How to integrate Metabase with TaxJar Data

Metabase is an open source data visualization tool that allows users to create interactive dashboards. When paired with CData Connect AI, users can easily create visualizations and dashboards linked to live TaxJar data. This article describes how to connect to TaxJar and build a simple visualization using TaxJar data.

CData Connect provides a pure cloud-to-cloud interface for TaxJar, allowing you to easily integrate with live TaxJar data in Metabase — without replicating the data. Connect looks exactly like a SQL Server database to Metabase and uses optimized data processing out of the box to push all supported SQL operations (filters, JOINs, etc) directly to TaxJar, leveraging server-side processing to quickly return TaxJar data.

Configure TaxJar Connectivity for Metabase

Connectivity to TaxJar from Metabase is made possible through CData Connect AI. To work with TaxJar data from Metabase, we start by creating and configuring a TaxJar connection.

1. Log into Connect AI, click Sources, and then click Add Connection

2. Select "TaxJar" from the Add Connection panel

3. Enter the necessary authentication properties to connect to TaxJar.

   To authenticate to the TaxJar API, first obtain the API Key from the TaxJar UI.

   NOTE: the API is available only for Professional and Premium TaxJar plans.

   If you already have a Professional or Premium plan you can find the API Key by logging in the TaxJar UI and navigating to Account -> TaxJar API. After obtaining the API Key, you can set it in the APIKey connection property.

   Additional Notes

   • By default, the CData connector will retrieve data of the last 3 months in cases where the entity support date range filtering. You can set StartDate to specify the minimum creation date of the data retrieved.
   • If the API Key has been created for a sandbox API account please set UseSandbox to true, but not all endpoints will work as expected. For more information, refer to the TaxJar developer documentation.
   
4. Click Save & Test
5. Navigate to the Permissions tab in the Add TaxJar Connection page and update the User-based permissions.

Add a Personal Access Token

When connecting to Connect AI through the REST API, the OData API, or the Virtual SQL Server, a Personal Access Token (PAT) is used to authenticate the connection to Connect AI. It is best practice to create a separate PAT for each service to maintain granularity of access.

1. Click on the Gear icon () at the top right of the Connect AI app to open the settings page.
2. On the Settings page, go to the Access Tokens section and click Create PAT.
3. Give the PAT a name and click Create.
4. The personal access token is only visible at creation, so be sure to copy it and store it securely for future use.

With the connection configured and a PAT generated, you are ready to connect to TaxJar data from Metabase.

Connect to CData Connect AI from Metabase

After creating the connection in Connect AI, navigate to your Metabase instance. Use the SQL Server interface to connect to Connect AI.

1. Navigate to the administration screen (Settings -> Admin) and click "Add Database" from the "Databases" tab
2. Configure the connection to Connect AI and click "Save"
   • Database type: Select "SQL Server"
   • Name: Name the connection (e.g. "TaxJar (Connect AI)")
   • Host: tds.cdata.com
   • Port: 14333
   • Database name: The name of the connection you just created (e.g. TaxJar1)
   • Username: A Connect AI username (e.g. [email protected])
   • Password: The PAT previously created
   • Click to Use a secure connection (SSL)
   

Execute TaxJar Data with Metabase

Once you configure the connection to Connect AI, you can query TaxJar and build visualizations.

1. Use the "Write SQL" tool to retrieve the TaxJar data
2. Write a SQL query based on the TaxJar connection in CData Connect AI, e.g.
   
   

   SELECT TransactionID, UserID FROM Orders WHERE TransactionID = '123'

   
3. Navigate to the "Visualization" screen, choose a visualization, and configure the visualization

More Information & Free Trial

At this point, you have built a simple visualization from TaxJar data in Metabase. You can continue to work with live TaxJar data in Metabase just like you would any SQL Server database. For more information on creating a live connection to TaxJar (and more than 100 other data sources), visit the Connect AI page. Sign up for a free trial and start working with live TaxJar data in Metabase today.