Connecting to a Data Source

• Dec 11, 2019
• 5 minutes to read

The DevExpress Dashboard allows you to connect to any supported data source in a Data Source Wizard or in code.

WinForms Data Source Wizard

Web Data Source Wizard

The table below lists the data source types and describes how to create a connection for a particular platform.

Data Source Type	API	WinForms Designer	Web Dashboard
SQL Data Source	DashboardSqlDataSource	Users can specify the connection parameters in the Data Source wizard. You can also add connection strings to the application’s configuration file to provide default data connections. For more information, refer to the Connecting to SQL Databases article. Use the DashboardSqlDataSource class to create an SQL data source.	Add a connection string to web.config to allow users to establish a connection. Refer to the ASP.NET Web Forms Dashboard Control - Register Default Data Connections or ASP.NET MVC Dashboard Extension - Register Default Data Connections topic for more information. Use the DashboardSqlDataSource class to create an SQL data source that is available to users. Review the ASP.NET Web Forms Dashboard Control - Register Default Data Sources/ASP.NET MVC Dashboard Extension - Register Default Data Sources topics for more information.
OLAP Data Source	DashboardOlapDataSource	By default, end-users can establish a connection to OLAP cubes by specifying connection parameters in the Data Source wizard. As an alternative, add connection strings in the application’s configuration file to supply end-users with a set of default data connections. For more information, see OLAP Data Source. Use the DashboardOlapDataSource class to create an OLAP data source.	Add a connection string to web.config to allow end-users to establish a connection. For more information, see the following topics: ASP.NET Web Forms Dashboard Control - Register Default Data Connections/ASP.NET MVC Dashboard Extension - Register Default Data Connections. Use the DashboardOlapDataSource class to create a OLAP data source. Review the ASP.NET Web Forms Dashboard Control - Register Default Data Sources/ASP.NET MVC Dashboard Extension - Register Default Data Sources topics for more information.
Excel Data Source	DashboardExcelDataSource	End-users can connect to an Excel workbook or CSV file in the Data Source wizard. For more information, see Excel Data Source. Use the DashboardExcelDataSource class to create an Excel data source.	Use the DashboardExcelDataSource class to create an Excel data source available to end-users. Review the ASP.NET Web Forms Dashboard Control - Register Default Data Sources/ASP.NET MVC Dashboard Extension - Register Default Data Sources topics for more information.
Entity Framework Data Source	DashboardEFDataSource	End-users can connect to an Entity Framework data source in the Data Source wizard. To supply the end-users with this capability, add an Entity Framework model to your project. For more information, see Entity Framework Data Source. Use the DashboardEFDataSource class to create an Entity Framework data source available to end-users.	Use the DashboardEFDataSource class to create an Entity Framework data source available to end-users. SReview the ASP.NET Web Forms Dashboard Control - Register Default Data Sources/ASP.NET MVC Dashboard Extension - Register Default Data Sources topics for more information.
Object Data Source	DashboardObjectDataSource	End-users can connect to an Object data source in the Data Source wizard. To supply the end-users with this capability, define an object data source in a separate class within a project. For more information, see Object Data Source. Use the DashboardObjectDataSource class to create an Object data source.	Use the DashboardObjectDataSource class to create an Object data source available to end-users. Review the ASP.NET Web Forms Dashboard Control - Register Default Data Sources/ASP.NET MVC Dashboard Extension - Register Default Data Sources topics for more information.
JSON Data Source	DashboardJsonDataSource	End-users can specify connection parameters in the Data Source wizard. Use the DashboardJsonDataSource class to create the JSON data source.	Use the DashboardJsonDataSource class to create a JSON data source available to end-users. Review the ASP.NET Web Forms Dashboard Control - Register Default Data Sources/ASP.NET MVC Dashboard Extension - Register Default Data Sources topics for more information.
XPO Data Source	DashboardXpoDataSource	End-users can specify connection parameters in the Data Source wizard. Use the DashboardXpoDataSource class to create the XPO data source.	Use the DashboardXpoDataSource class to create an XPO data source available to end-users. Review the ASP.NET Web Forms Dashboard Control - Register Default Data Sources/ASP.NET MVC Dashboard Extension - Register Default Data Sources topics for more information.
Extract Data Source	DashboardExtractDataSource	Users can use the Data Source wizard to create a new data extract or establish a connection to an existing data extract. See Extract Data Source for more details. Use the DashboardExtractDataSource class to create an Extract data source that is available to users.	Use the DashboardExtractDataSource class to create an Extract data source that is available to users. Review the ASP.NET Web Forms Dashboard Control - Register Default Data Sources/ASP.NET MVC Dashboard Extension - Register Default Data Sources topics for more information.
Federated Data Source	DashboardFederationDataSource	Users can create the federated data source in the Data Source wizard from existing SQL Data Source queries, Excel Data Sources, and Object Data Sources. For more information, refer to the Federated Data Source. Use the DashboardFederationDataSource class to create a federated data source.	Use the DashboardFederationDataSource class to create a data source that is available to users. Review the ASP.NET Web Forms Dashboard Control - Register Default Data Sources/ASP.NET MVC Dashboard Extension - Register Default Data Sources topics for more information.

Note

The DevExpress Dashboard uses database servers that can be configured to use case-sensitive table/column names. For this reason, a database scheme used in dashboards is case-sensitive to prevent any problem when the product is used with such servers.