Connect to SAS xpt Data in RapidMiner

This article shows how you can easily integrate the CData JDBC driver for SAS xpt into your processes in RapidMiner. This article uses the CData JDBC Driver for SAS xpt to transfer SAS xpt data to a process in RapidMiner.

Connect to SAS xpt in RapidMiner as a JDBC Data Source

You can follow the procedure below to establish a JDBC connection to SAS xpt:

1. Add a new database driver for SAS xpt: Click Connections -> Manage Database Drivers.
2. In the resulting wizard, click the Add button and enter a name for the connection.
3. Enter the prefix for the JDBC URL: jdbc:sasxpt:
4. Enter the path to the cdata.jdbc.sasxpt.jar file, located in the lib subfolder of the installation directory.
5. Enter the driver class: cdata.jdbc.sasxpt.SASXptDriver
6. Create a new SAS xpt connection: Click Connections -> Manage Database Connections.
7. Enter a name for your connection.
8. For Database System, select the SAS xpt driver you configured previously.
9. Enter your connection string in the Host box.

   Connecting to Local SASXpt Files

   You can connect to local SASXpt file by setting the URI to a folder containing SASXpt files.

   Connecting to S3 data source

   You can connect to Amazon S3 source to read SASXpt files. Set the following properties to connect:

   • URI: Set this to the folder within your bucket that you would like to connect to.
   • AWSAccessKey: Set this to your AWS account access key.
   • AWSSecretKey: Set this to your AWS account secret key.
   • TemporaryLocalFolder: Set this to the path, or URI, to the folder that is used to temporarily download SASXpt file(s).

   Connecting to Azure Data Lake Storage Gen2

   You can connect to ADLS Gen2 to read SASXpt files. Set the following properties to connect:

   • URI: Set this to the name of the file system and the name of the folder which contacts your SASXpt files.
   • AzureAccount: Set this to the name of the Azure Data Lake storage account.
   • AzureAccessKey: Set this to our Azure DataLakeStore Gen 2 storage account access key.
   • TemporaryLocalFolder: Set this to the path, or URI, to the folder that is used to temporarily download SASXpt file(s).

   Built-in Connection String Designer

   For assistance in constructing the JDBC URL, use the connection string designer built into the SAS xpt JDBC Driver. Either double-click the JAR file or execute the jar file from the command-line.

   java -jar cdata.jdbc.sasxpt.jar

   Fill in the connection properties and copy the connection string to the clipboard.

   A typical connection string is below:

   URI=C:/folder;
10. Enter your username and password if necessary.

You can now use your SAS xpt connection with the various RapidMiner operators in your process. To retrieve SAS xpt data, drag the Retrieve operator from the Operators view. With the Retrieve operator selected, you can then define which table to retrieve in the Parameters view by clicking the folder icon next to the "repository entry." In the resulting Repository Browser, you can expand your connection node to select the desired example set.

Finally, wire the output to the Retrieve process to a result, and run the process to see the SAS xpt data.