Model, Search, and Visualize Live PingOne Data in ThoughtSpot

ThoughtSpot is a cloud-based analytics platform that uses artificial intelligence (AI) and natural language processing (NLP) to help users analyze data and make decisions. When paired with CData Connect AI, you get instant, cloud-to-cloud access to PingOne data for visualizations, dashboards, and more. This article shows how to connect to PingOne and build visualizations from PingOne data in ThoughtSpot.

CData Connect AI provides a pure SQL Server, cloud-to-cloud interface for PingOne, allowing you to easily build models and visualizations from live PingOne data in ThoughtSpot. As you build visualizations, ThoughtSpot generates SQL queries to gather data. Using optimized data processing out of the box, CData Connect AI pushes all supported SQL operations (filters, JOINs, etc) directly to PingOne, leveraging server-side processing to quickly return PingOne data.

Configure PingOne Connectivity for ThoughtSpot

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

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

2. Select "PingOne" from the Add Connection panel

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

   To connect to PingOne, configure these properties:

   • Region: The region where the data for your PingOne organization is being hosted.
   • AuthScheme: The type of authentication to use when connecting to PingOne.
   • Either WorkerAppEnvironmentId (required when using the default PingOne domain) or AuthorizationServerURL, configured as described below.

   Configuring WorkerAppEnvironmentId

   WorkerAppEnvironmentId is the ID of the PingOne environment in which your Worker application resides. This parameter is used only when the environment is using the default PingOne domain (auth.pingone). It is configured after you have created the custom OAuth application you will use to authenticate to PingOne, as described in Creating a Custom OAuth Application in the Help documentation.

   First, find the value for this property:

   1. From the home page of your PingOne organization, move to the navigation sidebar and click Environments.
   2. Find the environment in which you have created your custom OAuth/Worker application (usually Administrators), and click Manage Environment. The environment's home page displays.
   3. In the environment's home page navigation sidebar, click Applications.
   4. Find your OAuth or Worker application details in the list.
   5. Copy the value in the Environment ID field. It should look similar to:
      

      WorkerAppEnvironmentId='11e96fc7-aa4d-4a60-8196-9acf91424eca'

   Now set WorkerAppEnvironmentId to the value of the Environment ID field.

   Configuring AuthorizationServerURL

   AuthorizationServerURL is the base URL of the PingOne authorization server for the environment where your application is located. This property is only used when you have set up a custom domain for the environment, as described in the PingOne platform API documentation. See Custom Domains.

   Authenticating to PingOne with OAuth

   PingOne supports both OAuth and OAuthClient authentication. In addition to performing the configuration steps described above, there are two more steps to complete to support OAuth or OAuthCliet authentication:

   • Create and configure a custom OAuth application, as described in Creating a Custom OAuth Application in the Help documentation.
   • To ensure that the driver can access the entities in Data Model, confirm that you have configured the correct roles for the admin user/worker application you will be using, as described in Administrator Roles in the Help documentation.
   • Set the appropriate properties for the authscheme and authflow of your choice, as described in the following subsections.

   OAuth (Authorization Code grant)

   Set AuthScheme to OAuth.

   Desktop Applications

   Get and Refresh the OAuth Access Token

   After setting the following, you are ready to connect:

   • InitiateOAuth: GETANDREFRESH. To avoid the need to repeat the OAuth exchange and manually setting the OAuthAccessToken each time you connect, use InitiateOAuth.
   • OAuthClientId: The Client ID you obtained when you created your custom OAuth application.
   • OAuthClientSecret: The Client Secret you obtained when you created your custom OAuth application.
   • CallbackURL: The redirect URI you defined when you registered your custom OAuth application. For example: https://localhost:3333

   When you connect, the driver opens PingOne's OAuth endpoint in your default browser. Log in and grant permissions to the application. The driver then completes the OAuth process:

   1. The driver obtains an access token from PingOne and uses it to request data.
   2. The OAuth values are saved in the location specified in OAuthSettingsLocation, to be persisted across connections.

   The driver refreshes the access token automatically when it expires.

   For other OAuth methods, including Web Applications, Headless Machines, or Client Credentials Grant, refer to the Help documentation.

   
4. Click Save & Test
5. Navigate to the Permissions tab in the Add PingOne 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 PingOne data from ThoughtSpot.

Model, Search, and Visualize Live PingOne Data in ThoughtSpot

To establish a connection from ThoughtSpot to the CData Connect AI Virtual SQL Server API, follow these steps.

1. Log into ThoughtSpot
2. On the top navigation bar, click Data.
3. Click Create new > Connection.
4. Name the connection and click "SQL Server" as the data warehouse.
5. Click Continue on the top right.
6. Enter the connection settings:
   • Host: enter the Virtual SQL Server endpoint: tds.cdata.com
   • Port: : enter 14333
   • Username: enter your CData Connect AI username. This is displayed in the top-right corner of the CData Connect AI interface. For example, [email protected].
   • Password: enter the PAT you generated on the Settings page.
   • Database: enter the Connection Name of the CData Connect AI data source you want to connect to (for example, PingOne1).
   
7. Click Continue.
8. After connecting successfully, you will be able to choose which tables to include.
9. Click Create Connection.

After you successfully configure your connection, you can build models, search, and visualize your PingOne data.

Real-Time Access to PingOne Data from Cloud Applications

At this point, you have a direct, cloud-to-cloud connection to live PingOne data from ThoughtSpot. You can model, search, and visualize your data from ThoughtSpot . For more information on gaining live access to data from more than 100 SaaS, Big Data, and NoSQL sources from cloud applications like ThoughtSpot, refer to our Connect AI page.