Use the CData ODBC Driver for Twitter in MicroStrategy Desktop



Connect to Twitter data in MicroStrategy Desktop using the CData ODBC Driver for Twitter.

MicroStrategy is an analytics and mobility platform that enables data-driven innovation. When paired with the CData ODBC Driver for Twitter, you gain database-like access to live Twitter data from MicroStrategy, expanding your reporting and analytics capabilities. In this article, we walk through adding Twitter as a data source in MicroStrategy Desktop and creating a simple visualization of Twitter data.

The CData ODBC Driver offers unmatched performance for interacting with live Twitter data in MicroStrategy due to optimized data processing built into the driver. When you issue complex SQL queries from MicroStrategy to Twitter, the driver pushes supported SQL operations, like filters and aggregations, directly to Twitter and utilizes the embedded SQL Engine to process unsupported operations (often SQL functions and JOIN operations) client-side. With built-in dynamic metadata querying, you can visualize and analyze Twitter data using native MicroStrategy data types.

Connect to Twitter as an ODBC Data Source

Information for connecting to Twitter follows, along with different instructions for configuring a DSN in Windows and Linux environments.

All tables require authentication. You can connect using your User and Password or OAuth. To authenticate using OAuth, you can use the embedded OAuthClientId, OAuthClientSecret, and CallbackURL or you can register an app to obtain your own.

If you intend to communicate with Twitter only as the currently authenticated user, then you can obtain the OAuthAccessToken and OAuthAccessTokenSecret directly by registering an app.

See the Getting Started chapter in the help documentation for a guide to using OAuth.

When you configure the DSN, you may also want to set the Max Rows connection property. This will limit the number of rows returned, which is especially helpful for improving performance when designing reports and visualizations.

Windows

If you have not already, first specify connection properties in an ODBC DSN (data source name). This is the last step of the driver installation. You can use the Microsoft ODBC Data Source Administrator to create and configure ODBC DSNs.

Linux

If you are installing the CData ODBC Driver for Twitter in a Linux environment, the driver installation predefines a system DSN. You can modify the DSN by editing the system data sources file (/etc/odbc.ini) and defining the required connection properties.

/etc/odbc.ini

[CData Twitter Sys] Driver = CData ODBC Driver for Twitter Description = My Description

For specific information on using these configuration files, please refer to the help documentation (installed and found online).

Connect to and Visualize Twitter Data using MicroStrategy Desktop

In addition to connecting Twitter in MicroStrategy enterprise products, you can connect to Twitter in MicroStrategy Desktop. Follow the steps below to add Twitter data as a dataset and create visualizations and reports of Twitter data.

  1. Open MicroStrategy Desktop and create a new dossier.
  2. In the datasets panel, click New Data, select Databases, and select Type a Query as the Import Option.
  3. Add a new data source and choose DSN data sources.
  4. Choose the DSN you previously configured (likely CData Twitter Sys) and select Generic DBMS in the Version menu.
  5. Set the User and Password properties for the DSN (or use placeholder values) and name the data source.
  6. Select the new database instance to view the tables. You may need to manually click the search icon in the Available Tables section to see the tables.
  7. Create a SQL query for the Twitter data (see below) and click Execute SQL to test the query. SELECT * FROM Tweets NOTE: Since we create a live connection, we can execute a SELECT * query and utilize the filtering and aggregation features native to the MicroStrategy products.
  8. Click Finish and choose to connect live.
  9. Choose a visualization, choose fields to display (data types are discovered automatically through dynamic metadata discovery) and apply any filters to create a new visualization of Twitter data. Where possible, the complex queries generated by the filters and aggregations will be pushed down to Twitter, while any unsupported operations (which can include SQL functions and JOIN operations) will be managed client-side by the CData SQL Engine embedded in the driver.
  10. Once you are finished configuring the dossier, click File -> Save.

Using the CData ODBC Driver for Twitter in MicroStrategy Desktop, you can easily create robust visualizations and reports on Twitter data. Read our other articles on connecting to Twitter in MicroStrategy and connecting to Twitter in MicroStrategy Web for more examples.

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Twitter Icon Twitter ODBC Driver

The Twitter ODBC Driver is a powerful tool that allows you to connect with live data from Twitter, directly from any applications that support ODBC connectivity.

With the Twitter ODBC Driver accessing live Tweets, Followers, Messages, Searches, etc. is as easy as querying a database.