Visualize Spotify Data in Sisense

Jerod Johnson
Jerod Johnson
Director, Technology Evangelism
Create an ElastiCube in Sisense app with access to Spotify data.

Sisense lets you join, analyze, and picture data to make more intelligent business decisions and craft effective strategies. The CData API Driver for JDBC makes it easy to integrate with Spotify data in Sisense. This article shows how to create an ElastiCube that connects to Spotify data and use the ElastiCube to visualize Spotify data in Sisense.

Configure the Connection to Spotify

Before creating the ElastiCube, note the installation location for the JAR file for the JDBC Driver (typically C:\Program Files\CData\CData API Driver for JDBC 20XX\lib) or copy the jar file (cdata.jdbc.api.API.jar) to a new folder in the Sisense JDBC driver directory (typically C:\ProgramData\Sisense\DataConnectors\jdbcdrivers).

  1. In the Data page of the Sisense application, create a new ElastiCube (or open an existing one).
  2. In the Model Editor, click "+ Data" to open the Add Data dialog box.
  3. Click Generic JDBC to open the JDBC settings.
  4. Set the connection string property to the JDBC URL for Spotify, adding required properties.

    Using OAuth Authentication

    Spotify uses OAuth 2.0 for authentication. You will need to create an application in the Spotify Developer Dashboard to obtain your client credentials.

    Setting Up Your Spotify Application

    1. Visit the Spotify Developer Dashboard.
    2. Log in with your Spotify account and click Create app.
    3. Provide an app name, description, and set a Redirect URI (e.g.,
      http://localhost:33333
      for desktop applications).
    4. Copy your Client ID and Client Secret from the app settings.

    Connection Properties

    After setting the following connection properties, you are ready to connect:

    • AuthScheme: Set this to OAuth.
    • InitiateOAuth: Set this to GETANDREFRESH. You can use InitiateOAuth to manage the process to obtain the OAuthAccessToken.
    • OAuthClientId: Set this to your Spotify application's Client ID.
    • OAuthClientSecret: Set this to your Spotify application's Client Secret.
    • Scope: Set this to the required OAuth scopes (space-separated). The default includes all read scopes needed for the tables in this profile.
    • CallbackURL: Set this to the Redirect URI configured in your Spotify application (e.g., http://localhost:33333).

    Example Connection String

    Profile=C:\profiles\Spotify.apip;AuthScheme=OAuth;InitiateOAuth=GETANDREFRESH;OAuthClientId=your_client_id;OAuthClientSecret=your_client_secret;CallbackURL=http://localhost:33333;
    

    Available OAuth Scopes

    • user-read-private: Read access to user's subscription details and explicit content settings.
    • user-read-email: Read access to user's email address.
    • user-library-read: Read access to a user's saved tracks, albums, episodes, shows, and audiobooks.
    • playlist-read-private: Read access to user's private playlists.
    • playlist-read-collaborative: Read access to collaborative playlists the user follows.
    • user-follow-read: Read access to the list of artists the current user follows.
    • user-read-playback-state: Read access to a user's player state (device, current track, progress).
    • user-read-currently-playing: Read access to a user's currently playing content.
    • user-read-playback-history: Read access to a user's recently played tracks.
    • user-top-read: Read access to a user's top artists and tracks.

    Built-in Connection String Designer

    For assistance in constructing the JDBC URL, use the connection string designer built into the Spotify JDBC Driver. Either double-click the JAR file or execute the jar file from the command-line.

    java -jar cdata.jdbc.api.jar
    

    Fill in the connection properties and copy the connection string to the clipboard.

    When you configure the JDBC URL, 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.

    A typical example follows:

    jdbc:api:Profile=C:\profiles\Spotify.apip;AuthScheme=OAuth;InitiateOAuth=GETANDREFRESH;OAuthClientId=your_client_id;OAuthClientSecret=your_client_secret;CallbackURL=http://localhost:33333;
    
  5. Set the JDBC JARs folder property to the location of the CData JDBC Driver JAR file (see above).
  6. Set the driver's class name to the class name for the JDBC Driver: cdata.jdbc.api.APIDriver
  7. Leave the username and password properties blank.
  8. Click Next.

Add Spotify Data to an ElastiCube

Once you are connected to Spotify, you can add views to your ElastiCubes.

  1. From the Tables list, select the tables and/or views you wish to work with.
  2. (Optional) Click "+" to customize the data you want to import with SQL.
  3. Click Done.
  4. Click Build to build the ElastiCube for analytics.

Visualize Spotify Data

With Spotify tables added to your ElastiCube, you can perform analytics on your Spotify data.

  1. Navigate to the Analytics page of the Sisense application
  2. Select a Dashboard (or create a new one)
  3. Select your Data Source and click Create
  4. Click "+ Select Data" and choose fields to add to your visualization.

With the CData API Driver for JDBC, you can access Spotify data right in Sisense for powerful visualization and analytics. Download a free, 30-day trial and start working with Spotify data in Sisense today!

Ready to get started?

Connect to live data from Spotify with the API Driver

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