BW queries can be consumed
by 3rd party BI tools for long time. This feature needs to be enabled
for particular query. To enable it there are settings that are to be done in BEx Query Designer.
Furthermore there are even more settings that can be set in the query level
with regards to external access to the query’s data. In this blog post I look
at these settings.
Following flags are
available in BEx
Query Designer under Properties section of the query and on tab called “Extended”.
1. flag 'By OLE DB for OLAP' = Allows to
consume the query in external reporting tools that uses the query as data source.
Sometimes such a query is it is referred as ODBO provider or just ODBO (Ole DB for Olap. The flag is
present physically in following database tables:
RSRREPDIR-RFCSUPPORT - Report supports access using
OLAP API
RSZELTPROP-RFCSUPPORT
2. flag 'By Easy Query' = so called Easy Query (EQ) flag. It allows an access
of the query for external access as an Easy Query. The
EQ is static query with no formatting settings and it can be used as SOAP service.
Once this flag is enabled for particular query then it needs to be managed in Easy
Query Manager (tcode EQMANAGER) in
BW’s backend system. The flag is present physically in following database table:
RSZELTPROP- EQSUPPORT - Query: RFC
Publishing as VirtualProvider (yes/no)
3. flag 'By OData' = so called OData Query flag.
It allows consuming of the query data by ODATA service. It
is also an integration of SAP Business Warehouse with SAP Gateway system where
it provides analytic queries of in BW system as BW OData Queries for mobile
scenarios. The flag is present physically in following database table:
RSZELTPROP-ODATASUPPORT
Both the EQ and OData techniques
are focused on so called lightweight consumption. This means that need SAP Gateway to be
used. Easy queries can be used also via SOAP or RFC as REST based services.
The above two techniques are
also part of BW’s Open
Analysis Interfaces. This is meat with regards to extraction of the data from
source systems and analyzing of the data in BW in various reporting front-end
tools.
4. flag 'HANASUPPORT' – Means generation of external SAP HANA view for BW
object. There are many BW’s objects for which the HANA view can be generated
and the BEx query is one of these. The HANA view is not used by BW itself but
by SAP HANA natively while accessing the SAP BW. The flag is present physically
in following database table:
RSZELTPROP-HANASUPPORT
Please note that flag no 1
is available for long time and was introduced in BEx Query Designer 7.x.
However for flags 2 and 3 there is a prerequisite to run SAP NetWeaver 7.0 BW
Front End for GUI 720.
Useful information:
1598778 - Query
property 'Release for External Access by Easy Query'
1601473 - Query
property 'Release for External Access by Easy Query'
2103222 -
Generation and Transportation of BEx Query with active OData-Flag
6 comments:
Very good post !!!
I am not SAP BW user, but as PL/SQL developer I need to connect to BEx Query and I am wondering how to do it. Let me resume your post:
1. ODBO is for BI tools, like Excel, BO and so on
2. Easy Query is for SOAP
3. OData is for REST, but for all I read this is not used in PL/SQL
On the other hand I read about BEx Query APIs RESTful Web Service, but it is the same as OData or this is quite different case used in BO only ?
Best Regards,
Bart
Hi Bart,
there can be several things related to a term "BI Query APIs RESTful Web Service".
First of all in case the BI is meant as BO (BusinessObjects) then there are possibilities how to expose the BO objects like Web Intelligence or BI Semantic Layer, see here:
REST API Quick Reference
Data Provider APIs this is basically coming out of the box from BO software.
In case by BI is meant an BW then there is a possibility to create custom RESTful service for BW (formerly BEx) queries like suggested e.g. here:
Expose BI Query as RESTful Service
Perhaps there is a possibility how to consume either BW rest service or in general OData approach in your PL/SQL.
cheers
Hi Martin,
in fact I don't understand. RESTful mechanism works in what case ? When Business Objects is running and it is one of his API ?
I found other SAP application - BEx Web Application Designer.
https://help.sap.com/saphelp_scm41/helpdata/en/d8/3bfc3f8fc2c542e10000000a1550b0/content.htm?no_cache=true
but again the same question, this app needs to run some web application to able to use its API ?
Hi Bart,
perhaps it would be easy to start with what technology you have. Do you need to expose BW (sometimes called BEx) query or do you have BusinessObjects tool (Web Intelligence, Crystal Reports, etc)?
BEx Web Application Designer - runs on top of SAP BW. It is tool to create web apps. I do not think it is your case that you would need it.
cheers
Thank you Martin for all you replies.
In fact there are used all apps you mentioned.
For me it is case that from PL/SQL I can reach data only by Web Services, so SOAP or REST.
I thought about REST as it is easiest, but in this case BEx offers only ODATA REST, so I can't use it, only SOAP, which is very complex, because of XML format.
And here are my doubts - if every SAP application has its own API, so which one should be the easiest and possible ?
I resume my understanding of possible APIs in our case:
1. BEx Query Designer API:
1a. ODBO for BI tools, like Excel, BO, etc...
1b. Easy Query for SOAP
1c. OData for REST
2. BEx Web Application Designer to produce Web App (link) and get access to data using SOAP
3. BO with RESTful
Do i understand it correctly ?
Hi Bart,
if I understand it correctly you need to consume BW (or BEx) query in PS/SQL environment.
The easiest way I think would be to use ODATA by enabling its check box at BEx Query level. But seems you for some reason you do not want to you it.
What about SAP BW Easy Query? Also you can Generate web service (on top of Function Module) in SAP BW system which will trigger the BEx query execution.
But this would require an custom programming in ABAP.
I think more less your understanding is right.
cheers
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