Configuring BDC

  • This blog posting will help in configuring BDC.

  • Requirement-

  • SharePoint Server 2007

  • SharePoint SDK

  • Adventure Works Database

  • For backend purpose we will using Sql adventureworks database

  • 1) Install SharePoint SDK-We will be using Application Definition Designer from SharePoint SDK for creating ADF file.

    Download details- https://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=6D94E307-67D9-41AC-B2D6-0074D6286FA9&displaylang=en

  • 2) Install AdventureWorks database. Adventure works is SQL sample database provided by Microsoft.

    Download details- https://www.codeplex.com/MSFTDBProdSamples

  • 3) Browse to the welcome page of the SDK and click on Business Data Catalog

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  • 4) Click on Tools\BDC Definition Editor under Microsoft Data catalog samples and utilities. This will open up a folder which will have a Setup file from installing Application Definition Designer.

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    Click on the Setup.exe to install Application Definition Designer.

  • 5) Install AdventureWorks Database on your Sql Server.

  • 6) Open Application Definition Designer by clicking Start>Programs

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  • 7) Click on Add LOB System

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  • 8) Now click on connect to database

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  • 9) Here we will need to specify the connection string. For our example we will be using trusted connection but there are different connection strings available.

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    Replace

    myServerAddress with Sql Server Name

    myDatabase with AdventureWorks or the database name in case you are using other then AdventureWorks.

    After replacing these details click on connect

  • 10) Clicking on connect will take us to the Design Surface. Click on Add Table on the left

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  • 11) We can use multiple table but for this example we will be using the table called "DimProduct". To add a table,click on the table and then drag and drop in the right pane. Now click on "OK"

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    This will prompt you with a screen "Enter the name for the LOB System". Give some meaningful name to your ADF File.

  • 12) Now we will do a quick test to see if our query to the database is returning results or not.

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    Expand the tree structure based on the screen shot above and select Find_[AdventureWorks] and then click on Execute.

  • 13) This will open up the below screen

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    Enter a valid value to see if it pulls up the result or not. I picked up the value "1" by looking at the table DimProduct

  • 14) Click on Execute and a valid ProductKey value will pull all the related value.

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    Now we know that our connection and Find functions are working properly.

  • 15) Now we need to Export our ADF file. Right click on the project name and then save it on your local drive

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  • 16) Now we will import the ADF file which we just created. To do this Browse to Central administration page > SSP>Business Data Catalog>Import application defination

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  • 17) Give path of the ADF file and then click on Import

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    On successful import we will get the message "Application definition Import Successful "

  • 18) Now we can see the Entities we created in the ADF File

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  • 19) Now to use these BDC column we will create a new Document library

  • 20) Create a BDC Column by browsing to the document library > Settings> Create Column

  • 21) Select the type as "Business data" and then click on "Browse"

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  • 22) Select the BDC Application and click on "OK"

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  • 23) Once we click on Ok it will populate the list of columns available in the Table.We will select couple of columns to show upclip_image019

    Over here we have selected EnglishDescription,EnglishProductName,ModleName,ProductAlternateKey,ProductKey and ProductLine.

    Value under "Display this field of the selected type" is the one against which Check name feature will work

    Click on Ok

  • 24) Once we upload a file it will show the BDC Column which we created-

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    Test- This is our BDC Column.

  • 25) If we look at the File we just uploaded to the document library, we will see the values corresponding to the ProductKey we entered.

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    All these steps will help us in creating a simple BDC Configuration. We can create and develop more complex BDC solutions using various other tools