How to integrate Metabase with PayPal Data

Metabase is an open source data visualization tool that allows users to create interactive dashboards. When paired with CData Connect Cloud, users can easily create visualizations and dashboards linked to live PayPal data. This article describes how to connect to PayPal and build a simple visualization using PayPal data.

CData Connect provides a pure cloud-to-cloud interface for PayPal, allowing you to easily integrate with live PayPal data in Metabase — without replicating the data. Connect looks exactly like a SQL Server database to Metabase and uses optimized data processing out of the box to push all supported SQL operations (filters, JOINs, etc) directly to PayPal, leveraging server-side processing to quickly return PayPal data.

Configure PayPal Connectivity for Metabase

Connectivity to PayPal from Metabase is made possible through CData Connect Cloud. To work with PayPal data from Metabase, we start by creating and configuring a PayPal connection.

1. Log into Connect Cloud, click Connections and click Add Connection
2. Select "PayPal" from the Add Connection panel
3. Enter the necessary authentication properties to connect to PayPal.

   The provider surfaces tables from two PayPal APIs. The APIs use different authentication methods.

   • The REST API uses the OAuth standard. To authenticate to the REST API, you will need to set the OAuthClientId, OAuthClientSecret, and CallbackURL properties.
   • The Classic API requires Signature API credentials. To authenticate to the Classic API, you will need to obtain an API username, password, and signature.

   See the "Getting Started" chapter of the help documentation for a guide to obtaining the necessary API credentials.

   To select the API you want to work with, you can set the Schema property to REST or SOAP. By default the SOAP schema will be used.

   For testing purposes you can set UseSandbox to true and use sandbox credentials.

4. Click Create & Test
5. Navigate to the Permissions tab in the Add PayPal Connection page and update the User-based permissions.

Add a Personal Access Token

If you are connecting from a service, application, platform, or framework that does not support OAuth authentication, you can create a Personal Access Token (PAT) to use for authentication. Best practices would dictate that you create a separate PAT for each service, to maintain granularity of access.

1. Click on your username at the top right of the Connect Cloud app and click User Profile.
2. On the User Profile page, scroll down to the Personal Access Tokens section and click Create PAT.
3. Give your PAT a name and click Create.
4. The personal access token is only visible at creation, so be sure to copy it and store it securely for future use.

With the connection configured, you are ready to connect to PayPal data from Metabase.

Connect to CData Connect from Metabase

After creating the virtual database, navigate to your Metabase instance. Use the SQL Server interface to connect to Connect Cloud.

1. Navigate to the administration screen (Settings -> Admin) and click "Add Database" from the "Databases" tab
2. Configure the connection to Connect Cloud and click "Save"
   • Database type: Select "SQL Server"
   • Name: Name the connection (e.g. "PayPal (Connect Cloud)")
   • Host: tds.cdata.com
   • Port: 14333
   • Database name: The name of the connection you just created (e.g. PayPal1)
   • Username: A Connect Cloud username (e.g. user@mydomain.com)
   • Password: The PAT for the above Connect Cloud user
   • Click to Use a secure connection (SSL)

Execute PayPal Data with Metabase

Once you configure the connection to Connect Cloud, you can query PayPal and build visualizations.

1. Use the "Write SQL" tool to retrieve the PayPal data
2. Write a SQL query based on the PayPal connection in CData Connect Cloud, e.g.
   
   

   SELECT Date, GrossAmount FROM Transactions

3. Navigate to the "Visualization" screen, choose a visualization, and configure the visualization

More Information & Free Trial

At this point, you have built a simple visualization from PayPal data in Metabase. You can continue to work with live PayPal data in Metabase just like you would any SQL Server database. For more information on creating a live connection to PayPal (and more than 100 other data sources), visit the Connect Cloud page. Sign up for a free trial and start working with live PayPal data in Metabase today.