Connect to SharePoint Data in DBeaver

The CData ODBC Driver for SharePoint enables access to live data from SharePoint under the ODBC standard, allowing you work with SharePoint data in a wide variety of BI, reporting, and ETL tools and directly, using familiar SQL queries. This article shows how to manage SharePoint data with visual tools in DBeaver like the query browser.

The CData ODBC drivers offer unmatched performance for interacting with live SharePoint data in DBeaver due to optimized data processing built into the driver. When you issue complex SQL queries from DBeaver to SharePoint, the driver pushes supported SQL operations, like filters and aggregations, directly to SharePoint and utilizes the embedded SQL engine to process unsupported operations (often SQL functions and JOIN operations) client-side. With built-in dynamic metadata querying, you can manage and analyze SharePoint data.

Connect to SharePoint

If you have not already done so, provide values for the required connection properties in the data source name (DSN). You can configure the DSN using the Microsoft ODBC Data Source Administrator. This is also the last step of the driver installation. See the "Getting Started" chapter in the Help documentation for a guide to using the Microsoft ODBC Data Source Administrator to create and configure a DSN.

Set the URL property to the base SharePoint site or to a sub-site. This allows you to query any lists and other SharePoint entities defined for the site or sub-site.

The User and Password properties, under the Authentication section, must be set to valid SharePoint user credentials when using SharePoint On-Premise.

If you are connecting to SharePoint Online, set the SharePointEdition to SHAREPOINTONLINE along with the User and Password connection string properties. For more details on connecting to SharePoint Online, see the "Getting Started" chapter of the help documentation

Finally, set the "Map To WVarchar connection property to False in the DSN Configuration window for the driver. This configuration will allow string types to be mapped to SQL_VARCHAR and prevent SQL_WVARCHAR types from being displayed as NULL.

Connecting to the SharePoint ODBC Data Source in DBeaver

1. Open the DBeaver application and in the Database menu, select the New Database Connection option.
2. In the 'Connect to a database' window, select ODBC and click Next.
3. In the Database/Schema field, enter the DSN name (CData SharePoint Source by default). It will be automatically added to the JDBC URL as well.
4. Click the Test Connection button. You should receive a 'Connected' message after DBeaver has detected the DSN, along with details about the driver if the connection is successful.

Query SharePoint Data

You can now query information from the tables exposed by the data source connection. You can expand the database structure in order to view all the tables. You can retrieve the table's data by right-clicking on a table name and selecting View data. The data will then be available in the Data tab.

Free Trial & More Information

At this point, you have connected to live SharePoint data from DBeaver. For more information, visit the CData ODBC Driver page. Download a free, 30-day trial and start working live SharePoint data DBeaver today.