Create Cosmos DB Dashboards in Bold BI

Bold BI allows you to create, share, and collaborate on interactive BI dashboards. When paired with CData Connect Server, you get instant access to Cosmos DB data for visualizations, dashboards, and more. This article shows how to create a virtual database for Cosmos DB and build reports from Cosmos DB data in Bold BI.

CData Connect Server provides a pure SQL Server interface for Cosmos DB, allowing you to easily build reports from live Cosmos DB data in Bold BI — without replicating the data to a natively supported database. As you build visualizations, Bold BI generates SQL queries to gather data. Using optimized data processing out of the box, CData Connect Server pushes all supported SQL operations (filters, JOINs, etc) directly to Cosmos DB, leveraging server-side processing to quickly return the requested Cosmos DB data.

Create a Virtual SQL Server Database for Cosmos DB Data

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

1. Login to Connect Server and click Connections.
2. Select "Cosmos DB" from Available Data Sources.
3. Enter the necessary authentication properties to connect to Cosmos DB.

   To obtain the connection string needed to connect to a Cosmos DB account using the SQL API, log in to the Azure Portal, select Azure Cosmos DB, and select your account. In the Settings section, click Connection String and set the following values:

   • AccountEndpoint: The Cosmos DB account URL from the Keys blade of the Cosmos DB account
   • AccountKey: In the Azure portal, navigate to the Cosmos DB service and select your Azure Cosmos DB account. From the resource menu, go to the Keys page. Find the PRIMARY KEY value and set AccountKey to this value.
4. Click Save Changes
5. Click Privileges -> Add and add the new user (or an existing user) with the appropriate permissions.

With the virtual database created, you are ready to connect to Cosmos DB data from Bold BI.

Visualize Live Cosmos DB Data in Bold BI

The steps below outline connecting to CData Connect Server from Bold BI to create a new Cosmos DB data source and build a simple visualization from the data.

1. Log into your Bold BI instance, click the data sources tab, create a new data source, and choose the SQL Server connector.
2. Choose the basic configuration and set the connection properties:
   • Name: Name your connection
   • Server name: Your Connect Server instance (CONNECT_SERVER_URL)
   • Port: 1433
   • Username: Your Connect Server username
   • Password: Your Connect Server password
   • Mode: Choose Live to query Cosmos DB on-demand or choose Extract to load the data into Bold BI
   • Database: Choose the database you created from the drop-down menu (cosmosdbdb)
3. Click Connect
4. Select the table to visualize and drag it onto the workspace.
5. Select a visualization style and add it to the report.
6. Click the gear icon for the visualization to configure the visualization properties and assign columns to the visualization.

SQL Access to Cosmos DB Data from Applications

Now you have a direct connection to live Cosmos DB data from your Bold BI workbook. You can create more data sources and new visualizations, build reports, and more — all without replicating Cosmos DB data.

To get SQL data access to 200+ SaaS, Big Data, and NoSQL sources directly from your applications, see the CData Connect page.