Technologies

A technology names what a data source is — Azure SQL Database, Power BI Desktop, Snowflake. The provider names how CAT connects to it. One provider serves many technologies.

Every data source definition has a Provider — the component that opens the connection and runs the queries. A definition may also carry a Technology — the name of the system behind that connection. The two are not the same thing: SqlServer@2 is one provider, and it connects to MS SQL Server, Azure SQL Database, Azure SQL Managed Instance, Azure Synapse Analytics, MS Fabric Warehouse, MS Fabric Lakehouse and Dataverse alike. The provider catalogue therefore shows less than half of what CAT can test; the table below shows all of it.

The Technology property #

Data sources:
- Name: Sales DWH
  Provider: SqlServer@2
  Technology: AzureSqlDatabase
  Connection string: "%SALES_DWH%"

The property lives on the definition like any other, so it travels with it: it is written in the project file, in another YAML file, or in a column of a list served by any provider — see Lists.

What CAT Studio does with it #

CAT Studio is the only tool that reads the property, and it reads it for four things:

• Display. The data source’s icon and caption, wherever a data source is shown — the data sources page, the project page, the test editor.
• The guided connection form. Each technology has its own form — server, database, authentication, file path and so on — and its own help panel. The form writes the connection string; you never type it.
• The default provider. Choosing a technology in Studio sets Provider to the technology’s default (see the table) and clears the connection string and any other settings — a data source switched from MS SQL Server to Excel starts over.
• Technology slots. On the Starter plan a user can work with two technologies at a time; the codes counted are exactly the ones in the table. Studio checks the slot when a data source is added or edited. Other plans have no limit. See Compare plans.

Without the property #

Leaving the property out is safe. A definition with no Technology, or with a value Studio does not know, runs exactly as it would with one — Provider and Connection string are all that is needed to connect. The only difference is in CAT Studio, where such a data source is shown as Manually set: a generic icon, and the expert view instead of a guided form, with Provider and Connection string edited as written. When Studio next saves that data source, it writes Technology: ManuallySet into it.

So a project file written by hand, or generated by a script, does not need the property. Add the Technology line when you want the icon and the guided form, and Studio picks them up on the next open.

Technology and provider should match #

Each technology has the provider Studio uses for it, listed in the table below, and a definition should pair them as listed — Technology: AzureSqlDatabase with SqlServer@2, Technology: PowerBISemanticModel with Dax@2. Studio does not enforce the pair: it keeps whatever provider a definition carries and shows the technology’s guided form over it, so a mismatch is not reported but the form and the connection string may no longer agree. The technology is a label; the provider does the work.

Supported technologies #

Grouped as in Studio’s technology picker. Code is the value of the Technology property; Provider is the one Studio uses for it.

Anything with an ODBC driver is reachable through Odbc — Databricks, for one; see Test Databricks. Anything else is Manually set: any provider, any connection string, no guided form.

Related #

• Properties — the other properties of a data source definition.
• Providers — the components that do the connecting, with drivers and platform notes.
• Data sources in CAT Studio — the picker and the guided forms, with screenshots.