I'm trying to connect to the repository for OBIEE using an ODBC connection and the list of subject areas appears to load in Power BI, but I am unable to load any data into Power BI in order to make visualizations and reports. Has anyone tried doing this and found a solution? Thanks.

wonga arify wbsissonii Murthy aassemAn easy way to visualize OBIEE Subject areas and reports with Power BI is by using BI Connector. It's a simple process and it saves a significant amount of time. BI connector integrates Power BI to OBIEE Presentation layer and reuses the metadata and security model.Here's a video on how it works: You can sign up for the free beta here: https://www.biconnector.com/blog/connect-power-bi-obiee-rpd-reports/?utm_source=power_bi&utm_campaign=power_bi_beta&utm_medium=forum

Are you seeing an error? Can you provide more details?

Hi arify, no error pops up but please see picture below: As you can see, I'm trying to expand the "Purchase Orders" subject area but nothing shows up below it implying that the subject area is empty or something. Of course this isn't the case, so it looks like Power BI isn't digging deep enough or something in regards to accessing the RPD through an ODBC connection. Also notice that the "Load" button is greyed out, implying that there is nothing to load. I can force it to load by right clicking the subject area and clicking "Load", but the end result is an import of a table with no data in it at all, as seen in the below picture: Expanding the "Data" column results in nothing to expand to, which further implies that there is no data in the subject area from Power BI's point of view. Thanks.

We're working on handling a driver bug, this 'could' be one of those bugs we don't handle yet. Can you open Advanced Query window, and in the M code you see, you'll see something like HierarchicalNavigation=true. Can you set it to false and try again?

Another question, are you connecting to a normal Oracle database, or is this a different datasource?

Connect to OBIEE RPD using ODBC Connection | Microsoft Fabric Community

47 Replies

Shankar_R
New Member
9 years ago
wonga arify wbsissonii Murthy aassem
An easy way to visualize OBIEE Subject areas and reports with Power BI is by using BI Connector. It's a simple process and it saves a significant amount of time. BI connector integrates Power BI to OBIEE Presentation layer and reuses the metadata and security model.

Here's a video on how it works:

You can sign up for the free beta here: https://www.biconnector.com/blog/connect-power-bi-obiee-rpd-reports/?utm_source=power_bi&utm_campaign=power_bi_beta&utm_medium=forum
arify
Microsoft Employee
10 years ago
Are you seeing an error? Can you provide more details?
- wonga
  Continued Contributor
  10 years ago
  Hi arify, no error pops up but please see picture below:
  
  As you can see, I'm trying to expand the "Purchase Orders" subject area but nothing shows up below it implying that the subject area is empty or something. Of course this isn't the case, so it looks like Power BI isn't digging deep enough or something in regards to accessing the RPD through an ODBC connection.
  
  Also notice that the "Load" button is greyed out, implying that there is nothing to load. I can force it to load by right clicking the subject area and clicking "Load", but the end result is an import of a table with no data in it at all, as seen in the below picture:
  
  Expanding the "Data" column results in nothing to expand to, which further implies that there is no data in the subject area from Power BI's point of view.
  
  Thanks.
  - arify
    Microsoft Employee
    10 years ago
    We're working on handling a driver bug, this 'could' be one of those bugs we don't handle yet.
    
    Can you open Advanced Query window, and in the M code you see, you'll see something like HierarchicalNavigation=true. Can you set it to false and try again?
wbsissonii
Frequent Visitor
10 years ago
Was there ever a resolution for this (I'm experiencing the same issue). A bit of history:

Been working with Oracle OBIEE for about 8 years and are looking at additional/alternative reporting tools but don't want to give up all of the Business Models that we have created in OBIEE
Testing Tableau and Microsfot Power BI Desktop as alternatives that could then translate to long term solutions
Setup a OBIEE ODBC connection that connects to OBIEE and dislays a list of Presentation Layer Subject Areas
Setup a data source in Tableau which then brings up a sujbect area (dsignated) with a list of all of the tables and data objects within the subject area, which I can select into a report (Tableau workins using the ODBC connection)
In Power BI I select Get Data and then select Other and then ODBC as my data source. I select the same ODBC connection for Power BI that I did for Tableau. It brings up a list of the OBIEE Subject areas but when I click to expand the list to get to the table and data elements no items are displayed. I would have expect a list of subject area tables and then subject area columns (data elements) to be selected to be displayed.

I would include screen shots but they would be indentical to other screen shots in the discussion forum. Please advise how and if there is a solution for this issue. Because we have 8 years of OBIEE data modeling it is important for us to find a way to leverage those models going forward. We would also consider a tool that could migrate those data models, the Oracle RPD, to Power BI.

Thanks...
kegauvre
New Member
9 years ago
Hi all!

Any development regarding the error of "Array dimensions exceeded supported range"? Where are facing the same issue.

Thx

Kevin
Poseidon
Regular Visitor
9 years ago
arify have we got any updates on this one? We really need this RPD connection to work.
Azharuddin
Regular Visitor
8 years ago
Visit here to get the information to connect OBIEE RDP usind ODBC Connection.
anitaberg
Helper I
8 years ago
Hi! Did anyone manage to get this working. Using Oracle BI Server ODBC connection and then displaying the tables after expanding a subject area?

I have installed a complete Oracle OBIEE test environment on my PC. The last step is to get this to work. The workaround

let
Source = Odbc.DataSource("dsn=#YOURDSNNAME#", [HierarchicalNavigation=false])
in
Source

is not a good workaround in a self service perspective, the main goal would be for user to see available subject areas and then see the available tables to connect to.
- alexrz
  Regular Visitor
  8 years ago
  I anm trying to run that script from Advanced Options => SQL Statement:
  
  let
  Source = Odbc.DataSource("dsn=OBIPRD", [HierarchicalNavigation=false])
  in
  Source
  
  But receive Unable to Connect error: Details: "ODBC: ERROR [HY000] [NQODBC] [SQL_STATE: HY000] [nQSError: 10058] A general error has occurred.
  [nQSError: 43113] Message returned from OBIS.
  [nQSError: 27002] Near <Source>: Syntax error [nQSError: 26012] .
  "
  Please advise
  - anitaberg
    Helper I
    8 years ago
    Hi! I spent a lot of time struggling to get everything around Oracle to work. One thing that was not obvious was that Microsoft for example did not like the syntax of tnsnames.ora file, It wanted the syntax there exactly as in example on microsoft documentation.
    
    Also I made sure I tested user access and roles in SQL Developer before using it i Power BI.

Forum Discussion

Connect to OBIEE RPD using ODBC Connection

47 Replies

Related content

Connection failed using a Folder connection in a pipeline

Power BI Oracle Connection Error – ORA-50201 (Failed to connect / parse connect string)

connection to dataflows

dataflow connection

Database connectivity.