Use Dash to Build Web Apps on Airtable Data via CData Connect AI

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

The Connect AI Python SDK (cdata-connect-ai) is a DB-API 2.0 (PEP 249) compliant client, so pandas can read query results directly from the SDK connection object. There is no driver to install per source: connect with a Personal Access Token and build your app.

Connect to Airtable in Connect AI

CData Connect AI uses a straightforward, point-and-click interface to connect to data sources.

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

2. Select "Airtable" from the Add Connection panel

3. Enter the necessary authentication properties to connect to Airtable.

   APIKey, BaseId and TableNames parameters are required to connect to Airtable. ViewNames is an optional parameter where views of the tables may be specified.

   • APIKey : API Key of your account. To obtain this value, after logging in go to Account. In API section click Generate API key.
   • BaseId : Id of your base. To obtain this value, it is in the same section as the APIKey. Click on Airtable API, or navigate to https://airtable.com/api and select a base. In the introduction section you can find "The ID of this base is appxxN2ftedc0nEG7."
   • TableNames : A comma separated list of table names for the selected base. These are the same names of tables as found in the UI.
   • ViewNames : A comma separated list of views in the format of (table.view) names. These are the same names of the views as found in the UI.
   
4. Click Save & Test
5. Navigate to the Permissions tab and update the user-based permissions.

Generate a Personal Access Token (PAT)

The Python SDK authenticates to Connect AI with your account email and a Personal Access Token (PAT). It is best practice to create a separate PAT for each application to maintain granularity of access.

1. Click 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 PAT is only visible at creation, so copy it and store it securely.

Install Required Modules

Install the SDK (with the pandas extra), Dash, and Plotly using the pip utility:

pip install "cdata-connect-ai[full]"
pip install dash
pip install plotly

Build a Web App on Airtable Data in Python

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

First, import the modules, then connect to Connect AI with your account email and PAT and read Airtable data into a DataFrame. Identifiers are three-part: <Connection>.<Schema>.<Table>, where the connection name defaults to the source name (for example, Airtable1).

import dash
from dash import dcc, html
import pandas as pd
import plotly.graph_objs as go
import cdata_connect_ai

conn = cdata_connect_ai.connect(
    username="[email protected]",
    password="<your_pat>",
)

df = pd.read_sql(
    "SELECT Id, Column1 "
    "FROM [Airtable1].[Airtable].[SampleTable_1] "
    "WHERE Column2 = 'SomeValue'",
    conn,
)

conn.close()

Configure the App and Layout

With the query results stored in a DataFrame, build a bar graph from the Airtable data and configure the app layout.

app = dash.Dash(__name__)
app.title = 'CData Connect AI + Dash'

trace = go.Bar(x=df['Id'], y=df['Column1'], name='Id')

app.layout = html.Div(
    children=[
        html.H1("CData Connect AI + Dash", style={'textAlign': 'center'}),
        dcc.Graph(
            id='example-graph',
            figure={
                'data': [trace],
                'layout': go.Layout(title='Airtable SampleTable_1 Data', barmode='stack'),
            },
        ),
    ],
    className="container",
)

Set the App to Run

With the connection, app, and layout configured, you are ready to run the app.

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

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

python airtable-dash.py

More Information and Free Trial

Now you can build interactive Dash web apps on live Airtable data using the CData Connect AI Python SDK. For more information on connecting to Airtable (and hundreds of other data sources), visit the Connect AI page. Sign up for a free trial and start building web apps on live Airtable data in Python.

Full Source Code

import dash
from dash import dcc, html
import pandas as pd
import plotly.graph_objs as go
import cdata_connect_ai

conn = cdata_connect_ai.connect(
    username="[email protected]",
    password="<your_pat>",
)

df = pd.read_sql(
    "SELECT Id, Column1 "
    "FROM [Airtable1].[Airtable].[SampleTable_1] "
    "WHERE Column2 = 'SomeValue'",
    conn,
)

conn.close()

app = dash.Dash(__name__)
app.title = 'CData Connect AI + Dash'

trace = go.Bar(x=df['Id'], y=df['Column1'], name='Id')

app.layout = html.Div(
    children=[
        html.H1("CData Connect AI + Dash", style={'textAlign': 'center'}),
        dcc.Graph(
            id='example-graph',
            figure={
                'data': [trace],
                'layout': go.Layout(title='Airtable SampleTable_1 Data', barmode='stack'),
            },
        ),
    ],
    className="container",
)

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