Integrate External Data with the
Business Data Catalog
Tom Resing
Senior Software Engineer
MicroLink, LLC
MicroLink LLC  8330 Boone Boulevard  Suite 300  Vienna, Virginia 22182  (703) 556-4440
www.MicroLinkLLC.com

Integrate External Data with the Business Data Catalog
Tom Resing
INTRODUCTION
www.MicroLinkLLC.com

About Tom
 Microsoft Certified  12 Years of Technical
Technology Specialist Experience
• MOSS Configuration • Public Sector and
• WSS Configuration Private Sector
• MOSS Application • Web Focused
Development  An organizer of
• WSS Application SharePoint Saturday
Development San Antonio Nov 14th
www.MicroLinkLLC.com

About MicroLink
 Microsoft Gold Partner
• Main Office in Vienna, Virginia
 Microsoft’s Federal Partner of the Year for 2007
 Microsoft’s DoD Partner of the Year for 2007
and 2006
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Agenda
 What is the Business Data Catalog (BDC)
 Use it in the Browser
• BDC List Web Part
• BDC Search
 Look at the Setup
• Sample Configuration File
• Import in the SSP
• Look at Crawl Settings
 Questions and Resources
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WHAT IS THE BUSINESS DATA
CATALOG?
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Business Data Catalog
The SharePoint connection to
External Data
Database
Place
SharePoint of Known
Search
Places
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BDC Data Sources
 Microsoft SQL Server
 Oracle
 ODBC
 Web Services
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MOSS Enterprise Pieces
 Out of the Box in MOSS Enterprise
• Business Data Web Parts
• Business Data Column
• Search
• User Profile Import
 Custom Options
• BDC API through .Net Code
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BDC List Web Part
BDC Search
DEMO
-LET’S USE IT!
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BDC User Experience
 As a User You Can
• Add a BDC Web Part
• Connect to data sources
• Pull live data
• Search Cached Data
 What I didn’t show
• Connect BDC Web Part to Other Web Parts
• Add a column in a list from BDC Data
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2 Keys to Business Data Catalog
1. Easy to Set Up
• Don’t need to be a developer to access a database
2. Integration
• Search, Web Parts, Lists, User Profiles
• It’s connected!
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Tools
 MOSS SDK 1.5 Apr09
• AdventureWorks Sample
• Business Data Catalog Definition Editor
 WSHelloWorld Web Service
 WSOrders Web Service
 Excel Services User Defined Function Sample
 WSOrders Custom Proxy Sample
 Amazon Web Service Sample
 SAP Sample
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BDC Meta Man
 The OG
 Free version
 Full version is $1200
 Supports:
• writing to the database
• Stored procedures
• Web services
 Beta: BDC Meta Web Edition
• Modify configuration without SSP Access
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Sample Configuration File
Import in the SSP
Look at Crawl Settings
MORE DEMO
- LET’S SET ONE UP!
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Review Set Up
 Configure
 Import
 Crawl
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Gotchas
1. BDC Permissions
2. Versioning
3. Two hop problem
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Questions
 Email me at microlinkblog@resing.net
 Twitter: @resing
 Tom Resing’s SharePoint Blog
• http://blogs.microlinkllc.com/tresing
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SharePoint 2007 Developer's Guide
to Business Data Catalog
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Written by: Randy Williams
www.MicroLinkLLC.com

BACKUP SLIDES
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