BI Query Wizard

The BI Query Wizard enables you to select a BI Query, Query View, InfoProvider or SQL Query as a data source and configure theses data sources without having to create a corresponding view directly in the BI system. You can use the configured data sources as BI data services in your models in Visual Composer.

You display the BI Query Wizard by choosing BI Services Query Wizard or by choosing Query Wizard in the context menu of an existing BI data service. When you open the wizard from the context menu, the data source is preselected accordingly.

When you create a Query using the Wizard, the following pages are displayed:

Define Data Source
Define Filter & Variable Values
Select Characteristic/Structure Member
Choose Presentations
Set Up Data Columns

When using the wizard to configure a data source, you can click Finish at any point to create the query — you do not need to complete all steps in the wizard. For any unfinished steps, default values are selected from the query if possible.

You can also check your configuration in each step of the wizard using the preview function in the right pane of the wizard. The preview is refreshed every time you complete a step in the wizard or you can refresh it manually by clicking the refresh button. You can always see the current structure of the ports in this pane. In some cases, the DATA output port has a dynamic part (indicated by "+ Dynamic part"):

If a characteristic is flagged as Command port.
If the structure members were split by at least one characteristic in the Set up data column step.

In theses cases, some columns will not be known at design time and will only be known at runtime.

The Define Data Source step contains the following items:

Item	Description
Recent Data Source	Lists recently used data sources.
Search for Data Source	Opens the Search task panel to search for a data source in a BI system. More information: Search Task Panel for BI Data Services
Build SQL Query	Opens the BI SQL editor to search for a table in a system connected via JDBC and to build an SQL Query on a selcted table. Select a System that is connected via JDBC and enter a SQL statement. Select Validate to check the SQL statement. You can enter SQL statements with or without parameters. Parameters can be introduced using curly brackets, for example “select from sales orders where customer = {varcust}”. Then varcust* appears as a field in the Variable input port.

Item

Description

Recent Data Source

Lists recently used data sources.

Search for Data Source

Opens the Search task panel to search for a data source in a BI system.

More information: Search Task Panel for BI Data Services

Build SQL Query

Opens the BI SQL editor to search for a table in a system connected via JDBC and to build an SQL Query on a selcted table. Select a System that is connected via JDBC and enter a SQL statement. Select Validate to check the SQL statement. You can enter SQL statements with or without parameters. Parameters can be introduced using curly brackets, for example “select *from sales orders where customer = {varcust}”. Then varcust appears as a field in the Variable input port.

The Define Filter & Variables Values step contains the following items:

Item	Description
Variable	In the default setting, the variable values are provided at runtime via the variable port. Alternatively, you can specify values here. To specify values, select Value Specified here in the Get Data from column.
Characteristic	As default setting, the filter values for characteristics are set at runtime in the filter port. Alternatively you can specify values here. To specify values, select Value Specified here in the Get Data from column. You can set a flag for each characteristic to include it in the command port. For each characteristic, two fields are created: <characteristic>_LOCATION and <characteristic>_POSITION. By supplying these fields, you can move a characteristic to a different "axis" (_LOCATION = KEY_COLUMNS, DATA_COLUMNS, NONE) and determine the position in one axis (_POSTION = 1,2, etc.) at runtime.

Item

Description

Variable

In the default setting, the variable values are provided at runtime via the variable port. Alternatively, you can specify values here. To specify values, select Value Specified here in the Get Data from column.

Characteristic

As default setting, the filter values for characteristics are set at runtime in the filter port. Alternatively you can specify values here. To specify values, select Value Specified here in the Get Data from column. You can set a flag for each characteristic to include it in the command port. For each characteristic, two fields are created: <characteristic>_LOCATION and <characteristic>_POSITION. By supplying these fields, you can move a characteristic to a different "axis" (_LOCATION = KEY_COLUMNS, DATA_COLUMNS, NONE) and determine the position in one axis (_POSTION = 1,2, etc.) at runtime.

The Select Characteristic/Structure Member step contains the following items:

Item	Description
Available/Selected Characteristics	You can select characteristics to be included in the data port. The selected characteristics define the number of columns that will appear in the data port. Unselected characteristics can be used in a subsequent step to create multiple data columns.
Available/Selected Members of Key Figures	You can select structure members to include in the data port.

The Choose Presentations step contains the following items:

Item	Description
Characteristics/Key Figures	You can select presentations (display, key, text, etc.) and display attributes for each characteristic and presentations (value/unit, formatted value) for each key figure. There is a separate column in the data port for each selected presentation
Hierarchy	You can select hierarchies for a hierarchical display of data. The list of available hierarchies is based on the first selected characteristic.

The Set Up Data Columns step contains the following items:

Item	Description
Split by	You can split a column of a structure member to create multiple columns for each member of a characteristic that has not been selected for display.
Sort Order	You can define how the resulting data columns should be sorted.
Data Columns	The defined data columns are displayed.

Information about query design and configuration is available on the SAP Help Portal: help.sap.com SAP NetWeaver SAP NetWeaver Library SAP NetWeaver by Key Capabilities Information Integration: Key Areas Business Intelligence BI Suite: Business Explorer Query Design: BEx Query Designer .