How to connect to HubDB Data from MS Excel on Mac OS X

Microsoft Excel features calculations, graphing tools, pivot tables, and a macro programming language that allows users to work with data in many of the ways that suit their needs, whether on a Windows machine or a Macintosh machine. This article walks through creating a DSN for HubDB data in iODBC and accessing HubDB data in Microsoft Excel, all on a machine running Mac OS X.

Installing the CData ODBC Drivers on Mac OS X

The CData ODBC Driver for HubDB is preconfigured for the iODBC driver manager, as are many other products like Microsoft Excel. This makes the driver easy to use with these tools.

Licensing the Driver

In a terminal run the following commands to license the driver. To activate a trial license, omit the key input.

cd "/Applications/CData ODBC Driver for HubDB/bin"
sudo ./install-license <key>

Defining a DSN for iODBC with odbc.ini

You can define ODBC data sources in sections in the odbc.ini file. User data sources can only be accessed by the user account whose home folder the odbc.ini is located in. System data sources can be accessed by all users. You can find the correct odbc.ini in the following paths:

Modifying iODBC's system-wide settings requires elevated permissions; to do so, you can use following to open a text editor from the terminal:

sudo nano /Library/ODBC/odbc.ini

There are two authentication methods available for connecting to HubDB data source: OAuth Authentication with a public HubSpot application and authentication with a Private application token.

Using a Custom OAuth App

AuthScheme must be set to "OAuth" in all OAuth flows. Be sure to review the Help documentation for the required connection properties for you specific authentication needs (desktop applications, web applications, and headless machines).

Follow the steps below to register an application and obtain the OAuth client credentials:

1. Log into your HubSpot app developer account.
   • Note that it must be an app developer account. Standard HubSpot accounts cannot create public apps.
2. On the developer account home page, click the Apps tab.
3. Click Create app.
4. On the App info tab, enter and optionally modify values that are displayed to users when they connect. These values include the public application name, application logo, and a description of the application.
5. On the Auth tab, supply a callback URL in the "Redirect URLs" box.
   • If you're creating a desktop application, set this to a locally accessible URL like http://localhost:33333.
   • If you are creating a Web application, set this to a trusted URL where you want users to be redirected to when they authorize your application.
6. Click Create App. HubSpot then generates the application, along with its associated credentials.
7. On the Auth tab, note the Client ID and Client secret. You will use these later to configure the driver.

8. Under Scopes, select any scopes you need for your application's intended functionality.

   A minimum of the following scopes is required to access tables:

   • hubdb
   • oauth
   • crm.objects.owners.read
9. Click Save changes.
10. Install the application into a production portal with access to the features that are required by the integration.
    • Under "Install URL (OAuth)", click Copy full URL to copy the installation URL for your application.
    • Navigate to the copied link in your browser. Select a standard account in which to install the application.
    • Click Connect app. You can close the resulting tab.

Using a Private App

To connect using a HubSpot private application token, set the AuthScheme property to "PrivateApp."

You can generate a private application token by following the steps below:

1. In your HubDB account, click the settings icon (the gear) in the main navigation bar.
2. In the left sidebar menu, navigate to Integrations > Private Apps.
3. Click Create private app.
4. On the Basic Info tab, configure the details of your application (name, logo, and description).
5. On the Scopes tab, select Read or Write for each scope you want your private application to be able to access.
6. A minimum of hubdb and crm.objects.owners.read is required to access tables.
7. After you are done configuring your application, click Create app in the top right.
8. Review the info about your application's access token, click Continue creating, and then Show token.
9. Click Copy to copy the private application token.

To connect, set PrivateAppToken to the private application token you retrieved.

When you configure the DSN, you may also want to set the Max Rows connection property. This will limit the number of rows returned, which is especially helpful for improving performance when designing reports and visualizations.

In addition to the connection properties required to connect to HubDB, the Driver property specifies either a driver definition in the odbcinst.ini file or the path to the driver library. Place your connection properties at the beginning of odbc.ini:

[CData HubDB Sources]
Driver = CData ODBC Driver for HubDB
AuthScheme = OAuth
OAuthClientID = MyOAuthClientID
OAuthClientSecret = MyOAuthClientSecret
CallbackURL = http://localhost:33333

If you wish to authenticate using OAuth, you will need to add an additional connection property to ensure that the OAuth flow can execute properly:

Other = CheckPromptMode=False

Mac OS validates our drivers separately so you need to copy the license file to the appropriate path as well. After you have configured odbc.ini, run the following command.

sudo cp /Applications/CData ODBC Driver for HubDB/lib/CData.ODBC.HubDB.lic /Users/<YOUR_USER>/Library/Containers/com.microsoft.Excel/Data/.cdata/

Additionally, in the ODBC Data Sources section, the DSN must be set to a driver defined in the odbcinst.ini file. For example, below is the entry for the DSN created during the driver install:

[ODBC Data Sources]
CData HubDB Source = CData ODBC Driver for HubDB

Registering a DSN for iODBC with odbcinst.ini

You may need to modify the installed driver definition if you change the path to the driver library. To register an ODBC driver, modify the odbcinst.ini file. With iODBC, drivers can be available to only one user account or drivers can be available system wide. You can find the correct odbcinst.ini in the following paths:

Drivers are defined in sections in the odbcinst.ini file. The section name specifies the name of the driver. In this section, the Driver property specifies the path to the driver library. The driver library is the .dylib file located in the lib subfolder of the installation directory, by default in /Applications/CData ODBC Driver for HubDB.

[CData ODBC Driver for HubDB]
Driver = /Applications/CData ODBC Driver for HubDB/lib/libhubdb.odbc.dylib

The ODBC Drivers section must also contain a property with the driver name, set to "Installed".

[ODBC Drivers]
CData ODBC Driver for HubDB = Installed

Testing the Connection

You can test your connection using the iODBC administrator.

1. Open a terminal and enter the following command to start the iODBC Administrator with the necessary permissions:

   sudo /Applications/iODBC/iODBC\ Administrator64.app/Contents/MacOS/iODBC\ Administrator64
   

2. On the Users tab, select CData HubDB Source.
3. Click the Test button.

Accessing HubDB Data from Microsoft Excel

You can use the DSN configured above to access HubDB data from Microsoft Excel.

1. Open Microsoft Excel and open a spreadsheet (new or existing).
2. Navigate to the data ribbon, click the drop down next to "Get Data (Power Query)," and select "From Database (Microsoft Query)"
3. Select the User or System DSN that you previously configured and click OK.
4. Build your SQL query in the Microsoft Query wizard:
5. Click Return Data to execute the query and pull data into Excel.

Using the CData ODBC Driver for HubDB, you can easily pull your HubDB data directly into Excel. Once there, you can leverage all of the powerful features native to Excel to analyze, report, transform your HubDB data, and more!