Allowing connections to web services in a project

The steps below show you how to create a database instance, which allows reports in a MicroStrategy project to connect to web services. You can create a database instance for each web service that you plan to connect to and report on in MicroStrategy.

To configure a database instance

1. In MicroStrategy Developer, log in to a project source, using a user account with administrative privileges.

2. In the Folder List, expand the project source, expand Administration, expand Configuration Managers, and then select Database Instances.

3. From the File menu, point to New, and then select Database Instance. The Database Instances Editor opens.

4. On the General tab, in the Database instance name field, type a descriptive name for the database instance.

5. From the Database connection type drop-down list, select XQuery.

6. In the Database connection area, click New. The Database Connections dialog box opens.

7. In the Database connection name field, type a descriptive name for the database connection.

8. In the Default database login name area, click New. The Database Logins dialog box opens.

9. In the Database login field, type a descriptive name for the database login.

10. The login information that you provide depends on the web service that you plan to connect to:

    • If the web service that you plan to connect to requires a user name and password, you must type a valid user name and password in the Login ID and Password fields, respectively. For information on how you can include this security in your report so that you can access the web services data, see Implementing security in an XQuery statement.
      
      Alternatively, you can include authentication information as part of the database connection. This allows you to then apply authentication for a web service when a user logs in to a project, rather than including authentication in each XQuery report. For steps on how to include web services authentication information in a database connection for project-wide authentication, see Using an XQuery source to authenticate users for a MicroStrategy project.

    • If the web service that you plan to connect to does not require a user name and password, you can type any user name in the Login ID field, and leave the Password field blank. The example web service http://www.webserviceX.NET/uszip.asmx does not have any specific user name and password requirements.

    • Click OK. You are returned to the Database Connections dialog box.

11. In the Default database login name area, select the new database login that you created, and then click OK. You are returned to the Database Instances Editor.

12. In the Database connection area, select the new database connection that you created, and then click OK. The database instance is created.

13. To make the database instance available for Freeform SQL reports, right-click a project and select Project Configuration. The Project Configuration Editor opens.

14. Expand Database Instances, and select SQL Data Warehouses.

15. From the list of available database instances, select the check box for the database instance that you created in the previous steps. If you are prompted to configure data mart optimization, click No.

16. Click OK to save your changes and close the Project Configuration Editor.