Use Dash to Build to Web Apps on X-Cart Data

The rich ecosystem of Python modules lets you get to work quickly and integrate your systems more effectively. With the CData Python Connector for X-Cart, the pandas module, and the Dash framework, you can build X-Cart-connected web applications for X-Cart data. This article shows how to connect to X-Cart with the CData Connector and use pandas and Dash to build a simple web app for visualizing X-Cart data.

With built-in, optimized data processing, the CData Python Connector offers unmatched performance for interacting with live X-Cart data in Python. When you issue complex SQL queries from X-Cart, the driver pushes supported SQL operations, like filters and aggregations, directly to X-Cart and utilizes the embedded SQL engine to process unsupported operations client-side (often SQL functions and JOIN operations).

Connecting to X-Cart Data

Connecting to X-Cart data looks just like connecting to any relational data source. Create a connection string using the required connection properties. For this article, you will pass the connection string as a parameter to the create_engine function.

An API Key must be created for your XCart Installation. In order to obtain the API Key, you need to install and configure the REST API Module for your X-Cart installation.

• Login to your X-Cart Installation. Click on My addons on the bottom of the left side-bar navigation panel.
• Search for REST API Module. Install the Module.
• After the module has been installed, you need to set it up.
  • Go to the Settings section for the REST API Module.
  • On the settings page specify the API Key (only read)
• Set the ApiKey and Url to the connection property to connect to data.

After installing the CData X-Cart Connector, follow the procedure below to install the other required modules and start accessing X-Cart through Python objects.

Install Required Modules

Use the pip utility to install the required modules and frameworks:

pip install pandas
pip install dash
pip install dash-daq

Visualize X-Cart Data in Python

Once the required modules and frameworks are installed, we are ready to build our web app. Code snippets follow, but the full source code is available at the end of the article.

First, be sure to import the modules (including the CData Connector) with the following:

import os
import dash
import dash_core_components as dcc
import dash_html_components as html
import pandas as pd
import cdata.xcart as mod
import plotly.graph_objs as go

You can now connect with a connection string. Use the connect function for the CData X-Cart Connector to create a connection for working with X-Cart data.

cnxn = mod.connect("Url=https://example.com/shop;ApiKey=MyApiKey;")

Execute SQL to X-Cart

Use the read_sql function from pandas to execute any SQL statement and store the result set in a DataFrame.

df = pd.read_sql("SELECT ProfileId, FirstName FROM PROFILES WHERE Language = 'en'", cnxn)

Configure the Web App

With the query results stored in a DataFrame, we can begin configuring the web app, assigning a name, stylesheet, and title.

app_name = 'dash-xcartedataplot'

external_stylesheets = ['https://codepen.io/chriddyp/pen/bWLwgP.css']

app = dash.Dash(__name__, external_stylesheets=external_stylesheets)
app.title = 'CData + Dash'

Configure the Layout

The next step is to create a bar graph based on our X-Cart data and configure the app layout.

trace = go.Bar(x=df.ProfileId, y=df.FirstName, name='ProfileId')

app.layout = html.Div(children=[html.H1("CData Extension + Dash", style={'textAlign': 'center'}),
	dcc.Graph(
		id='example-graph',
		figure={
			'data': [trace],
			'layout':
			go.Layout(title='X-Cart PROFILES Data', barmode='stack')
		})
], className="container")

Set the App to Run

With the connection, app, and layout configured, we are ready to run the app. The last lines of Python code follow.

if __name__ == '__main__':
    app.run_server(debug=True)

Now, use Python to run the web app and a browser to view the X-Cart data.

python xcart-dash.py

Free Trial & More Information

Download a free, 30-day trial of the X-Cart Python Connector to start building Python apps with connectivity to X-Cart data. Reach out to our Support Team if you have any questions.

Full Source Code

import os
import dash
import dash_core_components as dcc
import dash_html_components as html
import pandas as pd
import cdata.xcart as mod
import plotly.graph_objs as go

cnxn = mod.connect("Url=https://example.com/shop;ApiKey=MyApiKey;")

df = pd.read_sql("SELECT ProfileId, FirstName FROM PROFILES WHERE Language = 'en'", cnxn)
app_name = 'dash-xcartdataplot'

external_stylesheets = ['https://codepen.io/chriddyp/pen/bWLwgP.css']

app = dash.Dash(__name__, external_stylesheets=external_stylesheets)
app.title = 'CData + Dash'
trace = go.Bar(x=df.ProfileId, y=df.FirstName, name='ProfileId')

app.layout = html.Div(children=[html.H1("CData Extension + Dash", style={'textAlign': 'center'}),
	dcc.Graph(
		id='example-graph',
		figure={
			'data': [trace],
			'layout':
			go.Layout(title='X-Cart PROFILES Data', barmode='stack')
		})
], className="container")

if __name__ == '__main__':
    app.run_server(debug=True)