DataBind Charts to Hugging Face Data

Jerod Johnson
Jerod Johnson
Director, Technology Evangelism
Use the standard ADO.NET procedures for databinding to provide bidirectional access to Hugging Face data from controls in the Visual Studio toolbox. This article demonstrates a graphical approach using wizards in Visual Studio, as well as how to databind with only a few lines of code.

DataBinding facilitates two-way interaction with data through UI controls. Using the CData ADO.NET Provider for Hugging Face streamlines the process of binding Hugging Face data to Windows Forms and Web controls within Visual Studio. In this article, we will demonstrate using wizards to establish a binding between Hugging Face data and a chart that dynamically updates. Additionally, the code walk-through section will guide you through the creation of a chart using just 10 lines of code.

Binding Data to a Chart

DataBinding to a Chart consists of three steps: Instantiate the control, configure the data source, and databind.

Configure the Connection and Select Database Objects

To create a chart control and establish a connection to Hugging Face, follow the steps outlined below using the Data Source Configuration Wizard. Within the wizard, you'll have the option to choose the specific Hugging Face entities you wish to bind to.

  1. In a Windows Forms project, drag and drop a Chart control from the toolbox to the form. In the Data section of the Chart properties, select DataSource and then select Add Project Data Source from the menu.
  2. In the Data Source Configuration Wizard that appears, select Database -> Dataset.
  3. In the Choose Your Data Connection step, click New Connection.
  4. In the Add Connection dialog, click Change to select the CData Hugging Face Data Source.

    Below is a typical connection string:

    Profile=C:\profiles\HuggingFace.apip;ProfileSettings='APIKey=hf_xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx';

    HuggingFace Hub uses token-based authentication to enable access to its API. The API provides access to machine learning models, datasets, spaces, papers, and other resources on the HuggingFace Hub platform.

    Using API Key Authentication

    To authenticate to HuggingFace Hub, you will need to provide an API Key (Access Token). To obtain your access token:

    1. Log in to your HuggingFace account at https://huggingface.co
    2. Navigate to Settings > Access Tokens
    3. Click "New token" to create a new access token
    4. Select the appropriate permissions (read or write)
    5. Copy the token value

    After obtaining your access token, set the following connection properties:

    • AuthScheme: Set this to APIKey.
    • APIKey: Set this to your HuggingFace access token.

    Example connection string

    Profile=C:\profiles\HuggingFace.apip;ProfileSettings='APIKey=hf_xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx';
    

    When you configure the connection, 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.

  5. Choose the database objects you want to work with. This example uses the Collections table.

DataBind

After adding the data source and selecting database objects, you can bind the objects to the chart. This example assigns the x-axis to and the y-axis to .

  1. In the Chart properties, click the button in the Series property to open the Series Collection Editor.
  2. In the Series properties, select the columns you want for the x- and y-axes: Select columns from the menu in the XValueMember and YValueMember properties.

The chart is now databound to the Hugging Face data. Run the chart to display the current data.

Code Walk-through

DataBinding to Hugging Face data requires only a few lines of code and can be completed in three easy steps.

  1. Connect to Hugging Face.
  2. Create the APIDataAdapter to execute the query and create a DataSet to be filled with its results.
  3. DataBind the result set to the chart.

Below is the complete code:

APIConnection conn = new APIConnection("Profile=C:\profiles\HuggingFace.apip;ProfileSettings='APIKey=hf_xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx';");
APICommand comm = new APICommand("SELECT ,  FROM Collections WHERE  = ''", conn);
APIDataAdapter da = new APIDataAdapter(comm);
DataSet dataset = new DataSet();
da.Fill(dataset);

chart1.DataSource = dataset;  
chart1.Series[0].XValueMember = "";
chart1.Series[0].YValueMembers = "";
// Insert code for additional chart formatting here.
chart1.DataBind();

Ready to get started?

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