Use the CData ODBC Driver for Excel Online in MicroStrategy Desktop

MicroStrategy is an analytics and mobility platform that enables data-driven innovation. When paired with the CData ODBC Driver for Excel Online, you gain database-like access to live Excel Online data from MicroStrategy, expanding your reporting and analytics capabilities. In this article, we walk through adding Excel Online as a data source in MicroStrategy Desktop and creating a simple visualization of Excel Online data.

The CData ODBC Driver offers unmatched performance for interacting with live Excel Online data in MicroStrategy due to optimized data processing built into the driver. When you issue complex SQL queries from MicroStrategy to Excel Online, the driver pushes supported SQL operations, like filters and aggregations, directly to Excel Online and utilizes the embedded SQL Engine to process unsupported operations (often SQL functions and JOIN operations) client-side. With built-in dynamic metadata querying, you can visualize and analyze Excel Online data using native MicroStrategy data types.

Connect to Excel Online as an ODBC Data Source

Information for connecting to Excel Online follows, along with different instructions for configuring a DSN in Windows and Linux environments.

You can connect to a workbook by providing authentication to Excel Online and then setting the following properties:

• Workbook: Set this to the name or Id of the workbook.

  If you want to view a list of information about the available workbooks, execute a query to the Workbooks view after you authenticate.

• UseSandbox: Set this to true if you are connecting to a workbook in a sandbox account. Otherwise, leave this blank to connect to a production account.

You use the OAuth authentication standard to authenticate to Excel Online. See the Getting Started section in the help documentation for a guide. Getting Started also guides you through executing SQL to worksheets and ranges.

When you configure the DSN, you may also want to set the Max Rows connection property. This will limit the number of rows returned, which is especially helpful for improving performance when designing reports and visualizations.

Windows

If you have not already, first specify connection properties in an ODBC DSN (data source name). This is the last step of the driver installation. You can use the Microsoft ODBC Data Source Administrator to create and configure ODBC DSNs.

Linux

If you are installing the CData ODBC Driver for Excel Online in a Linux environment, the driver installation predefines a system DSN. You can modify the DSN by editing the system data sources file (/etc/odbc.ini) and defining the required connection properties.

/etc/odbc.ini

For specific information on using these configuration files, please refer to the help documentation (installed and found online).

Connect to and Visualize Excel Online Data using MicroStrategy Desktop

In addition to connecting Excel Online in MicroStrategy enterprise products, you can connect to Excel Online in MicroStrategy Desktop. Follow the steps below to add Excel Online data as a dataset and create visualizations and reports of Excel Online data.

1. Open MicroStrategy Desktop and create a new dossier.
2. In the datasets panel, click New Data, select Databases, and select Type a Query as the Import Option.
3. Add a new data source and choose DSN data sources.
4. Choose the DSN you previously configured (likely CData ExcelOnline Sys) and select Generic DBMS in the Version menu.
5. Set the User and Password properties for the DSN (or use placeholder values) and name the data source.
6. Select the new database instance to view the tables. You may need to manually click the search icon in the Available Tables section to see the tables.
7. Create a SQL query for the Excel Online data (see below) and click Execute SQL to test the query. SELECT * FROM Test_xlsx_Sheet1 NOTE: Since we create a live connection, we can execute a SELECT * query and utilize the filtering and aggregation features native to the MicroStrategy products.
8. Click Finish and choose to connect live.
9. Choose a visualization, choose fields to display (data types are discovered automatically through dynamic metadata discovery) and apply any filters to create a new visualization of Excel Online data. Where possible, the complex queries generated by the filters and aggregations will be pushed down to Excel Online, while any unsupported operations (which can include SQL functions and JOIN operations) will be managed client-side by the CData SQL Engine embedded in the driver.
10. Once you are finished configuring the dossier, click File -> Save.

Using the CData ODBC Driver for Excel Online in MicroStrategy Desktop, you can easily create robust visualizations and reports on Excel Online data. Read our other articles on connecting to Excel Online in MicroStrategy and connecting to Excel Online in MicroStrategy Web for more examples.