Enable the CData JDBC Driver for Google Sheets in KNIME

One of the strengths of the CData JDBC Driver for Google Sheets is its cross-platform support, enabling integration with major BI tools. Follow the procedure below to access Google Sheets data in KNIME and to create a chart from Google Sheets data using the report designer.

Define a New JDBC Connection to Google Sheets Data

1. If you have not already done so, install the Report Designer extension: Click File -> Install KNIME Extensions, and filter on "Report".
2. In a new workflow, click File -> Preferences and expand the KNIME -> Database Driver nodes to add cdata.jdbc.googlesheets.jar. The driver JAR is located in the lib subfolder of the installation directory.
3. In the Node Repository view, expand the Database node and drag a Database Reader onto the workflow editor.

4. Double-click the Database Reader and set the following properties:

   • Database Driver: In the menu, select the CData JDBC driver.
   • Database URL: Enter the connection properties. The JDBC URL begins with jdbc:googlesheets: and is followed by a semicolon-separated list of connection properties.

     You can connect to a spreadsheet by providing authentication to Google and then setting the Spreadsheet connection property to the name or feed link of the spreadsheet. If you want to view a list of information about the spreadsheets in your Google Drive, execute a query to the Spreadsheets view after you authenticate.

     ClientLogin (username/password authentication) has been officially deprecated since April 20, 2012 and is now no longer available. Instead, use the OAuth 2.0 authentication standard. To access Google APIs on behalf on individual users, you can use the embedded credentials or you can register your own OAuth app.

     OAuth also enables you to use a service account to connect on behalf of users in a Google Apps domain. To authenticate with a service account, you will need to register an application to obtain the OAuth JWT values.

     See the Getting Started chapter in the help documentation to connect to Google Sheets from different types of accounts: Google accounts, Google Apps accounts, and accounts using two-step verification.

     A typical JDBC URL is below. jdbc:googlesheets:Spreadsheet=MySheet;

   • User Name: The username used to authenticate.
   • Password: The password used to authenticate.
   • SQL Statement: Enter an SQL query in the SQL Statement box or double-click a table. This article uses the query below to create a chart: SELECT Shipcountry, SUM(OrderPrice) FROM Orders GROUP BY Shipcountry

5. Test the connection by clicking Fetch Metadata.

   
6. Connect the Database Reader to a Data to Report node to supply the dataset to a range of data visualization controls. Click Execute and then click Edit Report at the top of the workflow to open the report designer perspective.
7. You can now generate reports based on live data. To create a chart, drag the chart control from the palette to the report designer. In the resulting wizard, you can use the filtering and aggregation controls available in KNIME.