

Execute nonparameterized queries with odbc_exec.


$conn = odbc_connect("CData ODBC SAPBusinessObjectsBI Source","user","password");
$query = odbc_exec($conn, "SELECT StoreName, TotalRevenue FROM MyCustomReport WHERE State = 'CA'");

Process Results

Access a row in the result set as an array with the odbc_fetch_array function.


$conn = odbc_connect("CData ODBC SAP BusinessObjects BI data Source","user","password");
$query = odbc_exec($conn, "SELECT StoreName, TotalRevenue FROM MyCustomReport WHERE State = 'CA'");
while($row = odbc_fetch_array($query)){
 echo $row["StoreName"] . "\n";
}

Display the result set in an HTML table with the odbc_result_all function.


$conn = odbc_connect("CData ODBC SAP BusinessObjects BI data Source","user","password");
$query = odbc_prepare($conn, "SELECT * FROM MyCustomReport WHERE State = ?");
$success = odbc_execute($query, array('CA'));
if($success)
  odbc_result_all($query);

More Example Queries

You will find complete information on the driver's supported SQL in the help documentation. The code examples above are SAP BusinessObjects BI-specific adaptations of the PHP community documentation for all ODBC functions.

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SAP BusinessObjects BI ODBC Driver

The SAP BusinessObjects BI ODBC Driver is a powerful tool that allows you to connect with live data from SAP BusinessObjects BI, directly from any applications that support ODBC connectivity.

Access SAP BusinessObjects BI data like you would a database through standard ODBC Driver interface.