Using data feeds
Data feeds allow a tabular model to consume XML data through an HTTP service—these are called the OData and .atomsvc feeds. The feed(s) can be defined to the model through either an OData service (which also can provide data) or a data service document (the .atomsvc
file) that specifies the URL to the service.
The Open Data Protocol (OData) is a standard protocol for creating and consuming data over existing technologies such as HTTP. This means that data can be imported into the model as a web service. The ability to use data which is not generated from the corporate environment extends the possible data sources that can be used for analysis. Data may be available for free or purchased from vendors (see http://datamarket.azure.com/ for both).
Getting ready
This recipe imports some data from an online database called Northwind
. Northwind
is a well-known sample database (actually, the data is not that important to us—only the technique used to import it is). We...