Connect to SAS xpt Data from HeidiSQL

Mohsin Turki
Mohsin Turki
Technical Marketing Engineer
Use CData Connect AI to connect to and query live SAS xpt data from HeidiSQL.

HeidiSQL is an open-source database administration tool that natively supports MariaDB, MySQL, SQL Server, and PostgreSQL. When paired with CData Connect AI, HediSQL reach extends to include access to live SAS xpt data. This article demonstrates how to connect to SAS xpt using Connect AI and query SAS xpt data in HeidiSQL.

CData Connect AI provides a pure SQL Server interface for SAS xpt, allowing you to query data from SAS xpt without replicating the data to a natively supported database. Using optimized data processing out of the box, CData Connect AI pushes all supported SQL operations (filters, JOINs, etc.) directly to SAS xpt, leveraging server-side processing to return the requested SAS xpt data quickly.

Configure SAS xpt Connectivity for HeidiSQL

Connectivity to SAS xpt from HeidiSQL is made possible through CData Connect AI. To work with SAS xpt data from HeidiSQL, 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.

Add a Personal Access Token

When connecting to Connect AI through the REST API, the OData API, or the Virtual SQL Server, a Personal Access Token (PAT) is used to authenticate the connection to Connect AI. It is best practice to create a separate PAT for each service to maintain granularity of access.

  1. Click on the Gear icon () at the top right of the Connect AI app to open the settings page.
  2. On the Settings page, go to the Access Tokens section and click Create PAT.
  3. Give the PAT a name and click Create.
  4. The personal access token is only visible at creation, so be sure to copy it and store it securely for future use.

With the connection configured and a PAT generated, you are ready to connect to SAS xpt data from HeidiSQL.

Connect to SAS xpt from HeidiSQL using Connect AI

To establish a connection from HeidiSQL to the CData Connect AI Virtual SQL Server API, follow these steps.

Create a new HeidiSQL Session

  1. In the Session Manager, select New in the bottom-left
  2. Give the new session a descriptive name, e.g. Connect-Cloud-SAS xpt

Configure a SQL Server Connection to Connect AI

  1. In the session settings, set the Network type to Microsoft SQL Server (TCP/IP)
  2. The Library DLL should automatically update to MSOLEDBSQL
  3. Set the Hostname/IP to tds.cdata.com
  4. Set the User to your CData Connect AI username. This is displayed in the top-right corner of the CData Connect AI interface. For example, [email protected]
  5. Set the Password to your PAT created in Connect AI in the previous section.
  6. Set the Port to 14333

Query SAS xpt from HeidiSQL

  1. In the database listing on the left, find your connection to SAS xpt configured earlier.
  2. Expand this connection to view individual tables or data objects present within SAS xpt.
  3. Write custom SQL queries targeting these tables, treating the data source like any SQL Server database, or visually explore each tabular data set by selecting the relevant tables

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