Connect to Excel Online Data in RapidMiner

This article shows how you can easily integrate the CData JDBC driver for Excel Online into your processes in RapidMiner. This article uses the CData JDBC Driver for Excel Online to transfer Excel Online data to a process in RapidMiner.

Connect to Excel Online in RapidMiner as a JDBC Data Source

You can follow the procedure below to establish a JDBC connection to Excel Online:

1. Add a new database driver for Excel Online: Click Connections -> Manage Database Drivers.
2. In the resulting wizard, click the Add button and enter a name for the connection.
3. Enter the prefix for the JDBC URL: jdbc:excelonline:
4. Enter the path to the cdata.jdbc.excelonline.jar file, located in the lib subfolder of the installation directory.
5. Enter the driver class: cdata.jdbc.excelonline.ExcelOnlineDriver
6. Create a new Excel Online connection: Click Connections -> Manage Database Connections.
7. Enter a name for your connection.
8. For Database System, select the Excel Online driver you configured previously.
9. Enter your connection string in the Host box.

   You can connect to a workbook by providing authentication to Excel Online and then setting the following properties:

   • Workbook: Set this to the name or Id of the workbook.

     If you want to view a list of information about the available workbooks, execute a query to the Workbooks view after you authenticate.

   • UseSandbox: Set this to true if you are connecting to a workbook in a sandbox account. Otherwise, leave this blank to connect to a production account.

   You use the OAuth authentication standard to authenticate to Excel Online. See the Getting Started section in the help documentation for a guide. Getting Started also guides you through executing SQL to worksheets and ranges.

   Built-in Connection String Designer

   For assistance in constructing the JDBC URL, use the connection string designer built into the Excel Online JDBC Driver. Either double-click the JAR file or execute the jar file from the command-line.

   java -jar cdata.jdbc.excelonline.jar

   Fill in the connection properties and copy the connection string to the clipboard.

   A typical connection string is below:

   InitiateOAuth=GETANDREFRESH
10. Enter your username and password if necessary.

You can now use your Excel Online connection with the various RapidMiner operators in your process. To retrieve Excel Online data, drag the Retrieve operator from the Operators view. With the Retrieve operator selected, you can then define which table to retrieve in the Parameters view by clicking the folder icon next to the "repository entry." In the resulting Repository Browser, you can expand your connection node to select the desired example set.

Finally, wire the output to the Retrieve process to a result, and run the process to see the Excel Online data.