How to integrate Metabase with SharePoint 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 SharePoint data. This article describes how to connect to SharePoint and build a simple visualization using SharePoint data.

CData Connect provides a pure cloud-to-cloud interface for SharePoint, allowing you to easily integrate with live SharePoint 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 SharePoint, leveraging server-side processing to quickly return SharePoint data.

Configure SharePoint Connectivity for Metabase

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

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

   Set the URL property to the base SharePoint site or to a sub-site. This allows you to query any lists and other SharePoint entities defined for the site or sub-site.

   The User and Password properties, under the Authentication section, must be set to valid SharePoint user credentials when using SharePoint On-Premise.

   If you are connecting to SharePoint Online, set the SharePointEdition to SHAREPOINTONLINE along with the User and Password connection string properties. For more details on connecting to SharePoint Online, see the "Getting Started" chapter of the help documentation

4. Click Create & Test
5. Navigate to the Permissions tab in the Add SharePoint 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 SharePoint 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. "SharePoint (Connect Cloud)")
   • Host: tds.cdata.com
   • Port: 14333
   • Database name: The name of the connection you just created (e.g. SharePoint1)
   • Username: A Connect Cloud username (e.g. [email protected])
   • Password: The PAT for the above Connect Cloud user
   • Click to Use a secure connection (SSL)

Execute SharePoint Data with Metabase

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

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

   SELECT Name, Revenue FROM MyCustomList

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