Chapter 4. Data Sets
The data set functionality in Business Central defines how to access and parse data. Data sets serve as a source of data that can be displayed by the Dashbuilder displayer. You can add the Dashbuilder displayers to a custom perspective in the Plugin Management perspective. Note that the data set perspective is visible only to users of the Administrator group.
4.1. Managing Data Sets
To add a data set definition:
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Log into Business Central and click Extensions
Data Sets. - Click New Data Set.
Select the provider type and click Next. Currently, the following provider types are supported:
- Java Class – generate a data set from a Java class.
- SQL – generate a data set from an ANSI-SQL compliant database.
- CSV – generate a data set from a remote or local CSV file.
- Elasticsearch – generate a data set from Elasticsearch nodes.
Elasticsearch data set integration support is limited to commercially reasonable efforts. For details, see What is commercially reasonable support?.
- Complete the Data Set Creation Wizard and click Test.
- Depending on what provider you chose, the configuration steps will differ. Once you complete the steps, click Save to create a data set definition.
To edit a data set:
-
Log into Business Central and click Extensions
Data Sets. - In Data Set Explorer, click on an existing data set and click Edit.
Data Set Editor opens. You can edit your data set in three tabs. Note that some of the tabs differ based on the provider type you chose. The following applies to the CSV data provider.
- CSV Configuration – allows you to change the name of your data set definition, the source file, the separator, and other properties.
Preview – after you click Test in the CSV Configuration tab, the system executes the data set lookup call and if the data is available, you will see a preview. Notice two subtabs:
- Data columns – allows you to customize what columns are part of your data set definition.
- Filter – allows you to add a new filter.
Advanced – allows you to manage:
- Caching – see Section 4.2, “Caching” for more information.
- Cache life-cycle – see Section 4.3, “Data Refresh” for more information.
4.2. Caching
Red Hat JBoss BRMS data set functionality provides two cache levels:
- Client level
- Back end level
Client Cache
When turned on, the data set is cached in a web browser during the look-up operation. Consequently, further look-up operations do not perform any request to the backend.
Backend Cache
When turned on, the data set is cached by the Red Hat JBoss BRMS engine. This reduces the number of requests to the remote storage system.
The Java and CSV data providers rely on back-end caching. As a result, back-end cache settings are not always visible in the Advanced tab of the Data Set Explorer.
4.3. Data Refresh
The refresh features allow you to invalidate cached data set data after a specified interval of time. The Refresh on stale data feature invalidates cached data when the back-end data changes.
