Automate download of BusinessObjecs Web Intelligence reports

Question

I'm tasked with automating the retrieval of a couple of BusinessObjects Web Intelligence reports and further processing thereof.

I have no other means of access to this data (this was the first avenue I followed), so I will have to do some screen scraping. Alas, the interface seems user-only. Grr!

Has anyone done this before? Like to share?

Also, does anyone know of a good library for automating the web browser? I know there is a python thingy out there that can be used for testing web applications - I need something in .NET though... What is your favorite?

PS: I have also checked this thread (automate getting report from webpage), but am hoping for a Web Intelligence specific sollution.

Answer 1

If you're trying to replicate web browsing functions, you really can't go wrong with cURL, you'll have no problems calling a cURL script from your .NET program.

I'm not familar with web inteligence but we use cURL to to run 30 real-time reports every 2 seconds reading from a custom web service. Can web intelligence respond to HTTP POSTs? For example we post parameters like this:

c:\curl\bin\curl -X POST -F File=@[filename] -F "title=[title]" -F "notes=[notes]" "http://xxx/AddScannedImage?debtref=[filename]"

Answer 2

Have you considered using the public APIs that BusinessObjects Enterprise supports for this sort of purpose? All of the documentation is available on the SAP Developer Network site.

Specifically, I would be looking at a combination of the BusinessObjects Platform SDK and the REBean API to do this work, if I were using Java. Alternatively there are some WS APIs that will let you do much of the same stuff.

Answer 3

The BO job scheduler can be set up to automatically run reports at a given time and export them as Excel, CSV, etc. The reports can be dumped onto a web server, which will make for easier screen scraping or downloads than trying to go against the BO web reports directly, because the web reports are paginated.

I haven't done this personally, but I've worked with consultants who've done it for me. Your best bet is probably going to be calling in an experienced BO consultant to set it up for you.

Answer 4

Have you looked at QaaWS? (Query As A Web Service) -- it should let you get access to the same universe query that the WebI report is using -- but that may not do you much good if you are relying upon the WebI report as a pre-processor. Just a thought.

Answer 5

Have you looked at Report Launch its a web based framework that wraps BOE and provides sinple URL calls for all types of calls like the one your described.