Query, Visualize, and Share live Aha! Data in Redash

Redash is a collaboration tool that lets you query, visualize, and share your data. When paired with CData Connect AI, Redash gets access to live Aha! data. This article demonstrates how to connect to Aha! using Connect AI and work with live Aha! data in Redash.

CData Connect AI provides a pure SQL Server interface for Aha!, allowing you to query data from Aha! without replicating the data to a natively supported database. Using optimized data processing out of the box, CData Connect AI pushes all supported SQL operations (filters, JOINs, etc.) directly to Aha!, leveraging server-side processing to return the requested Aha! data quickly.

Configure Aha! Connectivity for Redash

Connectivity to Aha! from Redash is made possible through CData Connect AI. To work with Aha! data in Redash, we start by creating and configuring a Aha! connection.

1. Log into Connect AI, click Sources, and then click Add Connection

2. Select "Aha!" from the Add Connection panel

3. Enter the necessary authentication properties to connect to Aha!.

   Start by setting the Profile connection property to the location of the Aha! Profile on disk (e.g. C:\profiles\aha.apip). Next, set the ProfileSettings connection property to the connection string for Aha! (see below).

   Aha! API Profile Settings

   The Aha! API uses OAuth-based authentication.

   You will first need to register an OAuth app with Aha!. This can be done from your Aha! account under 'Settings' > 'Personal' > 'Developer' > 'OAuth Applications'. Additionally, set the Domain, found in the domain name of your Aha account. For example if your Aha account is acmeinc.aha.io, then the Domain should be 'acmeinc'.

   After setting the following in the connection string, you are ready to connect:

   • AuthScheme: Set this to OAuth.
   • InitiateOAuth: Set this to GETANDREFRESH. You can use InitiateOAuth to manage the process to obtain the OAuthAccessToken.
   • OAuthClientId: Set this to the client_id that is specified in you app settings.
   • OAuthClientSecret: Set this to the client_secret that is specified in you app settings.
   • CallbackURL: Set this to the Redirect URI you specified in your app settings.
   • Domain: Set this in the ProfileSettings to your Aha domain.
   
4. Click Save & Test
5. Navigate to the Permissions tab in the Add Aha! Connection page and update the User-based permissions.

Add a Personal Access Token

When connecting to Connect AI through the REST API, the OData API, or the Virtual SQL Server, a Personal Access Token (PAT) is used to authenticate the connection to Connect AI. It is best practice to create a separate PAT for each service to maintain granularity of access.

1. Click on the Gear icon () at the top right of the Connect AI app to open the settings page.
2. On the Settings page, go to the Access Tokens section and click Create PAT.
3. Give the PAT a name and click Create.
4. The personal access token is only visible at creation, so be sure to copy it and store it securely for future use.

With the connection configured and a PAT generated, you are ready to connect to Aha! data from Redash.

Connect to Aha! from Redash using Connect AI

To establish a connection from Redash to CData Connect AI using the Virtual SQL Server, follow these steps:

1. Log into Redash.
2. Click the settings widget on the top right.
3. Click New Data Source.
4. Select Microsoft SQL Server as the Data Source Type.
5. On the configuration tab, set the following properties:
   • Database Name: enter the Connection Name of the CData Connect AI data source you want to connect to (for example, Salesforce1).
   • Server: enter the virtual SQL Server host name (tds.cdata.com)
   • User: enter your CData Connect AI username. This is displayed in the top-right corner of the CData Connect AI interface. For example, [email protected].
   • Password: enter the PAT you generated on the Settings page.
   • Port: enter 14333
   
6. Click Create.
7. Click Test Connection to ensure that the connection is configured properly.

You can now work with live Aha! data in Redash.

Get CData Connect AI

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