Use Dash to Build to Web Apps on SharePoint Excel Services Data

The rich ecosystem of Python modules lets you get to work quickly and integrate your systems more effectively. With the CData Python Connector for SharePoint Excel Services, the pandas module, and the Dash framework, you can build SharePoint Excel Services-connected web applications for SharePoint Excel Services data. This article shows how to connect to SharePoint Excel Services with the CData Connector and use pandas and Dash to build a simple web app for visualizing SharePoint Excel Services data.

With built-in, optimized data processing, the CData Python Connector offers unmatched performance for interacting with live SharePoint Excel Services data in Python. When you issue complex SQL queries from SharePoint Excel Services, the driver pushes supported SQL operations, like filters and aggregations, directly to SharePoint Excel Services and utilizes the embedded SQL engine to process unsupported operations client-side (often SQL functions and JOIN operations).

Connecting to SharePoint Excel Services Data

Connecting to SharePoint Excel Services data looks just like connecting to any relational data source. Create a connection string using the required connection properties. For this article, you will pass the connection string as a parameter to the create_engine function.

The URL, User, and Password properties, under the Authentication section, must be set to valid credentials for SharePoint Online, SharePoint 2010, or SharePoint 2013. Additionally, the Library property must be set to a valid SharePoint Document Library and the File property must be set to a valid .xlsx file in the indicated Library.

After installing the CData SharePoint Excel Services Connector, follow the procedure below to install the other required modules and start accessing SharePoint Excel Services through Python objects.

Install Required Modules

Use the pip utility to install the required modules and frameworks:

pip install pandas
pip install dash
pip install dash-daq

Visualize SharePoint Excel Services Data in Python

Once the required modules and frameworks are installed, we are ready to build our web app. Code snippets follow, but the full source code is available at the end of the article.

First, be sure to import the modules (including the CData Connector) with the following:

import os
import dash
import dash_core_components as dcc
import dash_html_components as html
import pandas as pd
import cdata.excelservices as mod
import plotly.graph_objs as go

You can now connect with a connection string. Use the connect function for the CData SharePoint Excel Services Connector to create a connection for working with SharePoint Excel Services data.

cnxn = mod.connect("URL=https://myorg.sharepoint.com;[email protected];Password=password;File=Book1.xlsx;")

Execute SQL to SharePoint Excel Services

Use the read_sql function from pandas to execute any SQL statement and store the result set in a DataFrame.

df = pd.read_sql("SELECT Name, AnnualRevenue FROM Account WHERE Industry = 'Floppy Disks'", cnxn)

Configure the Web App

With the query results stored in a DataFrame, we can begin configuring the web app, assigning a name, stylesheet, and title.

app_name = 'dash-excelservicesedataplot'

external_stylesheets = ['https://codepen.io/chriddyp/pen/bWLwgP.css']

app = dash.Dash(__name__, external_stylesheets=external_stylesheets)
app.title = 'CData + Dash'

Configure the Layout

The next step is to create a bar graph based on our SharePoint Excel Services data and configure the app layout.

trace = go.Bar(x=df.Name, y=df.AnnualRevenue, name='Name')

app.layout = html.Div(children=[html.H1("CData Extension + Dash", style={'textAlign': 'center'}),
	dcc.Graph(
		id='example-graph',
		figure={
			'data': [trace],
			'layout':
			go.Layout(title='SharePoint Excel Services Account Data', barmode='stack')
		})
], className="container")

Set the App to Run

With the connection, app, and layout configured, we are ready to run the app. The last lines of Python code follow.

if __name__ == '__main__':
    app.run_server(debug=True)

Now, use Python to run the web app and a browser to view the SharePoint Excel Services data.

python excelservices-dash.py

Free Trial & More Information

Download a free, 30-day trial of the CData Python Connector for SharePoint Excel Services to start building Python apps with connectivity to SharePoint Excel Services data. Reach out to our Support Team if you have any questions.

Full Source Code

import os
import dash
import dash_core_components as dcc
import dash_html_components as html
import pandas as pd
import cdata.excelservices as mod
import plotly.graph_objs as go

cnxn = mod.connect("URL=https://myorg.sharepoint.com;[email protected];Password=password;File=Book1.xlsx;")

df = pd.read_sql("SELECT Name, AnnualRevenue FROM Account WHERE Industry = 'Floppy Disks'", cnxn)
app_name = 'dash-excelservicesdataplot'

external_stylesheets = ['https://codepen.io/chriddyp/pen/bWLwgP.css']

app = dash.Dash(__name__, external_stylesheets=external_stylesheets)
app.title = 'CData + Dash'
trace = go.Bar(x=df.Name, y=df.AnnualRevenue, name='Name')

app.layout = html.Div(children=[html.H1("CData Extension + Dash", style={'textAlign': 'center'}),
	dcc.Graph(
		id='example-graph',
		figure={
			'data': [trace],
			'layout':
			go.Layout(title='SharePoint Excel Services Account Data', barmode='stack')
		})
], className="container")

if __name__ == '__main__':
    app.run_server(debug=True)