How To Connect Exasol DB With Helical Insight

Helical Insight is an Open Source Business Intelligence (BI) tool which supports Exasol database. In this article we will cover in detail, how you can connect, analyze, share and use other features of Helical Insight with Exasol Database.

Following are the steps to be performed at file system of Helical Insight (hi-repository/System/Admin) when the database is configured for the first time :

1. JDBC Driver Configuration
2. Dialect Configuration
3. Database Function List Configuration

Post configuration process involves report creation. Following are the steps to create report with Helical Insight using Exasol Database:

1. Datasource Creation
2. Metadata Creation
3. Adhoc Reports

JDBC Driver Configuration

JDBC driver configuration is required through which a database connection can be established with Helical Insight Application. Following are the steps to configure JDBC driver :

• Download the JDBC type4 driver .jar file from the required sources.
• Once you have downloaded the driver, you need to put that driver in a “Drivers” Folder of Helical Insight Application

  hi-repository/System/Drivers 

  and then immediately it will start appearing in the drop down list of Datasource. Click here for more details

Dialect Configuration

Dialect is used for generating SQL query as per the database selected. In Helical Insight Application, following are the steps to configure dialect :

1. Go to hi-repository/System/Admin.






2. Open “sqlDialects.properties” file in edit mode using text-editor such as notepad, notepad++.
3. Add the below present line at the end of the file in a new line.

   com.exasol.jdbc.EXADriver=org.hibernate.dialect.OracleDialect

   Note: Here, Exasol database does not have separate Exasol dialect and it directly supports Oracle database dialect. So, Oracle dialect is mapped with the Exasol JDBC driver.

4. Now, save the file.

Note : In case, dialect is not assigned then bydefault MySQL dialect is mapped with the selected database. In result, a sql query will be generated which may or may not support the selected database.

Database Function List Configuration

While creating Adhoc reports, there are database functions which can be applied on datatypes such as text, numeric, datetime, etc. Now, to view the database functions list following are the files needs to be configured :

1. .xml file.
2. javascript / js file.
3. sqlFunctionsXmlMapping.properties

XML file

This file contains the database functions in the XML format. Using this file, user can modify database functions list. The XML file is saved as “databasename.xml”, such as “exasol.xml” or any name can be assigned. The required file has to be present inside the SqlFunctions folder.

Following are the steps to configure database XML file :

1. Download the zip file which contains xml and js files.
2. Now, extract the files and insert the exasol.xml inside the SqlFunctions folder.
   
   Folder Path :

hi-repository/System/Admin/SqlFunctions

javascript /js file

Javascript file contains code used for defining the query syntax for the respective database. The JS file name must be same as the name assigned to the xml file of the respective database. The filename is case sensitive.

Following are the steps to configure JS file :

1. Download the zip file which contains xml and js files.
2. Now, extract the files and insert the exasol.js inside the SqlFunctions folder.
   
   Folder Path :

   hi-repository/System/Admin/SqlFunctions

sqlFunctionsXmlMapping.properties file
This file is used for configuring the xml file with the respective database. Following are the steps to configure :

1. Open Admin folder present inside the helical insight repository.

Folder Path :

hi-repository/System/Admin

2. Open sqlFunctionsXmlMapping.properties file in edit mode using text-editor like notepad++, etc
3. Insert the code com.exasol.jdbc.EXADriver=exasol in a new line.
4. Now, save the file.

Note : In the above code, the name “exasol” should match with the name assigned to xml file (exasol.xml) and js file (exasol.js) .

Create Datasource

This process involves establishing a connection between Helical Insight application and Exasol database.


There are 2 methods available for creating a Datasource in Helical Insight:

1. Front End Approach
2. Back End Approach

Following are the steps shown below to create datasource using available methods :



Method 1 : Front End Approach

1. Login to Helical Insight Application.  ( For default credentials, click here )
2. Click on “Home” button and select “Adhoc” from the list.
3. On entering Adhoc Page, click on “Create” button in Datasources
4. Select the “DataSource Type” from the given list. In this case, “Managed Datasource” will be used.
5. Now, enter the following details as shown in the below image :




Datasource Details :

Datesource Name : Exasol Sample DB  ( user-defined name )
Driver : com.exasol.jdbc.EXADriver   ( Exasol JDBC type 4 driver )

URL : jdbc:exa:localhost:8563  
URL Format :  
jdbc:exa:{hostname}:{portnumber}

Username : sys
Password : exasol




Note: If Exasol JDBC type 4 Driver is not present in the list then it can be added externally. Following are the steps to update driver list :

• Download the JDBC type4 driver .jar file from the required sources.
• Once you have downloaded the driver, you need to put that driver in a “Drivers” Folder of Helical Insight Application

  hi-repository/System/Drivers

  and then immediately it will start appearing in the drop down list of Datasource. Click here for more details




Note:
If the JDBC driver (type 4) name is not available in the list then datasource can be created using back end approach which is through EFWD.

6. Now, click on “Test connection” to validate the filled details.
7. If the entered details are correct then “The test connection is established” notification is shown.
8. Click on “Save Datasource” to confirm.
9. Then, next step involves creation of metadata. After saving datasource, from the same page, click on “Metadata” (at the top right )
10. Then, click on “Create”.

Further steps will be covered in “Create Metadata” step.

Method 2 : Back End Approach

1. Go to “hi-repository” folder where a Helical Insight Application is installed and then open the folder.

C:\Helical Insight\hi-repository

2. Create a New Folder with any name say “Exasol Database” inside “hi-repository” folder.









3. Now, open a text-editor like notepad, notepad++ , and so on.
4. Then enter the following details as given below :

<EFWD>
    <DataSources>
         <Connection id="1" name="Exasol Datasource EFWD" type="sql.jdbc">
               <Driver>com.exasol.jdbc.EXADriver</Driver>
               <Url>jdbc:exa:localhost:8563</Url>
               <User>sys</User>
               <Pass>exasol</Pass>
         </Connection>
    </DataSources>
</EFWD>

• Connection ID : User can assign any ID (numeric only)
• name : Name of the Datasource to be shown in the Datasource list
• Url : For creating a URL, use the following Exasol JDBC URL format

jdbc:exa:{hostname}:{portnumber}

• User: Database Username
• Password: Database password




5. After entering the details, save the file as “filename.efwd”

   Note: Saved file has to be present inside the Exasol Database folder of “hi-repository“.

6. Now, the Exasol connection has been established. ( if entered details are correct )
7. Then, next step involves creation on metadata.
8. Now, login to Helical Insight Application using any web browser.
9. Click on “Home” button and select “Adhoc” from the list.
10. Then, Click on “Metadata” Tab and then select “Create”.

Further steps will be covered in “Create Metadata” step.

Create Metadata

For creating a metadata it is mandatory to have established datasource connection which is explained in create datasource.



There are 2 ways of creating a metadata :

1. Create Metadata ( click here for more details )
2. Metadata Workflow

Following are the steps to create a metadata :

1. On clicking “Create” from “Metadata” tab, “Datasource Type” selection page is displayed.
2. Select the “DataSource Type” from the given list.
• For Method 1 : Select DataSource Type: Managed Datasource
• For Method 2 : Select DataSource Type: Plain JDBC Datasource
3. Click on the Datasource Name using which metadata will be created.
• For Method 1 : Datasource Name “Exasol Sample DB” is used. Any name can be assigned during configuration.






• For Method 2 : Datasource Name “Exasol Datasource EFWD” is used. Any name can be assigned during configuration.






4. Now , a metadata page appears where various operations can be performed such as table/column aliasing, defining joins, creating views and apply table/column/data security conditions.
5. Click on “Save” to create metadata.
6. After clicking “Save” button, a window will appear known as File Browser. Using File Browser, a metadata file is saved in the file-repository of Helical Insight.
7. Then, click on “Save Metadata” to confirm.
8. Now, metadata file is ready for creating Adhoc Reports.

Adhoc Reports :

Learn how to create Adhoc Report, click here




For further assistance, kindly contact us on support@helicalinsight.com or post your queries at forum.helicalinsight.com