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Get the Report →Build Visualizations of Live Printful Data in Power BI (through CData Connect)
Use CData Connect to create a virtual database for Printful data and build custom reports in Power BI.
Power BI transforms your company's data into rich visuals for you to collect and organize so you can focus on what matters to you. When paired with CData Connect (on-premise or in the cloud), you get access to Printful data for visualizations, dashboards, and more. This article shows how to use CData Connect to create a virtual database for Printful, connect to Printful data into Power BI and then create reports on Printful data in Power BI.
Create a Virtual SQL Database for Printful Data
CData Connect Server uses a straightforward, point-and-click interface to connect to data sources and generate APIs.
- Login to Connect Server and click Connections.
- Select "Printful" from Available Data Sources.
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Enter the necessary authentication properties to connect to Printful.
Start by setting the Profile connection property to the location of the Printful Profile on disk (e.g. C:\profiles\Printful.apip). Next, set the ProfileSettings connection property to the connection string for Printful (see below).
Printful API Profile Settings
In order to authenticate to Printful, you'll need to provide your API Key. To get your API Key, first go to 'Settings' then 'Stores'. Select the Store you would like to connect to, then click the 'Add API Access' button to generate an API Key. Set the API Key in the ProfileSettings property to connect.
- Click Save Changes
- Click Privileges -> Add and add the new user (or an existing user) with the appropriate permissions.
With the virtual database created, you are ready to connect to and visualize Printful from Power BI.
Query Printful Tables
Follow the steps below to build a query to pull Printful data into the report:
- Open Power BI Desktop and click Get Data -> Other -> SQL Server and click "Connect"
- Set Server to the address and port of your CData Connect instance (localhost:8033 by default) and set Database to the name of the virtual database you just created (API1)
- Use "Database" authentication, enter the credentials for a CData Connect user and click "Connect"
- Select tables in the Navigator dialog
- Click Load to import the data into Power BI
Create Printful Data Visualizations
After connecting to the data into Power BI, you can create data visualizations in the Report view by dragging fields from the Fields pane onto the canvas. Select the dimensions and measures you wish to visualize along with the chart type.
Click Refresh to synchronize your report with any changes to the data.
SQL Access to Printful Data from Data Applications
With CData Connect you have a direct connection to Printful data from Power BI. You can import more data, create new visualizations, build reports, and more — all without replicating Printful data.
To get SQL data access to 200+ SaaS, Big Data, and NoSQL sources (including Printful) directly from your on-premise BI, reporting, ETL and other data applications, visit the CData Connect page and download a free trial.