Create Reports from SAS xpt Data in Looker Studio

Looker Studio, formerly known as Google Data Studio, empowers users to craft customized reports featuring data visualizations that can be shared with clients while reflecting your brand identity. When combined with CData Connect AI, you gain immediate cloud-to-cloud access to SAS xpt data to create visualizations, dashboards, and more. This article provides step-by-step instructions on establishing a virtual database for SAS xpt and generating reports from SAS xpt data within Looker Studio.

CData Connect AI offers a seamless cloud-to-cloud interface tailored for SAS xpt, making it straightforward to construct reports directly from live SAS xpt data within Looker Studio without the need for data replication. As you create visualizations, Looker Studio generates queries to retrieve data. With its inherent optimized data processing capabilities, CData Connect AI efficiently channels all supported query operations, including filters, JOINs, and more, directly to SAS xpt. This leverages server-side processing to swiftly provide the requested SAS xpt data.

Configure SAS xpt Connectivity for Looker Studio

Connectivity to SAS xpt from Looker Studio is made possible through CData Connect AI. To work with SAS xpt data from Looker Studio, we start by creating and configuring a SAS xpt connection.

1. Log into Connect AI, click Sources, and then click Add Connection

2. Select "SAS xpt" from the Add Connection panel

3. Enter the necessary authentication properties to connect to SAS xpt.

   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).
   
4. Click Save & Test
5. Navigate to the Permissions tab in the Add SAS xpt Connection page and update the User-based permissions.

With the connection configured, you are ready to connect to SAS xpt data from Looker Studio.

Visualize Live SAS xpt Data from Looker Studio

The steps below outline connecting to CData Connect AI from Looker Studio to create a new SAS xpt data source and build a simple visualization from the data.

1. Log into Looker Studio, click data sources, create a new data source, and choose CData Connect AI Connector.

2. Click Authorize and allow access to your Google account.
3. Click Authorize to authenticate with your CData Connect AI instance
4. In the CData Connect AI Connector in Looker Studio select Connections to import from the dropdown and click Next

5. Now select a Connection (e.g. SASXpt1) and click Next
6. Select a Table (e.g. SampleTable_1) or use a Custom Query and click Connect to continue
7. If needed, modify columns, click Create Report, and add the data source to the report.

8. Select a visualization style and add it to the report.
9. Select Dimensions and Measures to customize your visualization.

Live Access to SAS xpt Data from Cloud Applications

Now you have a direct, cloud-to-cloud connection to live SAS xpt data from your Looker Studio workbook. You can create more data sources and new visualizations, build reports, and more — all without replicating SAS xpt data.

Try CData Connect AI and get real-time data access to hundreds of SaaS, Big Data, and NoSQL sources directly from your cloud applications.