Visualize Live Square Data in Power BI (via CData Connect Cloud)

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 Cloud, you get access to Square data for visualizations, dashboards, and more. This article shows how to use CData Connect to create a live connection to Square, connect to Square data from Power BI and then create reports on Square data in Power BI.

Configure Square Connectivity for Power BI

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

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

   Square uses the OAuth authentication standard. To authenticate using OAuth, you will need to register an app with Square to obtain the OAuthClientId, OAuthClientSecret, and CallbackURL. See the "Getting Started" chapter of the help documentation for a guide to using OAuth.

   Additionally, you must specify the LocationId. You can retrieve the Ids for your Locations by querying the Locations table. Alternatively, you can set the LocationId in the search criteria of your query.

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

With the connection configured, you are ready to connect to Square data from Power BI.

Query Square Tables

Follow the steps below to build a query to pull Square data into the report:

1. Open Power BI Desktop and click Get Data -> Online Services -> CData Connect Cloud and click "Connect"
2. Click "Sign in" and authenticate with your CData Connect Cloud account
3. After signing in, click "Connect"
4. Select tables in the Navigator dialog
5. Click Load to establish the connection to your Square data from Power BI

Create Square 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.

Live Access to Square Data from Data Applications

With CData Connect Cloud you have a direct connection to Square data from Power BI. You can import more data, create new visualizations, build reports, and more — all without replicating Square data.

To get SQL data access to 100+ SaaS, Big Data, and NoSQL sources (including Square) directly from your on-premise BI, reporting, ETL and other data applications, visit the CData Connect page and start a free trial.