Use Dash to Build to Web Apps on Twilio Data

The rich ecosystem of Python modules lets you get to work quickly and integrate your systems more effectively. With the CData Python Connector for Twilio, the pandas module, and the Dash framework, you can build Twilio-connected web applications for Twilio data. This article shows how to connect to Twilio with the CData Connector and use pandas and Dash to build a simple web app for visualizing Twilio data.

With built-in, optimized data processing, the CData Python Connector offers unmatched performance for interacting with live Twilio data in Python. When you issue complex SQL queries from Twilio, the driver pushes supported SQL operations, like filters and aggregations, directly to Twilio and utilizes the embedded SQL engine to process unsupported operations client-side (often SQL functions and JOIN operations).

Connecting to Twilio Data

Connecting to Twilio data looks just like connecting to any relational data source. Create a connection string using the required connection properties. For this article, you will pass the connection string as a parameter to the create_engine function.

Use the AccountSid and AuthToken connection properties to access data from your account. You obtain your live credentials on your Twilio account dashboard. Click Account -> Account Settings to obtain your test credentials.

After installing the CData Twilio Connector, follow the procedure below to install the other required modules and start accessing Twilio through Python objects.

Install Required Modules

Use the pip utility to install the required modules and frameworks:

pip install pandas
pip install dash
pip install dash-daq

Visualize Twilio Data in Python

Once the required modules and frameworks are installed, we are ready to build our web app. Code snippets follow, but the full source code is available at the end of the article.

First, be sure to import the modules (including the CData Connector) with the following:

import os
import dash
import dash_core_components as dcc
import dash_html_components as html
import pandas as pd
import cdata.twilio as mod
import plotly.graph_objs as go

You can now connect with a connection string. Use the connect function for the CData Twilio Connector to create a connection for working with Twilio data.

cnxn = mod.connect("AccountSid=MyAccountSid;AuthToken=MyAuthToken;")

Execute SQL to Twilio

Use the read_sql function from pandas to execute any SQL statement and store the result set in a DataFrame.

df = pd.read_sql("SELECT To, Duration FROM Calls WHERE StartTime = '1/1/2016'", cnxn)

Configure the Web App

With the query results stored in a DataFrame, we can begin configuring the web app, assigning a name, stylesheet, and title.

app_name = 'dash-twilioedataplot'

external_stylesheets = ['https://codepen.io/chriddyp/pen/bWLwgP.css']

app = dash.Dash(__name__, external_stylesheets=external_stylesheets)
app.title = 'CData + Dash'

Configure the Layout

The next step is to create a bar graph based on our Twilio data and configure the app layout.

trace = go.Bar(x=df.To, y=df.Duration, name='To')

app.layout = html.Div(children=[html.H1("CData Extension + Dash", style={'textAlign': 'center'}),
	dcc.Graph(
		id='example-graph',
		figure={
			'data': [trace],
			'layout':
			go.Layout(title='Twilio Calls Data', barmode='stack')
		})
], className="container")

Set the App to Run

With the connection, app, and layout configured, we are ready to run the app. The last lines of Python code follow.

if __name__ == '__main__':
    app.run_server(debug=True)

Now, use Python to run the web app and a browser to view the Twilio data.

python twilio-dash.py

Free Trial & More Information

Download a free, 30-day trial of the CData Python Connector for Twilio to start building Python apps with connectivity to Twilio data. Reach out to our Support Team if you have any questions.

Full Source Code

import os
import dash
import dash_core_components as dcc
import dash_html_components as html
import pandas as pd
import cdata.twilio as mod
import plotly.graph_objs as go

cnxn = mod.connect("AccountSid=MyAccountSid;AuthToken=MyAuthToken;")

df = pd.read_sql("SELECT To, Duration FROM Calls WHERE StartTime = '1/1/2016'", cnxn)
app_name = 'dash-twiliodataplot'

external_stylesheets = ['https://codepen.io/chriddyp/pen/bWLwgP.css']

app = dash.Dash(__name__, external_stylesheets=external_stylesheets)
app.title = 'CData + Dash'
trace = go.Bar(x=df.To, y=df.Duration, name='To')

app.layout = html.Div(children=[html.H1("CData Extension + Dash", style={'textAlign': 'center'}),
	dcc.Graph(
		id='example-graph',
		figure={
			'data': [trace],
			'layout':
			go.Layout(title='Twilio Calls Data', barmode='stack')
		})
], className="container")

if __name__ == '__main__':
    app.run_server(debug=True)