Access Live Google Analytics 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 Google Analytics, you get federated access to live Google Analytics data directly within TIBCO Data Virtualization. This article walks through deploying an adapter and creating a new data source based on Google Analytics.

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

Deploy the Google Analytics 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 GoogleAnalytics
   

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

   .\server_util.bat -server localhost -user admin -password ******** -deploy -package /PATH/TO/tdv.googleanalytics.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 Google Analytics Using OAuth

Since Google Analytics 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 Google Analytics directly from the adapter.

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

GoogleAnalyticsOAuth oauth = new GoogleAnalyticsOAuth();  
oauth.generateOAuthSettingsFile("InitiateOAuth=GETANDREFRESH;" + 
                                  "Profile=MyProfile;" + 
                                  "OAuthSettingsLocation=C:\googleanalytics\OAuthSettings.txt;");

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

Create a Google Analytics Data Source in TDV Studio

With the CData TIBCO DV Adapter for Google Analytics, you can easily create a data source for Google Analytics 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. Google Analytics) and click Next.
3. Name the data source (e.g. CData Google Analytics Source).

4. Fill in the required connection properties.

   Google uses the OAuth authentication standard. To access Google APIs on behalf on individual users, you can use the embedded credentials or you can register your own OAuth app.

   OAuth also enables you to use a service account to connect on behalf of users in a Google Apps domain. To authenticate with a service account, you will need to register an application to obtain the OAuth JWT values.

   In addition to the OAuth values, set Profile to the profile you want to connect to. This can be set to either the Id or website URL for the Profile. If not specified, the first Profile returned will be used.

   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 Google Analytics tables, views, and stored procedures as resources.

After creating and introspecting the data source, you are ready to work with Google Analytics 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.