Use Dash to Build to Web Apps on Datadog Data

The rich ecosystem of Python modules lets you get to work quickly and integrate your systems more effectively. With the CData API Driver for Python, the pandas module, and the Dash framework, you can build Datadog-connected web applications for Datadog data. This article shows how to connect to Datadog with the CData Connector and use pandas and Dash to build a simple web app for visualizing Datadog data.

With built-in, optimized data processing, the CData Python Connector offers unmatched performance for interacting with live Datadog data in Python. When you issue complex SQL queries from Datadog, the driver pushes supported SQL operations, like filters and aggregations, directly to Datadog and utilizes the embedded SQL engine to process unsupported operations client-side (often SQL functions and JOIN operations).

Connecting to Datadog Data

Connecting to Datadog data looks just like connecting to any relational data source. Create a connection string using the required connection properties. For this article, you will pass the connection string as a parameter to the create_engine function.

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

Datadog API Profile Settings

In your Datadog account, navigate to Organization Settings > API Keys to create an API Key, and Organization Settings > Application Keys to create an Application Key. Both are required.

After installing the CData Datadog Connector, follow the procedure below to install the other required modules and start accessing Datadog through Python objects.

Install Required Modules

Use the pip utility to install the required modules and frameworks:

pip install pandas
pip install dash
pip install dash-daq

Visualize Datadog Data in Python

Once the required modules and frameworks are installed, we are ready to build our web app. Code snippets follow, but the full source code is available at the end of the article.

First, be sure to import the modules (including the CData Connector) with the following:

import os
import dash
import dash_core_components as dcc
import dash_html_components as html
import pandas as pd
import cdata.api as mod
import plotly.graph_objs as go

You can now connect with a connection string. Use the connect function for the CData Datadog Connector to create a connection for working with Datadog data.

cnxn = mod.connect("Profile=C:\profiles\Datadog.apip;ProfileSettings='APIKey=your_api_key;ApplicationKey=your_app_key';")

Execute SQL to Datadog

Use the read_sql function from pandas to execute any SQL statement and store the result set in a DataFrame.

df = pd.read_sql("SELECT FilterId, Name FROM APMRetentionFilters WHERE IsEnabled = 'true'", cnxn)

Configure the Web App

With the query results stored in a DataFrame, we can begin configuring the web app, assigning a name, stylesheet, and title.

app_name = 'dash-apiedataplot'

external_stylesheets = ['https://codepen.io/chriddyp/pen/bWLwgP.css']

app = dash.Dash(__name__, external_stylesheets=external_stylesheets)
app.title = 'CData + Dash'

Configure the Layout

The next step is to create a bar graph based on our Datadog data and configure the app layout.

trace = go.Bar(x=df.FilterId, y=df.Name, name='FilterId')

app.layout = html.Div(children=[html.H1("CData Extension + Dash", style={'textAlign': 'center'}),
	dcc.Graph(
		id='example-graph',
		figure={
			'data': [trace],
			'layout':
			go.Layout(title='Datadog APMRetentionFilters Data', barmode='stack')
		})
], className="container")

Set the App to Run

With the connection, app, and layout configured, we are ready to run the app. The last lines of Python code follow.

if __name__ == '__main__':
    app.run_server(debug=True)

Now, use Python to run the web app and a browser to view the Datadog data.

python api-dash.py

Free Trial & More Information

Download a free, 30-day trial of the CData API Driver for Python to start building Python apps with connectivity to Datadog data. Reach out to our Support Team if you have any questions.

Full Source Code

import os
import dash
import dash_core_components as dcc
import dash_html_components as html
import pandas as pd
import cdata.api as mod
import plotly.graph_objs as go

cnxn = mod.connect("Profile=C:\profiles\Datadog.apip;ProfileSettings='APIKey=your_api_key;ApplicationKey=your_app_key';")

df = pd.read_sql("SELECT FilterId, Name FROM APMRetentionFilters WHERE IsEnabled = 'true'", cnxn)
app_name = 'dash-apidataplot'

external_stylesheets = ['https://codepen.io/chriddyp/pen/bWLwgP.css']

app = dash.Dash(__name__, external_stylesheets=external_stylesheets)
app.title = 'CData + Dash'
trace = go.Bar(x=df.FilterId, y=df.Name, name='FilterId')

app.layout = html.Div(children=[html.H1("CData Extension + Dash", style={'textAlign': 'center'}),
	dcc.Graph(
		id='example-graph',
		figure={
			'data': [trace],
			'layout':
			go.Layout(title='Datadog APMRetentionFilters Data', barmode='stack')
		})
], className="container")

if __name__ == '__main__':
    app.run_server(debug=True)