Query Azure Table Data through ODBC in Node.js

Node.js is a JavaScript runtime environment that allows you to run JavaScript code outside of a browser. With the CData ODBC Driver for Azure, you can access live Azure Table data from Node.js apps and scripts. In this article, we walk through installing node-odbc and the required tools to create a simple Node.js app with access to live Azure Table data.

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

Connecting to Azure Table Data

If you have not already done so, provide values for the required connection properties in the data source name (DSN). You can use the built-in Microsoft ODBC Data Source Administrator to configure the DSN. This is also the last step of the driver installation. See the "Getting Started" chapter in the help documentation for a guide to using the Microsoft ODBC Data Source Administrator to create and configure a DSN.

Specify your AccessKey and your Account to connect. Set the Account property to the Storage Account Name and set AccessKey to one of the Access Keys. Either the Primary or Secondary Access Keys can be used. To obtain these values, navigate to the Storage Accounts blade in the Azure portal. You can obtain the access key by selecting your account and clicking Access Keys in the Settings section.

Building node-odbc

In order to connect to Azure Table through the CData ODBC Driver, you need to build node-odbc manually (after installing the required tools).

Installing the Required Tools

The following commands install the tools required to build node-odbc (note the -g parameter, which installs the tools globally).

npm i -g windows-build-tools
npm i -g node-gyp

Building node-odbc

After installing the required tools, create a directory for the Node.js app and install odbc (which builds the binary for us to use in our Node.js script).

mkdir nodeodbc
cd nodeodbc
npm i -g node

Querying Azure Table from Node.js

With the ODBC Driver installed, a DSN Configured, and node-odbc built, we are ready to query live Azure Table data from a Node.js app. The sample code below connects to a specific DSN and queries the NorthwindProducts table.

myscript.js

const odbc = require('odbc');

async function queryAzureTables() {
    const connection = await odbc.connect(`DSN=CData AzureTables Source`);
    const data = await connection.query('SELECT Name, Price FROM NorthwindProducts');
    console.log(data);
}

queryAzureTables();

Once you write the app, use node to execute the script:

node myscript.js

Download a free, 30-day trial of the CData ODBC Driver for Azure and start working with your live Azure Table data in Node.js. Reach out to our Support Team if you have any questions.