Natively Connect to SAP SuccessFactors LMS Data in PHP

Drop the CData ODBC Driver for SAP SuccessFactors LMS into your LAMP or WAMP stack to build SAP SuccessFactors LMS-connected Web applications. This article shows how to use PHP's ODBC built-in functions to connect to SAP SuccessFactors LMS 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.

SAP SuccessFactors LMS uses OAuth authentication. Before connecting, you must configure an OAuth application tied to your SAP SuccessFactors LMS account.

To establish a connection, set the following properties:

• User: Your SAP SuccessFactors LMS username.
• CompanyId: Your SAP SuccessFactors company identifier.
• Url: The SAP SuccessFactors API URL (e.g., https://api4.successfactors.com).
• OAuthClientId: The client Id assigned when you registered your custom OAuth application.
• OAuthClientSecret: The client secret assigned when you registered your custom OAuth application.

See the Getting Started chapter of the help documentation for a guide to creating a custom OAuth app and using OAuth.

Establish a Connection

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

$conn = odbc_connect("CData ODBC SAPSuccessFactorsLMS 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.

$conn = odbc_pconnect("CData ODBC SAPSuccessFactorsLMS Source","user","password");
...
odbc_close($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 Items WHERE Active = ?");

Execute Queries

Execute prepared statements with odbc_execute.

$conn = odbc_connect("CData ODBC SAPSuccessFactorsLMS Source","user","password");
$query = odbc_prepare($conn, "SELECT * FROM Items WHERE Active = ?");
$success = odbc_execute($query, array('true'));
  

Execute nonparameterized queries with odbc_exec.

$conn = odbc_connect("CData ODBC SAPSuccessFactorsLMS Source","user","password");
$query = odbc_exec($conn, "SELECT ItemID, ItemTitle FROM [Admin].[Search_Service].[Items] WHERE Active = true");
  

Process Results

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

$conn = odbc_connect("CData ODBC SAP SuccessFactors LMS data Source","user","password");
$query = odbc_exec($conn, "SELECT ItemID, ItemTitle FROM [Admin].[Search_Service].[Items] WHERE Active = true");
while($row = odbc_fetch_array($query)){
 echo $row["ItemID"] . "\n";
}

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

$conn = odbc_connect("CData ODBC SAP SuccessFactors LMS data Source","user","password");
$query = odbc_prepare($conn, "SELECT * FROM Items WHERE Active = ?");
$success = odbc_execute($query, array('true'));
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 SuccessFactors LMS-specific adaptations of the PHP community documentation for all ODBC functions.