Build MVC Applications with Connectivity to SAS xpt Data



This article shows how to use only the Entity Framework and the CData ADO.NET provider to access SAS xpt from an ASP.NET MVC application.

In this article, we will guide you through the process of utilizing wizards within Visual Studio to seamlessly integrate the CData ADO.NET Provider for SAS xpt into a basic MVC (Model, View, Controller) project.

Create the Entity Framework Model

Follow the steps below to save connection properties and map tables to entities in the data model.

  1. Create a new MVC project in Visual Studio. In this example, the project name is MvcSASXptApp.
  2. If you are using Entity Framework 6, you will need to take the preliminary step of registering the SAS xpt Entity Framework provider for your project. See the "LINQ and Entity Framework" chapter in the help documentation for a guide.

    Note that MVC 3 scaffolding and MVC 4 scaffolding do not support Entity Framework 6. You can use your scaffolding with Entity Framework 6 by upgrading to the latest version of MVC.

  3. To add the .edmx file from the designer, right-click your Models folder and click Add New Item. Select ADO.NET Entity Data Model, name the model, and click Add. In this example, the name of the model is SASXptModel.
  4. In the Entity Data Model wizard, select the option 'EF Designer from database'. The Entity Data Model wizard is displayed.
  5. Click New Connection. Select CData SAS xpt Data Source in the dialog that is displayed.
  6. Specify the required connection string properties.

    Connecting to Local SASXpt Files

    You can connect to local SASXpt file by setting the URI to a folder containing SASXpt files.

    Connecting to S3 data source

    You can connect to Amazon S3 source to read SASXpt files. Set the following properties to connect:

    • URI: Set this to the folder within your bucket that you would like to connect to.
    • AWSAccessKey: Set this to your AWS account access key.
    • AWSSecretKey: Set this to your AWS account secret key.
    • TemporaryLocalFolder: Set this to the path, or URI, to the folder that is used to temporarily download SASXpt file(s).

    Connecting to Azure Data Lake Storage Gen2

    You can connect to ADLS Gen2 to read SASXpt files. Set the following properties to connect:

    • URI: Set this to the name of the file system and the name of the folder which contacts your SASXpt files.
    • AzureAccount: Set this to the name of the Azure Data Lake storage account.
    • AzureAccessKey: Set this to our Azure DataLakeStore Gen 2 storage account access key.
    • TemporaryLocalFolder: Set this to the path, or URI, to the folder that is used to temporarily download SASXpt file(s).

    A typical connection string is below:

    URI=C:/folder;
  7. Name the connection and select whether to include sensitive information, such as connection credentials, in the connection string. For simplicity, this example saves sensitive information in Web.config. The connection settings are saved as SASXptEntities.

  8. Select the views you need. In this example, SampleTable_1 is imported. Also, the option to pluralize object names is deselected in this example. Click Finish to create the .edmx file.
  9. Build your project to complete this step.

Scaffold the Controller and Views

Once you've established the model and completed the project build, you can employ ASP.NET Scaffolding wizards to generate both the controller and the views.

  1. In Solution Explorer, right-click the controllers folder and click Add -> Controller. Select MVC 5 Controller with views, using Entity Framework.
  2. In the Add Controller dialog that is then displayed, select the following options:

    • Model class: Select a table you imported; for example, SampleTable_1.
    • Data context class: Select your context class.
  3. Leave the default values for the other fields.

You can now access the list of SampleTable_1 records at http://MySite/SampleTable_1. With every state change the site picks up any data changes.

Ready to get started?

Download a free trial of the SASxpt Data Provider to get started:

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