How to Visualize Short.io Data in Python with pandas

The rich ecosystem of Python modules lets you get to work quickly and integrate your systems more effectively. With the CData API Driver for Python, the pandas & Matplotlib modules, and the SQLAlchemy toolkit, you can build Short.io-connected Python applications and scripts for visualizing Short.io data. This article shows how to use the pandas, SQLAlchemy, and Matplotlib built-in functions to connect to Short.io data, execute queries, and visualize the results.

With built-in optimized data processing, the CData Python Connector offers unmatched performance for interacting with live Short.io data in Python. When you issue complex SQL queries from 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 client-side (often SQL functions and JOIN operations).

Connecting to Short.io Data

Connecting to Short.io data looks just like connecting to any relational data source. Create a connection string using the required connection properties. For this article, you will pass the connection string as a parameter to the create_engine function.

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

Follow the procedure below to install the required modules and start accessing Short.io through Python objects.

Install Required Modules

Use the pip utility to install the pandas & Matplotlib modules and the SQLAlchemy toolkit:

pip install pandas
pip install matplotlib
pip install sqlalchemy

Be sure to import the module with the following:

import pandas
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
from sqlalchemy import create_engine

Visualize Short.io Data in Python

You can now connect with a connection string. Use the create_engine function to create an Engine for working with Short.io data.

engine = create_engine("api:///?Profile=C:\profiles\ShortIo.apip&AuthScheme=APIKey&ProfileSettings='APIKey=your_api_key'")

Execute SQL to Short.io

Use the read_sql function from pandas to execute any SQL statement and store the resultset in a DataFrame.

df = pandas.read_sql("SELECT ,  FROM Domains WHERE  = ''", engine)

Visualize Short.io Data

With the query results stored in a DataFrame, use the plot function to build a chart to display the Short.io data. The show method displays the chart in a new window.

df.plot(kind="bar", x="", y="")
plt.show()

Free Trial & More Information

Download a free, 30-day trial of the CData API Driver for Python to start building Python apps and scripts with connectivity to Short.io data. Reach out to our Support Team if you have any questions.

Full Source Code

import pandas
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
from sqlalchemy import create_engin

engine = create_engine("api:///?Profile=C:\profiles\ShortIo.apip&AuthScheme=APIKey&ProfileSettings='APIKey=your_api_key'")
df = pandas.read_sql("SELECT ,  FROM Domains WHERE  = ''", engine)

df.plot(kind="bar", x="", y="")
plt.show()