Use Dash to Build to Web Apps on SAP Business One DI 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 Business One DI, the pandas module, and the Dash framework, you can build SAP Business One DI-connected web applications for SAP Business One DI data. This article shows how to connect to SAP Business One DI with the CData Connector and use pandas and Dash to build a simple web app for visualizing SAP Business One DI data.

With built-in, optimized data processing, the CData Python Connector offers unmatched performance for interacting with live SAP Business One DI data in Python. When you issue complex SQL queries from SAP Business One DI, the driver pushes supported SQL operations, like filters and aggregations, directly to SAP Business One DI and utilizes the embedded SQL engine to process unsupported operations client-side (often SQL functions and JOIN operations).

Connecting to SAP Business One DI Data

Connecting to SAP Business One DI 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 SAP Business One DI data, specify the following connection properties:

• DBServerType: The type of server being connected to.
• Server: The name or IP address of the Business One DI server to connect to.
• CompanyDB: The company to connect to.
• User: The username used when connecting to the LicenseServer.
• Password: The password used when connecting to the LicenseServer.
• LicenseServer (optional): Set this if your License Server is different from the Server.
• UseTrusted (optional): Set to TRUE to connect using Windows credentials.

After installing the CData SAP Business One DI Connector, follow the procedure below to install the other required modules and start accessing SAP Business One DI 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 Business One DI 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.sapbusinessonedi as mod
import plotly.graph_objs as go

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

cnxn = mod.connect("Server=ServerName;DBServerType=MSSQL_2016;CompanyDB=SBODemoCA;User=manager;Password=manager;")

Execute SQL to SAP Business One DI

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 AcctCode, AcctName FROM OACT WHERE AcctName = 'account_name'", 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-sapbusinessonediedataplot'

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 Business One DI data and configure the app layout.

trace = go.Bar(x=df.AcctCode, y=df.AcctName, name='AcctCode')

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 Business One DI OACT 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 Business One DI data.

python sapbusinessonedi-dash.py

Free Trial & More Information

Download a free, 30-day trial of the SAP Business One DI Python Connector to start building Python apps with connectivity to SAP Business One DI 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.sapbusinessonedi as mod
import plotly.graph_objs as go

cnxn = mod.connect("Server=ServerName;DBServerType=MSSQL_2016;CompanyDB=SBODemoCA;User=manager;Password=manager;")

df = pd.read_sql("SELECT AcctCode, AcctName FROM OACT WHERE AcctName = 'account_name'", cnxn)
app_name = 'dash-sapbusinessonedidataplot'

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.AcctCode, y=df.AcctName, name='AcctCode')

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 Business One DI OACT Data', barmode='stack')
		})
], className="container")

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