Build Shortcut Visualizations in Tableau Desktop

Tableau is a visual analytics platform transforming the way businesses use data to solve problems. When paired with CData Connect AI, you get instant, cloud-to-cloud access to Shortcut data for visualizations, dashboards, and more. This article shows how to connect to Shortcut and build visualizations from Shortcut data in Tableau.

CData Connect AI provides a pure SQL Server, cloud-to-cloud interface for Shortcut, allowing you to easily build visualizations from live Shortcut data in Tableau without installing connectors. As you build visualizations, Tableau 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 Shortcut, leveraging server-side processing to quickly return Shortcut data.

Configure Shortcut Connectivity for Tableau

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

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

2. Select "Shortcut" from the Add Connection panel

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

   Start by setting the Profile connection property to the location of the Shortcut Profile on disk (e.g. C:\profiles\Shortcut.apip). Next, set the ProfileSettings connection property to the connection string for Shortcut (see below).

   Shortcut API Profile Settings

   Log into your Shortcut account, navigate to Settings > API Tokens, and click Generate Token.

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

Visualize Live Shortcut Data in Tableau

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

1. In Tableau Desktop, open a new book. Under To a Server, select More, then Microsoft SQL Server.
2. Enter your credentials:
   • Server: enter the Virtual SQL Server endpoint and port separated by a comma: tds.cdata.com,14333
   • Database: enter the Connection Name of the CData Connect AI data source you want to connect to (for example, API1).
   • Authentication: select Use a specific username and password.
   • 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 previously generated.
   • Require SSL: leave this selected.
   
3. Click Sign In.
4. Select the Database (Connect AI connection) you wish to work with and opt for a Live or Extract Connection type.
5. Select the table(s) you wish to visualize. If you select multiple tables, define the relationship between the tables using the appropriate columns.
6. Select the fields to visualize.

Real-Time Access to Shortcut Data from Data Applications

At this point, you have a direct, cloud-to-cloud connection to live Shortcut data from your Tableau workbook. You can create new visualizations, build dashboards, and more. For more information on gaining live access to data from more than 100 SaaS, Big Data, and NoSQL sources from applications like Tableau, refer to our Connect AI page.