Use the CData ODBC Driver for SpaceX in Microsoft Power Query

Jerod Johnson
Jerod Johnson
Director, Technology Evangelism
You can use the CData SpaceX ODBC Driver with Microsoft Power Query. In this article, you will use the ODBC driver to import SpaceX data into Microsoft Power Query.

The CData ODBC Driver for SpaceX enables you to link to SpaceX data in Microsoft Power Query, ensuring that you see any updates. This article details how to use the ODBC driver to import SpaceX data into Microsoft Power Query.

Connect to SpaceX as an ODBC Data Source

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.

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

SpaceX API Profile Settings

No authentication is required to access SpaceX data — the SpaceX API is publicly available. Simply set the Profile connection property to the path of the SpaceX profile file.

Import SpaceX Data

Follow the steps below to import SpaceX data using standard SQL:

  1. From the ribbon in Excel, click Power Query -> From Other Data Sources -> From ODBC.

  2. Enter the ODBC connection string. Below is a connection string using the default DSN created when you install the driver:
    Provider=MSDASQL.1;Persist Security Info=False;DSN=CData API Source
  3. Enter the SELECT statement to import data with. For example:

        SELECT CapsuleSerial, CapsuleId FROM Capsules WHERE Status = 'active'
        
  4. Enter credentials, if required, and click Connect. The results of the query are displayed in the Query Editor Preview. You can combine queries from other data sources or refine the data with Power Query formulas. To load the query to the worksheet, click the Close and Load button.

Ready to get started?

Connect to live data from SpaceX with the API Driver

Connect to SpaceX