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Get the Report →Visualize TaxJar Data in Tableau Desktop (through CData Connect)
Create a virtual SQL Server database for TaxJar data in CData Connect (or Connect Server) and build visualizations from live TaxJar data in Tableau Desktop.
Tableau is a visual analytics platform transforming the way businesses use data to solve problems. When paired with CData Connect (or Connect Server), you can easily get access to live TaxJar data within Tableau.
CData Connect Server provides a pure SQL Server interface for TaxJar, allowing you to easily build reports from live TaxJar data in Tableau Desktop — without replicating the data to a natively supported database. As you build visualizations, Tableau Desktop generates SQL queries to gather data. Using optimized data processing out of the box, CData Connect Server pushes all supported SQL operations (filters, JOINs, etc) directly to TaxJar, leveraging server-side processing to quickly return the requested TaxJar data.
This article shows how to create a virtual SQL Server database for TaxJar, connect to the virtual database in Tableau, and build a simple chart.
Create a Virtual SQL Server Database for TaxJar 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 "TaxJar" from Available Data Sources.
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Enter the necessary authentication properties to connect to TaxJar.
To authenticate to the TaxJar API, you will need to first obtain the API Key from the TaxJar UI.
NOTE: the API is available only for Professional and Premium TaxJar plans.
If you already have a Professional or Premium plan you can find the API Key by logging in the TaxJar UI and navigating to Account -> TaxJar API. After obtaining the API Key, you can set it in the APIKey connection property.
Additional Notes
- By default, the CData connector will retrieve data of the last 3 months in cases where the entity support date range filtering. You can set StartDate to specify the minimum creation date of the data retrieved.
- If the API Key has been created for a sandbox API account please set UseSandbox to true, but not all endpoints will work as expected. For more information, refer to the TaxJar developer documentation.
- 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 TaxJar data from Tableau Desktop.
Visualize Live TaxJar Data in Tableau Desktop
The steps below outline connecting to the virtual TaxJar database in CData Connect and building a simple visualization from the data.
- Open Tableau and click "Microsoft SQL Server" under Connect -> To a Server.
- In the connection wizard, enter the values for your CData Connect instance and click "Sign In"
- Server: the address of your Connect instance and port of the TDS endpoint, separated by a comma (default port is: 1433)
- Database: the virtual database you configured for the TaxJar data
- Username & Password: the credentials for a CData Connect user
- Select your newly created database and the table(s) you wish to visualize (defining relationships for JOINed tables as needed).
- Select Dimensions and Measures and configure your visualization.
SQL Access to TaxJar Data from On-Premise Applications
At this point, you have a direct connection to live TaxJar data from your Tableau Desktop workbook. You can create new visualizations, build dashboards, and more. For more information on gaining SQL access to data from more than 200 SaaS, Big Data, and NoSQL sources (including TaxJar) from desktop applications like Tableau refer to our CData Connect page or download a free trial.