Access Live Excel Online Data in TIBCO Data Virtualization

TIBCO Data Virtualization (TDV) is an enterprise data virtualization solution that orchestrates access to multiple and varied data sources. When paired with the CData TIBCO DV Adapter for Excel Online, you get federated access to live Excel Online data directly within TIBCO Data Virtualization. This article walks through deploying an adapter and creating a new data source based on Excel Online.

With built-in optimized data processing, the CData TIBCO DV Adapter offers unmatched performance for interacting with live Excel Online data. When you issue complex SQL queries to Excel Online, the adapter pushes supported SQL operations, like filters and aggregations, directly to Excel Online. Its built-in dynamic metadata querying allows you to work with and analyze Excel Online data using native data types.

Deploy the Excel Online TIBCO DV Adapter

1. In a console, navigate to the bin folder in the TDV Server installation directory. If there is a current version of the adapter installed, you will need to undeploy it.

   .\server_util.bat -server localhost -user admin -password ******** -undeploy -version 1 -name ExcelOnline
   

2. Extract the CData TIBCO DV Adapter to a local folder and deploy the JAR file (tdv.excelonline.jar) to the server from the extract location.

   .\server_util.bat -server localhost -user admin -password ******** -deploy -package /PATH/TO/tdv.excelonline.jar
   

You may need to restart the server to ensure the new JAR file is loaded properly, which can be accomplished by running the composite.bat script located at: C:\Program Files\TIBCO\TDV Server <version>\bin. Note that reauthenticating to the TDV Studio is required after restarting the server.

Sample Restart Call

.\composite.bat monitor restart

Authenticate with Excel Online Using OAuth

Since Excel Online authenticates using the OAuth protocol and TDV Studio does not support browser-based authentication internally, you will need to create and run a simple Java application to retrieve the OAuth tokens. Once retrieved, the tokens are used to connect to Excel Online directly from the adapter.

The following code sample shows how to authenticate with Excel Online. You will simply need to execute the Java application with the tdv.excelonline.jar file in the class path.

ExcelOnlineOAuth oauth = new ExcelOnlineOAuth();  
oauth.generateOAuthSettingsFile("InitiateOAuth=GETANDREFRESH;" + 
                                  "" + 
                                  "OAuthSettingsLocation=C:\excelonline\OAuthSettings.txt;");

Once you deploy the adapter and authenticate, you can create a new data source for Excel Online in TDV Studio.

Create a Excel Online Data Source in TDV Studio

With the CData TIBCO DV Adapter for Excel Online, you can easily create a data source for Excel Online and introspect the data source to add resources to TDV.

Create the Data Source

1. Right-click on the folder you wish to add the data source to and select New -> New Data Source.
2. Scroll until you find the adapter (e.g. Excel Online) and click Next.
3. Name the data source (e.g. CData Excel Online Source).

4. Fill in the required connection properties.

   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.

   NOTE: Set the OAuthSettingsLocation property in the DV Adapter to the same value you used when performing the OAuth authentication (see above).

5. Click Create & Close.

Introspect the Data Source

Once the data source is created, you can introspect the data source by right-clicking and selecting Open. In the dashboard, click Add/Remove Resources and select the Tables, Views, and Stored Procedures to include as part of the data source. Click Next and Finish to add the selected Excel Online tables, views, and stored procedures as resources.

After creating and introspecting the data source, you are ready to work with Excel Online data in TIBCO Data Virtualization just like you would any other relational data source. You can create views, query using SQL, publish the data source, and more.