SAP Business One Connection Details¶

Introduction¶

Connector Version

This documentation is based on version 23.0.8852 of the connector.

Get Started¶

SAP Business One Version Support

The connector enables standards-based access to SAP Business One On-Premises and Cloud editions 9.1, 9.2, 9.3, and 10.0, surfacing the entities available in the SAP Business One Service Layer by querying the underlying OData API.

Establish a Connection¶

Connect to SAP Business One APIs¶

To connect to data, specify the following:

• URL: Set this to your SAP Business One Service Layer root URL.
• CompanyDB: Set this to your SAP Business One company database.

Authenticate to SAP Business One APIs¶

To authenticate to SAP Business One, you must provide the User and Password connection properties.

Important Notes¶

Configuration Files and Their Paths¶

• All references to adding configuration files and their paths refer to files and locations on the Harmony Agent where the connector is installed. These paths are to be adjusted as appropriate depending on the agent and the operating system. If multiple agents are used in an agent group, identical files will be required on each agent.

Advanced Features¶

This section details a selection of advanced features of the SAP Business One connector.

User Defined Views

The connector allows you to define virtual tables, called user defined views, whose contents are decided by a pre-configured query. These views are useful when you cannot directly control queries being issued to the drivers. See User Defined Views for an overview of creating and configuring custom views.

SSL Configuration

Use SSL Configuration to adjust how connector handles TLS/SSL certificate negotiations. You can choose from various certificate formats; see the SSLServerCert property under "Connection String Options" for more information.

Proxy

To configure the connector using Private Agent proxy settings, select the Use Proxy Settings checkbox on the connection configuration screen.

Query Processing

The connector offloads as much of the SELECT statement processing as possible to SAP Business One and then processes the rest of the query in memory (client-side).

See Query Processing for more information.

User Defined Views¶

The SAP Business One connector allows you to define a virtual table whose contents are decided by a pre-configured query. These are called User Defined Views, which are useful in situations where you cannot directly control the query being issued to the driver, e.g. when using the driver from Jitterbit. The User Defined Views can be used to define predicates that are always applied. If you specify additional predicates in the query to the view, they are combined with the query already defined as part of the view.

There are two ways to create user defined views:

• Create a JSON-formatted configuration file defining the views you want.
• DDL statements.

Define Views Using a Configuration File¶

User Defined Views are defined in a JSON-formatted configuration file called UserDefinedViews.json. The connector automatically detects the views specified in this file.

You can also have multiple view definitions and control them using the UserDefinedViews connection property. When you use this property, only the specified views are seen by the connector.

This User Defined View configuration file is formatted as follows:

• Each root element defines the name of a view.
• Each root element contains a child element, called query, which contains the custom SQL query for the view.

For example:

{
    "MyView": {
        "query": "SELECT * FROM Orders WHERE MyColumn = 'value'"
    },
    "MyView2": {
        "query": "SELECT * FROM MyTable WHERE Id IN (1,2,3)"
    }
}

Use the UserDefinedViews connection property to specify the location of your JSON configuration file. For example:

"UserDefinedViews", "C:\Users\yourusername\Desktop\tmp\UserDefinedViews.json"

Define Views Using DDL Statements¶

The connector is also capable of creating and altering the schema via DDL Statements such as CREATE LOCAL VIEW, ALTER LOCAL VIEW, and DROP LOCAL VIEW.

Create a View¶

To create a new view using DDL statements, provide the view name and query as follows:

CREATE LOCAL VIEW [MyViewName] AS SELECT * FROM Customers LIMIT 20;

If no JSON file exists, the above code creates one. The view is then created in the JSON configuration file and is now discoverable. The JSON file location is specified by the UserDefinedViews connection property.

Alter a View¶

To alter an existing view, provide the name of an existing view alongside the new query you would like to use instead:

ALTER LOCAL VIEW [MyViewName] AS SELECT * FROM Customers WHERE TimeModified > '3/1/2020';

The view is then updated in the JSON configuration file.

Drop a View¶

To drop an existing view, provide the name of an existing schema alongside the new query you would like to use instead.

DROP LOCAL VIEW [MyViewName]

This removes the view from the JSON configuration file. It can no longer be queried.

Schema for User Defined Views¶

User Defined Views are exposed in the UserViews schema by default. This is done to avoid the view's name clashing with an actual entity in the data model. You can change the name of the schema used for UserViews by setting the UserViewsSchemaName property.

Work with User Defined Views¶

For example, a SQL statement with a User Defined View called UserViews.RCustomers only lists customers in Raleigh:

SELECT * FROM Customers WHERE City = 'Raleigh';

An example of a query to the driver:

SELECT * FROM UserViews.RCustomers WHERE Status = 'Active';

Resulting in the effective query to the source:

SELECT * FROM Customers WHERE City = 'Raleigh' AND Status = 'Active';

That is a very simple example of a query to a User Defined View that is effectively a combination of the view query and the view definition. It is possible to compose these queries in much more complex patterns. All SQL operations are allowed in both queries and are combined when appropriate.

SSL Configuration¶

Customize the SSL Configuration¶

By default, the connector attempts to negotiate SSL/TLS by checking the server's certificate against the system's trusted certificate store.

To specify another certificate, see the SSLServerCert property for the available formats to do so.

Data Model¶

The SAP Business One connector connects to SAP Business One Service Layer, an OData service, to model entities in relational Tables and Views. The table definitions are dynamically obtained from the SAP Business One Service Layer. Any changes in the metadata, such as added or removed columns or changes in data type, can be loaded by reconnecting.

Tables

The connector models the writable entity sets and singletons described in the service metadata document as bidirectional Tables.

Views

Some OData entities can only be accessed through Navigation Properties. By default, the connector models navigation properties as separate views. You can disable this behavior with NavigationPropertiesAsViews. See Views for more information on querying navigation properties.

Tables¶

The connector exposes tables for every entity set and singleton defined on the SAP Business One Service Layer root URL. Entities on these tables may be inserted, updated, or deleted using standard SQL insert, update, or delete statements.

Executing Deep Inserts with SQL¶

The connector supports OData deep inserts, in which you simultaneously create a base entity and link it to related entities, by specifying navigation properties. To specify Navigation Properties for an entity, you create a temporary table for the navigation property and then reference the temporary table in the insert to the base table. Reference the temporary table in the appropriate navigation property column on the base table. Each navigation property column is prefixed with the word "Linked".

Note that you must define the temporary tables and insert to the base entity within the same connection.

Example: Deep Inserts in Northwind¶

For example, consider the Orders table in Northwind odata.org test service. To create a new Order, you specify the Products ordered, Customer, Employee, and Shipper. To do so, you need to specify the following navigation properties.

Creating Temporary Tables¶

Insert the related entities into temporary tables that correspond to each navigation property. You can specify an existing entity's primary key or you can insert a new entity.

• Customer: The following statement creates a new Customer:

  INSERT INTO Customers#TEMP (CustomerID, CompanyName, ContactName, ContactTitle, Address, City, PostalCode, Country, Phone, Fax)
  
  VALUES ('VINET', 'Vins et alcools Chevalier', 'Paul Henriot', 'Accounting Manager', '59 rue de l''Abbaye', 'Reims', '51100', 'France', '26.47.15.10', '26.47.15.11')
  

• Order Details: The following statements add two Products to the Order:

  INSERT INTO Order_Details#TEMP (ProductID, UnitPrice, Quantity, Discount) VALUES (72, 34.80, 5, 0)
  
  INSERT INTO Order_Details#TEMP (ProductID, UnitPrice, Quantity, Discount) VALUES (42, 9.80, 10, 0)
  

• Employee: The following statement specifies the existing Employee:

  INSERT INTO Employees#TEMP (EmployeeID)
  VALUES (5)
  

• Shipper: The following statement specifies the existing Shipper:

  INSERT INTO Shippers#TEMP (ShipperID) VALUES (3) 
  

The SAP Business One connector will assume that the Shipper and Employee already exist and will only link to the existing references since only the primary keys were specified for either. When more than just the primary key is defined, such as the examples for Customer and Order_Details, the SAP Business One connector will attempt to create new entries - triggering the deep insert.

Inserting the Entity¶

In the INSERT statement for the base entity, reference the temporary tables in the LinkedOrder_Details, LinkedCustomer, LinkedEmployee, and LinkedShipper columns:

INSERT INTO Orders (CustomerID, EmployeeID, ShipVia, ShipName, ShipAddress, ShipCity, ShipPostalCode, ShipCountry, OrderDate, LinkedOrder_Details, LinkedCustomer, LinkedEmployee, LinkedShipper) VALUES ('VINET', 5, 3, 'Paul Henriot', '59 rue de l''Abbaye', 'Reims', '51100', 'France', '07/04/1996', 'Order_Details#TEMP', 'Customers#TEMP', 'Employees#TEMP', 'Shippers#TEMP')

Code Example¶

Below is the complete code to create the new Order:

Connection conn = DriverManager.getConnection("jdbc:sapbusinessone:Url=http://localhost:50000/b1s/v1;User=username;Password=password;CompanyDB=dbname;");
Statement stat = conn.createStatement();
stat.executeUpdate("INSERT INTO Customers#TEMP (CustomerID, CompanyName, ContactName, ContactTitle, Address, City, PostalCode, Country, Phone, Fax) VALUES ('VINET', 'Vins et alcools Chevalier', 'Paul Henriot', 'Accounting Manager', '59 rue de l''Abbaye', 'Reims', '51100', 'France', '26.47.15.10', '26.47.15.11')");

stat.executeUpdate("INSERT INTO Order_Details#TEMP (ProductID, UnitPrice, Quantity, Discount) VALUES (72, 34.80, 5, 0)");

stat.executeUpdate("INSERT INTO Order_Details#TEMP (ProductID, UnitPrice, Quantity, Discount) VALUES (42, 9.80, 10, 0)");

stat.executeUpdate("INSERT INTO Employees#TEMP (EmployeeID) VALUES (5)");

stat.executeUpdate("INSERT INTO Shippers#TEMP (ShipperID) VALUES (3)");

stat.executeUpdate("INSERT INTO Orders (CustomerID, EmployeeID, ShipVia, ShipName, ShipAddress, ShipCity, ShipPostalCode, ShipCountry, OrderDate, LinkedOrder_Details, LinkedCustomer, LinkedEmployee, LinkedShipper) VALUES ('VINET', 5, 3, 'Paul Henriot', '59 rue de l''Abbaye', 'Reims', '51100', 'France', '07/04/1996', 'Order_Details#TEMP', 'Customers#TEMP', 'Employees#TEMP', 'Shippers#TEMP')");

stat.close();

Views¶

Modeling Navigation Properties¶

By default, the connector models Navigation Properties as separate views. The views are named in the format ParentTable_NavigationProperty. You can disable this behavior with NavigationPropertiesAsViews.

Querying Navigation Properties¶

For an example of working with a navigation property as a view, consider BusinessPartners. The BusinessPartners entity set has an Orders navigation property. The SAP Business One connector will display a view called BusinessPartners_Orders for this service. Retrieving data from BusinessPartners_Orders will display all of the Orders associated with a given BusinessPartner. The BusinessPartners_Orders view has a primary key made up of the primary key of the parent entity and the primary key of the related entity.

Support for navigation properties is currently limited in SAP Business One Service Layer. As of the time of this writing, it is only supported in ODataVersion 3.0. See NavigationPropertiesAsViews to toggle the behavior of this functionality.

Navigation Properties¶

In OData, a navigation property is a property on an entity that is itself either a single entity or list of entities.

A single-entity navigation property signifies a one-to-one relationship; for example, an OData service might allow a Product to have only one Category. In this service, Category might be a navigation property on Products.

An entity set navigation property signifies a one-to-many relationship; for example, many Products can belong in the same Category. In this service, Products might be a navigation property on Categories.

Working with Navigation Properties Relationally¶

Navigation properties in OData link related entities. Similarly, in a relational database, a foreign key serves to link tables. For example, a Product record might have a CategoryId column, which uniquely identifies what Category the Product belongs to. However, there is no requirement in OData that an entity must contain a foreign key reference to a related entity. This means sometimes you will get navigation properties without having a foreign key reference to that entity on the parent or back to the parent from the related entity. In cases without a foreign key reference, the navigation property's existence is the only thing that can be used to identify a relationship between the two entities.

Select¶

NavigationPropertiesAsViews is useful for accessing data in OData services that lack foreign key references. Likewise, it can be used to retrieve related entities that do not exist by themselves such as LineItems on an Invoice. See Views for more information on querying navigation properties.

Insert¶

The connector supports OData deep inserts. See Tables for more information on specifying navigation properties when you create an entity.

System Tables¶

You can query the system tables described in this section to access schema information, information on data source functionality, and batch operation statistics.

Schema Tables¶

The following tables return database metadata for SAP Business One:

• sys_catalogs: Lists the available databases.
• sys_schemas: Lists the available schemas.
• sys_tables: Lists the available tables and views.
• sys_tablecolumns: Describes the columns of the available tables and views.
• sys_procedures: Describes the available stored procedures.
• sys_procedureparameters: Describes stored procedure parameters.
• sys_keycolumns: Describes the primary and foreign keys.
• sys_indexes: Describes the available indexes.

Data Source Tables¶

The following tables return information about how to connect to and query the data source:

• sys_connection_props: Returns information on the available connection properties.
• sys_sqlinfo: Describes the SELECT queries that the connector can offload to the data source.

Query Information Tables¶

The following table returns query statistics for data modification queries:

• sys_identity: Returns information about batch operations or single updates.

sys_catalogs¶

Lists the available databases.

The following query retrieves all databases determined by the connection string:

SELECT * FROM sys_catalogs

Columns¶

sys_schemas¶

Lists the available schemas.

The following query retrieves all available schemas:

SELECT * FROM sys_schemas

Columns¶

sys_tables¶

Lists the available tables.

The following query retrieves the available tables and views:

SELECT * FROM sys_tables

Columns¶

sys_tablecolumns¶

Describes the columns of the available tables and views.

The following query returns the columns and data types for the Orders table:

SELECT ColumnName, DataTypeName FROM sys_tablecolumns WHERE TableName='Orders'

Columns¶

sys_procedures¶

Lists the available stored procedures.

The following query retrieves the available stored procedures:

SELECT * FROM sys_procedures

Columns¶

sys_procedureparameters¶

Describes stored procedure parameters.

The following query returns information about all of the input parameters for the SelectEntries stored procedure:

SELECT * FROM sys_procedureparameters WHERE ProcedureName='SelectEntries' AND Direction=1 OR Direction=2

Columns¶

sys_keycolumns¶

Describes the primary and foreign keys.

The following query retrieves the primary key for the Orders table:

SELECT * FROM sys_keycolumns WHERE IsKey='True' AND TableName='Orders'

Columns¶

sys_foreignkeys¶

Describes the foreign keys.

The following query retrieves all foreign keys which refer to other tables:

SELECT * FROM sys_foreignkeys WHERE ForeignKeyType = 'FOREIGNKEY_TYPE_IMPORT'

Columns¶

sys_primarykeys¶

Describes the primary keys.

The following query retrieves the primary keys from all tables and views:

SELECT * FROM sys_primarykeys

Columns¶

sys_indexes¶

Describes the available indexes. By filtering on indexes, you can write more selective queries with faster query response times.

The following query retrieves all indexes that are not primary keys:

SELECT * FROM sys_indexes WHERE IsPrimary='false'

Columns¶

sys_connection_props¶

Returns information on the available connection properties and those set in the connection string.

When querying this table, the config connection string should be used:

jdbc:cdata:sapbusinessone:config:

This connection string enables you to query this table without a valid connection.

The following query retrieves all connection properties that have been set in the connection string or set through a default value:

SELECT * FROM sys_connection_props WHERE Value <> ''

Columns¶

sys_sqlinfo¶

Describes the SELECT query processing that the connector can offload to the data source.

Discovering the Data Source's SELECT Capabilities¶

Below is an example data set of SQL capabilities. Some aspects of SELECT functionality are returned in a comma-separated list if supported; otherwise, the column contains NO.

The following query retrieves the operators that can be used in the WHERE clause:

SELECT * FROM sys_sqlinfo WHERE Name = 'SUPPORTED_OPERATORS'

Note that individual tables may have different limitations or requirements on the WHERE clause; refer to the Data Model section for more information.

Columns¶

sys_identity¶

Returns information about attempted modifications.

The following query retrieves the Ids of the modified rows in a batch operation:

SELECT * FROM sys_identity

Columns¶

Data Type Mapping¶

Data Type Mappings¶

The connector maps types from the data source to the corresponding data type available in the schema. The table below documents these mappings.

Advanced Configurations Properties¶

The advanced configurations properties are the various options that can be used to establish a connection. This section provides a complete list of the options you can configure. Click the links for further details.

Authentication

Connection

SSL

Schema

Miscellaneous

Authentication¶

This section provides a complete list of authentication properties you can configure.

URL¶

URL to the SAP Business One Service Layer root. For example, http://localhost:50000/b1s/v1.

Data Type¶

string

Default Value¶

""

Remarks¶

The URL should appear in the format http://\[server\]:\[port\]/b1s/\[version\].

User¶

The SAP Business One user account used to authenticate.

Data Type¶

string

Default Value¶

""

Remarks¶

Together with Password, this field is used to authenticate against the SAP Business One server.

Password¶

The password used to authenticate the user.

Data Type¶

string

Default Value¶

""

Remarks¶

The User and Password are together used to authenticate with the server.

Connection¶

This section provides a complete list of connection properties you can configure.

CompanyDB¶

Your SAP Business One company database.

Data Type¶

string

Default Value¶

""

Remarks¶

The SAP Business One company database you are connecting to. This is required for all connections.

SSL¶

This section provides a complete list of SSL properties you can configure.

SSLServerCert¶

The certificate to be accepted from the server when connecting using TLS/SSL.

Data Type¶

string

Default Value¶

""

Remarks¶

If using a TLS/SSL connection, this property can be used to specify the TLS/SSL certificate to be accepted from the server. Any other certificate that is not trusted by the machine is rejected.

This property can take the following forms:

If not specified, any certificate trusted by the machine is accepted.

Certificates are validated as trusted by the machine based on the System's trust store. The trust store used is the 'javax.net.ssl.trustStore' value specified for the system. If no value is specified for this property, Java's default trust store is used (for example, JAVA_HOME\lib\security\cacerts).

Use '*' to signify to accept all certificates. Note that this is not recommended due to security concerns.

Schema¶

This section provides a complete list of schema properties you can configure.

Location¶

A path to the directory that contains the schema files defining tables, views, and stored procedures.

Data Type¶

string

Default Value¶

%APPDATA%\SAPBusinessOne Data Provider\Schema

Remarks¶

The path to a directory which contains the schema files for the connector (.rsd files for tables and views, .rsb files for stored procedures). The folder location can be a relative path from the location of the executable. The Location property is only needed if you want to customize definitions (for example, change a column name, ignore a column, and so on) or extend the data model with new tables, views, or stored procedures.

If left unspecified, the default location is "%APPDATA%\SAPBusinessOne Data Provider\Schema" with %APPDATA% being set to the user's configuration directory:

BrowsableSchemas¶

This property restricts the schemas reported to a subset of the available schemas. For example, BrowsableSchemas=SchemaA,SchemaB,SchemaC.

Data Type¶

string

Default Value¶

""

Remarks¶

Listing the schemas from databases can be expensive. Providing a list of schemas in the connection string improves the performance.

Tables¶

This property restricts the tables reported to a subset of the available tables. For example, Tables=TableA,TableB,TableC.

Data Type¶

string

Default Value¶

""

Remarks¶

Listing the tables from some databases can be expensive. Providing a list of tables in the connection string improves the performance of the connector.

This property can also be used as an alternative to automatically listing views if you already know which ones you want to work with and there would otherwise be too many to work with.

Specify the tables you want in a comma-separated list. Each table should be a valid SQL identifier with any special characters escaped using square brackets, double-quotes or backticks. For example, Tables=TableA,[TableB/WithSlash],WithCatalog.WithSchema.`TableC With Space`.

Note that when connecting to a data source with multiple schemas or catalogs, you will need to provide the fully qualified name of the table in this property, as in the last example here, to avoid ambiguity between tables that exist in multiple catalogs or schemas.

Views¶

Restricts the views reported to a subset of the available tables. For example, Views=ViewA,ViewB,ViewC.

Data Type¶

string

Default Value¶

""

Remarks¶

Listing the views from some databases can be expensive. Providing a list of views in the connection string improves the performance of the connector.

This property can also be used as an alternative to automatically listing views if you already know which ones you want to work with and there would otherwise be too many to work with.

Specify the views you want in a comma-separated list. Each view should be a valid SQL identifier with any special characters escaped using square brackets, double-quotes or backticks. For example, Views=ViewA,[ViewB/WithSlash],WithCatalog.WithSchema.`ViewC With Space`.

Note that when connecting to a data source with multiple schemas or catalogs, you will need to provide the fully qualified name of the table in this property, as in the last example here, to avoid ambiguity between tables that exist in multiple catalogs or schemas.

Miscellaneous¶

This section provides a complete list of miscellaneous properties you can configure.

MaxRows¶

Limits the number of rows returned when no aggregation or GROUP BY is used in the query. This takes precedence over LIMIT clauses.

Data Type¶

int

Default Value¶

-1

Remarks¶

Limits the number of rows returned when no aggregation or GROUP BY is used in the query. This takes precedence over LIMIT clauses.

NavigationPropertiesAsViews¶

A boolean indicating navigation properties should be promoted to full views.

Data Type¶

bool

Default Value¶

false

Remarks¶

This property can be useful for SAP Business One, which can return related collections of entities, or navigation properties. Some SAP Business One entities may only be accessed through navigation properties. NavigationPropertiesAsViews will cause all of the discovered navigation properties to be added as views in the format ParentTable_NavigationProperty. At the time of this writing, SAP Business One only supports Navigation Properties when using ODataVersion 3.0.

ODataVersion¶

The version of OData to use. By default the provider will attempt to autodetect the version.

Possible Values¶

AUTO, 3.0, 4.0

Data Type¶

string

Default Value¶

AUTO

Remarks¶

The version of OData to use. By default the connector will automatically attempt to determine the version the service is using. If a version cannot be resolved, 3.0 will be used. This can optionally be manually set.

Other¶

These hidden properties are used only in specific use cases.

Data Type¶

string

Default Value¶

""

Remarks¶

The properties listed below are available for specific use cases. Normal driver use cases and functionality should not require these properties.

Specify multiple properties in a semicolon-separated list.

Integration and Formatting¶

PseudoColumns¶

This property indicates whether or not to include pseudo columns as columns to the table.

Data Type¶

string

Default Value¶

""

Remarks¶

This setting is particularly helpful in Entity Framework, which does not allow you to set a value for a pseudo column unless it is a table column. The value of this connection setting is of the format "Table1=Column1, Table1=Column2, Table2=Column3". You can use the "*" character to include all tables and all columns; for example, "*=*".

Timeout¶

The value in seconds until the timeout error is thrown, canceling the operation.

Data Type¶

int

Default Value¶

60

Remarks¶

If Timeout = 0, operations do not time out. The operations run until they complete successfully or until they encounter an error condition.

If Timeout expires and the operation is not yet complete, the connector throws an exception.

UserDefinedViews¶

A filepath pointing to the JSON configuration file containing your custom views.

Data Type¶

string

Default Value¶

""

Remarks¶

User Defined Views are defined in a JSON-formatted configuration file called UserDefinedViews.json. The connector automatically detects the views specified in this file.

You can also have multiple view definitions and control them using the UserDefinedViews connection property. When you use this property, only the specified views are seen by the connector.

This User Defined View configuration file is formatted as follows:

• Each root element defines the name of a view.
• Each root element contains a child element, called query, which contains the custom SQL query for the view.

For example:

{
    "MyView": {
        "query": "SELECT * FROM Orders WHERE MyColumn = 'value'"
    },
    "MyView2": {
        "query": "SELECT * FROM MyTable WHERE Id IN (1,2,3)"
    }
}

Use the UserDefinedViews connection property to specify the location of your JSON configuration file. For example:

"UserDefinedViews", C:\Users\yourusername\Desktop\tmp\UserDefinedViews.json

Note that the specified path is not embedded in quotation marks.

UseSimpleNames¶

Boolean determining if simple names should be used for tables and columns.

Data Type¶

bool

Default Value¶

false

Remarks¶

SAP Business One tables and columns can use special characters in names that are normally not allowed in standard databases. UseSimpleNames makes the connector easier to use with traditional database tools.

Setting UseSimpleNames to true will simplify the names of tables and columns returned. It will enforce a naming scheme such that only alphanumeric characters and the underscore are valid for the displayed table and column names. Any nonalphanumeric characters will be converted to an underscore.