Work with Live Close Data in Power Query

Power Query is a data transformation and data preparation engine. When paired with CData Connect AI, you get instant, cloud-to-cloud access to Close data from Power Query. This article shows how to connect to Connect AI from Power Query through Microsoft Excel and get live access to Close data for transformation and preparation.

CData Connect AI provides a pure SQL, cloud-to-cloud interface for Close, allowing you to easily integrate with live Close data in Power Query — without replicating the data. CData Connect AI looks exactly like a SQL Server database to Power Query and uses optimized data processing out of the box to push all supported SQL operations (filters, JOINs, etc) directly to Close, leveraging server-side processing to quickly return Close data.

Configure Close Connectivity for Power Query

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

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

2. Select "Close" from the Add Connection panel

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

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

   Close API Profile Settings

   Locate your API key through Close's Settings menu under Your API Keys and create a new key if needed.

   
4. Click Save & Test
5. Navigate to the Permissions tab in the Add Close 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 Close data from Power Query.

Working with Live Close Data in Power Query

With the connection to Connect AI configured, you are ready to work with live Close data in Power Query.

1. In Microsoft Excel, open the Power Query Editor (from the Data ribbon, click Get Data -> Launch Power Query Editor)
2. Click New Source -> SQL Server
3. In the SQL Server database modal:
   • Set Server to tds.cdata.com,14333
   • (Optional) Set Database to the name of the Close connection (e.g. API1 )
   
4. In the SQL Server credentials modal, select "Database" and
   • Set User to your Connect AI username (e.g. [email protected] )
   • Set Password to the PAT for the above user
   
5. Click Connect
6. Select the table(s) you wish to work with in the Navigator and click "OK"

At this point, you have live access to Close data from Power Query for transformation and preparation.

SQL Access to Close Data

Now you have a direct connection to live Close data from Microsoft Power Query. You can create more connections and transform and preparte your data to better drive business — all without replicating Close data.

To get real-time data access to hundreds of SaaS, Big Data, and NoSQL sources directly from your cloud applications, sign up for a free trial of CData Connect AI.