How to connect PolyBase to Spotify

PolyBase for SQL Server allows you to query external data by using the same Transact-SQL syntax used to query a database table. When paired with the CData API Driver for ODBC, you get access to your Spotify data directly alongside your SQL Server data. This article describes creating an external data source and external tables to grant access to live Spotify data using T-SQL queries.

NOTE: PolyBase is only available on SQL Server 19 and above.

The CData ODBC drivers offer unmatched performance for interacting with live Spotify data using PolyBase due to optimized data processing built into the driver. When you issue complex SQL queries from SQL Server to Spotify, the driver pushes down supported SQL operations, like filters and aggregations, directly to Spotify and utilizes the embedded SQL engine to process unsupported operations (often SQL functions and JOIN operations) client-side. And with PolyBase, you can also join SQL Server data with Spotify data, using a single query to pull data from distributed sources.

Connect to Spotify

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. To create an external data source in SQL Server using PolyBase, configure a System DSN (CData Spotify Sys is created automatically).

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.

Click "Test Connection" to ensure that the DSN is connected to Spotify properly. Navigate to the Tables tab to review the table definitions for Spotify.

Create an External Data Source for Spotify Data

After configuring the connection, you need to create a master encryption key and a credential database for the external data source.

Creating a Master Encryption Key

Execute the following SQL command to create a new master key, 'ENCRYPTION,' to encrypt the credentials for the external data source.

CREATE MASTER KEY ENCRYPTION BY PASSWORD = 'password';

Creating a Credential Database

Execute the following SQL command to create credentials for the external data source connected to Spotify data.

NOTE: Since Spotify does not require a User or Password to authenticate, you may use whatever values you wish for IDENTITY and SECRET.

CREATE DATABASE SCOPED CREDENTIAL api_creds
WITH IDENTITY = 'username', SECRET = 'password';

Create an External Data Source for Spotify

Execute a CREATE EXTERNAL DATA SOURCE SQL command to create an external data source for Spotify with PolyBase:

• Set the LOCATION parameter , using the DSN and credentials configured earlier.

For Spotify, set SERVERNAME to the URL or address for your server (e.g. 'localhost' or '127.0.0.1' for local servers; the remote URL for remote servers). Leave PORT empty. PUSHDOWN is set to ON by default, meaning the ODBC Driver can leverage server-side processing for complex queries.

CREATE EXTERNAL DATA SOURCE cdata_api_source
WITH ( 
  LOCATION = 'odbc://SERVER_URL',
  CONNECTION_OPTIONS = 'DSN=CData Spotify Sys',
  -- PUSHDOWN = ON | OFF,
  CREDENTIAL = api_creds
);

Create External Tables for Spotify

After creating the external data source, use CREATE EXTERNAL TABLE statements to link to Spotify data from your SQL Server instance. The table column definitions must match those exposed by the CData API Driver for ODBC. You can refer to the Tables tab of the DSN Configuration Wizard to see the table definition.

Sample CREATE TABLE Statement

The statement to create an external table based on a Spotify Albums would look similar to the following:

CREATE EXTERNAL TABLE Albums(
   [nvarchar](255) NULL,
   [nvarchar](255) NULL,
  ...
) WITH ( 
  LOCATION='Albums',
  DATA_SOURCE=cdata_api_source
);

Having created external tables for Spotify in your SQL Server instance, you are now able to query local and remote data simultaneously. Thanks to built-in query processing in the CData ODBC Driver, you know that as much query processing as possible is being pushed to Spotify, freeing up local resources and computing power. Download a free, 30-day trial of the ODBC Driver for Spotify and start working with live Spotify data alongside your SQL Server data today.