Create Interactive Metabase Dashboards that Work with Kintone Data

Metabase is an open source data visualization tool that allows users to create interactive dashboards. When paired with CData Connect Cloud, users can easily create visualizations and dashboards linked to live Kintone data. This article describes how to connect to Kintone and build a simple visualization using Kintone data.

CData Connect provides a pure cloud-to-cloud interface for Kintone, allowing you to easily integrate with live Kintone data in Metabase — without replicating the data. Connect looks exactly like a SQL Server database to Metabase and uses optimized data processing out of the box to push all supported SQL operations (filters, JOINs, etc) directly to Kintone, leveraging server-side processing to quickly return Kintone data.

Configure Kintone Connectivity for Metabase

Connectivity to Kintone from Metabase is made possible through CData Connect Cloud. To work with Kintone data from Metabase, we start by creating and configuring a Kintone connection.

1. Log into Connect Cloud, click Connections and click Add Connection
2. Select "Kintone" from the Add Connection panel
3. Enter the necessary authentication properties to connect to Kintone.

   In addition to the authentication values, set the following parameters to connect to and retrieve data from Kintone:

   • Url: The URL of your account.
   • GuestSpaceId: Optional. Set this when using a guest space.

   Authenticating with Kintone

   Kintone supports the following authentication methods.

   Using Password Authentication

   You must set the following to authenticate:

   • User: The username of your account.
   • Password: The password of your account.

   Using Basic Authentication

   If the basic authentication security feature is set on the domain, supply the additional login credentials with BasicAuthUser and BasicAuthPassword. Basic authentication requires these credentials in addition to User and Password.

   Using Client SSL

   Instead of basic authentication, you can specify a client certificate to authenticate. Set SSLClientCert, SSLClientCertType, SSLClientCertSubject, and SSLClientCertPassword. Additionally, set User and Password to your login credentials.

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

Add a Personal Access Token

If you are connecting from a service, application, platform, or framework that does not support OAuth authentication, you can create a Personal Access Token (PAT) to use for authentication. Best practices would dictate that you create a separate PAT for each service, to maintain granularity of access.

1. Click on your username at the top right of the Connect Cloud app and click User Profile.
2. On the User Profile page, scroll down to the Personal Access Tokens section and click Create PAT.
3. Give your 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, you are ready to connect to Kintone data from Metabase.

Connect to CData Connect from Metabase

After creating the virtual database, navigate to your Metabase instance. Use the SQL Server interface to connect to Connect Cloud.

1. Navigate to the administration screen (Settings -> Admin) and click "Add Database" from the "Databases" tab
2. Configure the connection to Connect Cloud and click "Save"
   • Database type: Select "SQL Server"
   • Name: Name the connection (e.g. "Kintone (Connect Cloud)")
   • Host: tds.cdata.com
   • Port: 14333
   • Database name: The name of the connection you just created (e.g. Kintone1)
   • Username: A Connect Cloud username (e.g. user@mydomain.com)
   • Password: The PAT for the above Connect Cloud user
   • Click to Use a secure connection (SSL)

Execute Kintone Data with Metabase

Once you configure the connection to Connect Cloud, you can query Kintone and build visualizations.

1. Use the "Write SQL" tool to retrieve the Kintone data
2. Write a SQL query based on the Kintone connection in CData Connect Cloud, e.g.
   
   

   SELECT CreatorName, Text FROM Comments WHERE AppId = '1354841'

3. Navigate to the "Visualization" screen, choose a visualization, and configure the visualization

More Information & Free Trial

At this point, you have built a simple visualization from Kintone data in Metabase. You can continue to work with live Kintone data in Metabase just like you would any SQL Server database. For more information on creating a live connection to Kintone (and more than 100 other data sources), visit the Connect Cloud page. Sign up for a free trial and start working with live Kintone data in Metabase today.