Use Dash to Build to Web Apps on SAP BusinessObjects BI Data

The rich ecosystem of Python modules lets you get to work quickly and integrate your systems more effectively. With the CData Python Connector for SAP BusinessObjects BI, the pandas module, and the Dash framework, you can build SAP BusinessObjects BI-connected web applications for SAP BusinessObjects BI data. This article shows how to connect to SAP BusinessObjects BI with the CData Connector and use pandas and Dash to build a simple web app for visualizing SAP BusinessObjects BI data.

With built-in, optimized data processing, the CData Python Connector offers unmatched performance for interacting with live SAP BusinessObjects BI data in Python. When you issue complex SQL queries from 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

Connecting to SAP BusinessObjects BI data looks just like connecting to any relational data source. Create a connection string using the required connection properties. For this article, you will pass the connection string as a parameter to the create_engine function.

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.

After installing the CData SAP BusinessObjects BI Connector, follow the procedure below to install the other required modules and start accessing SAP BusinessObjects BI through Python objects.

Install Required Modules

Use the pip utility to install the required modules and frameworks:

pip install pandas
pip install dash
pip install dash-daq

Visualize SAP BusinessObjects BI Data in Python

Once the required modules and frameworks are installed, we are ready to build our web app. Code snippets follow, but the full source code is available at the end of the article.

First, be sure to import the modules (including the CData Connector) with the following:

import os
import dash
import dash_core_components as dcc
import dash_html_components as html
import pandas as pd
import cdata.sapbusinessobjectsbi as mod
import plotly.graph_objs as go

You can now connect with a connection string. Use the connect function for the CData SAP BusinessObjects BI Connector to create a connection for working with SAP BusinessObjects BI data.

cnxn = mod.connect("User=username;Password=password;Url=http://myinstance:6405/biprws")

Execute SQL to SAP BusinessObjects BI

Use the read_sql function from pandas to execute any SQL statement and store the result set in a DataFrame.

df = pd.read_sql("SELECT StoreName, TotalRevenue FROM MyCustomReport WHERE State = 'CA'", cnxn)

Configure the Web App

With the query results stored in a DataFrame, we can begin configuring the web app, assigning a name, stylesheet, and title.

app_name = 'dash-sapbusinessobjectsbiedataplot'

external_stylesheets = ['https://codepen.io/chriddyp/pen/bWLwgP.css']

app = dash.Dash(__name__, external_stylesheets=external_stylesheets)
app.title = 'CData + Dash'

Configure the Layout

The next step is to create a bar graph based on our SAP BusinessObjects BI data and configure the app layout.

trace = go.Bar(x=df.StoreName, y=df.TotalRevenue, name='StoreName')

app.layout = html.Div(children=[html.H1("CData Extension + Dash", style={'textAlign': 'center'}),
	dcc.Graph(
		id='example-graph',
		figure={
			'data': [trace],
			'layout':
			go.Layout(title='SAP BusinessObjects BI MyCustomReport Data', barmode='stack')
		})
], className="container")

Set the App to Run

With the connection, app, and layout configured, we are ready to run the app. The last lines of Python code follow.

if __name__ == '__main__':
    app.run_server(debug=True)

Now, use Python to run the web app and a browser to view the SAP BusinessObjects BI data.

python sapbusinessobjectsbi-dash.py

Free Trial & More Information

Download a free, 30-day trial of the CData Python Connector for SAP BusinessObjects BI to start building Python apps with connectivity to SAP BusinessObjects BI data. Reach out to our Support Team if you have any questions.

Full Source Code

import os
import dash
import dash_core_components as dcc
import dash_html_components as html
import pandas as pd
import cdata.sapbusinessobjectsbi as mod
import plotly.graph_objs as go

cnxn = mod.connect("User=username;Password=password;Url=http://myinstance:6405/biprws")

df = pd.read_sql("SELECT StoreName, TotalRevenue FROM MyCustomReport WHERE State = 'CA'", cnxn)
app_name = 'dash-sapbusinessobjectsbidataplot'

external_stylesheets = ['https://codepen.io/chriddyp/pen/bWLwgP.css']

app = dash.Dash(__name__, external_stylesheets=external_stylesheets)
app.title = 'CData + Dash'
trace = go.Bar(x=df.StoreName, y=df.TotalRevenue, name='StoreName')

app.layout = html.Div(children=[html.H1("CData Extension + Dash", style={'textAlign': 'center'}),
	dcc.Graph(
		id='example-graph',
		figure={
			'data': [trace],
			'layout':
			go.Layout(title='SAP BusinessObjects BI MyCustomReport Data', barmode='stack')
		})
], className="container")

if __name__ == '__main__':
    app.run_server(debug=True)