Understanding the Business Data Catalog Architecture

The BDC uses ADO.NET, OLEDB, or ODBC drivers to connect to practically all popular databases, and it can also use Web services to connect to business applications that support that method of retrieving data. For example, using the BDC, you can display data from SAP or Siebel applications using Web services.

Before the business data can be used within SharePoint Server 2007, it must be declared. A single XML file details the data connection and data formats, known as metadata, for a data source or business application—that is, the metadata describes the APIs of the data source or business application. Administrators use this XML file, known as the application definition file (ADF), to register ...

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