Build JSON-Connected Visualizations in datapine

datapine is a browser-based business intelligence platform. When paired with the CData Connect AI, you get access to your JSON services directly from your datapine visualizations and dashboards. This article describes connecting to JSON in CData Connect AI and building a simple JSON-connected visualization in datapine.

CData Connect AI provides a pure SQL Server interface for JSON, allowing you to query data from JSON without replicating the data to a natively supported database. Using optimized data processing out of the box, CData Connect AI pushes all supported SQL operations (filters, JOINs, etc.) directly to JSON, leveraging server-side processing to return the requested JSON services quickly.

Configure JSON Connectivity for datapine

Connectivity to JSON from datapine is made possible through CData Connect AI. To work with JSON services from datapine, we start by creating and configuring a JSON connection.

1. Log into Connect AI, click Sources, and then click Add Connection

2. Select "JSON" from the Add Connection panel

3. Enter the necessary authentication properties to connect to JSON.

   See the Getting Started chapter in the data provider documentation to authenticate to your data source: The data provider models JSON APIs as bidirectional database tables and JSON files as read-only views (local files, files stored on popular cloud services, and FTP servers). The major authentication schemes are supported, including HTTP Basic, Digest, NTLM, OAuth, and FTP. See the Getting Started chapter in the data provider documentation for authentication guides.

   After setting the URI and providing any authentication values, set DataModel to more closely match the data representation to the structure of your data.

   The DataModel property is the controlling property over how your data is represented into tables and toggles the following basic configurations.

   • Document (default): Model a top-level, document view of your JSON data. The data provider returns nested elements as aggregates of data.
   • FlattenedDocuments: Implicitly join nested documents and their parents into a single table.
   • Relational: Return individual, related tables from hierarchical data. The tables contain a primary key and a foreign key that links to the parent document.

   See the Modeling JSON Data chapter for more information on configuring the relational representation. You will also find the sample data used in the following examples. The data includes entries for people, the cars they own, and various maintenance services performed on those cars.

   
4. Click Save & Test
5. Navigate to the Permissions tab in the Add JSON Connection page and update the User-based permissions.

Add a Personal Access Token

When connecting to Connect AI through the REST API, the OData API, or the Virtual SQL Server, a Personal Access Token (PAT) is used to authenticate the connection to Connect AI. It is best practice to create a separate PAT for each service to maintain granularity of access.

1. Click on the Gear icon () at the top right of the Connect AI app to open the settings page.
2. On the Settings page, go to the Access Tokens section and click Create PAT.
3. Give the PAT a name and click Create.
4. The personal access token is only visible at creation, so be sure to copy it and store it securely for future use.

With the connection configured and a PAT generated, you are ready to connect to JSON services from datapine.

Connecting to JSON from datapine

Once you configure your connection to JSON in Connect AI, you are ready to connect to JSON from datapine.

1. Log into datapine
2. Click Connect to navigate to the "Connect" page
3. Select MS SQL Server as the data source
4. In the Integration step, fill in the connection properties and click "Save and Proceed"
   • Set the Internal Name
   • Set Database Name to the name of the connection we just configured (e.g. JSON1)
   • Set Host / IP to "tds.cdata.com"
   • Set Username to your Connect AI username (e.g. [email protected])
   • Set Password to the corresponding PAT
   • Set Database Port to "14333"
   
5. In the Data Schema step, select the tables and fields to visualize and click "Save and Proceed"
6. In the References step, define any relationships between your selected tables and click "Save and Proceed"
7. In the Data Transfer step, click "Go to Analyzer"

Visualize JSON Services in datapine

After connecting to CData Connect AI, you are ready to visualize your JSON services in datapine. Simply select the dimensions and measures you wish to visualize!

Having connect to JSON from datapine, you are now able to visualize and analyze real-time JSON services no matter where you are. To get live data access to hundreds of SaaS, Big Data, and NoSQL sources directly from datapine, try CData Connect AI today!