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Analyze CSV Data in Infragistics Reveal
Use the CData API Server to create an OData API on top of CSV data and visualize live CSV data in Ingragistics Reveal.
Reveal is a data visualization solution provided by Infragistics and can be paired with the CData API Server to build dynamic dashboards from live CSV data. The CData API Server generates an OData API for CSV, which is natively consumable in Reveal. In this article, we walk through connecting to CSV in API Server and connecting to the API Server from Infragistics Reveal to create a simple dashboard.
Connect to CSV from API Server
CData API Server uses a straightforward, point-and-click interface to connect to data sources and generate APIs.
- Open API Server and click Settings -> Connection -> Add Connection
- Select "CSV"
- Enter the necessary authentication properties to connect to CSV.
The DataSource property must be set to a valid local folder name.
Also, specify the IncludeFiles property to work with text files having extensions that differ from .csv, .tab, or .txt. Specify multiple file extensions in a comma-separated list. You can also set Extended Properties compatible with the Microsoft Jet OLE DB 4.0 driver. Alternatively, you can provide the format of text files in a Schema.ini file.
Set UseRowNumbers to true if you are deleting or updating in CSV. This will create a new column with the name RowNumber which will be used as key for that table.
Add CSV Resource Definitions in API Server
After connecting to CSV, create Resources, which represent API endpoints for CSV data.
- Click Settings -> Resources -> Add Resource
- Select the CSV connection
- Select the table you wish to retrieve and click Next
- (Optional) Edit the resource to select specific fields and more
- Save the settings
Add an API Server User
Create a User to connect to CSV from Reveal through API Server.
- Click Settings -> Users
- Click Add
- Configure a User with access to the CSV Connection and Resource(s)
(Optional) Configure Cross-Origin Resource Sharing (CORS)
When accessing and connecting to multiple different domains from an application such as Ajax, there is a possibility of violating the limitations of cross-site scripting. In that case, configure the CORS settings in Settings -> Server.
- Enable cross-origin resource sharing (CORS): ON
- Allow all domains without '*': ON
- Access-Control-Allow-Methods: GET, PUT, POST, OPTIONS
- Access-Control-Allow-Headers: Authorization
Save the changes to the settings.
Create a Dashboard in Reveal
With the API Server configured, we can visualize CSV data in Reveal.
- Log into Reveal and click Dashboards -> New
- Click Data Source -> OData Feed
- Specify the API Server API endpoint URL, for example: https://serverurl/api.rsc
- Select Generic Credentials and specify the API Server username and authentication token
- Select the entity you wish to visualize
- Select fields and choose a chart type
More Information & Free Trial
At this point, you have created a simple dashboard from live CSV data. For more information on creating OData feeds from CSV (and more than 150 other sources), visit the API Server page. Download a free, 30-day trial and start working live CSV data in tools that consume OData APIs.
