Prepare, Blend, and Analyze Typeform Data in Alteryx Designer (Connect AI)

Alteryx is a software platform that allows people to work with data more easily. When paired with CData Connect AI, Alteryx provides instant access to Typeform data from your data automation processes. This article demonstrates how to connect to Typeform using Connect AI and work with Typeform data in Alteryx.

CData Connect AI offers a dedicated SQL Server interface for Typeform, facilitating data querying without the need for data replication to a native database. With built-in optimized data processing capabilities, CData Connect AI efficiently directs all supported SQL operations, including filters and JOINs, straight to Typeform. This harnesses server-side processing to rapidly retrieve the desired Typeform data.

Configure Typeform Connectivity for Alteryx

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

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

2. Select "Typeform" from the Add Connection panel

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

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

   TypeForm API Profile Settings

   Authentication to TypeForm uses the OAuth standard.

   To authenticate to TypeForm, you must first register and configure an OAuth application with TypeForm here: https://admin.typeform.com/account#/section/tokens. Your app will be assigned a client ID and a client secret which can be set in the connection string. More information on setting up an OAuth application can be found at https://developer.typeform.com/get-started/.

   Note that there are several different use scenarios which all require different redirect URIs:

   • CData Desktop Applications: CData desktop applications (Sync, API Server, ArcESB) accept OAuth tokens at /src/oauthCallback.rst. The host and port is the same as the default port used by the application. For example, if you use http://localhost:8019/ to access CData Sync then the redirect URI will be http://localhost:8019/src/oauthCallback.rst.
   • CData Cloud Applications: CData cloud applications are similar to their desktop counterparts. If you access Connect AI at https://1.2.3.4/ then you should use the redirect https://1.2.3.4/src/oauthCallback.rst.
   • Desktop Application: When using a desktop application, the URI https://localhost:33333 is recommended.
   • Web Application: When developing a web application using the driver, use your own URI here such as https://my-website.com/oauth.

   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 the Client Id that is specified in your app settings.
   • OAuthClientSecret: Set this to Client Secret that is specified in your app settings.
   • CallbackURL: Set this to the Redirect URI you specified in your app settings.
   
4. Click Save & Test
5. Navigate to the Permissions tab in the Add Typeform 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 Typeform data from Alteryx.

Connect to Typeform from Alteryx

To establish a connection from Alteryx Desktop to the CData Connect AI Virtual SQL Server, follow these steps:

1. Set up an account in Alteryx.
2. Drag and drop a new Input Data tool onto the workflow.
3. While the Input Data tool is selected, click Set Up a Connection in the navigation panel. A Data connections dialog appears.
4. Click Data sources. Select Microsoft SQL Server > **Quick connect.
5. In the Connection Manager dialog, click New.
6. In the New Data Source dialog, enter the following information:
   • Data Source Name: Microsoft SQL Server ODBC DSN-less.
   • Driver: select ODBC Driver 18 for SQL Server from the drop-down list.
   • Server: tds.cdata.com,14333
   • Database: enter the Connection Name of the CData Connect AI data source you want to connect to (for example, API1).
   
7. Click Save. Then click Connect Credential.
8. In Connections, enter the following:
   • Authentication Method: select Username and password.
   • Credential: select Create New Credential.
   • Credential Name: enter a name to identify the credential.
   • Username: enter your CData Connect AI username. This is displayed in the top-right corner of the CData Connect AI interface. For example, [email protected].
   • Password: enter the PAT you generated on the Settings page.
9. Click Test Connection. If successful, click Create and link.
10. Connect with your credentials.
11. In the wizard that opens, drag and drop the table to be queried in the Query Builder box. Select the fields by checking the boxes that you want to include in your query. Where possible, the complex queries generated by the filters and aggregations will be pushed down to your data source, while any unsupported operations (which can include SQL functions and JOIN operations) will be managed client-side by the CData SQL engine embedded in the connector.
12. To further customize the dataset, you can open the SQL Editor and modify the query manually, adding clauses, aggregations, and other operations to ensure that you are retrieving exactly the data desired.
    
13. With the query defined, you are ready to work with your data in Alteryx Designer.

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