Use the CData ODBC Driver for Vercel from SharePoint Excel Services

The CData ODBC Driver for Vercel can be accessed using the built-in data access tools in Excel. This article demonstrates how to use the CData ODBC Driver for Vercel to connect to Vercel data from Excel spreadsheets in on-premises editions of SharePoint.

Connect to Vercel as an ODBC Data Source

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.

Using API Key Authentication

Vercel uses Bearer token authentication. You can use either a personal access token or an OAuth access token as the API key.

To obtain a personal access token:

1. Log into your Vercel account at https://vercel.com/
2. Navigate to Account Settings > Tokens.
3. Click Create Token, enter a name and expiration, and click Create.
4. Copy the generated token (it will only be shown once).

After obtaining your token, set the following connection properties:

• AuthScheme: Set this to APIKey.
• APIKey: Set this to your Vercel personal access token or OAuth access token.

Example Connection String

Profile=C:\profiles\Vercel.apip;AuthScheme=APIKey;APIKey=your_access_token;

Working with Teams

Many Vercel resources are scoped to a team. To scope all requests to a specific team, set the TeamId connection property to your team's ID. You can find your team ID by querying the Teams table or from the Vercel dashboard. Alternatively, you can specify TeamId in your SQL queries using the WHERE clause where supported.

Connecting to Vercel

Once the authentication is configured, you can connect to Vercel and query data from any of the available tables such as Projects, Deployments, Teams, and Domains.

Configure Excel Services

Once the ODBC DSN is configured, you can configure Excel Services to use the DSN to connect. To do this, you will need to set up the OLE DB provider as a trusted data source. You will also want to decide if you want to use a Secure Store Service to enable single sign-on functionality with the ODBC driver. If you prefer, you can use the Excel Services Unattended account and skip to step 3 below.

1. First, set up a secure store application to use single sign-on. In SharePoint Central Administration, go to Application Management -> Manage Service Applications. Select your secure store service application or create a new one. Click Manage on the Edit menu to begin editing the application.
2. Create a new target application. You will be able to set the list of users who have access to this application. After the application is created, you will need to set the credentials on the application so that you can use this later for single sign-on.
3. Navigate to Application Management -> Manage Service Applications in SharePoint Central Administration. Select the Excel Services application used by your organization or create one if it does not already exist. Click Manage. If you create a new app, check the option to add the service application's proxy to the farm's default proxy list.
4. Click on Trusted Data Providers and add a new trusted provider. Set 'MSDASQL.1' for the Provider ID and leave the type as 'OLE DB'. Click OK to add this new provider to the list of trusted providers.

Connect to and Import Vercel Data in Excel

After you have enabled and secured access to the DSN, you can access the data source from the ribbon in Excel.

1. In an Excel spreadsheet, open the Data tab and click From Other Sources -> From Data Connection Wizard.
2. Select 'Other/Advanced' for the type and on the next screen, select the 'Microsoft OLE DB Provider for ODBC Drivers'. On the Connection tab, select CData API Sys, the system DSN. The driver installation automatically creates matching user and system DSNs: The system DSN is needed to connect from SharePoint.
3. Select the table you would like to connect to.
4. On the last step of the wizard, click the 'Authentication Settings' button. Select the 'Use a stored account' and enter the name of the secure store target application you created earlier. Or, if you want to use the Unattended Service Account, select None.
5. After you finish the wizard, the data is imported into the spreadsheet. You can now update and save Vercel data directly in SharePoint.