Using the CData ODBC Driver for Snowflake in PyCharm

Connect to Snowflake as an ODBC data source in PyCharm using the CData ODBC Driver for Snowflake.

The CData ODBC Drivers can be used in any environment that supports loading an ODBC Driver. In this tutorial we will explore using the CData ODBC Driver for Snowflake from within PyCharm. Included are steps for adding the CData ODBC Driver as a data source, as well as basic PyCharm code to query the data source and display results.

To begin, this tutorial will assume that you have already installed the CData ODBC Driver for Snowflake as well as PyCharm.

About Snowflake Data Integration

CData simplifies access and integration of live Snowflake data. Our customers leverage CData connectivity to:

Reads and write Snowflake data quickly and efficiently.
Dynamically obtain metadata for the specified Warehouse, Database, and Schema.
Authenticate in a variety of ways, including OAuth, OKTA, Azure AD, Azure Managed Service Identity, PingFederate, private key, and more.

Many CData users use CData solutions to access Snowflake from their preferred tools and applications, and replicate data from their disparate systems into Snowflake for comprehensive warehousing and analytics.

For more information on integrating Snowflake with CData solutions, refer to our blog: https://www.cdata.com/blog/snowflake-integrations.

Getting Started

Add Pyodbc to the Project

Follow the steps below to add the pyodbc module to your project.

Click File -> Settings to open the project settings window.
Click Project Interpreter from the Project: YourProjectName menu.
To add pyodbc, click the + button and enter pyodbc.
Click Install Package to install pyodbc.

Connect to Snowflake

You can now connect with an ODBC connection string or a DSN. See the Getting Started section in the CData driver documentation for a guide to creating a DSN on your OS.

To connect to Snowflake:

Set User and Password to your Snowflake credentials and set the AuthScheme property to PASSWORD or OKTA.
Set URL to the URL of the Snowflake instance (i.e.: https://myaccount.snowflakecomputing.com).
Set Warehouse to the Snowflake warehouse.
(Optional) Set Account to your Snowflake account if your URL does not conform to the format above.
(Optional) Set Database and Schema to restrict the tables and views exposed.

See the Getting Started guide in the CData driver documentation for more information.

Below is the syntax for a DSN:


[CData Snowflake Source]
Driver = CData ODBC Driver for Snowflake
Description = My Description
User = Admin
Password = test123
Server = localhost
Database = Northwind
Warehouse = TestWarehouse
Account = Tester1

Execute SQL to Snowflake

Instantiate a Cursor and use the execute method of the Cursor class to execute any SQL statement.


import pyodbc

cnxn = pyodbc.connect('DRIVER={CData ODBC Driver for Snowflake};User = Admin;Password = test123;Server = localhost;Database = Northwind;Warehouse = TestWarehouse;Account = Tester1;')
cursor = cnxn.cursor()
cursor.execute("SELECT Id, ProductName FROM Products WHERE Id = '1'")
rows = cursor.fetchall()
for row in rows:
  print(row.Id, row.ProductName)

After connecting to Snowflake in PyCharm using the CData ODBC Driver, you will be able to build Python apps with access to Snowflake data as if it were a standard database. If you have any questions, comments, or feedback regarding this tutorial, please contact us at [email protected].

Ready to get started?

Download a free trial of the Snowflake ODBC Driver to get started:

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Learn more:

Snowflake ODBC Driver

The Snowflake ODBC Driver is a powerful tool that allows you to connect with live Snowflake data warehouse, directly from any applications that support ODBC connectivity.

Access Snowflake like you would a database - read, write, and update through a standard ODBC Driver interface.