Import Twitter Data into FileMaker Pro

One of the strengths of the CData ODBC driver is its ubiquitous support across many applications and platforms. In this article, you will configure the ODBC driver in FileMaker Pro and create data visualizations with Twitter data.

Query Twitter Data in FileMaker Pro

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. See the "Getting Started" chapter of the help documentation for a guide to creating a DSN on Windows or Unix-based systems like Mac OS X and Linux.

All tables require authentication. You can connect using your User and Password or OAuth. To authenticate using OAuth, you can use the embedded OAuthClientId, OAuthClientSecret, and CallbackURL or you can register an app to obtain your own.

If you intend to communicate with Twitter only as the currently authenticated user, then you can obtain the OAuthAccessToken and OAuthAccessTokenSecret directly by registering an app.

See the Getting Started chapter in the help documentation for a guide to using OAuth.

When you configure the DSN, 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.

You can then load Twitter data into tables in Filemaker Pro:

1. In your solution, click File -> Import Records -> ODBC Data Source, and select the CData Twitter DSN.

2. In the resulting SQL Query Builder wizard, select tables and columns and then click Insert into SQL Query. You can edit this query directly. For example:

   SELECT From_User_Name, Retweet_Count FROM Tweets

   You can use the UI to build filters in the WHERE clause by clicking the WHERE tab.

3. In the resulting Import Field Mapping wizard, you can define mappings from columns in the data source to the columns in a destination table. To create a new table for the query results, select New Table ("CData Twitter Source") from the Target box, and click Import.

For more information on the SQL that the driver supports out of the box, see the help documentation.

Process Data at Design Time

You can sort and aggregate data, as well as calculate summary functions, while you browse tables. To manipulate the view of data at design time, first complete the two steps below:

1. Switch to Browse mode: Click the Mode pop-up menu in the footer of the application.
2. Switch to Table view: Click the table icon in the View As menu in the main toolbar of the application.

Aggregate and Summarize

Follow the procedure below to group column values and then display a summary, as shown in the screenshot below:

1. Sort: Click the arrow in the From_User_Name column header and then click Sort Ascending in the resulting menu.
2. Group: In the menu for the From_User_Name column click Add Trailing Group by From_User_Name to group the values and create a subsequent row where summary calculations can be inserted. Click Add Leading Group to introduce the group with a summary.
3. Summarize: In the menu for a column that has been grouped, select a summary from the Trailing Subtotals menu.

the procedure below to create a simple bar chart that shows the total Retweet_Count for each From_User_Name.

1. Click the arrow in the Retweet_Count column header and click "Chart by Retweet_Count" in the menu. If you have already grouped on a column in the Table view, From_User_Name, for example, you can select the option to chart Retweet_Count by From_User_Name.
2. In the Chart Setup window, select columns to draw the chart: To add the column for the x-axis, click the button next to the Data box.

Selecting the x-axis and y-axis will draw the chart. You can also process data in the Chart Setup: Set the following options to create a basic chart.

1. Click the button next to the Data box and select Specify Field Value. Select a column in the resulting dialog.
2. Select a summary for the y-axis in the Summary menu.