How to Visualize Zoho Creator Data in Python with pandas

The rich ecosystem of Python modules lets you get to work quickly and integrate your systems more effectively. With the CData Python Connector for Zoho Creator, the pandas & Matplotlib modules, and the SQLAlchemy toolkit, you can build Zoho Creator-connected Python applications and scripts for visualizing Zoho Creator data. This article shows how to use the pandas, SQLAlchemy, and Matplotlib built-in functions to connect to Zoho Creator data, execute queries, and visualize the results.

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

Connecting to Zoho Creator Data

Connecting to Zoho Creator 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.

The connector is already registered with Zoho Creator as an OAuth application.

If you would prefer to use your own custom OAuth app, see the Help documentation.

Follow the procedure below to install the required modules and start accessing Zoho Creator through Python objects.

Install Required Modules

Use the pip utility to install the pandas & Matplotlib modules and the SQLAlchemy toolkit:

pip install pandas
pip install matplotlib
pip install sqlalchemy

Be sure to import the module with the following:

import pandas
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
from sqlalchemy import create_engine

Visualize Zoho Creator Data in Python

You can now connect with a connection string. Use the create_engine function to create an Engine for working with Zoho Creator data.

engine = create_engine("zohocreator:///?AccountsServer=AccountsServer&InitiateOAuth=GETANDREFRESH&OAuthSettingsLocation=/PATH/TO/OAuthSettings.txt")

Execute SQL to Zoho Creator

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

df = pandas.read_sql("SELECT ID, Leave_Type FROM Leave_Types WHERE Leave_Type = 'Sick'", engine)

Visualize Zoho Creator Data

With the query results stored in a DataFrame, use the plot function to build a chart to display the Zoho Creator data. The show method displays the chart in a new window.

df.plot(kind="bar", x="ID", y="Leave_Type")
plt.show()

Free Trial & More Information

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

Full Source Code

import pandas
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
from sqlalchemy import create_engin

engine = create_engine("zohocreator:///?AccountsServer=AccountsServer&InitiateOAuth=GETANDREFRESH&OAuthSettingsLocation=/PATH/TO/OAuthSettings.txt")
df = pandas.read_sql("SELECT ID, Leave_Type FROM Leave_Types WHERE Leave_Type = 'Sick'", engine)

df.plot(kind="bar", x="ID", y="Leave_Type")
plt.show()