Use the CData ODBC Driver for Short.io in MicroStrategy Desktop

MicroStrategy is an analytics and mobility platform that enables data-driven innovation. When paired with the CData ODBC Driver for Short.io, you gain database-like access to live Short.io data from MicroStrategy, expanding your reporting and analytics capabilities. In this article, we walk through adding Short.io as a data source in MicroStrategy Desktop and creating a simple visualization of Short.io data.

The CData ODBC Driver offers unmatched performance for interacting with live Short.io data in MicroStrategy due to optimized data processing built into the driver. When you issue complex SQL queries from MicroStrategy to Short.io, the driver pushes supported SQL operations, like filters and aggregations, directly to Short.io 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 visualize and analyze Short.io data using native MicroStrategy data types.

Connect to Short.io as an ODBC Data Source

Information for connecting to Short.io follows, along with different instructions for configuring a DSN in Windows and Linux environments.

Using API Key Authentication

Short.io uses API Key authentication. To obtain your API key:

1. Log in to your Short.io account
2. Navigate to Settings > Integrations & API > API
3. Click Create API Key and copy your API key

After obtaining the API key, you are ready to connect:

• AuthScheme: Set this to APIKey.
• APIKey: Set this to your Short.io API key obtained from Settings > Integrations & API > API.

Example connection string:

Profile=C:\profiles\ShortIo.apip;AuthScheme=APIKey;ProfileSettings='APIKey=your_api_key';

Available Tables

The Short.io profile provides access to the following tables:

• Domains - Short.io domains associated with the authenticated account
• Links - Short links for a domain
• LinkExpand - Expand a short link by domain and path
• LinksByOriginalUrl - Retrieve multiple short links matching a given original destination URL
• Folders - Link folders within a specific domain
• LinkPermissions - Permission records for a specific link within a domain
• CountryTargeting - Country-based redirect targeting rules for a specific short link
• RegionTargeting - Region-based redirect targeting rules for a specific short link
• Regions - List of available regions/states for a given country code
• DomainStatistics - Aggregated click and traffic statistics for a Short.io domain
• LinkStatistics - Aggregated click and traffic statistics for a specific Short.io link

When you configure the DSN, you may also want to set the Max Rows connection property. This will limit the number of rows returned, which is especially helpful for improving performance when designing reports and visualizations.

Windows

If you have not already, first specify connection properties in an ODBC DSN (data source name). This is the last step of the driver installation. You can use the Microsoft ODBC Data Source Administrator to create and configure ODBC DSNs.

Linux

If you are installing the CData ODBC Driver for Short.io in a Linux environment, the driver installation predefines a system DSN. You can modify the DSN by editing the system data sources file (/etc/odbc.ini) and defining the required connection properties.

/etc/odbc.ini

[CData API Sys]
Driver = CData ODBC Driver for Short.io
Description = My Description
Profile = C:\profiles\ShortIo.apip
AuthScheme = APIKey
ProfileSettings = 'APIKey = your_api_key'

For specific information on using these configuration files, please refer to the help documentation (installed and found online).

Connect to and Visualize Short.io Data using MicroStrategy Desktop

In addition to connecting Short.io in MicroStrategy enterprise products, you can connect to Short.io in MicroStrategy Desktop. Follow the steps below to add Short.io data as a dataset and create visualizations and reports of Short.io data.

1. Open MicroStrategy Desktop and create a new dossier.
2. In the datasets panel, click New Data, select Databases, and select Type a Query as the Import Option.
3. Add a new data source and choose DSN data sources.
4. Choose the DSN you previously configured (likely CData API Sys) and select Generic DBMS in the Version menu.
5. Set the User and Password properties for the DSN (or use placeholder values) and name the data source.

6. Select the new database instance to view the tables. You may need to manually click the search icon in the Available Tables section to see the tables.
7. Create a SQL query for the Short.io data (see below) and click Execute SQL to test the query.

   SELECT * FROM Domains
   

   NOTE: Since we create a live connection, we can execute a SELECT * query and utilize the filtering and aggregation features native to the MicroStrategy products.
8. Click Finish and choose to connect live.
9. Choose a visualization, choose fields to display (data types are discovered automatically through dynamic metadata discovery) and apply any filters to create a new visualization of Short.io data. Where possible, the complex queries generated by the filters and aggregations will be pushed down to Short.io, while any unsupported operations (which can include SQL functions and JOIN operations) will be managed client-side by the CData SQL Engine embedded in the driver.
10. Once you are finished configuring the dossier, click File -> Save.

Using the CData ODBC Driver for Short.io in MicroStrategy Desktop, you can easily create robust visualizations and reports on Short.io data. Read our other articles on connecting to Short.io in MicroStrategy and connecting to Short.io in MicroStrategy Web for more examples.