Using the CData ODBC Driver for Box in PyCharm



Connect to Box as an ODBC data source in PyCharm using the CData ODBC Driver for Box.

The CData ODBC Drivers can be used in any environment that supports loading an ODBC Driver. In this tutorial we will explore using the CData ODBC Driver for Box from within PyCharm. Included are steps for adding the CData ODBC Driver as a data source, as well as basic PyCharm code to query the data source and display results.

To begin, this tutorial will assume that you have already installed the CData ODBC Driver for Box as well as PyCharm.

Add Pyodbc to the Project

Follow the steps below to add the pyodbc module to your project.

  1. Click File -> Settings to open the project settings window.
  2. Click Project Interpreter from the Project: YourProjectName menu.
  3. To add pyodbc, click the + button and enter pyodbc.
  4. Click Install Package to install pyodbc.

Connect to Box

You can now connect with an ODBC connection string or a DSN. See the Getting Started section in the CData driver documentation for a guide to creating a DSN on your OS.

Box uses the OAuth standard to authenticate. To authenticate to Box, you will need to 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.

Below is the syntax for a DSN:

[CData Box Source] Driver = CData ODBC Driver for Box Description = My Description OAuthClientId = MyOAuthClientId OAuthClientSecret = MyOAuthClientSecret CallbackURL = http://localhost:33333

Execute SQL to Box

Instantiate a Cursor and use the execute method of the Cursor class to execute any SQL statement.

import pyodbc cnxn = pyodbc.connect('DRIVER={CData ODBC Driver for Box};OAuthClientId = MyOAuthClientId;OAuthClientSecret = MyOAuthClientSecret;CallbackURL = http://localhost:33333;') cursor = cnxn.cursor() cursor.execute("SELECT Name, Size FROM Files WHERE Id = '123'") rows = cursor.fetchall() for row in rows: print(row.Name, row.Size)

After connecting to Box in PyCharm using the CData ODBC Driver, you will be able to build Python apps with access to Box data as if it were a standard database. If you have any questions, comments, or feedback regarding this tutorial, please contact us at [email protected].

Ready to get started?

Download a free trial of the Box ODBC Driver to get started:

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Learn more:

Box Icon Box ODBC Driver

The Box ODBC Driver is a powerful tool that allows you to connect with live Box cloud storage, directly from any applications that support ODBC connectivity.

Access Box like you would a database - read, write, and update Files, Folders, Tasks, Groups, etc. through a standard ODBC Driver interface.