Query, Visualize, and Share live Box 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 Box data. This article demonstrates how to connect to Box using Connect AI and work with live Box data in Redash.

CData Connect AI provides a pure SQL Server interface for Box, allowing you to query data from Box 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 Box, leveraging server-side processing to return the requested Box data quickly.

Configure Box Connectivity for Redash

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

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

2. Select "Box" from the Add Connection panel

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

   Box uses the OAuth standard to authenticate. To authenticate to Box, obtain the OAuthClientId, OAuthClientSecret, and CallbackURL by registering an app. See the "Getting Started" chapter of the help documentation for a guide to using OAuth.

   
4. Click Save & Test
5. Navigate to the Permissions tab in the Add Box 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 Box data from Redash.

Connect to Box 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 Box data in Redash.

Get CData Connect AI

To get live data access to hundreds of SaaS, Big Data, and NoSQL sources directly from Redash, try CData Connect AI today!