FTP/SFTP XML File Connector for Microsoft Fabric

Create ODBC Data Source (DSN) based on ZappySys SFTP XML Driver

Step-by-step instructions

To get data from FTP/SFTP XML File using Microsoft Fabric we first need to create a DSN (Data Source) which will access data from FTP/SFTP XML File. We will later be able to read data using Microsoft Fabric. Perform these steps:

1. Download and install ODBC PowerPack.

2. Open ODBC Data Sources (x64):

   

3. Create a User data source (User DSN) based on ZappySys SFTP XML Driver:

   ZappySys SFTP XML Driver

   
   • Create and use User DSN if the client application is run under a User Account. This is an ideal option in design-time, when developing a solution, e.g. in Visual Studio 2019. Use it for both type of applications - 64-bit and 32-bit.
   • Create and use System DSN if the client application is launched under a System Account, e.g. as a Windows Service. Usually, this is an ideal option to use in a production environment. Use ODBC Data Source Administrator (32-bit), instead of 64-bit version, if Windows Service is a 32-bit application.

4. Create and configure a connection for the FTP/SFTP storage account.

   

5. You can use select your desired single file by clicking [...] path button.

   mybucket/dbo.tblNames.xml

   dbo.tblNames.xml

   
   
   
   ----------OR----------

   You can also read the multiple files stored in FTP/SFTP Storage using wildcard pattern supported e.g. dbo.tblNames*.xml.
   

   Note: If you want to operation with multiple files then use wild card pattern as below 
   (when you use wild card pattern in source path then system will treat target path as folder regardless you end with slash)
   
   mybucket/dbo.tblNames.xml (will read only single .XML file)
   mybucket/dbo.tbl*.xml (all files starting with file name)
   mybucket/*.xml (all files with .xml Extension and located under folder subfolder)
   

   mybucket/dbo.tblNames*.xml

   
   
   
   ----------OR----------

   You can also read the zip and gzip compressed files also without extracting it in using FTP/SFTP XML Source File Task.

   mybucket/dbo.tblNames*.gz

   

6. Now select/enter Path expression in Path textbox to extract only specific part of XML string as below ($.value[*] will get content of value attribute from XML document. Value attribute is array of XML documents so we have to use [*] to indicate we want all records of that array)
   

   NOTE: Here, We are using our desired filter, but you need to select your desired filter based on your requirement.
   Go to Preview Tab.
   

7. Navigate to the Preview Tab and let's explore the different modes available to access the data.
   

   1. --- Using Direct Query ---

      Click on Preview Tab, Select Table from Tables Dropdown and select [value] and click Preview.
      

   2. --- Using Stored Procedure ---

      Note : For this you have to Save ODBC Driver configuration and then again reopen to configure same driver. For more information click here.
      Click on the Custom Objects Tab, Click on Add button and select Add Procedure and Enter an appropriate name and Click on OK button to create.
      

      1. --- Without Parameters ---

         Now Stored Procedure can be created with or without parameters (see example below). If you use parameters then Set default value otherwise it may fail to compilation)
         
         

      2. --- With Parameters ---

         Note : Here you can use Placeholder with Paramters in Stored Procedure. Example : SELECT * FROM $ WHERE OrderID = '<@OrderID, FUN_TRIM>' or CustId = '<@CustId>' and Total >= '<@Total>'
         

   3. --- Using Virtual Table ---

      Note : For this you have to Save ODBC Driver configuration and then again reopen to configure same driver. For more information click here.

      ZappySys APi Drivers support flexible Query language so you can override Default Properties you configured on Data Source such as URL, Body. This way you don't have to create multiple Data Sources if you like to read data from multiple EndPoints. However not every application support supplying custom SQL to driver so you can only select Table from list returned from driver.

      Many applications like MS Access, Informatica Designer wont give you option to specify custom SQL when you import Objects. In such case Virtual Table is very useful. You can create many Virtual Tables on the same Data Source (e.g. If you have 50 Buckets with slight variations you can create virtual tables with just URL as Parameter setting).

      vt__Customers
      DataPath=mybucket_1/customers.xml
      
      vt__Orders
      DataPath=mybucket_2/orders.xml
      
      vt__Products
      DataPath=mybucket_3/products.xml
      

      1. Click on the Custom Objects Tab, Click on Add button and select Add Table and Enter an appropriate name and Click on OK button to create.
         
      2. Once you see Query Builder Window on screen Configure it.
         
      3. Click on Preview Tab, Select Virtual Table(prefix with vt__) from Tables Dropdown or write SQL query with Virtual Table name and click Preview.
         

8. Click OK to finish creating the data source

9. That's it; we are done. In a few clicks we configured the to Read the FTP/SFTP XML File data using ZappySys FTP/SFTP XML File Connector

Installing Microsoft On-premises data gateway

To access and read FTP/SFTP XML File data in Microsoft Fabric, you will have to download and install Microsoft On-premises data gateway.

There are two types of On-premises data gateways:

• Standard Mode
• Personal Mode

Standard Mode supports Power BI and other Microsoft Data Fabric services. It fits perfectly for Enterprise solutions as it installs as a Windows Service and also supports Direct Query feature.

Personal Mode, on the other hand, can be configured faster, but is designed more for home users (you cannot install it as a Windows Service and it does not support DirectQuery). You will find a detailed comparison in the link above.

We recommend to go with Personal Mode for a quick POC solution, but use Standard Mode in production environment. You can download On-premises data gateway straight from Microsoft Data Fabric or Power BI web app:

Standard mode

Follow these steps how to configure On-premises data gateway in Standard mode:

1. Install On-premises data gateway (standard mode) and sign-in:

   
   Use the same email address you use when logging in into your account.

2. Register a new gateway (or migrate an existing one):

   

3. If you are creating a new gateway, name your gateway, enter a Recovery key, and click Configure button:

   

4. Once Microsoft gateway is installed, check if it registered correctly:

   • Go back to Microsoft Fabric portal

   • Click Gear icon on top-right

   • And then hit Manage connections and gateways menu item

   

5. Continue by clicking On-premises data gateway tab and select Standard mode gateways option from the dropdown:

   

   If your gateway is not listed, the registration may have failed. To resolve this:

   • Wait a couple of minutes and refresh Microsoft Fabric portal page
   • Restart the machine where On-premises data gateway is installed
   • Check firewall settings
6. Done!

Now we are ready to read data in Microsoft Fabric.

Personal mode

Follow this single step to configure On-premises data gateway in Personal mode:

1. Install On-premises data gateway (personal mode) and sign-in:

   
   Use the same email address you use when logging in into your account.

2. Once Microsoft gateway is installed, check if it registered correctly:

   • Go back to Microsoft Fabric portal

   • Click Gear icon on top-right

   • And then hit Manage connections and gateways menu item

   

3. Continue by clicking On-premises data gateway tab and select Personal mode option from the dropdown:

   

   If your gateway is not listed, the registration may have failed. To resolve this:

   • Wait a couple of minutes and refresh Microsoft Fabric portal page
   • Restart the machine where On-premises data gateway is installed
   • Check firewall settings
4. Done!

Now we are ready to read data in Microsoft Fabric.

Loading FTP/SFTP XML File data into Microsoft Fabric

We created ODBC data source and installed Microsoft On-premises data gateway, and we are ready to load the data into Microsoft Fabric.

Let's roll!

1. Log in to the Microsoft Fabric Portal.

2. Select an existing Workspace or create a new one by clicking New workspace (make sure you are in Home section):

   

3. Inside your workspace, click the New item button in the toolbar to start creating your data pipeline:

   

4. In the item selection window, choose Copy job to open the data ingestion wizard:

   

5. In the Choose data source screen, search for odbc and select the Odbc source:

   

6. Then enter your ODBC connection string (DSN=FtpSftpXmlFileDSN) and select MyGateway from the Data gateway dropdown we configured in the previous step:

   DSN=FtpSftpXmlFileDSN

   DSN=FtpSftpXmlFileDSN

   

7. Select the table(s) and preview the data you wish to copy from FTP/SFTP XML File. Once done, click Next:

   DSN=FtpSftpXmlFileDSN

   

8. Choose your Data Destination. You can create a New Fabric item (like a Lakehouse or Warehouse) or select an existing one:

   
   As an example, we will be using Lakehouse as destination type in this article

9. Choose Full copy to load all data or Incremental copy if you want to load only changed data in subsequent runs:

   

10. Review the Column and Table mappings section:

    

11. On the summary screen, review your settings. You can optionally enable Run on schedule. Click Save + Run to execute the job:

    DSN=FtpSftpXmlFileDSN

    DSN=FtpSftpXmlFileDSN

    

12. The job will enter the queue. Monitor the Status column to see the progress:

    DSN=FtpSftpXmlFileDSN

    

13. Wait for the status to change to Succeeded. Your FTP/SFTP XML File data is now successfully integrated into Microsoft Fabric!

    

14. Let's go to our Lakehouse MyLakehouse and double-check if it's true:

    

15. It's true, done!

Centralized data access via Data Gateway

In some situations, you may need to provide FTP/SFTP XML File data access to multiple users or services. Configuring the data source on a Data Gateway creates a single, centralized connection point for this purpose.

This configuration provides two primary advantages:

• Centralized data access
  The data source is configured once on the gateway, eliminating the need to set it up individually on each user's machine or application. This significantly simplifies the management process.
• Centralized access control
  Since all connections route through the gateway, access can be governed or revoked from a single location for all users.

If you need any of these requirements, you will have to create a data source in Data Gateway to connect to FTP/SFTP XML File, and to create an ODBC data source to connect to Data Gateway in Microsoft Fabric.

Let's not wait and get going!

Creating FTP/SFTP XML File data source in Gateway

In this section we will create a data source for FTP/SFTP XML File in Data Gateway. Let's follow these steps to accomplish that:

1. Search for gateway in Windows Start Menu and open ZappySys Data Gateway Configuration:

   

2. Go to Users tab and follow these steps to add a Data Gateway user:

   • Click Add button
   • In Login field enter username, e.g., john
   • Then enter a Password
   • Check Is Administrator checkbox
   • Click OK to save
   

3. Now we are ready to add a data source:

   • Click Add button
   • Give Datasource a name (have it handy for later)
   • Then select Native - ZappySys SFTP XML Driver
   • Finally, click OK
   FtpSftpXmlFileDSN

   ZappySys SFTP XML Driver

   

4. When the ZappySys SFTP XML Driver configuration window opens, configure the Data Source the same way you configured it in ODBC Data Sources (64-bit), in the beginning of this article.

5. Very important step. Now, after creating or modifying the data source make sure you:

   • Click the Save button to persist your changes.
   • Hit Yes, once asked if you want to restart the Data Gateway service.

   This will ensure all changes are properly applied:

   
   Skipping this step may result in the new settings not taking effect and, therefore you will not be able to connect to the data source.

Creating ODBC data source for Data Gateway

In this part we will create ODBC data source to connect to Data Gateway from Microsoft Fabric. To achieve that, let's perform these steps:

1. Open ODBC Data Sources (x64):

   

2. Create a User data source (User DSN) based on ODBC Driver 17 for SQL Server:

   ODBC Driver 17 for SQL Server

   
   If you don't see ODBC Driver 17 for SQL Server driver in the list, choose a similar version driver.

3. Then set a Name of the data source (e.g. Gateway) and the address of the Data Gateway:

   GatewayDSN

   localhost,5000

   
   Make sure you separate the hostname and port with a comma, e.g. localhost,5000.

4. Proceed with authentication part:

   • Select SQL Server authentication
   • In Login ID field enter the user name you used in Data Gateway, e.g., john
   • Set Password to the one you configured in Data Gateway
   

5. Then set the default database property to FtpSftpXmlFileDSN (the one we used in Data Gateway):

   FtpSftpXmlFileDSN

   

6. Continue by checking Trust server certificate option:

   

7. Once you do that, test the connection:

   

8. If connection is successful, everything is good:

   

9. Done!

We are ready to move to the final step. Let's do it!

Accessing data in Microsoft Fabric via Data Gateway

Finally, we are ready to read data from FTP/SFTP XML File in Microsoft Fabric via Data Gateway. Follow these final steps:

1. Go back to Microsoft Fabric.

2. In the Choose data source screen, search for odbc and select the Odbc source:

   

3. Then enter your ODBC connection string (DSN=GatewayDSN) and select MyGateway from the Data gateway dropdown we configured in the previous step:

   DSN=GatewayDSN

   DSN=GatewayDSN

   

4. Read the data the same way we discussed at the beginning of this article.

5. That's it!

Now you can connect to FTP/SFTP XML File data in Microsoft Fabric via the Data Gateway.

Conclusion

In this article we showed you how to connect to FTP/SFTP XML File in Microsoft Fabric and integrate data without any coding, saving you time and effort.

We encourage you to download FTP/SFTP XML File Connector for Microsoft Fabric and see how easy it is to use it for yourself or your team.

If you have any questions, feel free to contact ZappySys support team. You can also open a live chat immediately by clicking on the chat icon below.

Download FTP/SFTP XML File Connector for Microsoft Fabric Documentation

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