Build Linear-Connected Visualizations in datapine

Dibyendu Datta
Dibyendu Datta
Lead Technology Evangelist
Use CData Connect AI and datapine to build visualizations and dashboards with access to live Linear data.

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

CData Connect AI provides a pure SQL Server interface for Linear, allowing you to query data from Linear 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 Linear, leveraging server-side processing to return the requested Linear data quickly.

Configure Linear Connectivity for datapine

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

  1. Log into Connect AI, click Sources, and then click Add Connection
  2. Adding a Connection
  3. Select "Linear" from the Add Connection panel
  4. Selecting a data source
  5. Enter the necessary authentication properties to connect to Linear.

    You can authenticate to Linear with a personal API key or with OAuth 2.0. The API key is the simplest option for connecting with your own Linear account.

    Authenticating with an API Key

    Set the following connection properties:

    • AuthScheme: Set this to APIKey.
    • APIKey: A Linear personal API key.

    To create a personal API key, log in to Linear, open Settings > Security & access > Personal API keys, select New API key, and create it. Copy the key immediately, because Linear shows it only once.

    Authenticating with OAuth

    OAuth requires a custom OAuth application registered in Linear (Settings > API > OAuth applications), which provides the OAuthClientId and OAuthClientSecret. Two flows are supported:

    • Authorization code: Set AuthScheme to OAuth, InitiateOAuth to GETANDREFRESH, and provide OAuthClientId, OAuthClientSecret, and the CallbackURL defined in your application (e.g., http://localhost:33333). The driver opens Linear in your browser so you can grant access.
    • Client credentials: Set AuthScheme to OAuthClient and provide OAuthClientId and OAuthClientSecret. This authenticates the application itself, with no browser interaction, and suits machine-to-machine integrations.

    By default, the driver requests the read,write scopes. The driver refreshes the access token automatically when it expires.

    Configuring a connection (Salesforce is shown)
  6. Click Save & Test
  7. Navigate to the Permissions tab in the Add Linear Connection page and update the User-based permissions. Updating 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. Creating a new PAT
  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 Linear data from datapine.

Connecting to Linear from datapine

Once you configure your connection to Linear in Connect AI, you are ready to connect to Linear 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. Linear1)
    • 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"
    Configuring the connection to CData Connect AI
  5. In the Data Schema step, select the tables and fields to visualize and click "Save and Proceed" Selecting tables and fields to visualize (Salesforce is shown)
  6. In the References step, define any relationships between your selected tables and click "Save and Proceed" Defining foreign key relationships
  7. In the Data Transfer step, click "Go to Analyzer"

Visualize Linear Data in datapine

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

Visualizing data in datapine (Salesforce is shown)

Having connect to Linear from datapine, you are now able to visualize and analyze real-time Linear data 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!

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